Growing up as the only girl between two boys, the only hand me downs I knew were the ones occasionally swapped with friends. Today there are prom dress swap shops, clothes swaps among friends and churches, and certainly hand me down baby clothes are the best deal of all.
Culturally speaking, hand me downs are a fashion label fully accepted and proudly worn. We take something from someone else and, with little re-do, make it our own.
Sometimes we are wearing one hand me down that doesn't fit the bill so well. Hand me down faith, though alive and well, simply doesn't fit its new owner...you.
If your faith journey is simply a redo of your parents or someone else, it is lifeless at best and quite possibly harmful to your health.
Why? Because a one-on-one with God depends on you being your fully present self. You may look like your birth parents but you are spiritually designed only in the image of God. The problem with parent faith is that it may or may not have pointed or be pointing you in the right direction. God didn't make you to reflect your parents--He made you to reflect Himself. The value of their hand me down love and faith and care was to give you a taste of God, not a garment to wear.
Consider the depth of your love for God and your daily pursuit to find out who He is. Does your pursuit have its own stamp on it? Are you chasing Him with your own time and your own personality?
Then your garment of faith is, culturally speaking, the best label of all.
10 March 2012
09 March 2012
Speaking Out of Turn
As a first-grade teacher, I had my share of children who, regardless of countless reminders, spoke without permission in class discussions. Their little mouths simply would not respond to any restraints I imposed. Their minds said, Speak no matter whose turn it is.
I finally realized that I needed to get the attention of their minds, not their mouths. Did they really mean harm by blurting out so recklessly? Did they really want my disapproval? Of course not.
So one day I chose the top several offenders and very good-naturedly said, "I am taping a card to your desk every day, and any time you speak out of turn I will come and make a mark on your card. At the end of the day, we will count the marks and place them on a chart made just for you. Each day, we will try to have fewer marks than the day before."
They were astonished at first at the number of times they spoke out. I smiled kindly as I walked nonchalantly to their desk and marked their card with a minimum of distraction. Humiliation was what I wanted to avoid the most. The other kids, as kids always do, rallied to their cause and tried to help them avoid the marks.
As adults, we speak out of turn toward ourselves. We are too this and too that, not enough of this and we certainly need to quit this and do more of that. The "thises" and "thats" that we let define us are one big collection of speaking out of turn, and we need the same intervention that worked for those kids.
Imagine a card--better yet, get a stack of cards--on which you tally every time you speak out of turn toward yourself with undue criticism and harshness. That is not the way Jesus or a loving parent or a trusted friend would treat you. Start a fresh card each day with the goal of diminishing the tally marks.
Speaking out of turn toward ourselves feeds our weakness. Be your best friend today and intervene. Hearts don't let hearts speak out of turn.
I finally realized that I needed to get the attention of their minds, not their mouths. Did they really mean harm by blurting out so recklessly? Did they really want my disapproval? Of course not.
So one day I chose the top several offenders and very good-naturedly said, "I am taping a card to your desk every day, and any time you speak out of turn I will come and make a mark on your card. At the end of the day, we will count the marks and place them on a chart made just for you. Each day, we will try to have fewer marks than the day before."
They were astonished at first at the number of times they spoke out. I smiled kindly as I walked nonchalantly to their desk and marked their card with a minimum of distraction. Humiliation was what I wanted to avoid the most. The other kids, as kids always do, rallied to their cause and tried to help them avoid the marks.
As adults, we speak out of turn toward ourselves. We are too this and too that, not enough of this and we certainly need to quit this and do more of that. The "thises" and "thats" that we let define us are one big collection of speaking out of turn, and we need the same intervention that worked for those kids.
Imagine a card--better yet, get a stack of cards--on which you tally every time you speak out of turn toward yourself with undue criticism and harshness. That is not the way Jesus or a loving parent or a trusted friend would treat you. Start a fresh card each day with the goal of diminishing the tally marks.
Speaking out of turn toward ourselves feeds our weakness. Be your best friend today and intervene. Hearts don't let hearts speak out of turn.
08 March 2012
Guard the Door
In Deuteronomy, there is this interesting concept where God tells the Israelites to lend to their neighbors and family freely as the need arises, and every seven years, cancel the debt. Don't collect the money you are owed because "the Lord Himself has declared the debt cancelled." (Deut 15:2, GNT)
Okay, so we don't find ourselves in that cycle today, but if we did, wouldn't we be a little hesitant to lend money in the fifth and sixth years, since the likelihood of getting it back before the debt is cancelled would be much lower than in earlier years?
Who wouldn't be tempted to think like that?
Do I have to worry that those thoughts make me a bad person? When I am trying to outwit some right system I find myself in--don't speed, consume less calories, don't say "I'm sorry," don't put off until tomorrow what should be done today--are all those thoughts coming only from my heart and mind?
Read on: If there are Israelites in need...be generous and lend them as much as they need. Do not refuse...just because the year when debts are cancelled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. (Deut 15:7-9, GNT)
Enter my mind? Like from the outside?
The quality of our lives is hugely, hugely dependent upon the quality of thoughts that drive our beliefs, our actions, our conclusions. We are the gatekeepers of those thoughts--and here is proof that some of them come from the outside.
Guard, guard, guard the door of your mind. That is the greatest and most godly way we feed our strength.
Okay, so we don't find ourselves in that cycle today, but if we did, wouldn't we be a little hesitant to lend money in the fifth and sixth years, since the likelihood of getting it back before the debt is cancelled would be much lower than in earlier years?
Who wouldn't be tempted to think like that?
Do I have to worry that those thoughts make me a bad person? When I am trying to outwit some right system I find myself in--don't speed, consume less calories, don't say "I'm sorry," don't put off until tomorrow what should be done today--are all those thoughts coming only from my heart and mind?
Read on: If there are Israelites in need...be generous and lend them as much as they need. Do not refuse...just because the year when debts are cancelled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. (Deut 15:7-9, GNT)
Enter my mind? Like from the outside?
The quality of our lives is hugely, hugely dependent upon the quality of thoughts that drive our beliefs, our actions, our conclusions. We are the gatekeepers of those thoughts--and here is proof that some of them come from the outside.
Guard, guard, guard the door of your mind. That is the greatest and most godly way we feed our strength.
07 March 2012
A Tiny Victory
This is the odyssey of my tiny victory.
I have an amazing Zoku popsicle maker and every day I was creating three delicious popsicles out of dark chocolate almond milk and almost-good-for-you mini, semisweet chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand--gluten, dairy and soy free). This popsicle maker stays in your freezer and then creates the frozen treats within ten minutes. My problem was that in that ten minutes, I was popping about 1/4 bag of additional chips into my mouth.
Every day I would talk to myself about it. And every day I would not listen very well.
Then recently I was out of town for three days, out of reach of my Zoku and my chips. I came home determined to do better so sure enough, I switched to my Ninja blender and made a yummy smoothie out of two cups dark chocolate almond milk and one frozen banana.
But something still felt "too much" about it. I had this sense that I should be consuming only one cup of dark chocolate almond milk and 1/2 frozen banana.
I have a history of struggling with small portions. If I am ordering and have a choice of small, medium or large, I have only begun in recent years to talk myself out of large. I have never ordered a small anything.
So yesterday I managed to listen to myself tell myself to pour only 1 1/2 cups of almond milk into the blender along with, um, a whole banana. But that's a start.
I am saying out loud (and in print) that today I am reaching my goal of 1 cup almond milk and 1/2 banana: my tiny victory.
Is there a tiny victory in your day waiting to be reached?
I have an amazing Zoku popsicle maker and every day I was creating three delicious popsicles out of dark chocolate almond milk and almost-good-for-you mini, semisweet chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand--gluten, dairy and soy free). This popsicle maker stays in your freezer and then creates the frozen treats within ten minutes. My problem was that in that ten minutes, I was popping about 1/4 bag of additional chips into my mouth.
Every day I would talk to myself about it. And every day I would not listen very well.
Then recently I was out of town for three days, out of reach of my Zoku and my chips. I came home determined to do better so sure enough, I switched to my Ninja blender and made a yummy smoothie out of two cups dark chocolate almond milk and one frozen banana.
But something still felt "too much" about it. I had this sense that I should be consuming only one cup of dark chocolate almond milk and 1/2 frozen banana.
I have a history of struggling with small portions. If I am ordering and have a choice of small, medium or large, I have only begun in recent years to talk myself out of large. I have never ordered a small anything.
So yesterday I managed to listen to myself tell myself to pour only 1 1/2 cups of almond milk into the blender along with, um, a whole banana. But that's a start.
I am saying out loud (and in print) that today I am reaching my goal of 1 cup almond milk and 1/2 banana: my tiny victory.
Is there a tiny victory in your day waiting to be reached?
06 March 2012
Make Sure
Deuteronomy 8:11-14
Make sure you don't forget God, your God...make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see...more and more money come in, watch your standard of living go up and up--make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.
That is a lot of making sure.
The problem with the admonition "make sure" is that is puts the responsibility squarely in our court.
If your boss says, "Make sure you turn off the coffeemaker before you leave," and the building burns down because you didn't make sure, then that is pretty much your fault.
If you tell your child, "Make sure you remember to take your homework," and the call comes an hour later pleading with you to bring it to school, that is pretty much your child's failure to remember.
Making sure requires accepting the responsibility and then remembering.
It sounds like God is saying, in effect, Make sure you accept the responsibility of living this life with all I have given you and remember to give Me the credit, over and over. Make sure to remember Me.
No matter what you are making sure of, it takes effort.
Make sure you consider remembering God. It might be the best alternative to becoming full of ourselves.
Make sure you don't forget God, your God...make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see...more and more money come in, watch your standard of living go up and up--make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.
That is a lot of making sure.
The problem with the admonition "make sure" is that is puts the responsibility squarely in our court.
If your boss says, "Make sure you turn off the coffeemaker before you leave," and the building burns down because you didn't make sure, then that is pretty much your fault.
If you tell your child, "Make sure you remember to take your homework," and the call comes an hour later pleading with you to bring it to school, that is pretty much your child's failure to remember.
Making sure requires accepting the responsibility and then remembering.
It sounds like God is saying, in effect, Make sure you accept the responsibility of living this life with all I have given you and remember to give Me the credit, over and over. Make sure to remember Me.
No matter what you are making sure of, it takes effort.
Make sure you consider remembering God. It might be the best alternative to becoming full of ourselves.
05 March 2012
Go, Google and God
I used to ponder what power stoplights had over us. In the universal language of safety and survival, they are a tool of utmost importance. Imagine the chaos if one day we simply decided to ignore their "stop" and initiate our own "go."
Safety, survival.
Then it struck me that newspaper editors and television producers control what news we hear as well as the political slant they wittingly or unwittingly paint on each story. If we get our information from a conservative newspaper or news broadcast, we may hear a different focus than if we interact with liberal counterparts. Either way, our thinking and thus, belief system, may tend along the lines of the sources from which we are informed.
Learning, thinking, belief system.
Enter Google (or your search engine of choice): today's technological filter to what we learn. Who doesn't love that we can ask Google any question and receive the answer? In fact, lots of answers in record time. I just typed in "Tim Tebow" and got 24,200,000 results in 0.12 seconds. Impressive. But what strikes me is that somehow Google chooses the first page of information and I tend to read what comes up on that page. Whatever I learn about him will be "chosen" for me in the first page of results and however deep into the rest I am willing to go.
Does Google have power over my learning? My thinking? My belief system?
Today I ponder that we are getting our information about God--who He is, who He is not, how He figures into our everyday lives--from somewhere. If He made us and if He authored the Bible, then that source is a bit like the stoplights--simple, direct, and very consequential if we decide to "go" elsewhere. The Bible has safety and survival built right into its pages.
But please don't underestimate the 24,200,000 other bits of information that are seeping into our minds at record rates by those who want to filter what we hear. At the end of the day, safety, survival, learning, thinking and belief system are a package collected and directed by our best efforts at wanting truth and nothing less.
Go, Google and God...a ponder package for our week.
Happy Monday.
Safety, survival.
Then it struck me that newspaper editors and television producers control what news we hear as well as the political slant they wittingly or unwittingly paint on each story. If we get our information from a conservative newspaper or news broadcast, we may hear a different focus than if we interact with liberal counterparts. Either way, our thinking and thus, belief system, may tend along the lines of the sources from which we are informed.
Learning, thinking, belief system.
Enter Google (or your search engine of choice): today's technological filter to what we learn. Who doesn't love that we can ask Google any question and receive the answer? In fact, lots of answers in record time. I just typed in "Tim Tebow" and got 24,200,000 results in 0.12 seconds. Impressive. But what strikes me is that somehow Google chooses the first page of information and I tend to read what comes up on that page. Whatever I learn about him will be "chosen" for me in the first page of results and however deep into the rest I am willing to go.
Does Google have power over my learning? My thinking? My belief system?
Today I ponder that we are getting our information about God--who He is, who He is not, how He figures into our everyday lives--from somewhere. If He made us and if He authored the Bible, then that source is a bit like the stoplights--simple, direct, and very consequential if we decide to "go" elsewhere. The Bible has safety and survival built right into its pages.
But please don't underestimate the 24,200,000 other bits of information that are seeping into our minds at record rates by those who want to filter what we hear. At the end of the day, safety, survival, learning, thinking and belief system are a package collected and directed by our best efforts at wanting truth and nothing less.
Go, Google and God...a ponder package for our week.
Happy Monday.
04 March 2012
The Problem with Love
Funny how we push away love.
We're too busy or too scared or too something. We find safety in doing so that we don't have to risk heartbreak in receiving. After all, if we let ourselves be loved, we might get "unloved" in the process.
The truth is there are no guarantees in human relationships.
Love is work, receiving love is work and the risk is real.
So...give up?
Maybe not.
Why not test the waters of love with the only guaranteed love in the universe?
If God made us and if He authored the Bible, then it is true that He cannot "unlove" us. He promises to love us unconditionally with the love that He authored, lavished on the beings He made.
That is pretty serious love.
If your human love receptacle needs tweaking, it might work to practice being loved by God. You can put the time in with God that every relationship needs and, with the confidence that you cannot be turned away, you can learn to receive and trust love in new ways.
A happy thought for sure and more importantly, a healing thought.
Here's to love...after all.
We're too busy or too scared or too something. We find safety in doing so that we don't have to risk heartbreak in receiving. After all, if we let ourselves be loved, we might get "unloved" in the process.
The truth is there are no guarantees in human relationships.
Love is work, receiving love is work and the risk is real.
So...give up?
Maybe not.
Why not test the waters of love with the only guaranteed love in the universe?
If God made us and if He authored the Bible, then it is true that He cannot "unlove" us. He promises to love us unconditionally with the love that He authored, lavished on the beings He made.
That is pretty serious love.
If your human love receptacle needs tweaking, it might work to practice being loved by God. You can put the time in with God that every relationship needs and, with the confidence that you cannot be turned away, you can learn to receive and trust love in new ways.
A happy thought for sure and more importantly, a healing thought.
Here's to love...after all.
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