Saturday Morning at the Park

It’s one of those perfect summer mornings. Dark clouds loom overhead teasing rain that isn’t going to fall. Abby and I rush to the park trying to beat the sun. I suppose it decided to sleep in this morning, hiding under the covers just a little longer. It makes me glad that we didn’t so that we might share this perfect morning. Do I wish there were more mornings like this? Maybe, but I’m thankful that God knows what He’s doing when He gives us so few. I know they would go to waste and be lost on me if there were too many. Even worse, I might come to resent them, wishing for a change in the weather. Almost on cue, my thoughts bring the sun through a break in the clouds. We’ll enjoy these final moments as the sun plays peek-a-boo behind clouds racing across the sky. I guess everyone is feeling playful today; even the birds play tag in an open field. Abby and I hide under a shade tree to enjoy the cool breeze and stretch the morning out a little longer. By this afternoon I’ll be praising the sun as I bask in it’s rays and find cool relief by diving into a crisp pool of water. It sure seems as if God knows what He’s doing.

Worry Not

The key to me about worry is found in Philippians 4:6-8 in the NLT version. Paul tells us “Don’t worry about anything.” Worry is a wasted emotion. It is not productive; it only fills our hearts and minds with negativity. The problem is that when we are told not to worry, what should we fill that empty time with? You’ve taken the worry out of your day, so now what? The answer isn’t apathy or disinterest, it isn’t regret or disgust. Paul lets us know what we are to do with that newly vacant time. He gives us a productive alternative to worry when he tells us to “pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” This goal seems admirable right? Yet so many of us find comfort in our worry and find it hard to let go. We find a constant companion and we’d rather fill our heads with our good friend worry than a stranger that we are unfamiliar with. The devil feeds on that fear, the worry that we would be empty if it weren’t for worry. What a vicious cycle. However, there is hope if we can replace our worry with prayer.

Paul says that “if you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.” It’s no wonder that we have trouble letting go of our worry. Worry is something we understand, something we can wrap our brain around, something we know. It takes zero faith to worry. The problem is that His peace is not available to us if we don’t have that faith. We must step out, letting go of our comfortable worry, and demonstrate our faith in God’s promise. How do we do that? Paul says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” It is that easy.

The easiest way to fill your mind with good is to be in and of the bible for it is all of these things. When you study the Word, you have a better understanding of what it means to be pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. By memorizing scripture, you’re equipping yourself to think of good things when you are away from the word and in the real world. Pray because prayer releases your mind of the bad and filling it back up with faith, hope and love. If you fill your vacant time with any of these things, it becomes difficult to find the time or even a reason to worry.

Measuring Scale

Reflecting on my life, I realize that my measuring scale is all off. I want to be measured by Jesus but I don’t want Jesus to be measured by me. I want for God to look at me and see His son who died for my sins. I want Him to see me for what Jesus is: courage, faith, forgiveness, thanksgiving, perserverance, respect, humility, hope, patience, gentleness, self-control, integrity, LOVE. I want to be those characteristics to God and for God. Yet, I don’t want people to look at me and see Jesus. Don’t misunderstand me. It is not because I don’t want to glorify or reflect Jesus, it is because I don’t glorify and reflect Jesus. I don’t want anyone who may not know Jesus to look at me with all of my hypocracy, anger, hatred, laziness, and all out sinfulness and think, “If that is a Christian, than I don’t want to be one.”

Alas, ther is hope. In my weakness, He is made strong. The truth of that is liberating. God can use me even in my imperfections, even in my weakness. He can use me for the good of His kingdom. I cannot sit back any longer, paralyzed by the fear of failure, of judgement, of weakness. He can use me. The beauty of God and Jesus is that He accepts us all, no matter what our faults and weaknesses. So, is it really so bad if someone looks at us with all of our faults and weaknesses and sees that God loves us anyway. His love is unconditional and so for that I am happy for Jesus to be measured by me. It wasn’t just for the perfect and righteous that He came, it was for us all.

Tower of Babel

There are over 5000 different languages spoken in the world. The English language alone has over 2 million words of which the typical American knows less than 2% of. It is therefore not surprising that we have trouble communicating. Even when we speak the same language, we rarely understand each other. There are often times when words are not adequate to describe a situation. That’s why languages evolve and expand. It’s amazing to think that God speaks all languages. While we make up new words and phrases to describe something, God understands, He speaks the universal language. Yet, even when we speak the same language, we will never fully understand each other. We each have different experiences and perspectives that we bring to our communicative experience.

I often struggle to find the right words to use when describing my thoughts or feelings. I struggle now, as I type. I find that I can listen to the same idea expressed over and over again but then one day someone hits it on the head, explaining it in a way that I finally understand. It’s nothing new, nothing I haven’t heard before but their communication of it hits home with me. Maybe I wasn’t ready to understand before. Words can be a powerful tool or a powerful weapon. Communication is something so vital to all aspects of this life.

Why does God make communication so difficult for us? I believe that God put the communication obstacles in our way not to make life more difficult and frustrating but because in our weakness He is made strong. The quicker we can realize that, the better off we will be. God puts obstacles in our way so that we will discover our need for Him. We try so hard to do everything on our own, never wanting to say that we can’t. The longer we fight and wrestle with God, the weaker He has to make us. Until we can submit to Him, He has to continue to put challenges in our way. He does so for our own good. It is through our submission to Him that we will finally find a peace which surpasses all understanding.

His Grace Is Enough

Do you ever leave bible study where you have put on the face of “godliness”, stop and look at your actions away from the group and think, what am I doing? Look at my relationships, they are strained. Look at my resources, I am not trusting God. Look at my time, I am managing it poorly. Look at my talents, I am wasting them on meaningless, godless endevours. My intentions are so good, especially when I’m here talking about God and his grace. How do I take that next step? How do I go beyond the talk and begin to walk with God?

I think the answer lies in our preparation. That time between stimulus and response. We need to be proactive and not reactive in all four areas: time, talent, resources, and relationships. We are wired to have habits, good and bad. How do we drop the bad habits and make them good? It’s far beyond my ability to change my bad habits on my own. It’s not natural, it’s supernatural. What do I mean by that? God has to be involved in changing our habits, our behavior. I have recently read an article about strengthening a marriage. The writer says to devote 15 hours of undivided attention to your spouse a week. My first reaction was “wow, that’s a lot”. Then I wondered how many hours that I should spend giving God my undivided attention. It takes 90 days to develop a habit? In the next 90 days I am going to develop the habit of spending time with God and my spouse. I’m going to develop the habit of reading and studying the bible. I am going to fill that area between stimulus and response with love. Who knows, maybe it will change not only my response but also my stimulus.

His grace is enough. It’s enough to cover my sin. It’s enough to make up for my imperfections. It’s enough to save my soul. What do I choose to do with that knowledge? I don’t choose to “give up”. I have heard people say that they don’t need to do anything else. They believe that Christ died for their sins and that’s enough. They are right. It is enough, but I want the peace, joy and understanding that comes from doing God’s will. I will not rely on my works to get me to heaven but I also will not stop working toward a better relationship with God. It takes work as any relationship does. It takes love. It takes compassion. It takes mercy. It takes sacrifice. God made us relational beings because He desires a relationship with us. Not just any relationship, but a fulfilled, nuturing, mutually advantageous relationship. It is from that relationship that we will learn to relate with other people. Afterall, how can we possibly have a fulfilling relationship between two imperfect people if we can’t manage to have a fulfilling relationship between one imperfect person and one perfect God?

Being The Person I Want My Child to Be

Having a child puts an extra burden on us as adults. As a parent, I have started to wonder what my daughter will be like when she grows up. How will she act as an adult, as a teenager, as a child? It frightens me knowing how I am and how I was. I want her to be better than me.

How can we expect our children to be better than we are? That puts unfair expectations on them, raising the bar to a level that we couldn’t meet ourselves. Still, it’s ultimately what we want. Rather than lowering the expectations, why don’t we try to meet that expectation ourselves? You want your child to be good with money? Maybe you should manage your money properly. You want your child to have healthy relationships? You should harvest your relationships and make them healthy. You want your child to have a good work ethic? You should be applying the qualities you want them to have into your own life. Easier said than done?

We must be partnering with God to achieve our goals. The bible gives us a perfect guide on how to live. Don’t miss understand me, it will not make us live perfectly “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. The bible does, however, have an answer for every situation you may face. Remember that your children are watching and learning from you. Shouldn’t you in turn be watching and learning from your heavenly father? My goal is not to be perfect, but to be the person that I want my children to be.