Patience

Life is...Patience

Can a three-year-old teach you patience?

If you asked me a year ago I would have said no.

Then I see how my son has so much love and patience for his pets, and I realize I can learn from him. When the cat climbs our screen door, or the dogs start whining an hour before they get fed my patience goes from 90% to 0% in seconds. Before I can respond my son calmly says, "It's okay puppies." or "Silly kitty get down." It's a humbling experience...a reminder to show patience and love.

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My Identity

Life is...My Identity

There are so many titles or categories society places on us, and more importantly the titles we give ourselves. Anything as small as cat lover/dog lover, Ford fan/Chevy fan all the way to our marital status, gender, age, race, work title, religion, political view, and the list goes on and on. Many times there is nothing wrong with this, but when it becomes who we are it is. 

We are taught to say, and we mostly believe that we are so glad we are not all alike, but why do the littlest things that make us different upset us? 

-Tattoos or not

-How much money someone makes

-What kind of music you listen to

What if we started seeing ourselves and others the way God sees us?

What if our identity isn't in our job, our children, our money, or anything else, but in God?

This may be something you need to wrestle with, but here are just a few things God says about you!

-You are loved. 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:16, Romans 8:35-39, Romans 5:8, John 3:16

-You are a brother or sister of Jesus. Romans 8:29

-You are a son or daughter of God. Romans 8:15-16, John 1:12, Galatians 3:26

-You are a friend of Jesus. John 15:15

Dad's

Life is...Dad's

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My Word

Life is...My Word

Someone asked me to pray for them, and I said, “Of course”. Two days later, I realized I hadn’t. I was ashamed. Am I too busy to truly pray for someone? No! 

It really struck me that I can’t be lackadaisical about this. I can’t just say, “I’ll pray for you,” because it’s the ‘right thing to say’. I have to truly mean it and then truly do it! It made me think, do we believe it when someone says they will pray for us? Or, do we think of it as a saying something like, "Have a great day!"? I hope not.

God always wants our yes to be yes and no to be no (Matthew 5:37), but when we are using Him as our ‘reason,’ I think we should be extra vigilant.

After I was convicted about “I’ll pray for you,” I wondered...do we say other things without really meaning it? Things like, “This is where God wants me” or “We felt God calling us here.” It’s easy to say these things because no one will question it. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it. It will eat at your faith and destroy your credibility. 

When I had surgery a friend said she’d pray for me, and then every couple days, she sent me a Bible verse. It was amazing, and I have taken this idea to heart with many interactions because it makes me stop my ‘busy life’ and look up a specific verse. It forces me to do what I said I would do...pray for them.

Potty Training

What I Learned from Potty Training

-A lifetime skill may take years, but once you truly learn it you have it for life.

-I’m not in control of my son. I can help him, love him, and show him the right way, but it’s up to him to decide.

-There will be mistakes made in public, like peeing in your “big boy underwear” :)

-When you think you’ve learned something - you probably haven’t. There are always steps back.

-Chocolate and gifts work better than stickers, no matter how much you don't want to resort to them :)

-Getting frustrated and upset does absolutely no good - it actually hinders.

-Sometimes you have to go somewhere you don’t want to - into the men’s bathroom to get your son, because he knows he’s a boy, not a girl :) 

-This is only one of the first life skills that must be taught - Here’s to parents who teach their children these life lessons and learn something themselves! :)

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Forgiveness

Life is...Forgiveness

I was talking with a friend about a circumstance in her life, and it was so easy to say, ‘Forgive. It is for you, not for them.’ and ‘You can try to help people, try to show them a different way, but you can’t change them. You’re only responsible for yourself.’

The last statement alone is a pretty daunting one that I often don’t want to face. It’s easier for me to see a problem in someone else and “fix it” rather than see a problem in myself and have to do the real, hard work. 

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” - Matthew 7:4-5 

Wow, harsh word from Jesus, but the directness shows us how serious this issue is in our lives.

While I was “giving advice” to my friend I was thinking about my own circumstance and a person that had hurt me. I shared how bitterness, hate, and resentment had  consumed my thoughts and couldn’t help but pouring out into my life. I knew what I had to do, forgive, but I wasn’t ready to fully forgive and pray for them. When I was finally ready the words I prayed nearly choked me; it was hard! But I finally felt liberated from the bitterness and able to truly move on. Then one day they said something that brought it all back, and I was hurt - again. It would be easy to remove them from my life, and sometimes that is possible and the best thing to do, but let’s face it there will always be people that hurt us whether they mean to or not, and sometimes we can stop associating with them, but sometimes we can’t, and it is “a thorn in the flesh” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians. Maybe by going through the ups and downs of forgiveness with different people or the same person over and over we realize how many times someone has to forgive us for something we did or said, or didn’t do or say. And more importantly and more humbling God’s unending love for us and how many times He forgives us. 

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Service

Life is...Service

October 31st...what a great day to thank the men and women who serve our country. Why? Because it’s just another day; just another day we have freedom of speech, freedom to worship, and so many other freedoms we take for granted, because we’ve been blessed to live in this great nation. 

“As a country, our best days are not behind us but in front of us.” Do you believe this? Honestly, when I first heard this at a Red Rocks concert I did not. Daily we are reminded and convinced that this statement is as far from the truth as it can be. But is it? I am not under the illusion that everything is great, by all means it’s not, but are we ready to believe that our country can be great again? Will we “fight” for the idea that this country has more to offer our children, grandchildren, great-great-great grandchildren? For God “changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” Daniel 2:21 It is scary yet peaceful to realize that God is in control of our government, the good, the bad, the deception, the triumph...all of it. 

It’s easy for me to get caught up in the doom and gloom of this country (and this world), but today I want to stop and appreciate those that continue to see the good, the possibilities, in people...those that put others above themselves whether it be the Marine, the firefighter, or even the cop who gives out speeding tickets to unappreciative motorists.

Thank you and God Bless America!

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