Insert a Word into Your Household

Your household runs on many things, from your love to your cooking to your goodnight kisses.

Is there something profound yet simple that you might add?

Debbie Macomber, best-selling author, writes that she chooses one word per year on which to focus. At year's end, she can see (and you can read about) profound changes in herself and those around her.

What if we ask God for a word to insert into our household for today?

Careful.

That is the word that came to me when I asked a couple of days ago.

I was more careful with my eating.

I was more careful with my replies to others.

I was more careful (and intentional) in being thankful for countless everyday blessings.

On this Saturday, splurge a little. Jump into a word game with God and ask Him to insert a word into your household.

Profound change may be your reward.

A Shout Out to Chiropractic and Massage

I got older today.

Where you put a 6 and a 0 in sequence and you get discounts you didn't get before.

But here's the important news.

My ankle, whose pain I had been nonchalantly hiding for months, is pain-free because yesterday I finally returned to my roots--my roots of knowing that you cannot age with the least pain, least disease and most mobility without chiropractic and massage therapies.

Those same months I had been hiding the pain and tightness, wondering if I had an Achilles tendon/ligament type problem, I had been neglecting my monthly trek to massage therapy and my as needed visit to the orthospinologist (specialty chiropractor).

I had been hiding behind the same excuses you might offer: can't afford it, don't have time, others dismiss those therapies so who am I to be right about them?

Here is what I know, at least for myself. When I asked God in my forties to teach me how to age with those same parameters I mentioned--least pain, least disease and most mobility--I can point to the moments I felt drawn to these therapies. My massage therapist was 21 when we began our journey; he is now 35. And I began chiropractic before that.

Today, I owe a huge part of continually feeding my strength to listening to God point me toward structural and release healing. I'd say He used my ankle to remind me of my foolishness in walking away, and I am ever so grateful for the reminder.

If you have an ankle of stubbornness about chiropractic and massage therapies, I hope you'll reconsider.

For all the things America gets right, we are missing some very obvious ways to feed our strength.

My salute to our chiropractors and massage therapists. Thank you for what you do.

Believer Alert: Replace Morality With...

With what?

Isn't this our job as believers--to be church (and culture) cops and show everyone how it should be done, whatever the it of the moment might be?

Shouldn't we be preaching and reaching every moment to our fellow believers because, well, because the Bible says to straighten out each other?

Last night, with a group of moms as part of our church small group ministry, I was listening to our discussion of how we should balance loving and correcting other believers. I silently prayed for a phrase that might express a God viewpoint that could give us practical guidance.

This subject literally kills churches, friendships and the pursuit of God in onlooking unbelievers.

As weird as this sounds, these words seemed to come out without going through my thinking filter:

We don't have permission to correct each other based on what the Bible says.

Wait, what?

 We only have permission to correct when prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Prompting from the Holy Spirit is driven by Him in the moment, not by our head knowledge of the Bible.

We fail to understand that our participation in God's version of loving others in and of itself drives people toward His change for them.

A moment of morality, delivered only with permission of the Holy Spirit, looks very different from uber Christian, do-it-because-the-Bible-says-so.

We can replace church cop morality with permission only to love. If and when it becomes ours to deliver, that morality moment will tenderly coach within our immersion of God-love for each other.

(Based in part on Reason I Kneel, by Jeff Helpman, pastor at The Grove Church.)

A Place of Deep Marvel

A place of deep marvel.

Have you been there?

Do you ever get still enough long enough that an exceeding thought breaks through?

Yesterday morning we had a burst of snow in the early morning, and by daylight we were enveloped in enough white to cover and a snow fog that stilled everything.

I made time to be still, and in those moments, I suddenly wondered why I don't marvel more often that we are incredible beings, capable of love and delight and laughter.

We are truly marvelous creations.

Don't we want someone, at least occasionally, to ooh and aah over our creations?

I would think God wants that, too.

A place of deep marvel. I hope I visit again soon.

Our Real Battle is With Research

What a thunderthought!

All of our beliefs, actions and progress (or lack thereof) in living a life of freedom and truth have, at their core, our battle with research.

Do we let research that leads to truth conclusions change our posture and behavior?

Pick any field--astronomy, health, God.

Today's Google Doodle honors Nicolaus Copernicus' 540th birthday. The significance? He went against the grain of the astronomy beliefs of his day and with the naked eye, concluded the sun was at the center of the planets and Earth revolved on its own axis while revolving around the sun.

He was discredited for years. Turns out, he was right.

The real harm is when we hide behind truth we do not want to believe in because it would require a submission and change in our behavior.

I have been hiding behind my conclusion that I shouldn't run in my older age because it is too hard on my joints. A friend nearly dragged me into Crossfit training and I am discovering a reservoir of strength that I had all along. I was just more comfortable lounging in my excuses.

If I can learn to run again, perhaps you can learn to:

Let the order of the earth challenge your belief in evolution?

Let the evidence of free radicals and body acidity challenge your eating?

Let God's radical love for you help you love another?

It's all about the research. Perhaps, like me, you can let God replace the center of your universe of facts with His truth rather than ours.

Be the Bearer of Admirer

Here we are, on Monday, facing a new week of relationships.

Think of the thorniest relationship(s) in which you are embroiled. Negative swirls in your mind, needing to right an obvious wrong, withhold your approval, set straight what you can see that others cannot--or whatever action drives your heart in the controversy.

What if we take a breath and think outside the relationship box?

What if we bear admiration while studying the relationship? What do I admire about that other person? Can I see that person with the lens of God?

I would think that the first pose God strikes with us in a given moment is admiration--He is admiring His creation. He sees us as He made us to be, not necessarily fraught with all of our indulgences and wrong turns. He can get above our fray and see the true heart He gave each of us.

He is the ultimate Bearer of Admirer.

When we openly admire, we lead others to do the same. It is like changing the balance of the ship so that it is righted--it is not listing precariously with the weight of slicing and dicing that person.

This week is an open sea of choices. If each of us is captain of our own ship, I hope we are bearers of admirer. We can ask God for His view of that person.

We might find He's especially fond of him or her.

Dominion Boulevard

Recently my older daughter asked me why I never told her to stand up straight.

Because I can't ask you to do what I don't do, was my thought.

My excuses have run out:

I was taller than everyone else by junior high and I wanted to fit in.

My father often told me to stand up straight so I rebelled.

I see myself as less than I am created to be and shrinking feels safer.

That last one...does anyone else feel that way?

It occurs to me that we moved from Dominion Boulevard back in the Garden. God gave us dominion over the Garden and the animals--all of the earth was ours to manage--and we opted out to chase the failing endeavor of trying to be like God.

Thus we moved to Defeated Lane.

Now we crash daily into the reality of whom we were created to be and look at it like it is a foreign body and mind. We shrink back into our defeated self. It is exhausting to stand up straight and look our exceeding God-value in the eye.

I'm asking God to help me move from Defeated Lane back to Dominion Boulevard. Maybe it will start with standing up straight and risking the journey of seeing myself as valuable as God sees me.

I hope you are already my neighbor on Dominion Boulevard. Maybe I will see you soon. You can give me tips for living in the neighborhood.