Waiting

Life is…Waiting

My grandma told me a beautiful, true story about waiting, perseverance, and entrusting others. Aren’t all stories about waiting beautiful after the fact? We love stories about waiting and perseverance…Abraham and Sarah who waited 25 years for God’s promise of a son. Abraham Lincoln who became President after 11 setbacks, but I don’t want to wait for amazing things to happen in my life.
Right before Christmas my grandma had a children’s book she had written & illustrated over 50 years ago published. It is truly an answer to prayer to see it being sold on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, in the U.S., India, and the UK. The story of my grandma trying and hoping to get the book published is similar to her book The Lucky Penny. You see a penny goes on a “waiting adventure”: just going through a “normal penny life” until…well, I won’t ruin the end for you, but it has a special mission.
Isn’t that how we feel: just going through life, waiting, trying, failing, trying to do something important, and sometimes after a long time we see “the fruit of our labor”.
So, on to my story. One quiet night Grandma wrote The Lucky Penny. When she showed it to a few people she didn’t get an encouraging response, but she still felt it was good, so she called a publishing company. The man met her, read her book, and liked it, but $300 was needed to publish it, which they didn’t have. Still not wanting to give up she asked her father for a loan. Denied. Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed she put the book on a shelf where it stayed for decades until my cousin saw it and encouraged her to copy it for the family and a few friends. Not receiving a response she felt discouraged again. It went back on the shelf until a few years ago when Chris and I started the publishing process.

This story is so much like the story she wrote years ago, and so much like our lives. We are excited, we fail, we’re encouraged, we try again, we get “put on a shelf”, we fail, we succeed. I think it was worth the wait, but then again, it wasn’t me waiting in this story. Though we never see the whole picture I hope you can see part of the puzzle fit together in your life, even if it’s just one part.
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.” ~Pope John XXIII
https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Penny-Shirley-Redenius/dp/1505284163
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lucky-penny-shirley-redenius/1125337179

Hands & Feet

Life is…Hands & Feet

I only need to open Facebook to see someone mourning. In one day I saw 4 people post that they had lost a loved one. I’m bombarded with sadness. If I’m not careful I become overwhelmed and shut down instead of connecting. How often do I send a sad emoji or a quick note – sometimes that’s all I can do -but putting actions to words takes me out of my own life – makes me realize, really realize, I’m not the center. In the Bible we see Jesus not just giving words but getting messy and involved: truly “mourning with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15) Jesus physically helped people: the blind man, the leper, the dead girl, just to name a few. He didn’t help everyone, and we don’t need to either - we can’t.

I’ve seen a few instances this last week of people putting aside their own agendas and busy schedules and loving others: my mom brining soup and sitting with a sick friend and a man at church organizing a work day where many came to help a grieving widow.
Many times we here “Be the Hands and Feet of Jesus” it sounds nice – let’s actually do it!

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Real Life

Life is…Real Life

I was watching NCIS; this particular episode was about WWII. I love stories about “The Greatest Generation”, about heroism & bravery. While watching the episode I felt this man’s pain. I dialed into the story and the sadness. Then it hit me. This story isn’t real! Why do I immerse myself in things that are fake instead of “Rejoicing with those who rejoice; weeping with those who weep.” Romans 12:15
Is it to disengage, to relax? Yet I can become fixated on movies and shows – they become part of my life, and I forget that there are people around me that have stories that need to be heard. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ~Maya Angelou

How many tragedies could be avoided if only someone would speak and someone would listen?
Do we give people around us more attention than we give video games, TV, or Facebook? I need a break and love watching shows, but I’m reminded not to forget what my priorities are. What will matter at the end of my life? How many shows I binge watched or video games I played, or how I impacted someone’s life and allowed that person to impact mine.

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"That Mom"

Life is… “That Mom”

Before I was a mom I never thought I’d be “that mom” who got a checkout line opened for her at Walmart because her son was having a meltdown. But there I was astonished (because Walmart is always short on cashiers, embarrassed, and yet so thankful!) I never thought I’d be “that mom” whose son ran across a busy street. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life, so unbelievably thankful the cars stopped, and then feeling like a complete failure as a parent, because who lets their little boy run out into traffic? I’m “that Mom”….A Failure! A Bad Mom.

You may dismiss these feelings with ‘No you’re not. It happens to everyone.’ Although it’s true - these feelings can’t disappear in a second. I know there will be many more times of feeling like this, but here’s what I've learned….

1) I was easily willing to judge someone else’s parenting, mostly from afar, not even knowing the person’s name, yet when it happened to me I wanted grace. I was not living by Matthew 7:12a “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”

2) I am not going to be a perfect mom…obviously! I think we all know this, but there is such pressure by others and ourselves to be perfect parents and raise perfect kids.

And 3) Most importantly I am not defined by my mistakes. Of course I want to learn, grow, and change, but my failures won’t envelop me. This is one of my favorites… “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:38-39

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Making a Difference

Life is…Making a Difference 

I was at a graduation where I heard the typical, don’t be afraid to be different – make a difference. Inspiring. I want to be different and make a difference, but if I’m completely honest with myself sometimes I don’t want to be different. I don’t want to go against the status quo. I want to be accepted. I don’t want to stand out. I want to be invited.
Then I go to the other extreme where I feel like I’m not making a difference. I read the new

Tim Tebow book Shaken; when he wrote John 3:16 on his eye black in college and 90 million googled the verse during the game. This year the Tim Tebow Foundation is hosting 350 proms at churches around the world for people with special needs. Wow! Obviously this doesn’t happen just because of one person, but I feel a little insignificant, that what I do doesn’t matter. I teeter between wanting to do more and a relief that I don’t have to. I don’t have the platform, twitter followers, or ability to make the nightly news.  Then I realize I’m extremely blessed. God has given me talents and treasures to use not to give myself more comfort but to help others. Am I doing what I can (really doing what I can – being different), or am I getting bogged down in my day to day needs, wants, and routines to see the big difference I can make- if only I will.  

“Don’t limit what He (God) can do based on how you limit yourself. Be you, and let God be God.” ~Tim Tebow Shaken
Matthew 25:14-30  (The Parable of the Bags of Gold)

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Hate or Love

Life is...Hate or Love

Tears are flowing, my stomach is upset, I’m frustrated and mad seeing our country and the world. I don’t want to see any more news; I just want to hide…curl up on the couch and watch a feel-good Christmas movie. Maybe that’s what I need for a few hours, but then I have to confront reality again. There is so much hatred. Where does it stop? How can one person do anything? What can I do? Questions that can overwhelm me into doing nothing and also makes me bitter, angry, judgmental, and if I’m brutally honest I begin to hate.

What is the opposite of hate…love. What is Love? “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

A pretty long list that makes me realize that I have not loved well. So instead of focusing on others and the hatred I see I will focus on showing love. Because the only person I can change is myself. Maybe doing my best to truly love won’t change the world, but it might change a few people that I run into, and it will change me.

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Politics

Life is...Politics

You might not know that in high school and the beginning of college my dream was to become the President of the United States. What changed? It became more and more apparent that being in politics probably meant focusing on and digging up dirt on another candidate and slowly letting my beliefs be bought.

 

Now I realize that this can happen with anyone or any job. We slowly say yes to one thing and no to another not realizing that we're in a valley and not on top of the mountain we intended to be on. Yet it seems utterly apparent when we look at politics today.

As this election comes to a close I want to share a verse I have been reminding myself every time I get worried.

Daniel 2:21 "He (God) changes times and seasons; he deposes king (or presidents) and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."
My prayer is that people will find their hope in God and not politics - maybe then our country will see peace and be able to show kindness to one another.

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