Let’s Just Pause Right There

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“Father, free my foolish heart from believing I need the approval of people when you, the thrice holy God of eternity, greatly delights in me” (Scotty Smith).

Let’s just pause right there. Give yourself enough time to let these words soak into your skin and penetrate the very marrow of your bones.

Sometimes you crave the approval of others and chase people’s affections, making a fool of yourself in the process. You spend so much time morphing into what you think everyone else wants you to be that you forget how to be you.

Maybe right now the person whose approval you need most is you.

You’ve been your own harshest critic. Nothing is ever good enough. Even the best moments are rife with mistakes and flaws.

At the end of the day, you can escape from all the others, but you can never run away from you. All those self-deprecating thoughts follow you wherever you go.

Maybe right at this very moment all you need is to remember that your Abba Father delights in you. Not tolerates. Not likes. Not mildly approves. Delights.

If you could combine every romance in history, every tender affection of parent and child, brother and sister, every love between friends, all the love the world has ever known, it would still fall far short of the love that God has for you.

God loves you that much. He delights in you. Even on days when you felt you did absolutely nothing right and royally pissed everyone off and made a jackass of yourself, God still loves you as much as on those rare magical perfect days.

Just pause right there and let everything else go for a little while. It’ll all still be there in a few moments. And so will your Abba Father.

 

 

What It Means to Care

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“To care means first of all to empty our own cup and to allow the other to come close to us. It means to take away the many barriers which prevent us from entering into communion with the other. When we dare to care, then we discover that nothing human is foreign to us, but that all the hatred and love, cruelty and compassion, fear and joy can be found in our own hearts. When we dare to care, we have to confess that when others kill, I could have killed too. When others torture, I could have done the same. When others heal, I could have healed too. And when others give life, I could have done the same. Then we experience that we can be present to the soldier who kills, to the guard who pesters, to the young man who plays as if life has no end, and to the old man who stopped playing out of fear for death.

By the honest recognition and confession of our human sameness, we can participate in the care of God who came, not to the powerful but powerless, not to be different but the same, not to take our pain away but to share it. Through this participation we can open our hearts to each other and form a new community” (Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life).

Perhaps if we had this spirit of caring, we would not be so quick to celebrate at another’s downfall or to assign evil motives to another’s actions. We would not be so smug and self-righteous when judging those we deem our enemies.

Jesus told us to love our enemies precisely because we are no different than them in that we have the same sin nature dwelling in each of us and are just as capable of any heinous act apart from the saving grace of God.

Once again, show grace instead of judgment and love instead of hate. The caring way is always the best way to go.

A Different Take on Psalm 23

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“God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life” (Psalm 23, The Message).

If you’ve read this Psalm in the same translation all your life, chances are you’ve probably become so accustomed to it that you’ve lost the meaning.

Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to make Scripture come alive again. For instance, a different translation.

I hope this one makes Psalm 23 a living and breathing word to you tonight, as well as a fresh reminder of how much you are loved by your Great Shepherd.

 

Even Mondays Can be Good Again

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“… so if we’re being honest here, we’re tempted to look at everything we’re facing, throw up our arms up & say, ‘I don’t see how?’
And You open Your arms wide & say: ‘Come see Me.’

We sit down & say, ‘This all feels too heavy to carry.’
And You sit closer & say, ‘My shoulders can carry any weight you feel.’

We look around & say, ‘But how in the world will we get through what’s ahead?’
And You look gently at us & say,
‘Just take all your world & lay it on My heart —
*and I’ll work the best through everything.*’

And You hold us close enough so we feel it:
Sometimes we don’t have to know the way through…
We just have to lean on the One who says He’s The Way” (Ann Voskamp). #HonestPrayers #RealPeople

I posted this two years ago and it still rings as true now as it did then. When the week hasn’t even started and you already feel beat up and worn out and run down, this word is for you.

God’s got this. You don’t have to be strong enough, smart enough, sly enough, or strategic enough. You just have to be surrendered enough. You just have to trust the God who’s already been there and made a way through.

Nothing that happens to you this week will catch God off guard or take Him by surprise. Even if that unlikely worst case scenario happens, you’re still safe in the arms of the One who still works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Go in the grace and mercy of God and make Monday a good one.

 

Trust Yourself in God’s Hands

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“Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says–‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands” (Oswald Chambers).

This came up in my Timehop from something I posted a few years ago. I’d say it’s still just as true and relevant now as it was back then.

Take heart and know that waiting on God is always worth the wait, no matter how long it takes.

 

You’re Still Here

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At some point, I remembered something I read on the inter-webs. Possibly. Or maybe I heard it from someone. Or maybe I dreamed it. Any of these is a distinct possibility at 10:46 pm on a Friday night after a week where I swear my brain matter was oozing out my ears at one point.

“If you’re still breathing, anything’s possible.”

Here’s the good news that you’ve been waiting to hear. You may have had the most crap-tacular week ever, but guess what? You’re still here.

You may be dealing with family crises and health issues and financial woes and a very uncertain future, but you know what? You’re still here.

I still believe that none of us are here accidentally. The fact that you and I are still around, still exchanging oxygen for carbon monoxide, still pumping that blood through our veins, means that God is not yet done with us. God still has a purpose for you and me.

Take heart. The fact that you’re alive means that your story is still being written and that the new chapter may be a complete surprise with joy just around the corner. God is crazy like that.

Glenne Headly, a great actress, passed away today at the age of 62. Lots of other people that you’ll probably never hear about also died today. But you didn’t. You lived to tell the tale for at least another 24 hours. That means something.

So be thankful and be intentional not to take for granted your one and only life. Make it count. Live in such a way that the world around you is better off for you having been in it.

And remember, you’re still here. As my old boss said to me, any day without a toe tag is a good day. Look ma, no toe tags!

 

 

Life Lessons from a Dying Baby Bird

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Earlier while I was mowing the lawn, I almost ran over a baby bird in the yard. It was so tiny and scrawny that I almost mistook the little guy for a leaf or debris. I looked around for a bird nest he might have fallen out of, but couldn’t find anything.

I cupped him in my hands and took him to the side of the house where I wouldn’t have to worry about accidental “bird”-slaughter with the lawnmower.

It was obvious from the first moment I saw it that the bird was most likely not destined to live much longer. It didn’t have very many feathers and couldn’t fly.

I felt awful watching him open his little mouth looking for food. I wish I could have done more, even though I know there was precious little I could have done to save this baby bird.

That made me think. Sometimes there are people in our lives that we desperately want to help. You may have tried numerous times but in each case, either the help is not wanted or not received.

Sometimes, all you can do for someone is to love them. You can no more save them than I could that baby bird. But maybe in loving someone like that you can save yourself.

There is so much fleeting beauty in this life that passes like a vapor. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it and afterwards, you are never the same. I think it was another God-wink moment.

I suppose I’ll give the little guy a proper burial out of respect when he finally passes. It seems like the very least I could do. Maybe there’s a bird heaven where he’ll finally find his wings and his family.

I know that this isn’t how it was supposed to be in the beginning and I also know one day when all creation is restored, all things will be put right again.

PS When I woke, the little bird has passed away. I gave him as fitting a funeral as I could manage at 6 am before my morning commute. I like to think my life is just a bit richer for knowing this little guy.

Just About a Perfect Night

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Tonight was darn close to perfect.

I got to see my old college roommate and friend from Union University way back in the day with his new wife this evening. I didn’t know very many people there (actually only two total), but I enjoyed the unseasonably cool weather and being a part of some great conversations (though my ambivert self did more listening than talking).

It was an older house with a fantastic backyard that made for a good place to hang out. They even had chickens in the back of the yard. If I lived there, I’d string up a hammock and sleep in the backyard every night. Or at least when the weather was decent.

Nights like these are God-winks in the middle of a long week where it always seems that it should be a day later than it is. I felt all day long that today really should have been Thursday, but my calendar said otherwise.

I hope the fall-like weather continues, but I also know this is Tennessee, land of the perpetually changing temperatures. We just might get all four seasons in this week.

In the mean time, I’ll keep choosing gratitude for every day I’m given and looking for all the God-winks and small blessings I can find wherever I can find them. Oh, and tomorrow’s Thursday for real.

 

 

To All My Single Friends

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I don’t usually give advice when it comes to relationships, given my less than stellar record in that department, but tonight’s sermon from Kairos inspired me to pass along some hopefully helpful tidbits.

Well, actually one  tidbit. Don’t settle. Ever.

Don’t ever settle for someone who abuses you physically, mentally, emotionally, or in any other way. In fact, if you’re with someone who does that, leave. Immediately. Don’t wait around and hope it will change or that the other person will change. Just go.

Don’t ever settle for someone who treats you like you’re less. As in less than the amazing image bearer of God that you are. As in less than the son or daughter of the King that you are.

Don’t ever settle for someone who takes you for granted.

Don’t ever settle for someone who still thinks and acts like a child and wants freedom without responsibility.

Don’t ever settle for someone who is complacent about who they are and where they’re going in life, someone who isn’t willing to make the effort to change.

Don’t ever settle for someone who doesn’t bring out your best self and inspire you to be all that God created you to be.

Don’t ever settle for someone to not be alone. Some of the loneliest people are the ones who settled for people they weren’t meant to be with and who made them feel inferior and alone.

Don’t ever settle because of the lie that you are somehow less than complete or less of a person without someone in your life. Only Jesus completes you. If you’re not already whole, no one can make you whole.

Don’t be afraid to be alone. There’s a vast difference between alone and lonely. You can be alone with God and be more fulfilled than in any relationship. In fact, it’s good for everyone at some point to be alone so that you become comfortable with who you are.

Learn to love God and yourself. Learn to embrace the season of life you’re in and be fully to where you are, wherever you are. You can only be a better person for it.

Go Preds: Why I Love the Underdogs

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I think I’d root for the Nashville Predators right now even if I weren’t living in Nashville. There’s just something about the underdog that makes me want to pull for them, even if the odds against them seem insurmountable.

I believe that God has a special place in His heart for underdogs. You really see it when you look at the birth narrative. The ones chosen to be first to witness the incarnate God in the flesh, Jesus, weren’t the high-ranking religious leaders or the well-to-do in-crowd-ers.

It was some smelly shepherds keeping watch over their flocks in the dead of night whom God appointed to be the first witnesses of Immanuel. They were the first evangelists who immediately took the news of Jesus and speed it everywhere they went.

I’d love to see the Preds win the Stanley Cup. Regardless of what happens from here, I think they’ve served the city of Nashville and their fans proud by the way they’ve persevered and overcome so much already.

I’m thankful that God still loves the outcasts and unwanted and underdogs of the world. There’s no one that God cannot love, that God cannot rescue, that God cannot save to the uttermost. I know because I was one of them. Maybe you were, too.

So I say, “Go Preds!” and “Go God!”