Have you ever had a truly rotten day? The kind of day where absolutely nothing goes right. The kids are whining, there’s no more milk (you spilled it all over the kitchen floor) you’re out of bread . . . The car won’t start, then when you finally get on the road you look at the gas gauge and it’s on “E” . . . The list goes on and on for the rest of the day.
During a day like this, many of us find ourselves wishing we could start over. We’ve all had these days, but compared to the events in Lamentations, a day like I described looks like a walk in the park.
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The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon. (Psalm 92:12 [emphasis mine])
Anything that grows, changes.
Change requires faith. Faith to believe that God is in control and that His plans may not make sense to us, but make perfect sense to Him. I hate change. Admittedly, my faith can be quite weak at times. I am perfectly happy living day in and day out in the comfort of monotony. Red lights flash and sirens scream their shrill warnings if I wander outside of familiarity.
My husband Paul is an attorney.
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Have you ever been faced with a tough decision? I’m not talking about where to go to dinner, which movie to see or which color shoes to buy. I mean the kind of decision where you truly do not know what to do because it affects your or someone you love’s future.
What do you do when you are faced with such a decision? When you need wisdom? Many people will tell you to weigh the pros and cons. They will say you should choose whatever has the greatest potential for a good outcome. But what are we to do as Christians?
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John 3:16 is a verse that many of us learned as toddlers, to be forever deeply etched in our minds. I sometimes wonder if it is possible that patients with memory loss are inexplicably still able to quote this verse verbatim years later.
Because of it’s frequency of use, I suddenly found that I had become bored with this verse. No longer reveling in the amazing truth it contains, no longer remembering the deeper meaning – complacency had set in.
But for some reason it entered my mind today and I could not ignore it and once again found myself in awe of the love of God.
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“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” NIV Heb 12:2
Why do I tend to be like the stubborn people of the Bible? Like Moses and Peter instead of the ones after God’s own heart like Joseph, David and John?
Why do I take after the ones who, though devoted to God, often shifted their focus off of him, and ended up in trouble or worse, sin?
Peter was very passionate.
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Today at the airport I had to wait an extra 2 hours before catching my flight, along with hundreds of other passengers, because of a security breach. Apparently some people had slipped past security without being screened and so they stopped anyone entering while they evacuated all of the departing passengers back out of the secure area until they had made sure everything was safe and then slowly let people through.
I thought I was totally justified in feeling frustrated, but I was challenged when I read Genny’s post recently and realized that I’d had a security breach of my own.
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“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.†Zechariah 4:10 NLT
Now that’s a verse I need to keep in the front of my mind.
Because, as someone who likes to see things get done, and see them get done quickly, I’m not always the most patient person. And I don’t always appreciate the start of something, no matter how great it turns out in the end.
When I set goals—whether personal or related to my career–I tend to be very focused on the end result. And sometimes I forget that so much of life is about the journey.
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During a brisk morning walk that doubled as prayer time, I talked with the Lord about some anxiety I carried with being new to my city. While I consider cultivating friendships a joy, I’m always a bit nervous meeting people for the first time. Most of my fears fall under an inferiority complex I hold in the intelligence department.
Did I ever mention that I used to have panic attacks whenever the commercial for the game show Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader aired? Feel free to laugh at that one. I won’t blame you, but know, I’m not making that up for laughs, it really use to happen.
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