Ramblings of another school year and getting back our first Love

Have you ever noticed that back-to-school season is filled with wonder, the unknown, new clothes, new notebooks, new teachers and for some new lunch boxes?  Wait. Do kids even carry lunch boxes anymore?  My point is that there is just a permeating excitement.  Now for some parents if you have kids returning to school there is an extra spring in your step because, well, your kids are returning back to school. For others there is a dark cloud that looms over you because, well, your kids are returning back to school.  We are all different in how we react to this back-to-school season.  It is a new chapter that is just waiting to be written.

            My daughter returned to school this year to start her senior year in high school.  As excited as I am to see her enjoy this final year and to be able to experience much of it with her as I teach at her school, there is a sense of a chapter ending when I think of this new season.  A few weeks ago I went to the first football game of her senior year in which she cheered.  She will never cheer another first football game again.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be the parent that cries over things like, “oh, she just ate her last hamburger with pickles and overdone fries for school lunch her senior year.”  But I’ll be honest; I’ll be lamenting some of those lasts of her high school career.  I’ll also be rejoicing with her as the new things in this chapter begin.  She will be doing things like visiting colleges, writing essays for scholarships, filling out college applications, etc.…. So the last chapter of her high school career doesn’t need to be the last chapter of it all.  I’m also looking ahead to the great things that God has planned for her beyond this year. 

            Now I’ve noticed one thing about this back-to-school week that gives me a chuckle every year, and that’s how so many kids will actually et up on time and have their things gathered together and ready to walk out the door with no prodding from mom.  There’s almost a sense of wondering, will this actually be the year that mom won’t have to yell to get her kids moving in the morning?  I hate to be a naysayer but I’m gonna have to say from the experience of having three kids that have done this that the answer is a big NO!  Sorry for that reality.  Come early October, you will be the mom that yells, “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you ten times. Get. Up. Now!!  The next time I come in there I will be squirting water on your face!”  Don’t be sad about this. For you, it might come later like maybe mid -October.  You push them out the door with a quick prayer, throw them a muffin for breakfast as the door shuts and wonder why you just don’t home school.  And for those of you that do homeschool, well, again, from experience, there are other issues you could add to the new chapter. 

            I feel like oftentimes our lives as Christian women are like the back-to-school season.  A new Bible study starts, we get onboard with it and we are so excited and have this wonderful anticipation that we are going to finally become Biblical scholars.  We arrive early to the study, we even clean ourselves up a bit to look presentable and we have our Bibles, highlighters and pen all together and ready to grab at a moments notice.  However, several weeks into the study when it’s not new anymore to us we show up either just as the leader is beginning or maybe slither in a bit late, forgetting to change out of our sweatpants and spending much of the study digging in the bottomless pit of our purses trying to find a pen that works and realizing that we left our highlighter in the car.  Uggg.  We loose our excitement and fervor because the study has revealed some things about us that we don’t like and so we are rebelling back in our own little way deciding that yes, we’ll finish out this study but we’re going to kick and scream in our own way doing it.  It’s like the child that refuses to get out of bed for school in the morning because school now bugs them.

            Why do we sabotage new and exciting things-- these wonderful new chapters in our lives that we have an opportunity to write?  It’s as if we take that pen and start writing a mile a minute and then our pen starts moving slower, and slower and our eyes droop and the pen just scribbles off the side of the page. (I know that this does happen as I sat in the front row of a college class and did just that as the professor stood in front of me and watched the whole thing.)

            Revelations 2:4 in the NAS Bible says, But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  I used the example of a new school year as that new and exciting thing—that first love if you will.  (Though for many students there’s no love at all there—but stick with me here).  In this new season, as summer comes to a close (I’m sorry, someone had to tell you,) I want to encourage you that if you have left or maybe strayed away a bit from your first love, which in Revelations is speaking of Christ, then what a great time to begin again.  Gain back that excitement that you once had for your relationship with Christ.  Get someone else on board with you to keep you accountable so you won’t be like that Bible study gal that dwindles halfway through, or that student that has to be sprayed with water in order to get moving. 

            The thing I love about being a part of a group of Christian people is that we can and should be encouraging and building each other up.  So you stepped away for a bit.  That’s done and over.  Philippians 3:13 says this, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. 

            My friends, this is a new season, a new chapter and it’s just waiting for you to jump on board.  You can stay in what I call your “Eeyore moments” or you can plunge forward and start living your purpose.  Don’t worry, God’s got you and he won’t leave you nor will he drop you.  Be encouraged because we are all in this together. 

Don’t judge the brilliance of His artistry from the wrong side of the fabric.

         I’ve been reading parts of the book of Job this past month and the study from First5.org. which is provided by Proverbs 31 ministry.  The thing that I have been reminded of is that Job was an upright and godly man and yet he suffered.

         In the midst of suffering it would seem that those closest to you would be your biggest help and cheerleaders. Not in Job’s case. I’m not going to lie.  As I listen to Job’s friends in the midst of his suffering I don’t find them to be very encouraging.  In fact, I find them to be awful, horrible, rotten friends whom I would never want near me in my hurts.  Why? Because they were too easy to give up on Job and blame his suffering on something he had done.  Sometimes bad things happen to good, God-fearing people.  It just does. And sometimes bad things happen to ungodly-fearing people.  It just does.

         This week I’ve been watching news footage of Hurricane Harvey.  My heart breaks as I see people suffering, crying, and losing everything.  I was struck, especially by the picture I saw of the older people in the nursing home just sitting there waist deep in water.  How could God allow such hurt, such tragedy?  These are same questions that have been asked for centuries whenever there is suffering. So where was God when Job suffered?  Where is God as the people suffer through Harvey? God hasn’t left. God was with Job and is with the people suffering through Hurricane Harvey-- through the pain, suffering, doubt, fear and anguish.

         I want to share with you some things that I have learned from the scriptures and studies of First5.  Click on the scriptures and read them.  They will also take you to the study from First5.org

1. You can’t try to guess or speculate why people suffer. You don’t have to try to add words of wisdom or the first thing that comes to your mind or try to explain the situation. Just comfort people in their hurt.  Galatians 6:2

2.  When you find yourself in trials, tribulations and turmoil, do you know God’s character enough to be able to trust in Him? As we look at Job, we see from his own words that he was in tumult.  Job 6:2-3.  Glynnis Witwer says that the truth that settled Job was not discovered in the dark. Instead, Job was sustained through the dark, by the truth he learned in the light. There is no way we can fully prepare our hearts for what is to come, but we can ground them in the truth before trouble arrives. We can soak our minds in the truth of God’s character, His promises throughout Scripture and remember our testimonies of His faithfulness. 

3.  Know that you can express your feelings to God and he will hear your cries (Psalm 34:4) and that when you seek him you will find him. (Jeremiah 29:13).  Throughout scripture we find people crying out to God and then finding his precious comfort.

 

4.  In the midst of Jobs suffering Job he realizes that God has ordered his life just the way that it is—hurt and all. His suffering allowed him to realize new aspects of God’s character. Job 9:5-7.  We have little understanding in our minds to understand God (Romans 11:34) and the big picture that he sees that we don’t.  Here is a scripture that I refer to often when I just don’t understand why things happened the way that they do.  

Isaiah 55:8-9  ⁸  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

⁹  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

5.  Job also realized, and you can too, that God was/is in control even when other’s around him try to convince him that God was not. He understood the amazingness of God’s character. (Romans 11:33, Psalm 139:6, Psalm 113:4-7)

6. The Process is part of the point shares Whitney Capps from the First5 study in Day 13.  In the midst of Job’s confusion, he clings to God’s character. As we read through Job’s replies, look for what he says about God.

Throughout his rebuttals in Job 6, Job 9, Job 10 and Job 12, Job extols the attributes and character of God. Here are a few of the things Job says:

God is worthy of loyalty and faith.

God is the righteous judge.

God is the answer-giver.

God alone has wisdom, might, counsel and understanding.

7.  Your hope is in God alone. This is a tough one to grasp even when we aren’t in the midst of suffering and tragedy.  I’ve often heard people say that it was when they hit rock bottom, when everything seems to be stripped away that that is when they realized that they couldn’t find their hope in anything or anyone else.  It was God alone. Job realizes this in Job 19:25-26. He couldn’t find hope in his friends, his wife, or even himself…. just God.  He doesn’t understand why he has suffered so much, but he trusts God for the outcome.

I want to leave you again with a story from Whitney Capps.  

She says,

“One of my favorite memories as a little girl was watching my grandmother cross-stitch. I remember the first time I watched her nimble fingers stitch a mess of x’s into a masterpiece. I usually sat on the floor at her feet looking at the underside of her work-in-progress.  We had a little game where I would try to guess what she was making. But the underside was such a mess! From my perspective it was an indistinguishable mishmash of string and knots. But what was utter confusion to me was perfectly known to her. She was looking at her work of art from the front. I was only looking at the back.  Don’t judge the brilliance of His artistry from the wrong side of the fabric. 

Whatever your hurt or struggle is today, you can cling to the fact that God, the brilliant artist sees things from the right side.  Oh, and the folks in the nursing home up to their waists in water?  The next day I saw a picture of them rescued, dry, clean and happy.  God’s got us folks, don’t let people or circumstances tell you differently.

Thanks to First5 for reminder of many of the scriptures and insights shared here on today’s blog.  Download the app First5 and work through some of these studies yourself. 

How NOT to be the Worst Blogger and Procrastinator Ever

Hey, let’s just get it all out there so we all know upfront what I’m really getting at today.  I’ve been a bad blogger.  I know it; I accept it and I’ve made peace with it.  Part of me looked at my blog and thought, “If my last blog was last October, then I should have just waited another two months to write and then that would have made it a full year.  An anniversary of sorts. “ My other thought was, “What’s the point to even begin writing again?  You’ve procrastinated long enough, so what’s another 10 years without writing?” 

I suppose we all have to face our weaknesses at different points in our lives and mine is putting writings up on my blog.  Don’t get me wrong, I surely have other weaknesses but this one, for a writer, is pretty significant. 

There’s a bible verse that I have always claimed as my own.  It has to do with sin, not the lack of writing a blog, but I think we can take something from it here.  I think it also has a lot to do with procrastination.   Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.   You see, I could easily sit down once a week and write a blog but I get caught up in the other things of life—things that are unnecessary that I really don’t want to do but are just easier.  I sit and scroll through Facebook as I have the TV on in the background.  I then get bored and move on over to Pinterest just to see if there is anything new. There isn’t.  Big surprise.  Before I know it, I let out a big stretch and realize that I’m tired and ready for bed.  I’ve spent the evening doing a big fat nothing!  Another day has gone by and I haven’t written a word.  Or, in my case, another 10 months have gone by and I’ve written nothing worthy of putting on my blog.

So what is there to do?   Are you in the same boat of procrastination from something you’ve committed to do but haven’t?   Let me encourage you as I try to encourage myself to keep keeping on.

1.  Don’t give up!  It’s so easy to throw in the towel when we haven’t done what we’ve wanted to for a long time.  Or maybe you’ve messed something up terribly and can’t seem to face going back to it.  Don’t give up.  What you do or need to start doing again makes a difference to someone.

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.

2.  Admit that you won’t always don’t get it right.  If you’re like me you will find yourself as imperfect.  Oh come on, admit it. You’re not perfect.  The horror!!  But it’s true, and quite honestly, it’s freeing.  You’re not going to get it right so move on from here and start fresh.

3.  STOP procrastinating!  If you are a professional procrastinator like I am than it’s hard to just stop cold turkey.  You need help.  I said it, and I’ll say it again.  You need help.  Ask someone to keep you accountable on doing what you need to do.  Have them ask you once a week if you are doing what you want to be doing?  A good friend can be the best person to give you that imaginary kick in the pants…or a real kick in the pants if you truly need it. It stings for a minute but it surely gets you going.

4.  Pray to God to bring it to your mind often.  That seems almost too simple doesn’t it?  However, if we ask God to bring to our mind often he will do it.  In fact, he may bring it to us so often that we won’t be able to get away from it.  I want to be a blogger.  I want to be a good writer but I’m forgetful.  I need God to prompt me, to remind me to get back in the game.  The Bible says in John 14:14 that if we ask for anything in His name he will do it.  Let’s make sure we understand this verse and not take it out of context.  We need to ask with the right motives, motives that line up with his will for our lives.  It comes down to this, we should all be doing things that bring glory to God, whether it’s writing a blog, working with kids, or stopping procrastination in it’s tracks.

Have you failed?  Yes, you probably have…. yesterday, but today you are going to rock it.  Believe it and go, go right now and get started on what you need to do.