Time flies

Another year is about to pass by and a new year is on the horizon. As the new year approaches, I haven't taken time to reflect on what is to come. Perhaps it's because I'm too busy or maybe it really doesn't matter.

Sound like someone with no hope? Actually it's just the opposite. I am full of hope. Hope for today.

If there is one thing I have learned over the past few years, it's that no matter what I think, I really have no control over tomorrow; and for that matter, I really have no control over today. The only thing I can control is my relationship with God. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Me, on the other hand, not so much. But I get to choose every minute of every day whether I will submit to God and live with Christ in me; or take charge and push Christ out. When I put it in those terms, it seems a bit harsh. The reality is this, any time I take charge, God is not in charge. And when I take charge, things get messy. When I submit, things clear up. Then why is it so hard to submit? Two words - free will. That is the way God made us. He gave us the abilty to choose.

What I've discovered is this: Submitting is only hard when I'm not submitting. Sounds crazy, I know. But what I mean is I can't do it on my own, but when I quit trying to do it on my own (submit), "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13

So, I'm ready for 2011... when it comes. Until then, I'm going to focus on right now and see what God has planned for today!

My prayer:

God, I thank you for your strength, for your perfect plan in and through me. I do not know what tomorrow holds, but as long as you are in it, that's enough for me. I give you this minute in my life, and with Christ's strength, I give you every minute that follows. Thank you for giving me free will to choose and trusting me to choose You. Amen.

Why Should I Hurry?

All around I hear people saying "hurry up", "hurry, you need to decide", or just plain "HURRY!". As I was thinking this week about a friend who's important life decision seemed to be in part based on beating a time line, I began to ponder the concept of making decisions in a hurry.

So, as I often do when I want to know more, I pulled out my Bible (I started with the NIV) and looked in the concordance. Lo and behold, right there between hurl and hurt was nothing! Hurry was mysteriously absent. Not to be deterred, I went for my NRSV Bible. This time, the surrounding words were hungry and husband, but still no hurry. King James Version - no hurry. New Century Version - no hurry. (Can a person have too many Bibles?) My version of The Message doesn't have a concordance; but if it did, I'm guessing still no hurry. (Of course, with The Message, one can't be sure.)

In each of these versions of the Bible we are told to seek, go, stand, come and wait, but not to hurry. Jesus never hurried. Even when his friend Lazerus was dying, Jesus waited two days before he left for Lazerus' home. So why then, are we all so obsessed with being in a hurry to do, to decide, to go? It seems we're all afraid if we don't hurry up we'll miss out. But the truth is, we miss out, at least on the things that matter most, because we're in too much of a hurry.

So what does this mean? For me, it means if someone is telling me I need to make decision in a hurry, that someone is not God. And whatever they are wanting me decide probably isn't of God either.

Of course, if you're around our house on Sunday morning, you'll most likely still hear me shouting, "Chad, hurry up! We're going to be late for church." But then, I'm not God, I'm the Momma and sometimes Mom's just have to keep the world moving. You know what they say, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!"

I guess, I'll just have to keep working on this one.

Hold me

As a child when we are tired, scared, uncertain or just want to be closer or higher up, we stretch out our arms to someone we trust, usually our parent - our provider, and say, "Hold me". In response, our parent reaches down and takes us into his or her arms and holds us tightly.

Now, imagine your relationship with God in that way... envision yourself stretching your arms up as high as you possibly can and saying, "Hold me... hold me". In response, God the Father reaches down and lifts you up, wrapping you tightly in His arms where you are safe, secure and loved. You can even lay your head on His shoulder and nestle into his neck and rest. What an amazing sight!

That sight is a reality available to each and every of us, if we only ask: "Hold me, Lord, hold me." Best of all, unlike our own children, we never get to big for God the Father to pick us up.

What a great day to be nestled in the arms of God!

"And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." Mark 10:16

My Prayer:

Hold me.

I'M HOPELESS!

I’m hopeless!

The more I read; the more I study; the more I experience; the more I move closer toward God, the more hopeless I realize I am - - - - - - without God!

It’s really hard to be kind and courteous to the lady and her unruly child sitting next to you. It’s really hard to reach out and speak kind words to the person with bad breath sitting next to you. (And it’s REALLY, REALLY hard when you’re stuck between them both on the airplane!) It’s really hard to show love to those that choose a life style that is opposed to scripture and your basic beliefs. It’s really hard not to begrudge those who rattle on, seemingly just to be heard, causing you delay.

Last week, I encountered all of these situations and more. Alone, I am hopeless. I am short (not just in height), rude and judgmental. With God, I’m still not there, but am getting better (the last one really tripped me up though) and, I now realize that I can actually be where God wants me to be if I always remember to turn everything over to Him at the outset --- and not in hindsight.

What I am learning is if Christ truly dwells within, then doing the loving thing isn’t all that hard. It’s when I try to do the good thing on my own that things go amuck. Without God, I can do nothing. With Him, I can do all things.

“…God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has
given to us.” Romans 5:15

My prayer:
God, fill me with your loving Spirit. Let your presence overtake my entire being so there is nothing left but you! Let your thoughts be mine, that I may love as I have never dared before and see others in the loving light in which you created them. Amen.

Why is it so hard?

A few days ago, a friend of mine said to me, “Relationships are so hard!” My immediate response shocked me. “Not really”, I retorted. What? Did I just hear myself? - Not really? Where did that come from? Haven’t I thought that very thing a hundred times? As my words continued, I knew they weren’t from me. Something much greater was at work in that room.

I went on to explain to her, the only relationship that really matters is this one. I picked up a piece of paper and wrote two names, hers and God’s. Then I drew a two way arrow between the names. It looked like this:
GOD
↕
KATHY

It was so clear to me at that moment; the only relationship that really matters is the one between you (me) and God. That is the basis for all other relationships. We always hear people telling us, “you need to work on your marriage”, or “you need to work on your relationship with your children”. But the truth is we need to work on our relationship with God. It is only through a strong relationship with God that any other relationship can be strong. How obvious, yet I had never realized it before that moment; as my relationship with God has deepened, so have my other relationships. As my love for God has deepened, so has my love for others. As my joy in God has deepened, so has my joy in life. As my relationship with God has grown, my other relationships have grown and become “easier”.

Then I added one more thing to my drawing. I encircled the names with a heart, symbolizing the deep love that God has for her, and for you, and for me. You see, my relationship with God is the only one that is certain – that is forever. All other relationships are temporary and can be gone in a minute – but God is always there. He will never leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)

The relationship I have to work on is my relationship with God, and I have to work on it everyday. If I can get that relationship right, then the world becomes a much easier place.

“I am the first and the last.” Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 48:12, Revelation 1:17
(If he said it 3 times, he must really mean it!)

My Prayer: Lord, help me to remember to always put you first; to remember that my relationship with you is an ongoing, never ending process. Help me to focus on you and your love, so that your love flows through to everyone I encounter. Amen.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! What a great day! Fireworks – parades – friends – family - a day of celebration honoring our country’s independence. I love Independence Day! It’s the basis of our country, our celebration of freedom.

We are taught from an early age to be independent – to learn to feed ourselves; dress ourselves; do it ourselves. We cherish the first time we can walk to our friend’s house alone or ride our bike around the block without Mom or Dad. We can’t wait to drive ourselves to school; to move out of our parent’s house; to be on our own. With all of the talk and striving to become independent, no wonder the Christian life seems so hard – the Christian life where we are taught we should be totally dependent (not independent) on God. How can that be? That is exactly the opposite of what we’ve been taught and strived for all of our lives. No wonder it seems so difficult.

But, when you really think about it, maybe it’s not all that complicated. (Right, you say!) When we truly turn our focus on God and become totally dependent on him, aren’t we really just declaring our independence from other things? Our independence from worldly wants and desires. Our independence from greed. Our independence from worry. Our independence from self reliance. Our independence from anger and hatred. So today as you celebrate our country’s independence, remember what our forefathers were fighting for in their fight for independence – the freedom of religion – freedom to choose how they (and we) could serve and worship God – not freedom from God. They declared their independence in order that they could be dependent on God!

As you celebrate our country’s independence, don’t forget to celebrate your dependence on a God who loves you and will never forsake you. Happy Independence Day!

Happy Mother's Day

Okay, I'm a day late, but what the heck. Everyday should be Mother's Day (and Father's Day), anyway. Scripture tells us to honor our father and mother and it doesn't say to do it just one day a year. So... Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday, in honor of Mother's Day, during our church service three mother's shared there experiences on being a Christian mom. (Of course, my son and husband were quick to point out that I "didn't make the top 3," since I wasn't asked to speak! There's nothing like a huge dose of humility from your family.) All three women did a wonderful job. Among other ideas, they shared things like teaching their toddlers to pray and sing praise songs; 12 things they pray for their teenagers each day; providing their children with a toolbox for life; and praying for the right mate for their child. As they shared, I realized I didn't do any of those things. Good thing I didn't make the "top 3", as I couldn't imagine what I would have had to share in comparison.

You see, when Chad was a baby, we didn't go to church. At times, I wasn't even sure how I felt about God or what (or even if) I believed about God. Last night, as I was picking up the house, God impressed on me that I did have something to share. So, here it is...

For years, motherhood was not in my future. Before Dennis and I got married, instead of discusssing how we would raise our children, we agreed that we would not have children. It wasn't that we couldn't, we didn't know one way or the other, it was just that we were choosing not to have children. Well, at least that's what we agreed. Then about seven or eight years into our marriage, I had a change of heart. I wanted to have a baby. The problem was, Dennis hadn't had a change of heart. Then one day, out of the blue, Dennis told me that he was in. He agreed that we could try to have a baby; but only ONE.

As I stated before, at that point in my life, God really wasn't in the picture; but all the same, I prayed. I told God that if he wanted me to have more than one child, he needed to give me twins, because I would never get Dennis to agree to a second child. Although twins weren't in the picture, a beautiful, healthy baby boy was; and along with him, God entered the picture as well.

I still remember the day we brought Chad home from the hospital. I sat his carrier down in the floor and just looked at him, and cried. How could anything be so perfect? Of all the things that could go wrong, nothing did. All of his body parts were there and functioning! He was a miracle. And, at that moment it became clear to me that I had to believe in God, because only God could create a miracle like that.

Still, no church, no nightly prayers, no teaching faith or memorizing scriptures. When Chad was 3 we enrolled him in a Christian day care. Somewhere, between day care and my mom, Chad's curiosity in God came to light. By the time he was 5, he began to ask questions about God that I couldn't answer. So, I decided it was time to go to church. I told Dennis that Chad was asking questions about God that I couldn't answer, so I thought I needed to take him to church. Dennis thought that was an okay idea, as long as I understood that he wasn't interested in going with us. So off we went. We attended an area Methodist church for a couple of years, and we eventually landed at Acts 2. A couple of years ago, Dennis even began to come with us.

Chad is now 16 and he's a great kid. Sometimes a wonder how, because he definitely doesn't have a top 3 mom. His mom doesn't even make the top 10. But, with a lot of help, and plenty of errors, here's what I've learned about being a Christian mom:

1. Never quit loving your child and never quit telling them that you love them, even when they don't want to hear it.

2. Talk to them and make them talk to you. And when they do talk, do your best to listen.

3. Pray for your child. Most of the time, I don't know what to pray for Chad, so I just remind myself, and God, that first of all Chad is God's child, and he is only on loan to me. I tell God that although, I'm far from perfect, I know that He is perfect and can overcome any mistakes that I make and I ask God, "just don't let me screw him up".

4. Live by example. Unfortunately for me, this too often means learning to admit when I'm wrong, and apologizing for my mistakes.

5. Remember, that God's gives each of us free will, including our children. It is very possible that even if you are a "top 3" mom, your child will make bad choices. When they do, allow them to suffer the natural (and parent imposed) consequences of those choices, and pray even more.

6. Never quit loving your child and never quit telling them that you love them, even when they don't want to hear it. (I know I already said that, but I think it bears making the list twice.)

7. Most importantly, remember that God is in charge and He only wants the best for you and your child. Even if you're not a "top 3" parent, the #1 parent has your back!

You see, for me (and I believe for God too) it doesn't matter where a mom ranks on a list, or whether you start being a Christian mom when your child is born or long after. What does matter is that your child knows that God is an intrical part of your life, and that if he so chooses, God will be an intrical part of his life as well. Let him know that you are going to your best to help him along the way, but at times you will fail; however, if he choose to depend on God, God will not fail him.

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12-13

My prayer:

God, you have given me the miraculous gift of a child, your child, to raise. Thank you for trusting me with something so precious. Help me to always, look to you for guidance in this enormous task; and when I forget to look to you first, please come along beside me and pick up the pieces and show me how fix my mess; and help me to always remember that he is your child, too. Amen.