Life Dismantled, Life Content

"LOL I'd love to," I texted her. "How about when I am done doing all the other things I am supposed to be doing to make my life better? If I add one more healthy practice to my life I may quite literally fall apart."

My Sister-Friend had a great idea to do a healthy regimen together that would hopefully help us feel better with our kaleidoscope of illnesses. A great idea, really. And if I didn't feel like I was a Lego mom carrying various and sundry tasks all designed to improve the quality of the lives around me, maybe I would have been up for it. But one more thing to remember, and my head could pop right off my plastic shoulders. One more thing to carry and I'd be the Venus de Milo of motherhood.

I'd like to blame it on New Year's optimism- this draw toward anything that will make us feel successful and satisfied. Maybe this year I will follow through on my Bible reading/diet/exercise/ business/schooling/etc... and then I will be happy. But I have known that feeling at other random times as well, and this journey I am on can feel like wandering in circles around the desert wilderness. I just can't quite make it to the promised land.

So maybe you have felt this way, too. Like you know you should be satisfied, but it's just beyond your fingertips. And that maybe when you accomplish this, you can take a break and be content.

Here's the thing: it's not going to happen. Not for any meaningful length of time at least. Not with that perspective.

That aching we have to be enough- that is a God-shaped, God-shaping chasm in our lives that He daily and persistently fills. And He doesn't need us shoveling whatever self-help tricks and tips the world gives us into the place only He should occupy.

If you want to believe you can achieve great things because you are awesome- go for it. You are awesome and gifted. Many impressive things have been accomplished that way. Mega-businesses, mind-boggling inventions, huge political platforms have been built on this mentality. And they have done some good along the way.


But if you want your life to contribute to something that will last long after this world perishes; if you want it to have a purpose beyond the paycheck, then Jesus gives us one answer: Take up your cross and follow Him.

God is not in the business of making us a better version of who we think we should be. Like we have any clue who we should be. Dear God, thank you for not fulfilling my 16-year-old-self's vision of who I thought I should be.

He is in the business of resurrecting a child dead in their trespasses.

When I feel like God is dismantling my life, I have to bow to the One who I know is acting in love toward me. Because God never acts outside His love for us. Ne-ver. And if He is demolishing what I keep trying to rebuild, then I need to just sit down and let Him do His work because He is working from different (and infinitely better) blueprints.


God's plans may not contain what we determine to be glamorous in the moment, but that doesn't mean He isn't working out something beautiful and amazing and one-of-a-kind.


So if you have to mop floors? Go get it.
You have to wipe poopy butts? You rock it.
You have to pay bills? Own it.
You have to put yourself out there? You got this.
You have to be nice to people who cause naughty words to come to mind? Smile like a boss.


Whatever you do- "work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." (Col. 3:23) It is unbelievable how much more satisfying life is when we remember who God is instead of trying to invent who we are. And when we try new endeavors from the starting point of confidence in Christ rather than ourselves? That's where progress is celebrated and setbacks are just that, setbacks; not foundation-shaking catastrophes.


We can try new things. We can learn and grow and take risks in the security that God is with us and equipping us for work that is beyond all we can imagine. We can be satisfied even as we struggle.


In a world that thrives on people's lack of satisfaction, cultivates it even, we have the promise that contentment can happen here because our God gives it abundantly. We can stop clasping our hands around our things and our plans, and open them to receive His gifts. He has given us His Son. He knows the desires of our hearts. He is with us. Isn't that the best starting point for anything we try to do?


"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matt 5:6)

That is my 2017 prayer for us. May we seek God's righteousness first and be blessed with the satisfaction that looks at the good, bad, stinky, annoying, frustrating, feeble, failing, ugly, beautiful around us and says, "I have learned in whatever situation I'm in to be content." (Phil 4:11)


With love.

A Time to Celebrate

"So... there is just this stuff that squirts water at us?" My oldest sounded less than enthused. She'd never been to a splash pad. Neither had I for that matter.  

"Basically," I responded with some enthusiasm. "Let's just try it out. I've heard it's really great." And so as the temperature made its inevitable ascent, we 5 piled into the van for an adventure 30 minutes away. 

Let me just say the kids were totally impressed. We drove up to an enormous jungle gym coupled closely with the satisfyingly wet splash pad. Kids screaming as they careened through walls of water, little boys laughing recklessly as they sat on streams of water shooting from the ground. It was all hilarity and mayhem, and my kids fit right in. 

It's not lost on me that in the past days we have been celebrating, laughing even, while our nation mourns, while we shake our heads and wonder at the depths of depravity all around us. We have prayed. We have called for justice. And then we have smiled as our kids run abandoned through a park of water.  

We celebrated on Sunday as well. My husband celebrated 10 years in the pastoral ministry and the church banded together with funny t-shirts and prayers and a standing ovation. We ate delicious cake with purple frosting and took pictures to post on Facebook. 

I thought of those who were mourning. The people Scott preached about. Those who need the hope of Christ. And here is what hit me- we are to minister to those in pain, to comfort with the comfort we ourselves have received from God, but that comfort is nothing if we spend all our resources focusing on the injustice to the exclusion of the goodness God pours freely every single day. 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Give thanks in all circumstances. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits. 

My kids ran recklessly, showered, misted, doused with the refreshing water. And no amount of sorrow made them any less wet. The atrocities of humankind, and I am not ignoring that the acts taken recently have been particularly atrocious, cannot diminish the goodness of our God. We are saturated with His love. 

The schemes of the devil can in no way diminish the glory of our God. They cannot remove our salvation. They cannot reverse the atonement of Christ. They cannot put Jesus back in the tomb. They cannot rob me of the faith that is mine in Christ.  

And he knows this so he distracts us. He deceives us into thinking that our brooding and battle lines will do more good than giving glory to the only One who can defeat death and bring true peace. I thank God every time I see a post on Facebook that acknowledges the hurt and evil around us in light of the gospel. 

We are called to minister, to bind up, to cry out for justice. We are called to pray and seek God's will. We see all those things in the Psalms. We are not called to despair, become cynics, or doomsday prophets.   

There is a time for everything, but never a time to forget the goodness of God.

We are called to recognize and proclaim the saturating, penetrating, love of a God who grieves with us, but not like us, because even in the darkest times He knows He is working all things for good. And as that ethereal "good" proves too elusive for our fallen eyes, He gives us His Spirit. 

So I am trying again to be more intentional about celebrating God. To love, mourn, pray, listen, and celebrate deliberately. Because we should not let satan win his little battles in words of hopelessness and "what do we do now?" 

Thanks only to the God of the universe we are more than conquerors, and that is something worth seriously celebrating. 

Because We All Get Knocked Down {Messy Monday}

April is soccer month here. I say it is soccer month because the season is literally contained in the month of April, with two nights a week dedicated to games.

My husband and I are soccer players. We were at least. We still try, and will continue to try until our kids are old enough to school us. Which, in my case, could be any day now. We are also coaches.

I coach the U6 boys team on which my son plays. Three years into it and I have a basic idea of how the season will begin, as well as a general idea of how it should end. So, when we got into practice the other day, I realized that the best way to keep the boys' attention was to have them learn as we played a game. 7 v. 1. I might not be all that I once was, but I can still take 7 kindergartners and preschoolers.

My fancy footwork got me through some tight spaces. 7-ish (some boys get distracted) pairs of feet chased and kicked around me. I saw an opening and struck the ball toward the space, just to clear it out of the mob.

I struck it right into a kindergarten face.

Right into it. Lit. Him. Up. It was like in one of those comedies where some kid is the victim of an adult's irresponsibility. Feet in the air, the poor kid flew.

The horrified mommy inside me gasped! I yelled his name. "Are you ok?!"

"Uh-huh." He nodded his head and was up like a rocket, on his feet chasing the ball.

I was obviously more damaged by the incident than he was. I asked his mom later if she happened to see her son take it in the face. "Yeah." She shrugged it off. Apparently he bounces back from injury quite easily.

So I have a new hero. He'll be six years old this summer.

There are times to fall prostrate, broken before the Lord.

Then there are times to jump to our feet and get back into the game.

I'll be honest. I make my injuries out to be a pretty big deal. Someone "offends" me and it really just tears me up. And when I should get on with life, I choose to sit in the grass and cry. Maybe not actual tears, maybe just words. Maybe just "venting." Yeah, more often I choose to "vent" about the problem than pray to the Only One who can actually solve it.

I didn't hear another word from his mouth about the shot. Does he remember it? I don't know. Maybe. But when something more important comes along, like helping your teammates to victory, injuries are just part of the game and nothing more.

I'm fairly certain this Monday we will encounter a blow of some sort to our egos. It's pretty much guaranteed. So I pray God turns our focus to what is really important, and gives us the legs to hop back into the game!

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-2

Not An Underdog

You know, I can go a whole week with about 6 three-word sequences bouncing around in my brain, confident that all of them are "the one," and then it gets to Wednesday morning and I am stumped. Then this morning, I rebelled against the little voice that told me, "Don't do it. Don't check Facebook first thing in the morning. Never a good idea. Don't do it!"

I checked Facebook.

And read something just totally perfect for today!

In your FACE, little voice!

Here's the disclaimer, though: It starts off talking about baseball. Chances are, if you are anything like me, you are now debating whether or not it is worth it to read through whole post because you don't really care about baseball. I like baseball, but I totally tune out on things I don't get or care about. Like, math. But it is TOTALLY worth it, so keep reading. It is totally going to revolutionize how I live this day, and I hope it does the same for you, so stick with it.

I'm a St. Louis Cardinals Fan. I embraced it pretty much as soon as I met my husband, and I haven't regretted it since. They are good. But here's the thing- when they manage to make it into the post-season, on their way to the World Series, they are often ranked last, or thereabouts. Not always, but often. The teams they play just have more going for them than we do. But we still manage to pull out wins and leave a trail of confused and dejected "better" teams in our wake.

Now I have some friends who, well, I won't say hate, but they have a vehement dislike for my Cardinals. And that's fine, especially because my team is in the National League Championship Series, and theirs, well, aren't.

And since Facebook is just about the easiest, and most public, medium on which to vent our most impassioned opinions, they voice theirs quite often. I get it, and I am totally cool with it. This morning, one anti-Cardinal friend of mine (and I say "friend," because he is indeed a friend, and team affiliation is pretty low on my "friendship deal-breakers list") made sure us Cards fans were put in our place: "You're not an underdog, you're not the little engine that no one believed in, you're just a good team that has a lot of good players."

Listen up, Christians! Because the message is the same for us!

You are not an underdog.

We all like the Cinderella stories because something deep down inside convinces us that we are the Cinderella too, but the Bible has a different message for us believers.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 8:37

The "him who loved us," that's Jesus. And I'm pretty sure people thought He was the underdog too. I mean, look at Him. A man v. death. We've seen that about a billion times, and death always wins out.

Only, not with Jesus. He's clutch. Not only did He resurrect others- He was resurrected HIMSELF. Death is just an impotent bumblebee without his stinger.

And get this, He gives His victory to us-

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12

 

Now I'm not saying it's all lollipops and lemon drops for Jesus-lovers, but we aren't doomed. Not sure how it's all going to go down, but the Bible gives us the best spoiler alert E-VER.

 

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Romans 6:5

 

What does that mean for us when life today could be better? It means we face our struggles with an attitude of victory. Because those things don't own us, God does. And when those problems are nothing but dust flying into oblivion behind us on our road of life, we are the ones who are going to last forever.

 

 

In short, we are more than conquerors.

 

We aren't just people who know someday we will be with Jesus. We are people who live that out today. We're not going to wait for the joy and hope. We are conquerors right this very second. Because, after all, the story isn't really about us anyway. It's about Him.

 

Amen?

 

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Today's post was a part of a series through Simply Beth, called Three Word Wednesday. Come join us!