Yearly Archives: 2014

Getting Into It

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Living in southwest Michigan as we do, we’re often the benefactors of “lake-effect storms.” Weather systems rolling across the country from west to east fly over Lake Michigan, picking up water as they go and then dropping it when they hit land on our side of the lake.

The creekToday is one of those days. We all thought January wouldn’t be snowy, since December had more than its fair share. But after 11” of accumulation in 5 days, we’re in the process of receiving 12 more. This time, though, it’s impossible to measure, since wild winds are swirling it like cake batter in a Kitchen Aid mixer.

I walked Jack to the lake today, hoping for a few dramatic pictures. But powerful winds swept me into a snow drift before I even got there, camera and old lady going down together. Though a foot of snow makes a soft landing, the eye-sting of high speed snowflakes made us turn back.

???????????????????????????????This was a crushing disap- pointment to Jack, who lives for winter weather. He does his happy dance in the middle of  snowy roads and snoofs his whole face into drifts looking for interesting scents. Bounding over snow banks like a young pup, he behaves nothing like the 77 year old guy he really is, and heading home today was his last choice.

But back we went, with me trying to stay upright and him racing around me in circles. Once back inside the house, I had to agree with Jack that the storm was beautiful. But looking at it through a window and walking outside in it were two vastly different experiences. One was just observing; the other was being engulfed by it.

A spiritual parallel might be to intellectually know about God’s love without actually experiencing it. To know the facts is to observe from a distance; to experience it is to be fully surrounded.

I know several people who’ve read the Bible repeatedly and can recite chapter and verse better than I can, but who’ve never embraced Jesus personally. That’s like standing at the window and commenting on how gorgeous the snow is without experiencing it firsthand.

Yes, there’s risk in going outside on a day like today, just like we sometimes view following Christ as a risk. We say, “What if he asks me to do what I can’t? Like reconcile with that person I don’t like? Or love someone who’s completely unlovable? Or give away money I can’t afford? Or take precious time to do things I’d rather not?”

Linda makes a snow angelHe might.

But if we’re willing to “get into it” with him the way Jack gets into snowy weather, we’ll find the risk is worth it…. much like my friend Linda learned that being in the snow is way better than just looking at it through a window.

All done!“The Lord alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.” (Psalm 91:2)

 

Linda's snow angel

The Cafeteria Line

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The cafeteria line.It’s the second day of a new year, and our resolutions may have already gone by the wayside. Most eventually do.

Part of the problem is that we reach too high. It’s like pushing a food tray along a cafeteria line and piling more on our trays than we could ever eat.

The temptation to over-resolve happens frequently in these categories, which are the most popular resolutions people make:

  • to lose weight
  • to stop smoking
  • to get out of debt
  • to exercise more
  • to eat better
  • to save money

It’s interesting that this list of six is really just two:

  • Improving health
  • Improving finances

Apparently these are the areas in which most people need the most change. And we can boil down these two even further, to only one: Giving God control of our lives. If we resolve to do this, he’ll help us with the other two… or six… or ten.

Becky TirabassiI remember reading the dramatic testimony of Becky Tirabassi. She’d been a “bad girl” for years before connecting with Jesus Christ, and after making a resolution to spend one hour each day seeking him, her life turned around. Years later an interviewer said, “How do you stay so trim and fit as you get older?”

 

Her response: “Have you forgotten I spend an hour a day with the Lord?”

In other words, regular time with God was what helped her succeed in the other areas of her life. Scripture corroborates that, telling us if we put him first, everything we need to live successfully will come to us, through him.

The trouble is, we resolve to submit to God but then do it the full-cafeteria-tray way. How big are our desires compared to the size of what we can actually do? We need to remember that progress is made using the same trick that works in keeping any resolution: doing it in bits and pieces.

A first step to letting God have control might be to spend 3 minutes breathing out a prayer as we sit on the edge of the bed each morning. If our first conscious thoughts are directed toward God, we’re off to a good start. By the end of the week we’ve spent 21 minutes in prayer, and by the end of the month, 1½ hours. That small resolve will yield big spiritual gains.

Or maybe submitting to God means reading the Bible in a year, but that might be too much spiritual food on our cafeteria tray. It would be better to tackle smaller amounts, say reading from an open Bible on the bathroom sink while getting ready for the day. It might be just a few minutes, but it would be regular and would amount to a growing appetite for God’s ways.

ResolutionsPollsters tell us fewer and fewer people make resolutions each year; last year 68% made none. And of the 32% who tried, more than half failed.

But why line up with those negative statistics? Spiritual resolutions, no matter how small, can ultimately lead to life-changing results.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33)

Glancing Back… and Forward

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Tonight I looked back at the New Year’s Day blogs I’ve posted since Nate died: January 1 of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.

Happy New YearIt was interesting to read what I’d been thinking about when one  year rolled into the next. As I read, I felt somehow superior to the beginning-of-the-year-Margaret who was writing on those January 1sts, and in a way I was, because I now know what she didn’t know then about her upcoming year.

For example, when I wrote at the start of 2010 asking God to prepare me for whatever the year would bring, I now can see exactly how he did that. Or in 2012, when I wrote about choosing a banner-year Bible verse praying for “quietness and trust in God” (Isaiah 30:15), I now can see the considerable turmoil the year was going to bring and can understand the reason he influenced me toward that particular verse.

After reading each of those 4 New Year’s Day blogs, I was nodding and saying, “I get it now. I see what God was doing.”

That might be a bit of the way God feels about time passing. He doesn’t have to wait 365 days to know the details of any given year and never stands at the threshold of another January 1st wondering what will happen next. And as for feeling superior, he’s profoundly so.

So then why doesn’t he let us in on some of what’s coming, just like the end-of-the-year-Margaret could have informed the beginning-of-the-year-Margaret? One reason might be that we wouldn’t like what he told us. Another is evident in a verse I used on a New Year’s blog from the year after Nate died: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

It should be enough for us to know that God is the Almighty, the unequaled Number One in the Universe, exempt from the passing of time. The fact that he is the One keeping our futures hidden ought to be enough to quell our questions. But it usually isn’t. Our lack of future-knowledge leaves us edgy and dissatisfied at the start of a new year.  How are we supposed to plan ahead or be ready for emergencies if we don’t know what’s going to happen?

A new yearMaybe a more important question is, “A year from now, what will I wish I’d gained from 2014?” For me, it’s the blessing of God, no matter what that looks like. Psalm 111:10 says, “The good life begins in the fear of God. Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.”  (The Message) And isn’t that what all of us want between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015? The good life and the blessing of God.

If a good life begins with the fear of God (acknowledging that he’s #1 and is the only Person controlling everything), we can start on securing it right away. And if we need more specifics than that, he’ll agree to let us have them…. 12 months from now.