As a middle school principal, I joked with the office staff that if we didn't have to "stop working" for all the kids, we'd get our job done.
Then we would pause and say, "Oh, yes, those kids are our job!"
It is Saturday and if you are a jobaholic, you relish the hours stretched before you in which you can check off your to-do list.
But then people enter the picture--family, friends, neighbors--all of whom relish you, your time and your input.
What is one to do?
Wonder if God ever thinks, "I could tinker with the physics of my universe all day. It doesn't argue with me, it follows my laws--what a pleasure! But then, where would my people be?"
It seems the love of God's life is each of us. Every single one. So, to take a tip from the guy with the longest to-do list in the world, work with love...for people.
Have a love-filled, people-filled Saturday.
28 April 2012
27 April 2012
Enough Said
From Galatians 5 in the Message translation, may this be our anthem for today:
We have far more interesting things to do with our lives than compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. Each of us is an original.
Celebrate original you.
We have far more interesting things to do with our lives than compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. Each of us is an original.
Celebrate original you.
26 April 2012
When You Hate Your Job
You're trapped in a job you hate. The people, the work, the environment--all of it puts you into a spin of anxiety each day.
But there you are, with no immediate relief or release in sight.
Is there hope for the meantime?
In an unexpected way, yes. The option available to you is...love God more.
So what in the world does that mean? What does that look like?
I would say--sit down for 5 minutes each day and ask God to teach you how to love Him more. Set a timer if you can't sit still. Your mind will wander. You will feel awkward and perhaps even silly.
Do this every day until you come across a thought, a book, a something that introduces you to new information about God that puts a little energy into your heart. Enter in. Keep at it. If you find yourself wanting to sit there for 10 minutes, do it. Maybe on the weekend you'll sit for 30 minutes.
What begins to happen? You begin to balance the scale of hating your job with loving God. In some supernatural and inexplicable way, this new love neutralizes the hate.
Did your job change? No. But the spin of anxiety becomes a bearable avenue.
I can't explain it but I can promise powerful results.
Where's your timer?
But there you are, with no immediate relief or release in sight.
Is there hope for the meantime?
In an unexpected way, yes. The option available to you is...love God more.
So what in the world does that mean? What does that look like?
I would say--sit down for 5 minutes each day and ask God to teach you how to love Him more. Set a timer if you can't sit still. Your mind will wander. You will feel awkward and perhaps even silly.
Do this every day until you come across a thought, a book, a something that introduces you to new information about God that puts a little energy into your heart. Enter in. Keep at it. If you find yourself wanting to sit there for 10 minutes, do it. Maybe on the weekend you'll sit for 30 minutes.
What begins to happen? You begin to balance the scale of hating your job with loving God. In some supernatural and inexplicable way, this new love neutralizes the hate.
Did your job change? No. But the spin of anxiety becomes a bearable avenue.
I can't explain it but I can promise powerful results.
Where's your timer?
25 April 2012
Fueled By Our Scars
Most of us carry scars of some kind--from our own choices, from the cruel actions of others, from tragic events, from the cumulative effect of life in general.
These scars direct our new choices, our view of self, the very filter through which we act out our days. They fuel our decision-making because we live behind them.
If we are fueled by our scars, how do we make sure they lead us toward wisdom and truth and not away from these guideposts we so desperately need? We've heard out of the frying pan into the fire. That will be our plight if we don't take action that impacts the woundedness we carry.
J.R. Martinez, the wounded warrior who won last year's Dancing With the Stars, found his way out of the frying pan of nearly burning to death in a land mine explosion in Iraq. He endured thirty-three surgeries, three years of recovery, a lost left ear and a face blotched and looking nothing like the person he knew. How did he stay out of the fire of defeat?
He is fueled by his scars, yes, but he brought a new Fuel into the mix. His prayer in the hospital was I know I survived for a reason, Lord. Lead me to the other side of this pain, and show me that reason.
For reasons that we may never know, God allows the scars of our life to become the very fuel that drives us. Our best hope is to submit those scars to Him, allow Him time to show us how to mix wisdom and truth with our woundedness, and find the victory embedded into even the deepest of scars.
These scars direct our new choices, our view of self, the very filter through which we act out our days. They fuel our decision-making because we live behind them.
If we are fueled by our scars, how do we make sure they lead us toward wisdom and truth and not away from these guideposts we so desperately need? We've heard out of the frying pan into the fire. That will be our plight if we don't take action that impacts the woundedness we carry.
J.R. Martinez, the wounded warrior who won last year's Dancing With the Stars, found his way out of the frying pan of nearly burning to death in a land mine explosion in Iraq. He endured thirty-three surgeries, three years of recovery, a lost left ear and a face blotched and looking nothing like the person he knew. How did he stay out of the fire of defeat?
He is fueled by his scars, yes, but he brought a new Fuel into the mix. His prayer in the hospital was I know I survived for a reason, Lord. Lead me to the other side of this pain, and show me that reason.
For reasons that we may never know, God allows the scars of our life to become the very fuel that drives us. Our best hope is to submit those scars to Him, allow Him time to show us how to mix wisdom and truth with our woundedness, and find the victory embedded into even the deepest of scars.
24 April 2012
Known By Our Prayers
We are known to God by our prayers.
He knows Hasty...who rushes through his productivity list--job, home, yard, children's lives and throws a few prayers God's way at least every day or so.
He knows Careful...who tries to measure every word of her prayers so she can get just the right response from God to get what she needs for her life to stay under her control.
He knows Skeptic...who keeps God at arm's length but allows that same God to keep coming back into focus, each time stronger, each time more receptive.
And, He knows Authentic...who runs the gamut of feelings with God, lavishing love, doubt, anger, more love, gratitude, messy, and awe on God, seeing Him as true lover, friend, Creator.
God loves an honest pray-er.
Perhaps, then, though He certainly knows and loves Hasty and Careful, His heart might move heaven and earth to interact, in increasing intimacy, with Skeptic and Authentic.
Which pray-er are you?
He knows Hasty...who rushes through his productivity list--job, home, yard, children's lives and throws a few prayers God's way at least every day or so.
He knows Careful...who tries to measure every word of her prayers so she can get just the right response from God to get what she needs for her life to stay under her control.
He knows Skeptic...who keeps God at arm's length but allows that same God to keep coming back into focus, each time stronger, each time more receptive.
And, He knows Authentic...who runs the gamut of feelings with God, lavishing love, doubt, anger, more love, gratitude, messy, and awe on God, seeing Him as true lover, friend, Creator.
God loves an honest pray-er.
Perhaps, then, though He certainly knows and loves Hasty and Careful, His heart might move heaven and earth to interact, in increasing intimacy, with Skeptic and Authentic.
Which pray-er are you?
23 April 2012
A Giant Picnic
If we were to plan a giant picnic--a real celebration--we would want to think of everything.
Wonderful food, playful recreation and abundant freedom to rest, protection from the elements and pesky bugs, and most importantly, companions for fellowship and community.
I read through the Bible from my YouVersion app, and each day the app opens with a selected passage. In Ephesians 1, we read about what I am calling The Giant Picnic because we hear about God's plan with Christ at the helm: what pleasure He took in planning this; abundantly free; He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need; He wanted us to enter into the celebration.
Like I said--a giant picnic.
So, as we enter another work week, we can remember that a giant picnic awaits us in those moments that we ponder, praise, cry out and listen to God.
Don't forget the sonscreen.
Wonderful food, playful recreation and abundant freedom to rest, protection from the elements and pesky bugs, and most importantly, companions for fellowship and community.
I read through the Bible from my YouVersion app, and each day the app opens with a selected passage. In Ephesians 1, we read about what I am calling The Giant Picnic because we hear about God's plan with Christ at the helm: what pleasure He took in planning this; abundantly free; He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need; He wanted us to enter into the celebration.
Like I said--a giant picnic.
So, as we enter another work week, we can remember that a giant picnic awaits us in those moments that we ponder, praise, cry out and listen to God.
Don't forget the sonscreen.
22 April 2012
Here...Let Me Do It For You
Here...let me do it for you.
Aren't these the sweetest words when you are feeling overwhelmed or just need a break?
These are not parent words for children when the kids are better served by learning the virtue of the task completed and well-done.
No, these are words for the weary single parent, the overwhelmed young person just starting out in life's work--anyone who lives with a seeming tidal wave of things to do every day.
Today I will honor a couple at a luncheon who gives me the very gift of those words. Along with others, we share the work of the coffee bar at our church, and though none of the tasks is hard, it is the week-in, week-out that takes a toll when the lion's share belongs to one person.
Every now and then, ever so sweetly, this couple says, Step out of the way for this week. It is ours to do for you. I choose to get out of the way by accepting their sweet gift.
Come to think of it, Jesus said the same thing. He saw us trapped in sin's failure, with no hope of being reconciled with a Holy God. As we've just remembered at Easter, He was the premier volunteer for every person, no matter what his or her lot in life. With the cross on His back, and an excruciating death before Him, He made the choice that would give us the chance to get out of the way and accept His sweet gift.
Here...let me do it for you.
Aren't these the sweetest words when you are feeling overwhelmed or just need a break?
These are not parent words for children when the kids are better served by learning the virtue of the task completed and well-done.
No, these are words for the weary single parent, the overwhelmed young person just starting out in life's work--anyone who lives with a seeming tidal wave of things to do every day.
Today I will honor a couple at a luncheon who gives me the very gift of those words. Along with others, we share the work of the coffee bar at our church, and though none of the tasks is hard, it is the week-in, week-out that takes a toll when the lion's share belongs to one person.
Every now and then, ever so sweetly, this couple says, Step out of the way for this week. It is ours to do for you. I choose to get out of the way by accepting their sweet gift.
Come to think of it, Jesus said the same thing. He saw us trapped in sin's failure, with no hope of being reconciled with a Holy God. As we've just remembered at Easter, He was the premier volunteer for every person, no matter what his or her lot in life. With the cross on His back, and an excruciating death before Him, He made the choice that would give us the chance to get out of the way and accept His sweet gift.
Here...let me do it for you.
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