On the other hand, there are feelings of great joy—joy because he is now in the presence of our awesome Savior where there is no more sorrow or pain. Revelation 21:4 gives us that amazing promise, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” I know that “Preacher” would not want us to continue in sadness over his passing, but would want us to use the life God has given us to carry on the example that he left behind.
As I sit up late and write tonight, I have a flood of mixed emotions. On the one hand, there is sadness and the wiping of some tears as I think about a great man of God, my childhood pastor, who passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was someone that I deeply respected that just always had a special way of encouraging all those around him. His smile and positive energy truly were contagious :)
On the other hand, there are feelings of great joy—joy because he is now in the presence of our awesome Savior where there is no more sorrow or pain. Revelation 21:4 gives us that amazing promise, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” I know that “Preacher” would not want us to continue in sadness over his passing, but would want us to use the life God has given us to carry on the example that he left behind.
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“Wherever you are, be all there.” This is the quote that seemed to leap off the computer screen and wake me up last weekend as I mindlessly browsed my Facebook newsfeed. One of my favorite blogs for young women, called Girl Defined, had posted a beautiful picture with this quote by Jim Elliot scripted so perfectly. It’s such a short and simple quote, but it says so much! It’s as if I had found one of those pictures that is worth a thousand words.
Don’t just be there, but be ALL there! How many times are we physically in the company of others, but our mind is a gazillion (is that even a word???) miles away? How many times is someone else trying to get our attention as we are simply focused on that oh so “important” text message or the latest gossip from all the social media apps on our iphone or tablet? How many times does a friend, family member, or acquaintance ask us for help or our opinion, but all we can think about is our own problem at work, the perfect outfit we’re going to wear to the party Friday night, or what we’re going to make for dinner that evening? Every morning after my yawning, stretching, and rubbing of the eyes, I hop out of bed to see the carefully painted wood sign sitting atop my dresser. “It is well with my soul” – those words to the familiar hymn stare back at me. As I read those piercing words, I feel a little tug at my heart as if they are reminding me to cling to the truth of their powerful message as I try to stay afloat during the craziness of the day.
I love that familiar hymn, but all too often I am ashamed to say I struggle to believe those convicting lyrics. Let’s all be honest. Life is tough! So many unplanned events and circumstances come blowing our way and seem to throw our all-too-sensitive ships off course. I’ve often found my mind whirling with questions that I have no right answer to . . . or so I thought. Our culture today is obsessed with achieving the perfect image – a flawless face, gorgeous locks of hair, the best clothes, and a perfectly shaped body. Some people work at it the hard way by starving themselves at dinner, killing themselves at the gym, gazing for hours into the mirror to paint their face to perfection, and spending big bucks at the beauty store on products to ensure that every hair is in place and it glistens in the sun and flows smoothly in the breeze. And what if all of that still doesn’t achieve the desired outcome? Well, no big deal! If all else fails, there is plastic surgery, professional salon treatments, and medical weight loss procedures to get just about everything repaired, right??? The truth is that men and women alike are going to extremes in attempt to imitate the latest Hollywood star, keep up with the most popular student at college, or gain the status of their good-looking coworker in the office.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look our best each and every day to respect ourselves and feel confident in who we are. After all, God made us, and he wants us to bring honor and glory to Him by presenting ourselves in a proper, well-kept fashion, right? I am in complete agreement that “if the barn needs painting, paint it!" Believe me, my barn definitely always needs painting in the morning :) But if we are constantly obsessing over our physical appearance then we are probably trying to paint ourselves and make ourselves fancy with the wrong kind of cosmetics and adornments. Who am I? Why am I even here? What is my purpose in life? I think these are probing questions that just about all of us have found ourselves asking at one point or another along the journey of life. In desperation to find answers to these questions, hope, and satisfaction, people try turning to any number of different things, often only to find themselves leaving disappointed, empty-handed, and on the road searching once again. One of the things that I’m afraid too many people cling to as the answer is organized religion. What, might you ask, is wrong with that? Isn’t religion supposed to be a good thing because it’s all about Jesus and loving others? Well….yes and no.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something that might come as a surprise to some: I love Jesus, but not religion. Religion can be a good thing, but the truth is that far too many people confuse the idea of being religious with having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I have grown up in church all my life, and I’ll be the first to admit that I do often participate in different religious activities with my church. BUT, one thing that has really hit home to me after all these years is that religion will not give you meaning in life, and all the religious things we do are completely empty and meaningless unless we truly FIND Jesus. In fact, if we approach it in the wrong way, religion can wind up being more about self and personal glory than about Jesus and others. Doing religious things does not give us purpose and answers in life; rather, purpose and meaning come when we have a personal relationship with and a love for Jesus Christ that flows from a heart that is truly devoted to Him. If any of you have had doggies living in your home, I’m sure you realize that it doesn’t take long to get attached to them. Before you know it they become like a part of the family. I know when they look at me with their big, precious eyes, bump me with their wet nose, and give a happy tail wag, I can’t resist but love them :) Over the past couple years I unfortunately lost two of the sweetest, most special doggies in the world, one very suddenly to cancer and the other just recently while I was on vacation to an unfortunate accident at a caretakers’ home. My recent loss of them has prompted this blog post that is somewhat different from my others. I know they were just animals, but it was still so tragic to lose them because you feel like one of your best friends has been taken away from you. I feel I’ve learned some valuable lessons from my four-legged friends- my Buddy and Molly. Don’t get super excited because I’m not going to say anything profound, but just some bits and pieces of my thoughts and my heart that may serve as essential reminders for us.
I think most of us at some point have caught ourselves trying to fill in that blank.
I would be happier if I had those latest clothing styles. I would be happier if I had a nicer car. I would be happier if I could lose ten pounds. I would be happier if I had a different job. I would be happier if I had the relationship she has. I would be happier if I lived in a bigger house. I would be happier if I was at that stage of life. I would be happier if I made more money. I would be happier if I had a personality more like hers. Any of these sound familiar??? It seems that no matter what we have been given, we always like to think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. We look at someone else's life from the outside, see a few good things, assume their life is perfect, and suddenly we become discontented with our own life. The past few months I found myself digging deep into my closets to try to get ready for a garage sale. Let me tell you, it was quite the process! I think I found enough sweaters to have an ugly sweater party for the next ten years :) I spent hours of time cleaning only to earn about $30 come garage sale time. While the monetary profit may not have been significant, the feeling of having a clean closet now is amazing :) You see, now I have room for some new things that I will use more often.
Often as we go about our normal, busy routines and accumulate different possessions, we fail to remember what we even have stashed away in those closets. Sometimes, we know there is so much inside that we shouldn’t keep, but we are too lazy to make the effort to sort through things. Well, I hate to say it but sometimes the journey of life is the same way. Just like we find different kinds of things stored away in our closets in the home, we will find things in our “closets” of life that need to be sorted through. We need to sort through some things in our lives and either organize them so that they are in line with what God wants them to be or else get rid of them (declutter) in order to make room for some new things that God wants to be there. When cleaning my closet at home, I found three different types of items inside that resemble the types of things that I have in my “closets” of life that I need to ask the Lord to help me to sort through. I always love spring because it’s a time here in Minnesota when all the snow melts, the replenishing rain comes, the grass starts to become green, and new flowers begin to blossom. It’s a time when the short, cold, and sometimes dreary days of winter begin to go away, and the world seems to come alive again after four or five long months of near hibernation :) The animals become more active, the sun heats up the day, and the beauty of the earth becomes amazing!
The other day when the last of the snow (or at least what I hope was the last!) was on the ground, I noticed how dirty it was from the bits of grass, dirt, and gravel that would get stirred up and mixed with it every time the driveway was shoveled. I was trying to make a fluffy, white snowman with my little niece but some dirt kept showing up on Frosty as we gathered snow and packed it on. When the sun came out, though, the following day it did not take long for all that dirty snow to melt away into the ground to make way for new vegetation to soon follow. I love spring because all the new things that come to life remind me of hope and new beginnings. I think it’s fitting that in the spring we celebrate Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ because hope and new beginnings are exactly what Jesus Christ can do for each and every one of us. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I think we all sometimes experience seasons in our lives when we feel like that dirty snow that appeared on our Frosty the Snowman that day—that dirty snow that somehow shows up underneath all the white fluffy snow on the top. In our lives, even though we don’t necessarily want it to, sometimes “dirt” threatens to creep in. The “dirt” I’m referring to is the things we allow to creep back into our lives or the things that we are constantly clinging to that are stealing our joy, tarnishing our relationship with God, and keeping us from moving forward in life. There may be seasons of our lives when we may not be focused on what God wants for our lives, and perhaps we have made some mistakes in the past that we are not proud of. It is easy when we have made mistakes to keep clinging to them and letting them prevent us from going forward for Christ. What we need to realize is that God can give us a new beginning! I believe there are three important steps to finding our journey to a new beginning in life—a new beginning in Christ. Well, it’s been about two weeks since I sat down to write. Even though I love to write, I’ve been writing and writing lately for school, and I guess I simply needed a writing break :) Last week I reached an important milestone in my life that I never thought would come. I was able to finish graduate school! It was a very long road with many ups and downs, and I know without a doubt that it is only by God’s grace and sustaining strength that I have been able to complete this goal! Although the school days are now behind me, the lessons I have learned will last a lifetime. Through my years in college (what seem like many!) I have learned more than just lessons in academics. I have learned some valuable life lessons. Here I would like to share just four of them with you. Whatever milestone you are trying to reach in your own life, I hope these lessons will provide the encouragement that you need.
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