My Fitting for God Glasses

Recently, I had an appointment to get my eyes checked and fitted for my new prescription for contacts.  If you've never worn glasses or contacts, God bless you!  Every year, I have to sit in the chair, and look through an enormous instrument while the doctor asks questions like, "Which is more clear? Image one or two? Three or four? Five or six?"  Each questions elicits a response from me to indicate which lens adjustment best fits my current eyesight.  At times, I tend to stumble when I'm trying to decide which adjustment really is more clear to me.  I feel pressured to answer in a timely manner, as if there is a prize to be won if I answer quickly. Some of the adjustment choices are very obvious and easy to answer because of the vast difference in the clarity of the lens to me.  Other ones are so slight that I need to look at each one again to make sure that I am choosing the best lens with which to view my world. Only I can make the choice--after all, they are my eyes and nobody else's.  My contacts and/or glasses are a necessity to my life because I really can't see without them.  My contacts allow me to see tangible reality anywhere I look.  If my prescription isn't current, then my world will become fuzzy as my eyesight declines.  The tangible things of life around me become less vivid and more blurry and I can become hazardous behind the wheel of an automobile.  I'm realizing more and more that the Holy Spirit has been trying to get me to slow down and listen to Him so He can adjust my spiritual eyes.  We all desperately need God glasses, even if we don't wear glasses in the natural. If I don't learn to look at people and the circumstances in my life through my God glasses, I usually make mistakes in filtering the information at hand.  I'll explain--when I taught school, occasionally I would hand out a fun worksheet for my class to work on as I graded papers, or as a reward for good behavior.  One type of worksheet I remember is one in which you would have to color by number in order to find the "hidden image" on the page.  Before coloring, the image would be somewhat hidden in all of the other shapes and things on the page.  Occasionally, one of the children would be able to spot the image without even coloring the other things around it to make it more obvious, which is not an easy task.  It requires being able to alter the way you are viewing the whole picture so your brain can translate what is actually there for your eyes. We all tend to process, or translate, information through our individual filters.  My filter can be healthy and debris-free and filter what I hear, see, feel, and experience very nicely.  But occasionally, my filter can become clogged from just living life.  Difficulty, bitterness, unforgiveness,  and even grief,  can clog my filter and cause me to misjudge and misinterpret people--myself included.  My love-walk then becomes very stale and unattractive to those who know me well.  I can become easily offended, harsh in the way I communicate, and expect so much from myself and others that I set everyone up for failure.  1 Corinthians 13:7-13 states so beautifully what I am talking about.  My life is set on a trajectory for growth.  When I was younger, I couldn't always understand and comprehend certain things that I am able to now. My cognitive abilities have been stretched and have grown over the years. When I celebrate a few more birthdays, I will know and understand more than I do now.  Each day, each month, each year, the Lord stretches and teaches me more and more.  All I have to do is listen and look for His lessons.  I have to be willing to sit down at my desk and pay attention to the worksheets that my Teacher places before me.  I don't always listen.  I don't always look.  But still He is patient with me and when I am unfaithful, He remains faithful.  He knows that I am wrapped in flesh and blood and have a tendency to be a slow and sometimes rebellious student.  However, when I do listen, and look, and take a shot at looking  beyond reality, the things I learn are amazing.  I find Him when I look through my God glasses.  I find compassion when I stop to put myself in the place of someone who is behaving in an unbecoming manner.  I find peace when I can push aside an annoyance or irritation to actually see the heart of a matter.  When I filter situations through my God glasses, I find the strength to forgive and love people regardless of the ways in which they behave.  I have the ability to extend to people the benefit of the doubt.  I want to extend grace, so I can receive grace, because I know I need grace extended to me.  I'm learning that some of the things that throw me off are preference issues and not necessarily sin issues in a person's life, or my own life for that matter.  I'm praying to really see people and situations through His eyes, my God glasses, so I can respond in ways that are pleasing to Him.  My marriage is dependent upon my ability to "see" beyond what I may interpret in my husband's tone of voice or body language.  Song of Solomon 2:15 says it's the little foxes that spoil the vine.  Those little foxes can be irritants and annoyances and assumptions that prove deadly to a relationship if they are not dealt with properly at the time.  The little things grow into big issues and offenses and before you know it, you're in trouble.  The little foxes litter our filters and pretty soon, we realize that it's been way too long since we have allowed the Holy Spirit to fit us for God glasses.  When I was young, glasses weren't a cool accessory.  But the older I've gotten, they have become very trendy.  Now people wear them as an accessory instead of a necessity because they find them attractive.  I'm thinking that God glasses need to become the next trend in churches and friendships and relationships in general.  In my humble opinion, nothing is more attractive on my husband than when he is wearing his God glasses.  And nothing is more life-giving to relationships than when we filter our lives and the lives of others through our God glasses.  So in 2012, I think one of my top resolutions this year will be to give the Holy Spirit permission to fit my eyes for God glasses daily, if need be.  Let me encourage you to make an appointment, too, if you need a new pair.  Who knows--at my age, I may even need bifocal God glasses! Blessings to you and your families in 2012! 

Merry Christmas to me!

I remember when I was a little girl, how the Christmas season would mesmerize me.  I guess I've always been somewhat of an "Anne Shirley" kind of girl--a bit dramatic for my own good at times(my boys can attest to that).  It's not difficult for me to completely lose myself in the world of a good book or a movie and feel almost every emotion of the character that draws me.  So, as a child, it was natural and effortless to insert myself into the whole idea of what Christmas represented to me back then.  Let me explain. I always wanted to be one of those TV kids who was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus. I would imagine that my mom and dad let me sleep on a beautiful couch in front of the fireplace, and the candles would cast a beautiful dim light in the room.   I would stay awake as long as I could, but just as I drift off to sleep, I would be gently awakened by someone stirring in the room.  Then, I would see him.  Somehow, he would know that I was no longer asleep and would turn and look at me.  He might even address me by name, because everyone knows that Santa knows the names of all of the kids in the world.  And we would have this conversation and it would be so magical and cool and his eyes really would twinkle at me as we talked. You get the picture.  I'm not a child anymore, but recently I have been feeling the Holy Spirit calling me back to my girlhood ways of accepting certain Scriptural things for what they really are.  I've been thinking about what Jesus said in Mark 10:15, " 'Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in.' Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them." How many times do I complicate the issues of life to the point of not being able to take hold of the things I need from Him?  The very things available to me that Jesus died to give me seem so hard to attain because I've created so many hoops for me to have to jump through to get to them.  This is not at all what He had in mind as He laid in the manger.  It's not what He desperately wanted for me as He was hanging on the cross enduring unspeakable pain that I will never understand.  He came and became just like me.  He was a baby, he was a child, he was a teenager. He experienced disappointment, disillusionment, betrayal, and fear.  He knows what it's like to pray desperately for God to answer one way, only to be answered in a way that runs contrary to what the flesh wants.  So, this Christmas, I'm going to purpose in my heart to be a little girl again.  My daddy was larger than life then, so if he told me anything at all, I believed it and never dreamed of doubting what he said.  How much more can I trust Someone Who took my place and hung and died on a cross so I wouldn't have to?  If He tells me that I don't have to live with guilt, then I am a fool if I hang on to it any longer.  If He tells me that He died to set me free from the law of sin and death, then I'm really free from it. If He tells me that He hasn't given me a spirit of fear, but one of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), then why would I not believe Him and walk in that?  I feel certain He would pinky-promise me.  My earthly daddy would have. So, this Christmas, I'm giving myself an unusual gift.  I'm going to allow myself to be a little girl again and throw my heart on the altar and believe Jesus when He tells me He has already given me everything I need that is suited to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  I will become one of those little girls that couldn't resist running up to Him when He walked on the dusty soil far across the sea.  I can imagine myself taking a running jump and landing in His arms and His smile warms my heart and I know instantly that He loves me.  I will allow myself to be completely captivated by Him this Christmas.  I know He is unlikely to come down my chimney dressed in a red suit and boots, and if I sleep on my couch on the 24th, I doubt if I'll awaken to see Him working diligently to place gifts under our tree. After all, He is the gift. But I'm pretty sure that He does know me by name and that He loves to have conversation with me.  And I even believe that His eyes really do twinkle.  The Santa of my youth has long been replaced with a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).  My prayer is that you will see Him with me.  Merry Christmas!

What If...?

Today, I can't get my mind off of how great my life is.  No, I'm not one of those people who posts only the positively embellished details of their life and types in ALL CAPS and ends every sentence with an overwhelmingly happy exclamation point!!! Gag.  I don't think of my self as an in-your-face kind of girl....I'm more of an introspective thinker when it comes to summing up my life and the lessons contained therein.  But today, I'm struck at how good I have it.  And I'm grateful, very grateful, as I sit here and type.  My life hasn't always been wonderful.  I have definitely experienced seasons of struggle, sadness, loss, confusion and fear of the unknown.  I've experienced some rather unruly personalities and have had to learn how to love them anyway.  Just like you, I have had to walk my children through painful difficulties associated with growing up.  But today, my life is wonderful.  I look around me and I like what I see.  I have privileges that many people in this world can only dream of.  A couple of weeks ago, my youngest son brought home a DVD of a group of young people who have made it their life's mission to bring awareness to the forgotten children of Uganda.  I wept as I watched how these children and their families lived.  They slept away from their parents on hard, concrete floors that were wet and unsanitary.  They lived in fear of being kidnapped and forced into serving in a tyrannical leader's army where, at a very young age, they are trained to kill. My children sleep under the same roof as I do, on mattresses with clean 300-count thread sheets, their stomachs satisfied from eating a home-cooked meal.  The young men who started this movement were passionate young men who have done so much good through hard work that started with a prompting, "What if...?"  I may not be able to change the plight of the Ugandan children, as these zealous young men have, but I can sure change my own children's lives.  I have the ability to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually "show up" each day in order to teach them and listen to them and point them to Scripture in order to navigate their way in life.  I can also change my city.  I am crazily blessed to be part of a church that values the forgotten right here in our city of Memphis.  We have partnered with several schools and show up on Fridays to feed approximately 1,000 school children per week.  I have the ability to donate money and/or food, pack food bags, and personally deliver these bags to these little ones, all the while imparting the love of Christ with each smile and high-five I give.  What an honor. What are you doing with the "What if's?" in your life?  God has entrusted me and you with many of them--I wonder how many get swept away by the cares of our lives and He has to shuffle one or two or twenty to another willing person who has the ears to hear and the courage to actually act on them?   What if, instead of feeding 1,000 children in Memphis, we were able to feed 5,000?  What if the attitude and morale of these schools were positively affected and changed because we got involved and let God go do His thing through us?  What if the unity of the administration and teachers was stronger because we prayed every day for them?  What if moms and dads were set free from poverty and drug and alcohol addiction and families were restored because of our prayers and commitment to show up and carry Christ to their neighborhoods?   I believe God is desperate to do all of these things for the people He loves.  I just have to be faithful to show up and be His hands and feet to a desperate city, putting Christ's finished work on the cross before me. Wanna come along?
   "Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to Him by name! Tell everyone you meet what He has done!  Sing    Him songs, belt out hymns, translate His wonders into music!  Honor His holy name with Hallelujahs you who seek God.  Live a happy life! Keep your eyes open for God, watch for His works; be alert for signs of His presence.  Remember the world of wonders He has made, His miracles, and the verdicts He's rendered.  O seed of Abraham, His servant, O child of Jacob, His chosen.  He's God, our God, in charge of the whole earth.  And He remembers, remembers His Covenant--for a thousand generations He's been as good as His word!" 
--Psalm 105:1-8 (The Message)

S-T-R-E-T-C-H.....

Hebrews 12:10-12

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
 ¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

For the past few days, my mind has been mulling over the concept of stretching as it relates to our physical bodies, as well as our spiritual growth.  In my attempt to exercise, many times I'm tempted to neglect stretching before and/or after my workout.  I usually regret doing this because not stretching causes my muscles to be more sore than usual, many times I'm more stiff and sore the next morning as I roll out of bed, and I set myself up for a higher risk of a  muscle or joint injury down the road.  I seem to always be in a hurry to get in and get my workout done and checked off of my mental list of things to do, quickly dismissing the thought of the benefits that stretching can bring.  However, if you've ever had to deal with a sports-related injury due to lack of preparation, you know that the stinging regret of not taking a small amount of time to prep your body can be bitter.  Stretching is not just something I experience in my physical body.  I also go through seasons of internal stretching as well.  Just like in exercising, I usually tend to want to jump past internal stretching to get to the "feel good stuff" that living as a Christ follower has to offer.  You know those "feel good" moments I'm talking about: like when someone you've poured into and encouraged and prayed for has a breakthrough;  or when you experience a personal breakthrough;  or maybe you experience a new level of intimacy with the Lord that is unexplainable and oh, so sweet.  All of those scenarios usually are preceded by a season of stretching.  And I'm not always attentive to standing strong and unwavering through those stretching seasons like I know I should be.  Some seasons in my life have been normal stretching  that we all experience at one time or another. For instance, lately I'm struggling with choosing to pray instead of complain when it feels like I'm experiencing a larger than usual bounty of irritating people or circumstances.  Or consciously choosing to let go of my teenage and/or adult children and learn the gentle art of "un-mothering", which I might add, is particularly difficult for me.  Or really dialing in and re-discovering my husband and purposely investing into that friendship so that our empty nest season is enjoyable.  At other times, my seasons of internal stretching have been extremely painful and have felt intentionally thrust upon me with no warning, like the deep betrayal of a family member that results in a painful season of learning to forgive and release and, finally to bless.  Or the loss of a job that results in a season of learning to really trust God for provision and allow Him to shift my paradigm to see what is really important and meaningful in my life.  In any season, though, I know that the stretching is a very necessary step in my journey.  Unlike the physical results of not stretching, the results of not allowing stretching to take place internally and spiritually results in far greater injury.  If I don't embrace when God is stretching me, I won't be ready for the next leg of my journey and I run the risk of hurting the people He brings into my life.  If I choose not to add extra investment into my marriage, I run the risk of having a room-mate, and not a soul-mate.  Not healthy.  If I choose to verbalize every annoyance and gripe and nag, I run the risk of living in the very "world" I create by my careless and unwise tongue.  Not healthy.  If I choose to hang onto the hurtful things that are said or done against me or a loved one and demand apology or for someone to pay, I run the risk of allowing a root of bitterness to grow in my heart that affects everyone around me and will eventually destroy me.  Not healthy.  Like everything, application is the key for me.  I have to choose to apply the things my head and my heart know in order to truly grow and become a stronger woman who is able to readily meet any challenge or situation that the Lord may allow in my life.  Sometimes, I get little kisses from the Lord as I see one of my kids navigate a tricky situation with a Godliness and grace that humbles and challenges me.  Or He answers a prayer that I really didn't pray, but I thought about and tried not to worry.  Or I witness the faith of a young friend who has battled cancer and is trusting God to be able to keep her leg without the necessity of yet another surgery.  These are the little things He allows me to witness that keep me going.  These are the things that humble me and convict and challenge me to keep stretching and allowing Him to decide the direction and seasons of my life.  I owe it to Him.  *Lord, thank you for loving me enough to allow seasons of stretching and discipline in my life.  I know You love me even more intensely than I love my own children.  Help me to endure these seasons like a big girl and be ready to really love and serve the people You bring into my life well.  Amen.*

How did I get here?

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"--Isaiah 30:21
This morning I was praying for a young friend.  He is struggling to know the Lord's plan for his life and where to walk out that plan geographically.  As I was thinking about this, I began to wonder why He allows us to seemingly wander at times.  I mean, some of us really do pray about where to live, which career path to follow, who to marry, what ministry in which to get involved, etc.  Have you ever felt as though you followed exactly what the Lord directed you to do, only to get there and realize that you must not have heard Him correctly?  Over the last several years of my life, there have been so many times that I felt that we didn't hear correctly, and I wondered what disaster our lives had suddenly gotten cosmically sucked into.  After days and weeks and months of soul-searching prayer and striving to figure out where we went wrong, I began to wonder: 
What if....this was the Lord's plan all along?
What if....His intent is not to send me to the country club to grow me up?
What if....He allowed us to enter a dry, barren season to change our paradigm?
What if....I put on my God-glasses and look at what He accomplished around me in spite of our pain?

This is what I have learned.  Perfection tells us that we have to step in perfect cadence to life; grace tells us we have permission to smell the roses along the way.  There were many roses that I had the opportunity to smell along the past seven years of my life.  Some of them were thorny, no doubt, but what if I had never had the opportunity to smell them?  What if I had refused, worried that my cadence was off and I was too focused on getting back on beat?  What if God Himself is the Drummer, and He meant for the cadence to change?  What if every turn we take, every move we make is ripe with possibility for Him to touch someone using our hands? Our feet?  Our friendship and prayers?  I will never achieve perfection.  I can only keep my God-glasses near enough to put them on and know that He promises to be the Voice behind me, telling me to walk in His way.

A Stout and Enduring Heart: Transition

A Stout and Enduring Heart: Transition: "Transition, n. transizh'on. Passage from one place or state to another; change; as the transition of the weather from hot to cold. (Noah We..."

Transition

Transition, n. transizh'on. Passage from one place or state to another; change; as the transition of the weather from hot to cold.  (Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language).

As I write this, I am in a state of transition.  You know...that place of pressing forward in anticipation of all that a new season of life will bring, and almost at the same time, hanging out in hesitation while looking through the foggy window of what lies behind. Of the life I left behind.  I keep trying to wipe off the fog and mist so I can see more clearly, but it just keeps fogging up again.  I'm looking and searching for familiarity, for comfort, for the everyday mundane things that used to occupy my life, wondering if there is anything I could have done differently.  Maybe situations in which I could have responded more gracefully, people I could have handled more tenderly.  I'm having a tough time focusing to see.  More fog.  Funny--when I look ahead, I'm not plagued with the issue of fog.    I'm warmed by the sunshine and the possibilities that are ahead of me.  I'm realizing that transition isn't always easy.  Even happy transitions bring opportunities to iron out the unpleasant wrinkles that my flesh has seemingly forced into the fabric of my being.  At times, I'm surprised to find them.  Impatience, anger, self-pity, and self-centeredness have seemed to insert themselves into my responses and my facial expressions.  I don't always believe it when my loved ones bring them to my attention.  Surely, they must be mistaken.  But secretly, I know they are there, lurking in the creases of my personality.  Every day, I am faced with hundreds of choices. Do I say yes or do I say no?  Do I clean the kitchen or the bathrooms?  What should I make for dinner?  Do I focus on the good or the bad?  Do I listen or do I speak? Do I react in ways that have found a comfortable place in my heart and mind?  Or do I stop and prayerfully consider my words and responses so I can carefully build my home instead of tearing it down? (Proverbs 14:1).  My purpose in this season of my life has been elusive for some time now. I've searched for it, prayed for God to reveal it, knowing that my purpose has evolved and changed with each year that turns over on the calendar.  But, today, I think I caught a glimpse of it.  Today, I realize that one single thread has woven its way through the tapestry of my life.  It hasn't changed, but somehow I had lost sight of it and couldn't pick it out amongst the other colors and textures. That single thread of purpose is servanthood.  How quickly I have forgotten this one, simple mandate called servanthood.  "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." --Proverbs 12:18.  "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."--Proverbs 31:26.  Today is a day I choose to exchange.  I choose to exchange my anger for peace; my self-pity for gratitude; my self-centeredness for servanthood.  I will serve my family by bringing healing with my words.  I will instruct wisely and gently by allowing Him to speak through me.  Will I never again have to re-iron?  Are these exchanges wrinkle-free?  I doubt it.  But for today, I will build my altar and not look back.  I will trust Him Who has paved the way for transition, knowing that He directs my steps.  I will look to Him to be Perfection personified and try to be faithful in serving the very people in my life that He has chosen to bless me with.