There are days I feel discouraged.
Days when nothing I do seems to matter and I wonder why I bother.
Days when what I think are God’s plans for me don’t make sense and I question if I misunderstood.
Days I know the enemy is working on my thinking, and yet, I can’t seem to stop the attack which leads to self-doubt.
Discourage—to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit. (dictionary.com)
When I feel discouraged, I feel like giving up.
God knew His people would have days like this—days they felt discouraged and ready to give up. But He promised He would be with them.
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My grandmother used to call it “putting on” her face.
Makeup.
Concealer, foundation, blush, shadow, eye liner, mascara, and lip gloss.
I refuse to leave the house without makeup. I’ve even been known to go into surgery wearing a little bit of mascara. I know we’re supposed to go under the knife sans products, but I just feel so naked without lashes and lip gloss.
Do you feel exposed and vulnerable without concealer and color?
Standing in front of the mirror the other morning, I realized I have lots of flaws and imperfections that I try to cover up and hide .
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O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago. (Psalm 25:1)
I am a planner. You will rarely find me without my trusty little companion which I dote over, painstakingly planning the days and weeks ahead like a master chess player strategizing each move in a championship game.
It’s no surprise then when I see my day unravel, like a stray ball of yarn discovered and enjoyed by a playful kitten, I get a bit miffed. This is one of the reasons it brings me great comfort and peace to remember that my God is the one who is The Master Planner.
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A few years ago, when my kids and I were out driving and had time in the car, I decided it would be good to review some safety rules with them.
It had been a while since I’d done this and I wanted to talk to them about what to do in different situations.
When I’d done this before, I’d usually ask them a question like, “What would you do if a stranger asked you to go with him or her?” and after they’d answer, we’d talk about it.
This time, as I began talking to them about the importance of sticking together in crowded places like the movie theater or the mall, my daughter chimed in from the back seat…
“Yeah, because if we are just one, we can really break, but if we’re together, it’s not so easy.”
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“En nombre de Padre, de Hijo, y de espiritu santo.”
The waters stirred as the dark haired gentleman followed the pastor into the baptismal pool. The pastor introduced himself and this gentleman to the congregation. Hundreds of eyes rested on these two as they readied to represent Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. “This man comes to us tonight to be baptized.” Those were the last words I understood.
The pastor then spoke beautiful Spanish as fluid as the water in which he stood. The words were engaging but made no sense to me. I followed as closely as possible listening for chunks of words I understood comparing them to the words I knew and expected at a baptism.
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She spends fifteen minutes on her makeup, adding a bit of eyeshadow here, curling those eyelashes one more time. Her hair just isn’t laying right, as she checks the back for the fifth time with her handheld mirror. Maybe a turtleneck would work better with her hair down, or maybe she should just wear it up and out of the way today. She frets. She frowns. She feels paralyzed in this place of not-pretty-enough.
Across town, another woman is cleaning. Baseboards, windowsills, walls, doorknobs. She sees some spots on the window that she must have missed the day before. She sighs and reaches for the Windex and paper towels.
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With dish in hand he stands in front of the cupboard. In a toddler voice he says, “M and M . . . M and M.”
As the magical bag appears his eyes open wide, and through a smile that covers his face he exclaims, “OH WOW!
My daughter blames me. It’s okay. We blame my Gram for my love of chocolate. I’ve decided it’s a Gram’s job. 🙂
Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
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It is so easy to look at our lives and only see what we are lacking. Maybe it is money. Maybe it is a lack-luster marriage. Maybe it is opportunity in career or ministry. Maybe it is friendship. Maybe it is a family.
For me, though it seems trite, it was just about chicken tonight… or my lack of chicken. My thoughts went something like this: This curry dinner would taste so much better with chicken in it… I sure wish we had the money to run and pick up chicken so we wouldn’t only be eating veggies and rice… We just don’t have enough money to get the things we need when we need them.
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