The Shopping Cart

The other day I woke up to a severe dilemma. A near empty refridgerator.

Two eggs (one that happened to be frozen), spoiled milk and waffle cones were all that remained. A trip to the grocery store was in need.

While I was at Meijer, speeding around to aqcuire the items necessary to make life a bit more survivable, I couldn't help but notice the other people around me.

The woman scrutinizing prices of boxed pasta, the older gentleman following his elderly wife around like a lost puppy - still uncomfortable in spite of the fact that they have probably been doing the same routine for 50 years - and the mothers hauling their children around by the belt loops hoping to get in and out of the store without a tantrum or pulling out their prematurely graying hair.

As I was nearing the end of my trip, coming towards me from the other end of the aisle was a father with his approzimately two-year-old daughter in the shopping cart. I could see the daughter was stretching out her arms and squirming in her seat to try to reach what was on the shelves they were passing.

Patiently, her father would reach forward and lightly place her arms back by her sides and tell her "No." After a couple instances, he began to explain to her why he was doing this. "We don't need that," he told her. "You need to behave yourself. Sit still in the cart like a big girl." And finally, almost as an afterthought, he said:

"Make good choices."

I couldn't be sure if he was saying it to her now in hopes that it would be something she would obey right then, or if maybe she might just recall that particular sentiment several years down the line when life is a bit more complicated than grocery shopping.

I could relate to these two. I was a high matinence child. I would have been the two year old reaching out to every passing object trying to pull them off their respective shelves. And as that thought occurred to me, I realized how very much I am like that with God.

It's almost as if I am going through life looking around trying to grab every object off the shelf. Thinking maybe THAT is what I need. Maybe THAT is where my satisfaction will be found.

Will life feel better if I have a more exciting job?

Will I feel more satisfied if I see more places?

If I know more people? Do more things?

Or will my life be just as empty, only busier?

But what if I were to let God fill my life? Fill my time? How about then?

As I watched the shopping cart gang pass me by, I had one final thought:

I'm not driving.

I'm the girl in the cart.

Maybe I need to let God do the shopping.

The Motherload

The other day I went Blueberry picking with my roommate and her friend. I don't know how many of you have ever gone blueberry picking before, but it's super fun! And quite therapeutic, I might add.

Well, we set off early in the morning and got our buckets and headed out to the field. We each had a HUGE bucket - we were told they could hold up to 15 lbs of blueberries - and began the task of plucking the bushes for the ripest, bluest blueberries.

Well, I found one bush, and I thought, "Wow! This is a really great shrubbery! I think I'll stick with this one for a while.." Well, about an hour went by and I was still plucking at this one shrub. I couldn't help but think to myself, "Man, this has to be the BEST shrub in the field! I can't leave it! I probably won't find another one better."

So, I continued to toss the berries into my bucket, and I noticed my 15 lb Blueberry bucket was about One-Third of the way full. I began to wonder how my comrades were doing.

Soon after, my roommate came over to me and asked me how I had been faring - as I started to reply "Very well! Couldn't be better!" I stopped in mid sentence. What I saw in her arms was not only a 15 lb Blueberry bucket FULL to the brim, but it was full with the most plump and ripe blueberries I had seen yet!

I looked down at what I now saw as a very sad looking bucket of berries and thought, "Wow. I could have done so much better." My roommate just chuckled at my sad excuse for blueberries and led me back to what she called the "Motherload".

And then I thought again....how often I do this in real life! I get stuck on one thing - I think it's the best thing ever and nothing could be better, so I don't move on. I don't look to see if perhaps there are other options, other possibilities (other shrubberies) that could blow that one out of the water.

Perhaps it's that one relationship you thought would last forever - but maybe God has someone better out there for you, hmm?

Perhaps it's that job you think you want so badly - but maybe God has something different in mind. Something better...

Sometimes, I think we get such tunnel vision that we don't look around. We get stuck in a rut that says "I have to have this because it's the best!" Or "I have to do this because..." or "I need that relationship - there is no one better!"

There is a difference between persevering through something that requires endurance, and wasting your time on something that is mediocre. Don't get stuck on one shrub. Look around.

Maybe, what you think is best, is really only "good". Maybe the best is yet to be found.

Maybe you have yet to find the Motherload.

My Worst Enemy

As I have mentioned before, biking is my main mode of transportation, especially now that I have my road bike. However, since I got this used bike with it's Aluminum frame and carbon fiber fork, I have realized something. I have an enemy.

The wind.

Living in Traverse City, we get a lot of it coming off the lakeshore. I used to think it was just a slight bother that would slow me down on occasion, but now that my bike is about 12 pounds lighter, I notice the wind severely! It doesn't take much to blow me and my bike all over the path - which doesn't seem to please the other cyclists on the trail...

Most of the time (I use the word "most" extremely generously), the wind is coming from one solid direction. North, South, or West (occasionally East, but rarely). So, most of the time when I ride, the wind is at my face for part of the ride, and pushing me for the other part.

Well, the other day as I was fighting the wind more than normal, I thought to myself "I should just turn around, it would be a whole lot easier." But I banished that thought as soon as it entered my mind. Turn around? No way! I wanted to get to my destination!

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to turn back. My legs were getting weaker, my bum was starting to burn, and I could feel my stomach growling - my calories were used up.

You know what happened when I turned back? I was going with the wind. How about that, eh? All of a sudden, instead of fighting the wind, I was working with it! It began to push me in the direction I was going - which I am sure sped me up from 14 mph to about 20!

It was such a relief. My legs began to come back to life and my breath came back. My bum still hurt, but at least I was getting somewhere now!

As I was feeling the wind pushing me along, I thought about how sometimes I do the same thing to God. I am so determined to go my own direction, that I am fighting him constantly. Because I am going against his will, I am wearing myself out - and getting nowhere fast.

But you know what? As soon as turn around and say, "Okay, Lord, I can't fight you anymore. Where am I supposed to be going?" He begins to push me - and you know what?

Life is then like biking with the wind. It's easy, it's fast, and you get somewhere. Why? Because you're no longer fighting him, you're working with him.

It's hard to remember that sometimes, because so often we just want to go our way - and that - for me, at least - seems to not always coincide with His way.

So, take my word for it, if you feel like you're biking against the wind, if you feel like your legs are giving out and your bum is starting to hurt; turn around.

It is a whole lot easier to work with God than against him.

"When people fall down, don’t they get up again?
      When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?
  Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?
      Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?
   They cling tightly to their lies
      and will not turn around."

~ Jeremiah 8:4-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace and Dirty Dishes

Two years ago, I was watching my Youth Pastor’s kids while he and his wonderful wife were in Israel. Whenever I spend a lot of time with young kids, I remember so much of what I was like when I was really little – and what things must have looked like through my parents’ eyes.

One instance of this happened one night while the youngest boy, Caleb, and I were doing dishes. I was wiping up the counter and picking up around the kitchen when I turned to see him washing a big cookie pan. Well, Caleb is a bit over four feet tall, so he’s probably just head and shoulders bigger than sink level – not so good if you are washing a pan with a very large surface area. I started to smile as I watched this whole event unfold.

Now I have washed a few dishes in my short life, and I can see what is going to happen. The pan was beginning to fill with water and tip. Sure enough – SPLOOSH – the water in the pan was too much for it to handle and it tips and pours water all over. Luckily, Caleb has the reflexes of a cat and jumped out of the way before the water could touch anymore than his shoes.

Chuckling to myself, I grabbed a couple towels from the drawer, handed him one and helped him clean up the lake that had suddenly appeared on the kitchen floor.

Later the day I was thinking about the whole situation – and getting another chuckle out of it as I remembered how many times I had done the same thing – and I was reminded of how often God must chuckle at us when we have situations like that. God can see all – he can see everything that is going to happen before it does, not just with dishes. He knows the decisions and situations we face and what we can choose to do in them. Then he’s there to help us clean up when we screw up. 

Now, perhaps if Caleb had emptied the pan of water before it got to the point of overflowing that would not have happened. Perhaps if I had warned him that was going to happen – rather than smile to myself as I watched – he may have done things differently – maybe he wouldn’t have. No matter what, it still happened.

We still make wrong decisions. We still screw up. We still let the water overflow on us. And God is still there to help us clean it up – even though, if we may have listened to Him it could have been avoided in the first place. That’s grace for you.

“When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulties, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not by burned up; the flames will not consume you.[…] Others died that you might live, I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored and I love you.”

 

~Isaiah 43:2,4

 

 

U-Turns and Missed Chances

I remember when I was a little girl, my family and I would drive up to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to go to the movies – just a nice night out of the house together. At least, that was what it was intended to be.

You see, in order to get to the Soo, we needed to drive forty-five minutes from our home. For that forty-five minute drive, my brother and I were in the back seat together, a mere arm’s length away from one another.

If any of you have siblings, you might be aware that close quarters with other siblings for extended periods of time tend to be a little…dangerous. Such was the situation this particular day.

It started out well enough, however after the first fifteen minutes, we started arguing. It was most likely about something very insignificant, but when you are nine years old everything is exaggerated. Well, for the fifteen minutes after that, my parents put up with it – giving us the occasional look and “Don’t make me come back there!” I cannot say we weren’t warned – we most certainly were, but my parents patience finally ran out. They hit the wall. My dad slammed on the brakes of our Ford Escort and pulled a u-turn in the middle of M-129.

We were going home.

You can imagine the screams, sobs and apologies that were now pouring from both me and my brother. We wanted more than anything that night to go to the movies, but we just did not realize that it might not happen, until we were driving in the opposite direction of the theatre.

In the moment that we realized we were not going to the movies, all our squabbling made absolutely no sense. None. Would we have argued if we knew that it would cause us to lose our movie privileges?

So now my question is, will non-believers regret their unbelief when Christ returns?

The answer is yes. They will regret their squabbles with God. They will regret thinking that they had all the time in the world. They will regret ignoring God’s warnings and His calls to follow Him.

There is only one thing God ever asks from us, and that’s faith.

God knows that when the time comes, everyone will believe in Him. But it will be because we will see Him face to face. He wants us to believe NOW.

So I guess what I am saying is this: Don’t wait for God to make the U-turn before you realize the good He can do for you. Don’t wait until it is too late.

Christ is there, within your reach, if you are willing to trust him and take His hand.

This is one chance you have, one decision that will change your life, and one of the few things you will never regret.

Don’t miss it.

“You will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left.”

 

~Isaiah 30:21

 

 

 

 

 

Faith Without Sun

You know another thing I love? Mornings. Love ‘em. I’m not sure what it is – the freshness, the quiet…I just love everything about mornings.

One morning, I woke up and just looked out the window. I couldn’t help but stare at the way the clouds were sailing by – the way the Sun would maneuver its way through them, trying to peek just one ray through. And sometimes, when the timing was just right, there would be a sudden brightness and warmth shining on me through the window – the sun had succeeded! The instant I felt the warmth from the sun, I was reminded of the warmth I felt before when I’ve been in the presence of God.

It occurred to me that the sun is a lot like God in our lives. Sometimes there isn’t a cloud in the sky and you can see it completely clearly, never doubting that it’s shining on you. Other times, the clouds are so thick you begin to wonder if you will ever feel that warmth again.

But do you ever doubt that the sun is actually there? Of course not! It seems as though, just when you think you cannot take the darkness any longer, you get maybe just one ray of sun through the window, and that restores whatever doubts you may have been having. And then there is that seemingly rare moment, when the sun completely shows itself, and you are blinded by the glory it presents.

And even though that warmth that you feel in its presence does not last forever, you know it is still there even when you do not necessarily feel it.

“You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen me and believe anyway.”

~ John 20:29

Appreciate the Music

When I was a kid, my dad had two favorite musicians. James Taylor and Van Morrison.

James and I, we got along. I enjoyed dancing with my dad in our living room to Mexico and How Sweet It Is. Some of my fondest childhood memories include good ol' Mr. Taylor.

Van Morrison, on the other hand, was a different story. I didn't get the appeal. He didn't sing...well, WELL. He never really kept a beat, and sometimes he would sing on and on and on, and I couldn't understand what he was saying because he was mumbling and jumbling his words together. I mean, come on, who can enjoy listening to that?

But there my dad would be, bobbing his head, slamming his fist on his knee with his eyes closed expressing a passion for what he was hearing that was far beyond my comprehension.

I was baffled.

Well, about two years ago, I came upon some of Van's music and I chuckled at the memories that came to mind. I thought, what the hey, I'll listen to a bit of it. A little nostalgia, you know?

As the music came through the speakers and Van's voice filled the room, I stopped what I was doing. I wasn't hearing the obnoxious voice I remembered. I heard an amazing saxophone humming in the background, a piano adding to the melody and a series of string instruments pulling together the most unique sound I had ever heard.

And bursting through the array of music was the rich voice of an Irishman who expresses more passion in one sentence of his lyrics than I could ever express in a thousand Facebook notes.

It's amazing, really, how something can look so different after you've stepped away from it for a while. It's interesting how something can seem so horrible, but when you look back on it you can see what is surrounding it - and you can appreciate the music.

I've looked back on events in my life and I have seen how wretched they've been. Like listening to mumbling and jumbling lyrics, not understanding the meaning, where the musician is singing without rhythym and you can't sing along...

But I have also seen what is surrounding that event - and I can see how God took everything about that situation and made it beautiful in light of where I am now.

I can feel the passion of His music - the sax, piano, harp and Cello. And I can hear the love in His voice as He sings my life out for me. I know that I'm going through tough situations. But I also know that in the end, I'll play the music back, and I'll be bobbing my head, slamming my fist on my knee with my eyes closed, enraptured in what God is playing for me.