Get Moving!

The cold weather had arrived early. It was only October and we’d already had our first frost. I wore three layers, but still shivered as I sat at my desk. It was approaching noon, so I got up to fix lunch. I transferred the first load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and started the second load. As I did, I realized  I wasn’t cold anymore. Maybe because I’d been moving. 

 

“See any parallel here Ellen?” God asked. I smiled, recognizing how it mirrored my spiritual life, and doing what God had told me to. He’d told me to sit down and write. Write a devotion, work on my nonfiction work, or at least work on some writing exercises.  I’d been procrastinating by doing anything but that. I’d wash the dishes, vacuum the house, play a computer game. You get the idea. I’d done the same thing when it came to spending time with God in prayer or reading His Word. I’d suddenly have other things I suddenly “had to do.”

I’d fallen into Satan’s trap of distraction. Satan’s tricky that way. We tend to fall for Satan’s deception because he’s so crafty. None of the things I did was sinful, or bad in itself, but it was a waste of time and kept me from doing what God wanted.

We often do things that fill our time and they’re good, productive things. It makes us feel good about having accomplished them. But we need to focus on what God wants us to do. Each day we need to ask Him to help us hear His voice and to follow through with doing as He leads. When we do, we’re more productive and we feel better for not having wasted our time. More importantly, we’re obedient to God’s direction. All because we got moving.

The Kindness of Strangers

I’d gone to the reading of The Same Life Over at Centre Stage Greenville, SC. The actors read the lines, with one person describing each scene change so the audience could picture it in their minds. Because  there was no scenery on stage, I could visualize how it looked and enjoy the scenes and acts I imagined them.

Centre Stage has stadium seating and the stairs are steep. Since I sat one row from the back, I waited for most people to go ahead of me before stepping into the aisle.

Holding onto the handrail, I carefully stepped down the first stair. I did same with the second but my foot slipped. The next thing I knew I was tumbling into people ahead of me. “Aaaah” I cried. When I landed at the bottom, my first words were “Did I hurt anybody?”

“No, everyone’s ok. Are you ok?”

“No, I hurt.”

“Can you move your ankle?” someone asked. I nodded, and I did so, despite the pain.  

I looked around to see that five or six people had stayed with me to see whether I would be ok. I started to get up, but couldn’t yet.

“Stay there. There’s no hurry. Wait till you’re ready.”

“We’ll drive you home,” one man said.

“No, I’m ok” I answered.

“Are you sure?” he asked, unconvinced.

“Yeah, I think so”, I said, hesitatingly. About ten minutes later I got up and realized how dizzy I was. And weak.

“I think we should drive you home,” he said again, recognizing that I wasn’t truly ok.

“Yes, I think so” I said, realizing I was in no shape to drive.  

 After walking through the lobby at a snail’s pace, I walked out with them to their car. Hugh drove my car and Kathy took me in hers as I told her where to go.

They lived in the opposite direction, but volunteered to take me anyway and I was so glad. God used them to meet my need, even though I didn’t like needing anyone. It gave them the opportunity to bless me and taught me that sometimes we need to trust others to help us out.

Thank you, Hugh and Kathy, for driving me home that night. You’re a real blessing.

Life Lessons from a Dog in a Kayak

 

Sometimes God uses a dog to teach us basic life lessons.

We went kayaking last weekend at Table Rock and took our dog, Tommy. We’d been many times, but this was new for Tommy.  We got to the lake and Tommy splashed in the water along the shore, getting used to the water.  He smiled as he splashed, having a wonderful time. 

 We each got in a kayak and Tommy rode with Dad, sitting behind him. They paddled along enjoying the cool weather, the sky decorated with billowy clouds overhead. Lush green trees lined the shore.



Tommy decided he was bored so he got up to walk away. SPLASH!  He sank, having no idea what had happened. 

 

When he resurfaced, he panicked, until he figured out how to dog paddle.  He hurried over to Mom’s kayak and she held him next to the boat so he would calm down, realizing he was safe.

 

When Mom couldn’t pull him into her kayak, he paddled to Dad, who’d moved alongside.  Dad scooped him into his arms and put him safely in his kayak.

How often do we relax and decide to venture out a bit to try something new?  And end up in over our heads, not knowing how to get back? It can be scary.

When we turn back to our Father, desperate for help, He rescues us and scoops us into His arms to safety, glad we’re with Him again. And we can relax.  If we stay near Him, we can know He’ll keep us safe because he loves us.

Power Outage

Sometimes God just makes me laugh.

I went to a Bible study this week where we’re going through a book called Abide in Christ, by Andrew Murray and Bo Stevens. First they define what it means to abide, and then go into how to do that in our relationship with God. One of the first steps is to spend time with Him. Only then can we grow closer to Him and learn to be more like Him.

Confession time: I hadn’t done most of the study last week, I’d only glanced over a few pages. I can easily put off reading the Bible and do other things to fill my time. But last night as I drove home, I realized that I often watch TV or play computer games when there’s nothing I have to do. And spending that time talking to Him would be a better use of that time. I decided to do just that.

When I got home, the first thing I noticed was that the porch light was off. I know I turned it on when I left, didn’t I? I asked myself. I went inside and saw the light switch turned to the “on”position. Nothing worked. We’d lost power.

So now I couldn’t watch TV or get on my computer (since it’s a desktop). But I could use my flashlight to read and study the Bible. I spent the time reading the Bible and meditating on what God was telling me. Spending that time with Him was what I needed to do, and need to do each day.

God definitely has a sense of humor. And His ways are not my ways.

God: The Author Of Us All

Writers have a unique way of communicating.

I started attending a couple writers’ groups about two years ago. I figured I’d get to meet other writers and learn what they were writing, and hopefully get some feedback to help me improve. I had no idea I’d have to learn a new language!

Things like POV, WIP, and voice were just some of the terms among them. You mean voice doesn’t mean how loud I speak, or the pitch of my voice? And pitch is something else altogether?

WIP, I learned, means work-in-progress and refers to whatever an author is currently writing.  I think it also applies to all of us as we go about our lives.

As writers, we develop our WIPs, edit, tweak the storyline, and rewrite severak more times until we (and the editors) are satisfied. We develop our characters more fully, and fill in the details until the whole picture becomes clear and communicates what we want to tell our readers. God does the same with us as He writes the story of our lives.

God develops and transforms us to be more of what He has in mind as our story unfolds. He writes suspense. But with God, His characters (that’s you and me) are the ones who wonder what the next scene will be.  As do those who watch His story unfold in our lives. He’s written many stories over the millennia with plots that have many twists and turns, leaving us wondering what will happen next.

Only God knows what will happen in the future. I’m glad that’s the case. It piques my interest, even though I sometimes wish I knew some of the details ahead of time. But the Author knows how much His characters should know and reveals the details as He sees fit. He’s never written the same story twice.

If only I could do the same .

When Faith and Life Collide

Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you.  Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future.

This is a promise many of us have heard.  We want to believe it’s true, so how do we handle it when our circumstances seem to prove otherwise? Is this evidence that the Bible isn’t true? I contend that’s not the case.  Perhaps we’ve overlooked a piece of the puzzle. Maybe there’s something we haven’t considered.

Nowhere does it tell us how God plans to do to prosper us, or what that looks like. Nor does it tell us when.  It does say He’ll give us hope for the future.   That’s where faith comes in. Faith that God will fulfill his promise to us. And perseverance until we see how God works it through.

When it comes to many things in my life, I recognize that it takes time to see the fruit(s) of my labor. Building up a retirement account, deepening relationships with friends and family, or growing a garden, doesn't happen overnight.  It takes time, perseverance and commitment on my part to see it through to the end. 

So, why do we expect God to answer our prayers right away?  Because He can?  Fair enough, but what if He takes His time so that we grow in the process?  That’s been a tough lesson for me to learn, and I find I have to re-learn it many times over.  But God has proven that He’s faithful and has my best interest in mind, even when I can’t see it. 

How about you? What have you seen God do in times of hardship that you could only recognize after time had passed? How do you handle it in the meantime?

Grabbing Hold of What's in Front of Us.

It's the first thing I see every morning. It demands my attention and care and I'm happy to give it. I know that it'll flourish if I do. But it'll droop, and eventually die, if I neglect it.

I have a very needy plant on my front porch. It's a very thirsty little fella so I need to water it daily. I love the way it looks, so I take care to give it what it needs to grow to thrive.







 million bells

Because it's always there, it'd be easy to take its beauty for granted. The same is true of God and the gifts He gives us. 

"If you ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."--Frank Lloyd Wright.

Like the million bells above, God is always there, and is easy to take Him for granted.  But, like the plant above, our relationship with Him needs our attention. It has to be nourished if it is to grow and thrive. I struggle to prioritize spending time with Him. But I know it makes a difference.

How about you? What do you have difficulty putting at the top of your priority list? Don't forget to join the conversation.









Assumptions matter—a lot!

We make assumptions every day without even realizing it.

A couple weeks ago I was exhausted. I’d had a bout of insomnia the night before, so I was operating on three hours of sleep. After I got home from church, I lay in bed and immediately fell asleep. The clouds hung low, darkening the sky and it was forecast to rain.  

When I awoke, it was dark outside and the clock registered 4:00. “Gosh it’s early” I said to myself. But I was wide awake, refreshed from having slept so well that night.

I got up and went about my day. Had breakfast and puttered around the house. I checked my e-mail, wrote a few letters, and read a bit. The longer I was up, the darker it became. “We’re in for quite a storm” I said.

I caught a glimpse of the lower right hand corner of the computer screen. “6:47p.m. 6/24/2012”. That’s not right. I wonder how that got off by 12 hours  I thought.

No matter though. I changed the p.m. to a.m. and moved the date forward. I watched a few programs I’d taped earlier that week. Then I began to get tired and hungry. I had a snack but didn’t want to take a nap too early in the day. So I pushed through.

It wasn’t until about 12:30 that the proverbial light went on. I had switched to live TV and saw a late night comedy show. “Oh my gosh. I’m tired because it’s 12:30 a.m.”, I said.  Everything else began to fit into place and I just laughed. I was hungry because I’d had a bowl of cereal for dinner, not breakfast. And the storm had nothing to do with the darkness. It was the middle of the night! No wonder I was tired.

I ate a bigger meal, then went to bed.  

I slept until 10:00a.m. the next day. My body dragged as I tried to re-orient myself to reality. It was as if I’d traveled across several time zones and suffered from jet lag. It was a few days before I adjusted.

Later, I realized there was a lesson in this. Our assumptions matter. Because I’d believed it was early morning instead of afternoon, everything I did from eating breakfast instead of dinner, to resetting clocks on the computers was off base. Logical based on what I thought, but since my assumptions were off, my choices made no sense. And the results were nothing like what they would have otherwise been.

It made me pause. How often do we make inaccurate assumptions? About ourselves, other people, or motivations, perhaps. It makes a difference.

Have you ever made an inaccurate assumption that led you to the wrong conclusion, or had an unexpected outcome? Perhaps not as extreme as I did, but the results were still unexpected? Don’t forget to join the conversation.



Our Need for Other People

If the only tool in your belt is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Abraham Maslow

I heard this quote referred to the other day and I realized it reflects how we go about most things in our lives. Not only do we tend to see difficult situations through our own set of lenses, we react to them with what we know, and only what we know.

While this seems obvious, its implications may not.  Not every problem is the same.  And each may require different methods to solve, or at least manage it. That’s why we need other people’s perspectives.  Others also have strengths and abilities we lack. I Corinthians 12:18-20 tells us this as it talks about the church having many parts in order to make it whole so it can function as it should.  If they work together.

I like to see myself as independent. But having moved into my new place less than a month ago, I find that others' ideas and perspectives are invaluable, especially since organization isn't one of my strong suits. And receiving their help and ideas also blesses them. So perhaps interdependent would be a better word.

How 'bout you? How do you see this reflected in your life? Don't forget to join the conversation.

Starting over

Everything’s new.  Well, maybe not new, but different.  I’ve just moved and I’ve gone from having one bedroom in a house to a two  bedroom townhouse.  My own kitchen, my own living room, and two bathrooms to fill. 

It’s a great change but any change has its challenges.  The first, and most frequent one at this point, is the problem of finding everything.  It’s like the game children play “hide, find the _____________. You fill in the blank.  Whatever you choose, you’re probably right. 

In the past, that would’ve upset me—A LOT. I would’ve been miserable these last few weeks, and the next several I imagine.  But I’ve realized it’s not that important.  If I have to spend extra time looking for a notebook that’s been in the same place for years, or a list I made just an hour ago, that’s ok. Even funny when I really think about it. 

Same circumstances produce very different responses.  It all depends on how I look at it. Makes me think what else this applies to in my life.