Every which way but loose...

I knew it was coming.  That day that those who have gone before me have warned me about.  When your kids move into a season where they are exploring their world in such a way that you almost never see them.  That was my summer.  Last summer when our son started his first real job, I felt the void.  You know, not being able to pack everyone up and go on one of our summer adventures without taking into consideration work schedules and such. However, our daughter was still at home, so the angst wasn't quite so bad. This summer, however, was quite different.  The summer of 2011, a summer of lessons, a whole different kind of summer.

Lesson numero uno...

There is a world that exists outside this little bubble that your dad and I have created for you.  I remember just like it was yesterday, taking our kids to their first day of kindergarten.  Their eyes were wide open to the new little world in which they would now spend their week days.  Now, their eyes are ever more widened with what they are learning and experiencing in the "real world".  As much as I'd like to whimper and whine about not seeing them very much, I can't help but feel blessed that they are hard workers, are pushing themselves to new heights and have been commended by their bosses for jobs well done. As hard as it is to see your kiddos move into the real world, it is a necessary transition and prayerfully, their experience will be a positive one filled with lessons taught and inspiration for the future.

Lesson numero dos...

Sometimes, it's not what you do but what you don't do.  While my husband and I have always emphasized putting yourself out there and sharing your beliefs with others, this summer brought new ways of sharing your faith.  Both of our kids learned that sometimes it's what you don't do or don't partake of that speaks louder than hammering someone over the head with dogmatic beliefs and legalistic religious practices.  I know, that statement will be offensive to some.  However, learning that as others see the joy and peace in your life as something they also desire, they will eventually seek out what the source of that joy and peace is.  The key is being patient and understanding that the world cannot be conquered in one day, one week, or even one month for that matter.  Stand firm, stand tall, and stay true to the One who has called you, and His plan will take hold and come to fruition.

Lesson numero tres...

Let go and let God!  That saying always slaps me upside the head when I get caught up in trying to make something work on my own, instead of letting God be in the driver's seat.  This summer, that saying has taken on a whole new meaning for me. This summer it was time to "let go" of our very capable teenagers and "let God" do his job, even more so than ever before.  Our son reached this place in his life last summer and now it was our daughter's turn.  Now was the time to let them be under the authority of someone who was not preset or predetermined by their parents.  Now came the time to listen to their "real world" situations, share with them our experiences, and help them walk this new season out.  Now was the time to watch how they interacted with those who didn't exist within the bubble that we had surrounded them with for so many years.  Now was the time to let go and let God!

Lesson numero quatro...

Hang on momma, this ride ain't over yet!  As I look back on this past summer and all the lessons we've learned, I know that the biggest one is right around the corner.  As our son begins his senior year in high school in just a few short days, I know that the upcoming year will be filled with bittersweet memories and that things will be changing for all of us at the end of this school year.  As weird as it may sound, I feel as though I have one foot in the door and one foot out.  While at the end of this year, we will still have a daughter to graduate, we are, in fact, in the midst of moving out of one season and into another.  While I do have some anxiety about our first born graduating, I've seen God work in and through so many situations over the last several months that I can't help but be excited about what's around the corner.  Besides, I'm not in control so I might as well just hang on and enjoy the ride.

So that's how I would sum up our summer...every which way but loose.  It would be all too easy to look back and regret the "family time" sacrificed by leading a crazy, chaotic summer, but there was too much learned these past few months to harbor any regret.  Lessons, life lessons, are one of my most favorite things for my kids to learn. This summer, there was an abundance of life lessons learned...for them and for me.

"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.  

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh."  

-Luke 6:21

The other day my daughter ran in the front door exclaiming, "Mom, come look! You've got to see this!".  She then lead me to one of the smaller trees in our front yard and pointed out a nest of young birds crying out for food.  Loving to take photographs, you can only imagine how quickly I summoned my camera and began to snap away.  We both stood and marveled at their outstretched necks beckoning nourishment.  How amazing it was to some of God's tiniest creations in their infancy, dependent solely on something greater than themselves in order to sustain their ever so fragile lives.

Fast forward to today and I am downloading the pictures of our discovery and reflecting on the tenacity that these baby birds showed in opening wide their mouths with expectancy that they would be filled and nourished.  It made me think of what we as humans hunger for.  What feeds us?  How and when are we satisfied?  Does our satisfaction last or does it wain as time passes?  I was reminded how, through the years, I've heard the words hunger for God and he will sustain you uttered in sermons, Bible studies and the like.

Hunger.  Hunger?  Hunger!

Hunger is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient, an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food, a weakened condition brought about by prolonged lack of food, a strong desire.  The words 'craving', 'urgent', 'uneasy sensation', and 'strong desire' first jump out at me as, like any woman knows, when you hunger for chocolate each of the aforementioned words are just the tip of the iceberg of the myriad of feelings you have.  I chuckle as I reflect on just the other day sending my son to the corner drugstore to fetch some chocolate.  So is this the same hunger, one that will push you to move mountains aside to get what you want, that God is describing in Luke 6:21?  I think not!  While I could probably move a mountain to get a piece of chocolate, I'm pretty sure that the hunger He is describing is one that can only be satisfied by one thing...His word.

His Word...the bread of life!  John 6:35 reads, "Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty".  When we hunger, truly hunger, we will move any obstacle that gets in our way to be fed.  I have to wonder then, have I or do I move any obstacle in order to feast on His words?  I am guilty of too often of getting caught up in the day to day activities and requirements that I don't take the necessary time needed to truly seek Him and what He has to say to me for that day.  I love the quote by Booker T. Washington that says, "Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work."  I think that's where the weeping may come in to play.  Hard work today (truly seeking Him even if it produces pain) will produce good fruit in the future (a time of laughter).

While Luke 6:21 is a pretty straight forward and easy verse to understand, it's not always the easiest to do in the world in which we live.  As I am challenging myself, I also challenge you to take the upcoming summer days to really feast on God's word.  As when I have one piece of chocolate, the tastes is so divine that it makes me crave it even more, the more we feast on God's word, the more we will hunger for it and the more we hunger for it, the harder we will work to move a mountain in order to spend time in it.  May your summer feast be one that will sustain you, not only through the lazy days ahead but also through the crazy and chaotic times that we all have to look forward to.

And so we have arrived...the end of another school year

As I sit here and reflect on yet another school year's end, I can only see my children's childhood slipping away.  I was warned on many occasions that they would grow up quickly, like in the blink of an eye.  Those warnings of time fleeting by was many times ignored even though I could see it happening right before my eyes.  I guess you could have called it somewhat of a self denial of recognizing that soon my children would enter the 'real world' and be faced with the day to day tangles that life presents us all.

However daunting it is that they should have to learn the hard lessons of life, I know that in fact the sooner they learn those lessons, the better off they will be.  And so, as I sit to ponder the end of this school year, I reflect on the life lessons that one can be taught at such a young age.  As a mother, it is my hope and prayer that not only have I met those lessons giving them clear direction but that God will supernaturally use each lesson to draw them closer to His kingdom.

However hard it is for a teenager to always see God working through the lessons of life, in His sovereignty I know that God works all things for good.  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose", Romans 8:28.  I am grateful when my teenagers can see this verse come to fruition and can only hope that as they continue their journey into adulthood, they will hold fast to this very pivotable verse.

Just recently the opportunity arose to teach the lesson that unfavorable things happen even when one has persevered and done the right thing.  Hebrews 12:1 tells us that "since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".  Now there's a lesson we are all so eager to learn!  (sarcasm intended)

As hard as it is to see your child wronged, it is even harder turning the situation over to God and letting Him do His work.  It's much easier to emphasize the wrong doer's actions and dwell on "the sin that so easily entangles".  The hard part is learning that this race that we call life is purposed by God who sees the whole picture, and we are to run it with an unfailing perseverance in a way that those who are watching our every move can see the reason behind each step that we take.  That reason of course is that we are being set apart by a God who doesn't punish us by tough circumstances but allows them to occur so that we may be fashioned into His likeness.

So, as another school year comes to a close, I sit and reflect on the life lessons being taught, some through some not so pleasant circumstances.  I could say that it's only my teenagers being taught these lessons, but I myself am also learning some as well.  I guess you could say that you're never too young and never to old to learn lessons through that which life deals us.  On many occasions I would rather turn in the cards dealt and ask for a new hand, but I know that while the new hand of cards dealt may seam better than the previous one, it will still hold a multitude of challenges of its own.

May God continue to work through "everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" and may we see His glorious face shine as we each set out to run this race called life.

Getting started in twenty-eleven...

Here we are...the 2nd day of the new year!  I bet by now you have a list of items that you ARE going to do in 2011 and items that you ARE NOT going to do in 2011.  I know 'lists' all too well! Matter of fact, I would consider myself the queen of lists.  Sometimes I can 'list' myself to death!  Setting priorities, especially at the beginning of a new year, has always been important to me, but how accomplished I was at attaining those new goals was a whole different picture.  This past fall something changed.

While teaching a small group of students at the school where my teenagers attend, I did something that I had never had the guts to do...write my very own personal mission statement.  Yes, I knew that it was important and that my direction may be more pointed had I known exactly where I was going but what a daunting task!  Where to begin?  Where to end?  What should I include?  Overwhelming was the only word I could get down on paper.  So, that's where it ended!  Back to the small group...

While researching how to teach the students to write their own personal mission statement, I stumbled upon a tool from one of my favorite authors, Stephen Covey.  Before I share the tool that I found, let me share one of his quotes...

If you don't set your goals based upon your mission statement, you may be climbing the ladder of success only to realize, when you get to the top, you're on the wrong building.

WOW!  Loved reading his take on 'the personal mission statement' but I was still scared to death to begin.  That's when I found it...Stephen Covey's Personal Mission Statement Builder.  So with eyes wide open, I entered his online tool with great expectations of what my mission statement would look like.  It was very easy to use, just answer a few questions and click the end button and whammo, your mission statement was generated.  Simply amazing!  There is was...MY personal mission statement generated for me.  Easy to generate, but not so easy to swallow.

As I began to read the output from the questions I had answered I got quite the queazy feeling in my stomach.  You see, whenever I would write a goal in the past, I would be "cool, good goal, now I should try to do something about it".  But...it's a totally different picture, ladies and gentlemen, when you see your mission statement in black and white, cold, hard print on paper.  It's REALLY hard to deny what's actually written down.  So I had my mission statement, would things actually be any different now?

I have absolutely looked at my mission differently ever since personally writing one down on paper.  I even asked that one of my Christmas gifts would be one that would help me attain one of the goals listed on my mission statement.  Has that Christmas gift worked for me so far?  You betcha!  Will attaining my goals always be that easy...probably not, but having something written in black and white sure does put a different weight of importance on that process.  That's why I'm no longer looking backward at all the failed attempts to reach my goals but instead, I look forward with great anticipation as to what God has in store for me through this process.  Consider this...

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  - Philippians 3:13-14

So here I go, pressing on in 2011 towards my goals, ones which I have set purposefully based upon my relationship with Christ.  I challenge you to press on as well.  How do you do that purposefully?  Visit Stephen Covey's link and begin today crafting your personal mission statement at Stephen Covey's Personal Mission Stmt Builder.  Don't wait, your life will be all the better for knowing which direction you are heading.  May God bless you as you press on with purpose!

 

Twenty-Eleven

Ahhhh…the new year. It always begins with fresh hopes of great things to come. I always look forward to a new year, you know…time to get my act together and get it right this time. Maybe it’s the fresh new calendar we buy at the beginning of a new year that gives us that idea of starting with a blank slate. It reminds me of the first day of school when I was in elementary. You know, you dawn the doors of the school with a brand new pencil and a fresh new box of crayons. Love using brand new crayons!

Now the new year begins, as it does each year, with each day entrusted to us to make it count. What will I do with this day?  What will I accomplish? Under what direction will I travel forth? It seems so easy to get entangled with the day to day commitments that we often forget our direction. Bumper cars…that’s what we are! Many days begin and end and I have no idea what I have accomplished. Yes, I suppose I could sit down and make a list, but this year I want to finish each day (or most of them anyway) confident that I have purposefully fulfilled the agenda at hand. Purposefully…not easily entangled!

So…welcome to “Entangled”, my new blog about throwing off the everyday things that hinder us and getting things done. Prayerfully, as we make this journey together, both you and I will purposefully live out each day. Until next time, consider this quote by Robert F. Kennedy, ”Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” What direction will you take in twenty eleven?