May 27, 2011 | The Good Word
Sometimes the road ahead looms long in front of me…and though I am celebrating the good that has come my way, I still feel like a marathon runner, on mile 23, facing an uphill I’m not sure I’m ready for.
Are you ever painfully aware of your weakness?
There are times when I look at the road ahead, and I recognise it’s the kind of road that can only be travelled one step at a time, one day at a time. Whether it’s the long road of parenthood, or the short uphill of a big move, being, by nature more of a sprinter, I struggle, wanting to hurry up and cross the finish line. But keeping a healthy pace is the only way to make it. When I think about it, I’m more aware than ever, only by the grace of God can I make it through.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. {2 Cor. 2:9}
That is, the mystery which has been hidden from the {past} ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. {Col. 1:26-27}
Be encouraged if you’re not “feeling strong” today. To walk this road, you don’t have to be.
xCC
May 20, 2011 | The Good Word
It’s late afternoon and the sun is streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows and doors of our living room. The dryer is humming in the kitchen. The wonderful meaty mixture for the World’s Best Lasagna is simmering on the stove.
The baby who suffered with gas this afternoon is in his baby gym on the floor beside me, cooing and figuring out how to make everything jingle when he kicks his feet.
His big brother is in his high chair working on tracing letters and colouring the pictures on each page.
I’m pausing in my heart to give thanks.
We feel a little like we’re facing giants. Finding the finances to cover another transcontinental move. Selling our furniture. Selling our car. Saying good-bye to South Africa and the family we love here. HH needs a spousal visa and his interview is next week. Baby Brother needs a passport and the process is moving in African time. There are a lot of metaphorical ducks to get in a row and they sometimes feel kind of like boulders. Big, daunting, immovable, grumpy-faced boulders.
But part of faith is sometimes trusting that it’s going to be okay, no matter what.
I recently found myself pondering one of the descriptions of the woman in Proverbs 31:
She is clothed with strength and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come. {v. 25}
Other translations say she smiles at the future or she laughs without fear of the future.
Really? Who does that?
How do you look at the future and laugh? Is it a flippant decision to laugh and leave worrying about the future for another day? Or the impudence of a lion cub Simba declaring, “I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger,” and then getting into trouble with the hyenas? {You’ve seen the Lion King, right?}
It must have something to do with courage. And a purposeful decision to trust an unknown future to a known God.
The woman’s attitude may have been built on the confidence that she was walking in the ways of the Lord. Each verse demonstrates another way in which she honours the Lord with her actions. She is clothed with strength and dignity… and having put on all this godliness, she must be a person of consistency and firmness of mind. She’ll know to expect difficult times — in this world we will have tribulation. But our actions — our decisions to walk in God’s ways, and our beliefs — our decisions to believe God’s truth, demonstrate that, like her, we trust God to meet us and see us through.
It takes faith to look ahead and trust that everything is going to be okay, even though we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. But keeping that frame of thankfulness around my life, I am more often see God’s sovereign hand in places I would not have seen it before.
He is clearly moving. There is reason to take off my shoes. As Psalm 100 describes it, we enter the gates with thanksgiving, and we enter the courts with praise. We remember that the Lord is good, and His love endures forever. Why should we fear?
Can you laugh at the days to come? What’s holding you back?
xCC
May 18, 2011 | The Good Word
The story is told in Mark 5 of a certain ruler of a synagogue who came to Jesus. His name was Jairus, and he found Jesus and begged Him to come to his home. These words are recorded:
“My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed and she will live.”
Jairus had the faith to find Jesus, and to ask for the healing. And Jesus followed Jairus — He followed his faith — and they started on the journey to Jairus’ home, where Jesus would perform a miracle.
It was while they were on this journey that another woman crawled through crowds to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment with the thought, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
The power of God met her faith and she was healed from a health problem she’d struggled with for years. And Jesus turned around in the crowd — pausing in the midst of the journey — to find out who’d touched Him. {Though He certainly already knew, the story was not yet finished.}
He had the opportunity to speak to the woman and encourage her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
I imagine that Jairus, seeing this, would’ve been encouraged all the more that Jesus could indeed heal his daughter, too.
While all this was going on, word came from Jairus’ house that his daughter had died. It was a word of fear: “Why trouble the Teacher any further?” The situation is hopeless. Let Jesus be on His way. There’s no longer anything He can do for you.
But Jesus met Jairus with these words: “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
Is there a situation in your life where you’re waiting for God right now? Is it a situation that seems to have gone from bad to worse while you were waiting? Does it seem like all hope is lost?
Life deals us those times — when you want to hold on to hope against all odds, but everything around you seems to tell you it’s hopeless.
The voices in your own mind, and even the people around you, say it’s hopeless. No one is going to want you. It just doesn’t happen like that. Maybe for someone else but not for me. Give up. It’s impossible. Let go of that dream.
But bring it to Jesus, and let Him meet you with these words: “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
In one of my favourite lines from the movie Faith Like Potatoes, Angus Buchan says:
“The condition for a miracle is difficulty, however the condition for a great miracle is not difficulty, but impossibility.”
Jairus believed, and continued the journey to his home, taking Jesus with him. He brought Jesus to his daughter. Though the people there mourning and weeping ridiculed Him, Jesus took control of the situation. He put all the disbelief outside, and went in to the room where the child lay, took her by the hand, and said “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
The impossible became a reality for Jairus. His daughter got up and walked. His faith brought about her healing. His faith-words to Jesus became faith-walking reality: “Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”
Though what you are hoping for may seem impossible, bring your faith to Jesus. And keep on bringing it. Let Him kick out disbelief. The woman’s faith moved her mountain. Jairus’ faith moved his. Keep speaking faith-words. Keep looking forward to faith walking. Let Him whisper to you, strong and true:
Do not be afraid; only believe.
xCC
Apr 27, 2011 | The Good Word
There are things that come naturally to some of us, but not so much to others. You might find it really easy to open up your home and life to the people around you. Or you may find hospitality totally draining and prefer to leave it to the people who like it. From learning to creating to performing, music or painting or writing or cooking or listening or building — we have some beautiful gifts in this world. Hopefully it brings us joy to use those beautiful gifts to be a blessing and it brings others joy to receive from the overflowing cup of our giftings.
We know that we’re blessed to be a blessing. And I hope you’re convinced that God doesn’t have a second string or a “B Team”.
Sometimes, even the things that we’re very gifted at don’t come easy. While words very often feel like they come through my fingertips before my brain fully considers them, sometimes I stare at the screen, wanting to write, but not wanting to write. Knowing there is a gift that I ought to be stirring — perhaps through reading or writing or thinking or praying — but there’s also a wall there, and it holds me back and I feel unable to move forward.
But writer’s block isn’t just for writers.
Sometimes we stare at the wall for a while. We think about whether we can go around it, or go over it. We want to continue to create, to use our gifts, to bless, to enjoy, and we hope to find a way to move forward. But the wall doesn’t always move easily. And we sometimes get stuck on the wrong side of it.
The things that used to bring us joy begin to bring us dread. The thing we used to call our passion might start to be called a calling or even a duty or worse still an obligation. And this thing that was once so full of life feels like death hanging around our necks. It’s a soggy fish out of water, facing the frying pan with a frown on its face.
If the thought of pressing on, along the road with your gifting, makes you feel like a frowning fish right now, I’d like to make a few suggestions.
Change your route. Have you been travelling the same way, doing things the same way for a long time? Could you add or take something away from your day to day, considering the old saying that “Variety is the Spice of Life”?
Look for some new destinations. What are your goals? Are the things you have to do the biggest hindrance to doing what you want to do? Get creative, and think about how you can spend more time doing what you want to do every day (or even once or twice a week, for starters.)
Pull off at a rest stop. Perhaps it’s time for someone else to be a blessing, and time for you to let yourself rest (and maybe recover) and find the heart to be a blessing again.
Stop and ask for directions. Talk to someone else who creates. Even Edison had an off day. Perhaps Mozart was moody. You may be surprised that the people around you who never seem to miss a beat have walked through something similar.
Make sure you’ve got the right map. Pray some good, honest prayers. Talk to the Creator who gave you the gifts that you have, and let Him know how you feel about using them. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies — we create false obligations for ourselves — and we hold ourselves back when it’s time to move forward. Do His plans feel like hope and a future? If not, maybe those are your plans.
Before you start hanging pictures (or spraypainting graffiti) on the roadblock that’s holding you back, take the opportunity to re-engage. Re-evaluate. Re-examine and re-think. You’ve got something to give, and when it ain’t easy, that’s often a sign it’s a good time to step back and take a good look at your map.
xCC
Apr 18, 2011 | The Good Word
S ometimes, I start to wish I could just keep the laughs coming like the Pioneer Woman. She takes beautiful pictures and has great style and will soon have her own cooking show and she is just a hoot!
I am not that funny.
I also wish I could creatively create like the Nester, or make adorable out of nothing at all like Ashley at the Handmade Home.
I wish I had the skills to encourage like the Gypsy Mama — she bravely calls people to pour their hearts and their gifts out without fear.
And it would be great if I could also keep it real like Kristen — her humility and honesty are something I generally prefer to shy away from.
Or if I could just create a space for souls to breathe like Emily, with well put, encouraging words and artful and interesting grammar choices, I suppose that’d be nice, too.
But I suppose if I could only choose one option, I’d want to be a weaver of words like Ann. Her words create a holy experience for me when I open my little Google Reader and swim through her posts. I want to take off my shoes.
Sometimes I find myself slipping into thinking this way — reading something I’ve written and subsconsciously thinking, how could it be more Pioneery? Or Emily-eqsue? Or Annish?
And it takes me a while to remember that if this is multiple choice, I am G, none of the above. And that’s good. And I remember that when you start trying to wear the wrong shoes you are often in for trouble. Try as I might to trod a road in someone else’s sassy ballet flats, I would be much better off walking my road, the way I was created to walk it. Probably wearing flip-flops.
I think we all sometimes long for someone else’s something.
So I wonder if you also need reminding:
You’ve got a gift.
You’re not second string, or B team, {as i realise I need to culturally contextualize that little idiom}.
And it would be better for all of us if you were a first-rate you than a second-string anybody else. Your purpose and the reason you were created is a part of the bigger story that no one else can live.
Let’s remember to celebrate each other — and even to celebrate ourselves. You were made for a great purpose and redeemed at a great cost. You have incalculable value.
In light of eternity, we are all incredibly small. But small acts with great kindness can change the world. And the only one who can do your acts is you.
xCC
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