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You Get Joy

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“When you take your life for granted?
You get jealous.
When you take your life as a gift–
you get joy” (Ann Voskamp, 1000 Gifts).

On the surface, that sounds easy, right? Who in their right minds wouldn’t choose joy over jealousy and peace over comparison?

But in a society that runs on envy and comparison like fuel, choosing to see your life as a gift to be cherished rather than something you’re owed that you can take for granted is like imitating one of those crazy fish that swim upstream every year. It’s nuts.

The hardest thing in the world sometimes is to celebrate with and for those who have what you don’t– what you desperately long for and pray for and still don’t have– relationships, solid finances, stable careers, etc. It’s easy to get competitive and develop an “us versus them” mentality that leads to a way of life where you have to outdo, outspend, out-everything your neighbor.

Joy comes when you stop competing and start cooperating, when you can genuinely be happy for the person who gets what you’ve waited for so long. Joy comes to those who see and choose to focus on what they already have instead of what they lack.

Joy is not our default. Joy isn’t automatic like breathing. Joy is something we must choose every single morning, and sometimes with each moment. Joy is good.

Right now, joy is a very sleepy geriatric cat on the pillow next to mine. Joy is satisfaction from a full eight hours of work (even if I wasn’t able to get everything done that I wanted to accomplish). Joy is any kind of Halloween candy with chocolate in it. Joy is a warm bed under a ceiling fan. Joy is knowing that real value lies in what can’t be bought or sold or even owned.

Once again, I choose joy because I choose to see this life as a gift.

 

 

 

A Good Sunday

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It was a good Sunday for several reasons. I thought I’d share a few of them with you:

  1. I woke up this morning, so that automatically makes it a good day.
  2. I managed to get through both services without messing up the worship lyrics or the video of the baptisms. It can be a bit stressful at times, but it is worth it to experience worship in a whole new way.
  3. I had a fantastic Greek omelet at Athens Family Restaurant.
  4. I picked up a classic Lucinda Williams album at Grimeys Too.
  5. While it wasn’t the ideal fall weather that I love, it wasn’t 95 degrees with 95% humidity. Gotta take what you can get here in the great state of Tennessee.
  6. I’m still breathing and my heart is still beating as I’m typing these words.
  7. I experienced more foodie goodness at Local Taco.
  8. Obviously, I didn’t go hungry today.
  9. I’m still saved by grace, and that’s nothing I can brag about. God did it all.
  10. I have one sleeping geriatric teenage feline on the pillow next to mine right now and that makes just about any situation better.
  11. I have a good job to wake up early and go to in the morning that pays the bills and challenges me and allows me to help people (even if it’s in a more indirect way).
  12. I have a comfy bed to sleep in and a solid roof over my head tonight.
  13. See #9 again if you still doubt the goodness of this Sunday.

That hardly begins to cover why this was a good day for me. If I took the time to write all the reasons down, I’d most likely be up all night, and that would likely make Monday not such a good day.

So, lucky 13 will have to do for now. See you all tomorrow evening with something (hopefully) fresh and inspired.

 

You Still Matter

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“For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. You didn’t earn it, not one of us did, so don’t go around bragging that you must have done something amazing” (Ephesians 2:8-9, The Voice).

You didn’t earn it or deserve it. Neither did I. None of us did.

That also means that if it wasn’t yours to earn, it’s not yours to lose.

The same God who started this very great work in you will be the the one to complete it.

Maybe you feel like you’ve stalled out in the middle of your life and suddenly don’t have a purpose or a plan. God still does.

You may sometimes feel like a mistake or a nobody. Don’t ever let your feelings trump what God has told you (and what He still tells you). While your feelings can and will lie to you (often), God never does.

You still matter to God.

That’s all. I just wanted to remind you of that in case you were feeling like giving up.

Go back to your regularly scheduled lives now.

 

Rush, The Walking Dead, and Unseasonably Warm Fridays

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Thankfully, my musical tastes have improved vastly since my high school days. Also thankfully, there were exceptions to the rule even then. A few decent bands snuck in my playlist (which back then was called CDs on a Sony Walkman). One of those was Rush.

I got to relive my glory days in the car today during all my commuting. I had Rush to keep me company. I forgot how complex their music was and how proficient each of the three members were on their instruments. I find myself appreciating their music in new and different (and perhaps deeper) ways.

I made it home and finally got around to watching the season premiere of season 7 of The Walking Dead, where I found out who was the unfortunate victim of Negan and his favorite weapon, Lucille (which happens to be a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire).

This show is definitely not for the faint of heart or the queasy of stomach. This particular episode was like a punch in the gut (as I’m sure it was for the actors as well). For those who still haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it for you by naming the victim. I will say that I preferred the olden days when it was the zombies killing people.

It was another good night for driving home with the windows down. That never gets old. What does get old is the almost summer-like heat that seems to never want to go away. I already miss the fall temperatures we had over the past weekend.

Still, there’s hope for November. There’s all those festive seasonal drinks and (a few) changing colors in the leaves. Plus, the gift of waking up to celebrate the new day never ever gets old. At least I hope it never does.

PS My cat Lucy approves this message and asks for your votes for President this November. Or she would if she weren’t already asleep.

 

 

Repeat After Me

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I saw something that I posted a year ago on this date. It said, “Repeat after me: my current situation is not my final destination.”

That got me thinking. What else do we need to repeat to ourselves to remind ourselves of the truth when it seems that just about everything and everyone out there in social media land wants to feed us lies?

Here are a few I think that are good to repeat to yourself as often as needed:

Repeat after me: the next Presidential election will not thwart God’s eternal plans, no matter who wins. Neither Clinton nor Trump winning will take the Almighty by surprise and alter His eternal game-plan for you and me.

Repeat after me: regardless of whether this was your best week ever or your worst or somewhere in between, your identity is still not in your performance. Ultimately, your identity is still who God says you are, and that title doesn’t change with each new job title. You are still His Beloved.

Repeat after me: you matter. The fact that you woke up this morning means that you have a purpose and that God is not done with you yet. Nothing God has made yet is useless or worthless or of no value.

Repeat after me: tomorrow’s Friday. You made it through another week. Sure, Monday seemed like it would never end and by Wednesday, you weren’t sure you could hold out. Yet here you are, presumably still breathing and with a pulse, reading this like a boss. You made it.

Repeat any or all of these as needed. You can even make up your own mantras to repeat as necessary for whatever situation you’re in. Send some my way if you think of some good ones. I might need them some day.

 

Give Blood

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I did my civic duty today and donated blood. I know that you’re always supposed to give 100% at whatever you do, but I thought in this case to hold back a little. Just a tad.

Sure, there’s a time inconvenience. Plus, there’s that super humongous needle they stick in your arm (or at least it seems that way when you’re staring at it up close and personal).

But the payoff is worth way more than whatever costs are involved.

Who knows but one day you may be the one in the emergency room needing a pint of blood? Or it might be your son or your daughter on that operating table.

I don’t normally write blog posts telling you to do stuff, but I really believe that this is one case where your contribution actually makes a tangible difference.

Whenever I give blood, I’m reminded that my own life was saved by blood. The Apostle Peter reminds us of the true cost of our salvation: “You know that a price was paid to redeem you from following the empty ways handed on to you by your ancestors; it was not paid with things that perish (like silver and gold), but with the precious blood of the Anointed, who was like a perfect and unblemished sacrificial lamb (1 Peter 2:18-19).

Blood is life and Jesus, unlike me, did opt to give 100%. He didn’t spare a drop. He looked at you and me and said, “They may not amount to much in the eyes of most people, but in My eyes, they are completely worth the sacrifice.”

Ultimately, we give because He gave. We love because He first loved us. That’s the key to everything.

So give blood. It’s an easy way to pay it forward and live out the gratitude for what others (and God) have done for you over the years.

Who knows? The life you save could very well be your own.

 

Living in View of Eternity

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The guest speaker at Kairos made an astute observation: he said that most of us live like practical Sadducees.

Sadducees were a sect of Jewish religious leaders who denied the resurrection. For them, life ended at the grave.

A lot of us pay lip service to heaven and that sweet by and by, but live as though the here and now is all there is.

The result? We live with a kind of frenetic desperation. We determine our worth by our stuff. We settle in relationships because we think nothing better will come along. We’re always falling victim to FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out.

When Jesus came to give life and give it to the fullest, He did mean here an now, but I believe that life will find its truest and fullest expression in the life to come.

In C. S. Lewis’ book, The Great Divorce, he describes heaven not as a shadowy phantom-land but as place where every blade of grass is so real that it almost hurts to walk on it. A place that’s too much for some because it’s so very real and present.

We are to live in the now, but we should also live under the shadow of eternity, knowing that a whole human life is only a heartbeat in heaven (stolen from a Robin Williams movie).

Because of eternity, failure is not final and death will not have the last word. Defeat is temporary and suffering gives way to joy. Love wins and hope survives.

I still love the imagery of heaven in The Last Battle as the real and true Narnia while the present world is only a shadow and a copy. It’s the real beginning of the story that only gets better with each new chapter, the best story ever written.

 

The Beauty of Scars

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I saw a girl who had scars on her face today outside of Starbucks. What struck me most weren’t the scars themselves but how beautiful she was, not in spite of her scars but because of them. I wonder if she’s ashamed of her scars as most people are or if she sees them in a different way.

Most of us have a scar or two. I have one on my left hand from an automobile accident from several years ago. Some of the most painful scars are the ones no one can see, the ones we bear inside our bodies rather than outside.

Still, from the right perspective, scars are beautiful. Every scar tells a story and reveals a history of God’s ability to rescue and heal. Scars mean that you are still here, that you endured whatever ordeal and came out stronger on the other side. Scars mean that you survived.

Jesus Himself still bears His scars from Calvary. The wounds in His wrists and side are still there, reminding us that scars are not shameful wounds to be kept hidden but tattoo of overcoming.

No one gets through this life unscathed. Well, perhaps if you hide under your bed and play it safe for 80 years you might make it without scars. If you hide your heart away in a lock box and never let it out, you can avoid having it get broken (but you also avoid feeling anything deeply).

Perhaps I should rephrase. No one who really lives goes through life unscathed and unscarred. It’s impossible. People and circumstances will wound you, sometimes deeply, but there is no wound that God cannot heal and no circumstance God cannot work for your good and His glory.

Trust me. Scars are good. Wear them proudly to remind yourself and others that scars mean that you’re still here and not going anywhere anytime soon.

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Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

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I am a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. Admitting that, I also have to confess that I am ecstatic that the Chicago Cubs are back in the World Series for the first time since 1945. That breaks the longest streak not playing in a championship series of any of the teams in any of the four major sports leagues.

I will also confess that when the Cubs went down 2 games to 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, I thought, “Oh well, it was a nice run. Maybe next year.”

But miracles still happen and good things still happen to those who keep waiting expectantly.

That’s my takeaway. Don’t give up and keep believing for your miracle.

Are you single and wanting to get married? Don’t give up.

Are you married and desperately wanting to have children? Don’t give up.

Are you working hard and waiting for that breakthrough in your career? Don’t give up.

Above all, don’t give up on God because He hasn’t given up on you. God’s timing may not line up with yours, but He always comes through at the perfect time.

If God doesn’t give you what you desire, it usually means that He’s got something better in store for you. It also means that He has a much bigger picture in mind than you do that involves a whole lot more than just you.

Above all that is going on in your life, know that God is always good and always does what is best for His children. That’s still true.

It appears that Back to the Future Part II was just a year off in its prognosis of the future. Since this World Series features the aforementioned Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, neither who have won World Series titles since the 50’s, I hope they will have a completely throwback series with both teams wearing vintage uniforms. That would be really cool (in case any of the powers that be are reading this right now).

So keep believing and go Cubs!