That Pesky, Indomitable Teacher Voice

I love to teach.

But admittedly, not everyone in my sphere of influence wants--or needs--to be taught at any given moment.

Maybe it is so difficult to turn off because we as teachers hardly realize our teacher voice is always turned on. We scan the horizon incessantly for teachable moments.

I was a young married when I did my student teaching in an open classroom (remember those?) of kindergartners, first and second graders.

Always with a knack for talking to little kids, I carried it home one too many times.

On this particular day, I opened our kitchen cabinet to find the Chips Ahoy cookie bag standing wide open.

I marched (yes, marched) into the den and asked my husband, "Is this the way we close our cookies?"

We'll let his reply (that I deserved minus the color) go the way of forgotten words. But I've tried, failing many times, to remember the lesson.

Be a listener...be a learner. Then when God opens the right moment, be a teacher.

Thanks to Catherine Smith for sharing this picture.

Hating the Rich is a Hand-Me-Down

I keep wondering why there is such a hatred for the rich.

And what qualifies as being rich?

Let's say rich points to someone who has more than we have--otherwise, we'd hate ourselves.

So that rich someone who has probably worked hard and smartly for what he/she has somehow deserves to be hated.

I can't wrap my mind around why.

I can only figure that that hatred is a hand-me-down attitude and choice, learned from another someone that we somehow trust or look up to.

I'm pretty sure that that process is idolship that destroys.

Bottom line: it's envy.

Who wants to immerse themselves in envy for someone who has no reason to be hated except for the virtue of hard and smart work, leaving us haters in the awkward position of explaining to God that we accepted a very unwise hand-me-down attitude?

Better to think for yourself.

Not Squirming Away

We all know actions speak louder than words.

Question: How do we thank God?

What actions thank God more loudly than words?

I think we thank Him best when we quit squirming away from the setting for which we are uniquely designed.

Ours is a small town and it is easy to be restless, rooted shallowly, ever ready to head for greener grass at the first opportunity.

Then we awaken to the stirring that it is here God means for us to be, to grow, to live, to share.

You have a here--the place where God says, Bloom here, where I am planting you.

The challenge? To love it anyway, regardless of how much better you might have chosen your setting.

We all think at times that we know better than God.

Turns out, we're wrong.

Thank God with your here.

Are You Married to Your Blessings or Your Pain?

Whether or not you have a real spouse, you have a marriage relationship in your life that is pivotal to the quality of your days.

I'm convinced each of us is married either to our blessings or our pain.

Are you known for lightness and joy and peace OR complaining and blaming and misery?

The most amazing thing to me is that the people we most admire are married to their blessings in the face of incredible adversity and hardship. That tells me the depth of troubles does not determine to whom we marry ourselves.

It must be choice or point of view or determination or all of the above.

So...quit complaining.

Quit blaming.

Quit being miserable.

Your pain won't leave you but you will leave it, in a sense, because you can turn your attention toward your blessings. Divorce your attention from your pain.

I guess the cool thing about it is you get to get married anew each day.

So in the morning, if God is on your wedding guest list, will you be inviting Him to a blessings celebration or a complainfest?

Linger Where There is Laughter

Another workweek. Crises looming for some, others adrift, some in deep mourning. Some feeling an acute absence of the buoyancy of love.

Goodness, what a hurting world.

How do we feed our strength in the midst of this?

Linger where there is laughter.

Go back in your mind to the last place you experienced deep laughter, the kind that found a hallowed place in your memory bank.

Linger there.

I can't explain it but it might lighten the load of your day.

That moment of laughter is a gift of sweetness from God, like the perfect cup of your favorite hot drink.

Lingering where there is laughter perhaps gives God permission to hold your heartache for a moment, giving your heart a rest.

May your week have the blessing of laughter.

Mothering Adult Children

When the Bible cracks you up, you think it might just be a great day.

I parent three adult children and sometimes it seems a more uncertain path than when they were little.

I don't know how not to annoy them--say this, not that? Back off, step up?

Well, take a lesson from Mary, the mother of Jesus. Both present at a wedding in Cana, Mary approached Jesus:

"They're just about out of wine."

Jesus fires back:

"Is that any of our business, Mother--yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."

Here's the best part:

She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."

It doesn't look like Mary had my same hesitancy. With seemingly no uncertainty, she mothers him right into performing his first recorded miracle.

Never mind that she was bossing around God.

So I'll forge ahead, making as many missteps as correct steps, encouraged by Mary's boldness and Jesus' willingness, knowing that love covers a multitude of adult parenting doubts and mistakes.