Go Get It

Confession. During my last year of high school, the office only had my signature on file in the space that belonged to my mother. That's right, every excuse for being late, skipping school or missing assignments, I wrote it. Seems like I was always trying to get myself off the hook for all sorts of offenses or laziness. Whenever caught, I never owned up to it. I could always find a scapegoat. (Yes, I was a rotten kid!) Result: I was going nowhere fast or good.

Let's be honest. Sometimes when life gets hard, it's easy to blame others or circumstances for why we aren't who we want to be or where we want to be.

I guess there are three types of people.
1. The ones who blame others and do nothing about it.
2. The ones who blame themselves yet do nothing about it.
3. The ones who take responsibility and make necessary changes.

Pretty sure I've been in every category at varying times of my life. But the older I get, the more aware I am of how little time is left and it's no one's fault but my own if I'm not growing or achieving my goals.

Projecting that responsibility to someone or something else just enables me to stay stuck.

I'm reading Eric Metaxes's book 7 Women and the Secret of Their Greatness and saw the movie Hidden Figures the other day.* Here are some lives that can really inspire. These women had vision, guts and motivation - not just for their own advancement, but to win something for those coming behind.

Besides their faith in Jesus, I think a common denominator is that each one owned their own cause, passion and/or circumstance.

Ties into what I'm reading about Jesus' disciples. How in the world could the Gospel have spread the way it did (thousands of souls saved at a time), had they said to themselves, "this environment isn't helping me" or "I'm not growing because of my church. I don't get anything out of it." or "If so-n-so did such-n-such, I'd be able to succeed at thus-n-so."?

There comes a time in every life when one must strap on a seatbelt and declare, "if I want fill in the blank then I have to make the decisions and effort that will get me there." What's that old Nike slogan? Just do it.

Life as I know it is now filled with twenty-something-year-olds, my kids included. I'm learning a lot about their generation. They've got so much potential and good hearts but the temptation to settle loom near.

If I could give a piece of advice, it would be this.

If you find yourself stuck or stagnant, not moving forward, don't write yourself a pass.
No excuses.

If you want to grow spiritually, don't blame your lack of momentum on anyone or a current situation.
Make the changes you need to make.
Read your Bible. Do what it says. Pay attention to its' warnings and avoid the traps.
Pray. Ask God to help you.
Watch for His movement and join what He's doing.
Forgive the jerks. Love everyone. Serve anyone.
Deny yourself. Get rid of the things that are holding you back. Don't sin.
Give thanks. Glorify God in all ways.

You're only given one life. Don't waste it waiting for it to be spoon fed to you.  
Go get it.

Not sure where to start? Check out this amazing chapter in the Bible...Colossians 3...there's so much here I can't begin to highlight. Well, maybe just a little.

This is what I pray for you...

3 ^1-2 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

^3-4 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

^5-8 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

^9-11 Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

^12-14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

^15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

 So good! Move out of the backseat and get upfront where Jesus, who loves you so much, is driving. Best adventure you can imagine up ahead.

P.S. I'm crazy about you too.

______________________________
 *highly recommend both book and movie



P.S.S. I'm just going to leave these here.. 

because I'm an obnoxious first time grandmother.

Please, I Beg You

Dear Drew, Ben and Ally,

I was thinking about you this morning during our church service here at Camp. Since we won't be eating a meal together today or anytime soon (sniff sniff), I thought I'd write you. Pretend we're at the table and I just went to get my Bible.

Don't roll your eyes! It may start out as a little rant, but you're used to that.

Oh, and I left Brittany out of this note not because I don't consider her one of my kids or that she couldn't benefit, but mother-in-laws have to tread lightly in these areas.

So here we go.

First...please, I beg you to put your phones away more often and particularly for one hour/hour and a half each Sunday. (Yes, I'm preaching to myself too.)

Beth Moore recently spoke at Passion Conference and said this to a room full of young adults your age.

"Every generation of Jesus followers faces cultural challenges that will 

make or break its' witness. At this moment in time, 

I believe that there are two that loom large over you.

The first is pure distraction. Your lives will go by in a flash 

and then you will stand before the enormity and holiness 

and glory of God and the essence of insanity 

will be to have missed the Son of God over social media."*

That makes me shudder. Does it you? Oh please, I beg you, pay attention to Jesus.

When at church, don't even take your phone out. The temptation is too great to scroll. Playing mindless games is no good either. Don't use a Bible app unless you are travelling and don't have room to actually bring The Book with you. Hold your precious copy in your hands and read along. Write notes in it, underline, find truth yourself as you listen and follow along. This is impossible if you are playing a game or scrolling through social media. God won't shout over other noises, you could miss Him.

Second, please, I beg you to hunger and thirst for God's righteousness (Matthew 5:6). I pray that for you daily and for me and for Dad.

If you hunger for Him, you will not seek to be entertained or filled with the counterfeit pleasures and enchantments the world has to offer. If you thirst for Him, He will lead you to and flood you with Living Water that only He can give (John 14:4). And that satisfaction is what leads to the abundantly filled life.

If you hunger and thirst for Jesus, you will put yourself in position (church) and posture (listening with full attention/no phone) to feast on His Word.

You kids were raised in church and on weekly (understatement) sermons. You know what I'm about to say. Spiritual growth is not accidental. You won't stumble into a vital, life changing, exciting, passionate, intentional relationship with Jesus Christ who loves you more than anyone else does. It comes with purpose, hard work and repetition.

A practical way to pursue that life - here's where the pastor's sermon comes in - is this...(did you wonder if I was ever going to get to it?)

Our speaker today said so many wise things I wrote in my heart and in my journal. But this one really stuck out and struck deep...

"Start each day with a question. 'What do I have to get done today?' 

is the wrong one. 'Who do I want to become?' is the right one. 

When you have the answer then move on to the next thing - the practice of strategically scheduling the things that will get you to that goal. 

In other words, if you want to make your faith the priority of your life

and your relationship with Jesus more deep and intimate, 

schedule time to sit and pray, talking with Him and listening."

Other examples: 

If you want to be more Christlike, schedule time to read your Bible and learn what Jesus' patterns and disciplines and characteristics look like. Then imitate.

(side note because I can't resist this carrot: How can one be like Jesus if one doesn't know how Jesus interacted with others, what He valued or what He taught? God was so kind to have it written and preserved for us. See why reading the Bible is more than just a good idea?)

If you want to be a good friend who makes others feel important and valued, schedule time to be with one and practice listening and encouraging.

Get the idea? What's the answer to the question for you?

Lastly, please, I beg you, be aware of the distractions that can so quickly derail you from who you want to be and where you want to go.  Know your triggers. Then reject them with a fury. You can't afford not to. Your very purpose in life to glorify God by showing your world who He is and how He loves is at stake.

You can always rest on the reality that Dad and I pray for you everyday. We are cheering you on along with some others....

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 

let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2

Listen to Mommy and listen to Beth. Don't miss the best stuff.

You are so loved,
Mom

PS. I just had a thought. Let's add to our New Year's collection. The Spiritual Discipline Of Not Taking Our Phones Out in Church. The Spiritual Discipline of Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness. The Spiritual Discipline of Knowing What Will Distract Us From the Important and Rejecting Them.  Yes, yes I like that a lot. Woohoo - it can't be stopped. You can roll your eyes now.


*To hear the 2nd cultural challenge, find the video on youtube. You want to hear it, trust me.

Tangled

Winter has a firm grip on us here in the Adirondacks and it is nothing short of gorgeous.

I love a day like today when I can sit in my red chair by my huge window looking at the frozen lake and snow capped mountains in the distance under a sunny blue sky for as long as I want. Day off - woohoo!

Remember last year in many posts here I wrote about themes that pop up in the Bible as we read it cover to cover? Can you handle more?

For 2017 I decided to start with the New Testament for something different. After all, in December we celebrate the first coming of Jesus to the earth, why not jump right into the narrative on his life? Well, as always, it is not disappointing. Reading the Bible never is.

Being a word nerd, I can't help but pick up on frequently used words. My favorites this time around are believe and describing how the eyewitness of Jesus' life and ministry repeatedly responded, astonished, amazed, marveled, astounded, adding beyond measure, greatly, utterly and exceedingly to really drive the point home. That's a lot of enthusiasm.

I may have no choice but to add the spiritual discipline of marveling to my New Year's list. If you don't know what I'm referring to, catch up here.

Well, I can get off track pretty quickly. Ahem.

Anyway, I just finished the book of John. I do believe I have found a favorite section of the Gospels - John 14-16. These three chapters are jammed full of important truths and promises God has made to us through Jesus. Want to have a little nerd fun with me? (This is where you go get a cup of coffee and plan to spend 20 minutes with me.)

Notice the repetition and intimacy in Jesus' words:

14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”...

 
¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”  
²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you...

 ^15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full...

¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours...
 
²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning...

^16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

I know that was a lot. But did you see it too? The Father in Jesus, Jesus in us, the Spirit in the Father and Jesus, the Spirit in us. Mine. Yours. Ours. With you. Never leave you. Make our home with. In you...and on and on. Brings a song to mind, "We're all in this together....".*

God is not a far away God looking on from a distance, wishing us well, hoping we figure it out. No, He is close.

Tangled. He wants to be tangled up within us and has made it possible so many different ways. (study passage above) If we put our faith and trust in Jesus as the only Savior from our sins and hope for eternal life, we are all tangled up. Tangled up with the Father. Tangled up with Jesus. Tangled up with the Spirit. There are no gaps. No separations. I love the image of this so much.

Taking all this in a few words come to mind. Marvellous! Utterly and greatly amazing! Astounding beyond measure! I'm exceedingly astonished!

I believe.

I've been tangled up in quite a bit of junk in my life. None of it offered this closeness. This intimate involvement. This love. It's everything you and I have dreamed of and longed for.

The Bible says everything God has He gives to us. Everything. We are joint-heirs with Jesus, our brother. The Spirit dwells within us to help by reminding us of everything Jesus has taught, to convict us of sin and to comfort us in our times of need (among many other things).

Confession. One of my pet peeves is when a fellow believer tells a great story of how God has shown up and then declares it a 'God thing'.

Based on the passages above, everything is a God thing. To God, the distinction between secular and sacred doesn't exist. He's in it all. For us.

Which once again makes Him trustworthy. Loving. Good.

If you already know Him, imagine in your mind how tangled up God wants to be in every area of your life. Don't compartmentalize what you think He is about or not interested in. He wants to be in all of you. Receive this reminder especially for you today.

If you don't know Him yet, I dare you to believe and get tangled up in the greatest love you'll ever know.

*(poor High School Musical reference)
_____________________

And now, by special reader request, gratuitous grandbaby pitures.