Do you live your life in a constant state of go-go-go?
Hurrying from here, to get to there??
Hurrying from this task, to take on a new task?
I’ll admit it-I’m guilty!
I’m a multitasking person & I love having a variety of things on my plate; keeps things lively & interesting for me!
However, with every blessing comes great responsibility and while I enjoy “lively & interesting”, it’s important for me to realize that I have a little one tagging along, desperately trying to keep up. What kind of example am I setting, if I am constantly living in the fast lane & forcing him to run, just to keep up with my fast paced walk?
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My girls were on the stairs.
In an instant I saw my toddler rolling down. She did a cartwheel like tumble and then rolled onto her back headfirst towards the tile floor.
I screamed.
Her daddy sprang into action and threw himself towards the stairs and, in that same instant caught her head in his hand.
I ran to her and held her as she screamed in fear.
In the corner I saw my 5 year old with her head down.
I hugged her and said, “Sister is ok. I know that was scary.”
“I didn’t know she would fall. I didn’t mean to push her,” the tears began to spill as she confessed her truth and fell into my arms in anguish.
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Think back over the lessons experience taught you in your life. If it helps, do this by sectioning off your life: work, formal education, church, relationships, health, etc. Probably, listing 10 life lessons pulled from these areas would not be difficult. For the sake of time and space, let me list 3…
- Small changes over time add up to make a huge difference.
- Focus determines reality.
- You can be right, or you can have relationship.
Has experience taught you these lessons too? While the experience itself exists as uniquely yours, the process followed does not. In all life’s experiences, the process of growth essentially stays the same:
- Do
- Learn
- Grow
- Try again
As Christians, we see God at work in all of these experiences.
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“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. ~John 13:3
Recently, we have encountered some computer problems. Our computer started doing strange things and ultimately needed to be brought in for a complete overhaul. It started with the screen, then the mouse went crazy, the printer next, our internet connection was lost, and finally the hard drive.
It seemed each time one problem got resolved another reared up in its place. Meanwhile as a one computer family we were pretty much disconnected from much of our online activity. This definitely has its positive and negative points, but one would prefer to choose the way, how, why and when a computer break would happen.
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It’s almost too familiar, the Easter story.
Jesus’ arrest, trial, scourging, crucifixion and resurrection. God’s remarkable story of redemption settles in our hearts, but we often lose the awe.
A perfect man, the Lord Jesus Christ, was wrongly accused by a group of people who felt threatened by Him. They conspired against Him and had Him beaten and executed.
Most Christians understand the spiritual implications of Jesus’ sacrifice, that He
- bore the weight of our cross,
- took our punishment, and
- paid the penalty for our sin.
But we often lose sight of what happened in the physical realm, that the beating Jesus received left Him bloody and unrecognizable.
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Spring has always been my favorite season. I like that although 50 degrees in the fall feels cold, in the spring it feels like a heat wave. And with the warmer air, there’s hope that winter is nearing its end.
Spring reminds me of new life—buds on the trees, flowers peeking through the ground, the subtle shift of everything turning from brown to green…
And the new life we have in Jesus Christ.
New life because Jesus took on our punishment, and through His death and resurrection, we are set free from sin.
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
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In this season of new life and celebration of the resurrected life I find myself not in a place of stillness but in a constant state of busyness. As the beauty of Spring blossoms around me I am forced to enjoy it mostly on the run, because although it beckons me to come, sit, and be still the seasons of my life and the seasons of nature and time are just not collaborating. As a mother I have two boys in the middle of baseball season, two younger children in the joys of gymnastics, and as a wife I am in the season of endurance as my husband started 40 days of overtime.
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Jesus… got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.–John 13:4-5
Am I willing?
Acts of service require that we get up from the table. Service begins with a willingness to stop and serve others.
Laying aside his garments…Jesus prepared to do the menial work of a servant, washing the feet of his disciples. As I read these words, the Holy Spirit quietly asks, “Are you willing to get up and lay aside in order to serve?”
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