Learning Along The Way

Learning to Walk

By

1530455_567223723366141_300730910_nSometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, LIFE is HARD.

There I said it for you. For me. Our definition of hard may not be the same. No Matter. Hard is hard.

What we do with that reality tells a lot about us. Do we complain? (my worst character flaw) Do we whine? (another of my problems) Or do we learn to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called?

We can change you know.  Not always our circumstances. But always our response to our circumstances.

I am encouraging myself here folks.  When I spend an excessive amount of time navel gazing I find myself mired in self-pity and full of whining & complaining (twins born of the same toxic ilk!)

I really am a female version of the Apostle Peter. Impetuous. Loud. Speaking before thinking. And looking at Jesus then looking away and down at my circumstances. Every once in a while it’s good to lift up my head, look around and consider the realities, not my perceptions.

The result? A made – new perspective. Counting gifts, paying attention to others’ real needs, stepping out of myself and serving others, all help me to get my focus off my own issues and aware of the greater needs around me.

Today’s photo comes from a community of people who are risking for and trusting God in authenticity; in the middle of very real life challenges.  Cancer. Abuse. Dark nights of the Soul.

Reading about their journeys may help you in yours. It certainly has helped me.

As you go about this Sabbath day, be reminded of a few vital truths as a Christ-follower: He is well acquainted with suffering; He told us we will have tribulation in this world, and He has overcome it; we have the opportunity to share in the fellowship of His sufferings; He will never leave you or forget you; His Holy Spirit is in you and He is your Comforter and Strength.

If you are struggling to believe any of these things, let’s talk.  My prayer for you today is that you are

Learning to walk…

Learning to Risk

By

Life is hard isn’t it?
I could stop there.
But then I would be leaving out the best part: this is only training.
Yep. You are in training for the future. While you are living your day to day life you are learning to risk.
Learning to lead.
Learning to follow.
Learning to let go.
Learning to be like the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb. And that means you are going to be changing. A lot.
Do you imagine that you’re saved and taken to heaven just as you are?
Nope.
We’re really not some good deal that God got when He chose us. He is at work changing us to be more like His Son everyday.
Sometimes change is easy but most of the time change like this is hard.
You are in a character reformation program that sometimes feels like a sander on a rough piece of wood; noisy, smelly and hot as the wood is reshaped.
Sounds pleasant doesn’t it?
One of the things I’ve learned in my own journey of reformation is that it’s a whole lot easier to go along with the process than it is to fight change.
Now I’m not talking about change just for the sake of change.
I’m talking about the kind of change that actually costs something. Like letting go of a friendship that doesn’t help you spiritually. Like letting your adult children lead their lives separate from your family; following The Lord as He leads them. Like moving away from all that is familiar to follow your husband’s career. Like finding homes for your pets because they can’t live in your new area. Like taking the risk of stepping out into the unknown future and Trusting the One who loves you desperately to follow Him wherever He leads.

Learning to Risk is practiced in little steps. Not in giant leaps all the time. He knows how much you are willing to risk. Funny thing though, He was willing to risk His very life for us.

How are you learning to risk for Him?

Learning to Believe

By

photo(33)I know life is hard sometimes.  Some days are worse than others.  Some Mondays you just want a do over by the end of the day.

There’ll be days like this my momma said…

But you don’t have to throw in the towel, or bury your head under the pillow, or distract yourself with TV or incessant snacking.

Nope. You have other choices. Choices for your growth. For your good. For others’ good too. You can choose learning.  Learning to Believe.

Learning to Believe you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.  Learning to Believe God’s plans for you are for your welfare and not to harm you. (even when today doesn’t make sense) Learning to Believe you have the capacity to forgive the hurt that poured out on you from another today.  Learning to Believe Truth.

Someone once told me that Faith is like a muscle.  You need to exercise it to strengthen it.  How do you exercise Faith?

Learning to Believe what may not make sense at first. Sometimes we need reminding of Truth. Actually, daily we need reminding. Why? Because we are forgetful people. Something doesn’t turn out the way we thought it would or should or could and we freak out. Why? Because we are broken people. We need reminding!

Reminders come in so many ways: a beautiful sunrise (if you’re up early!); birds chirping; a time of silence when the littles are napping; an email from a friend; an entry in Jesus Calling. He reminds us to Believe Him. To Trust Him. To grow our Faith in Him.

We need people around us who can be our co-workers in learning to Believe. We need people who can be like Aaron and Hur were to Moses; helping him lift up his hands in prayer to the Lord while the battle raged on in front of him.  It’s a great story: read it in Exodus 17.

Who are your encouragers? Your prayer partners? Your cheerleaders? You’re co-workers in learning to Believe? We all need them.

Sometimes the hardest part of learning to Believe is being willing to risk sharing our very real needs.  Instead of being authentic with others we believe a lie: we don’t want to impose, be a burden, or too much trouble; yet if someone asked you for a listening ear or for help, would you turn away from them?

Learning to Believe you are worth the trouble is sometimes one of the biggest hurdles of faith.  Somehow we aren’t treasured and affirmed the way God sees us and we believe lies about ourselves.  Learning to Believe God’s Truth about who you are is an exercise of faith. Daily.

Don’t give up! You can do this!  Like any kind of learning, it’s filled with practice and mistakes.  The best part of this is: God has got your back!  He is in this learning process with you for the rest of your days!

What are you currently learning to Believe?  How may I be an encourager to you today?

Step Out

By

candle darknessAs you begin this weekend, a time for rest and relaxation, a time to regroup from the week’s stress and obligation, I hope you will set aside the weight and simply be.

Rest.

As you take time to regroup remember God’s at work whether you see Him or not.

He is still on His throne and all you need to do is carry the Light of His Presence in you wherever you go.

Imago Dei

The Image of God that you bear as His child.

Step out with His Light and in His strength!

Learning to Wait

By

I’m not sure if anyone has ever asked this question in a poll of popular opinion: “What are your thoughts about having to wait?”, but I’d like to imagine that universally people don’t like it.

We are born learning to wait. Crying for food or clean diapers, as an infant we have to wait. Birthdays, summer vacation, Christmas: frustrate a child who must learn to wait. Babies take 9 months to develop prior to birth. Farmers plant crops and wait for them to spout and grow.

Of course if you live in a heavily populated area you might have this view daily:

traffic in mountain viewLearning to wait is a skill that is imposed in the order of the universe.  Some things are easier to wait for or through; others seem to demand far more skill at the game of waiting.

Young moms can’t wait until a child sleeps through the night; is potty trained; starts Kindergarten so the moms can have time to themselves again.  I heard these words when I was in those early physically demanding years of parenting: “treasure these times. They go by so fast.” I smiled and said thank you while thinking “easy for you to say; you’re not the one getting up at 2:00 AM or changing diapers…”

But now I’m the one saying the same thing to young moms. And since my memory is still mostly intact, I remember what I thought so I imagine they smile at me through similar, barely tolerant, thoughts.

How can we learn to wait well in the season we’re living?

By slowing down. Learning to see. To hear. To appreciate what is.

I mentioned I am reading a great book by Jeff Goins, “The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing.”  I find I am highlighting a lot of quotable statements and phrases of Jeff’s. Good authors are noteworthy. They make you think, reflect and hopefully germinate seeds of growth and change.  One of the many great things is this:

“we were made to wait, to long for things unseen.  This is the place from which dreams and desires come. It’s a place of trust–and we find it not in the resolution, but in the incompletion.”

I ponder and ponder his statement: we were made to wait. I think if we were made to wait it would be easier to do, like breathing. But waiting is a discipline; a learned skill.  Anything we learn we must go through the cycle of learning: practice, make mistakes, adjust, try again, repeat.

Is it possible to be free of the challenge that waiting brings? Do we have to simply muddle through? Is there a source of help to get better at waiting? Yes I think it’s possible.  Have I arrived there yet? No way!

Like so many things in life, waiting well is skill learned through process of trial/practice/error.  The critical piece is what we do with the error.  Grace or guilt? Gain wisdom or grow bitter?

Wait isn’t on the list of spiritual disciplines directly but it’s implied. Learning to wait is part of our spiritual development. Patience is in the list of fruit of the Spirit of God.  Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God.”

Learning to wait is God’s idea.  What we do in response to His idea can be our personal measure of our own spiritual maturity; not to judge others but to see where we are still growing.

I am learning to wait well. I don’t wait well yet. Process.  How about you?

 

 

Learning to Hear

By

Telling a story once may bring laughter, tears or insight. Who doesn’t love a good story? One that engages your head and your heart; causes you to think about life differently; appreciate what you have even more. Telling a story, the same story in the same way many times, can become part of your story.

Pieces of my story have been collected on these pages for almost 5 years now.  I don’t tell my story just to be heard. I tell my story to process its elements and try to make sense in Light of a Greater Story.  My desire is that through my story I am pointing to the One True Story and helping you see and hear how you can connect your story with the greatest story ever told.

For a few years I have been practicing listening skills.  My ears work fine. But listening is a different thing altogether.

Listening requires focus. (internal as well as external) Freedom from distraction. Patience. Silence. Humility. (letting others talk instead of me) Listening to the heart requires wisdom as well.

After my Dad died I spent a lot of time alone allowing deep grief to be my daily silent companion. It was a form of depression for sure but not the black cloud that swallows many for various reasons. This was the result of the shock; the sudden tragic loss. And I knew I needed to be in the grief and not push it away, pretending everything was ok. It wasn’t. I was learning to recognize wisdom when I heard it.

I sat in the garden one day in May for I don’t know how long. I watched the flowers sway in the spring breeze. I heard birds chirping and cars driving by. But I sat unmoving, deep in self-pity; the kind that leads to despair.

Suddenly to my right a hummingbird started working the lipstick salvia plant that I had purchased on a trip to the nursery; a trip that was meant as a distraction for me. While there I saw a hummingbird approach a small 4 inch potted plant that had 2 flowers on it. I stood mesmerized remembering how much my Dad loved to feed hummingbirds in his backyard.  I bought the plant and put it in the ground in our front yard. That plant was attracting another hummingbird and I just watched in awed silence. Tears welled up and spilled over as I thought of my Dad. I said out loud to God, “don’t you even care how hard this is for me? Do you even see how much I am hurting?”

I turned away from watching the hummingbird and looked at my hands in my lap. I had clenched both hands into fists. Staring at my anger in view of my hands I heard a faint whirring noise.  I looked up and there, right in front of me not 2 feet away, a hummingbird hovered, staring at me.

At the risk of something precious being ridiculed, I will share: I knew at that moment God heard me in my grief.

He has gone to greater lengths than causing a hummingbird to pause in its flight to demonstrate His love for me. But do I listen?

He told us “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  He showed us “Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.” He promised us a Helper “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

He also said “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Six times this is recorded in the gospels and always in the context of Jesus teaching something.  The word we see translated ‘to hear’ has meaning beyond the ears functioning.  English simply leaves out so much intent and is much too general. The Greek word used here ‘akouo’ means ‘I hear, I comprehend through hearing’.

Do we comprehend what manner of love and provision God has for us?  Are we gleaning wisdom from His Word? Are we in the process of learning to hear?

cultivate walk

 

 

Learning to See

By

Have you ever seen a new litter of kittens? Or puppies? Minutes or hours new? They have something in common; their eyes are fused shut.  They don’t open for quite some time after birth; little ones move slowly and you can tell their uncertainty in their surroundings by their tiny whimpers or mews.

A newborn child is born seeing although it has limited sight at first.  According to my dear hubster, our second son was born with one eye open and a wary expression on his face as if asking “who are you and why did you make me leave that warm place?”

Sight is a gift. A sense that may come perfectly formed in humans or in some cases not formed at all. There are also in between cases like me.  It was discovered that I had severe myopia when I started school.  I’m not sure what my parents thought about my squinting behavior before then but at the end of my kindergarten year I received my first pair of glasses. Learning to see with glasses meant I didn’t have to sit close to the TV or in the front row to see the chalkboard.

SDZoo 1965Who knew that our fashions of the 60s would be so trendy in the millennial teens? (My Mom, little brother and me, 1965)

It was not the greatest time in history to be wearing glasses since not all that many children wore glasses when I was in elementary school. And those that did were teased big time. Oh well.

My parents sacrificed a lot for me as a teenager. I had braces and contacts at the end of my freshman year in high school. Learning to see with contacts was an adventure. Wind and sand were not my friends at the beach. Learning to surf meant no contacts which also meant no seeing. That and not balancing well shortened my surfer girl persona.

As an adult, I lost contacts waterskiing because I just couldn’t imagine hanging out in the ocean 100 feet behind the boat and not knowing when a shark was close by. Not too many sharks in Mission Bay near San Diego but between the coast and Catalina Island? Who knows?

Seeing is a gift that we most often take for granted. For years after the technology became available my Mom encouraged me to have Lasik treatment done.  I was a big chicken. I didn’t want to be a statistic. I had kids to raise and what would I do? But in January, 2011 I decided I would have the procedure. I was scared for sure.  Looking back on that day the most significant moment that stands out to me happened at the check in desk.

The receptionist was going through the post op with my husband when a woman in the waiting area came up to me. She laid her hand on my arm and told me how happy she was to be able to give her daughter the gift of sight.  Random? Perhaps. But I also was finally doing what my Mom had encouraged me to do for so long and was able to afford it as a gift; part of my Mom’s estate.

The surgery was a success and I have lived two years without glasses for the first time since I was 6. Learning to see without aid was a re-training of my brain.

Learning to see ourselves as God sees us is a re-training of our brain as well.  Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Rome “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Being changed from the inside out is instantaneous for some but for others is a process: a long, slow, learning to see.

Beth Moore wrote in her study Breaking Free: “You are not defined by anything that happened to you or anything you have done.  You are defined by who you are in Christ.”  Do you know who you are in Christ?

“…until the truths of our pasts converge with the truths of God’s Word, we will never be whole.” (from Breaking Free)

Learning to see.

Oceano sunset

 

A Great Habit is Hard to Start

By

It’s that time of year! Lots of posts about resolutions and reforms. New habits to develop in place of habits that haven’t helped all that much last year. I have started and stopped my share of resolutions believe me! But I am here to tell you it is possible to make lasting changes!  It all happens one choice at a time. One moment at a time.

You’ve heard this before so I’m not going to reiterate the process of change but I do want to share the most incredible great habit I have finally formed and have seen the long term benefits from: daily Bible reading for 365 consecutive days.

I am having the most amazing experience this year. But I need to back up a tad to give you some perspective.  In 2011 I challenged myself to do something I had never accomplished. I had started and stopped countless times, but that time I was going to finish. I had called myself a Christian for 30 years and had never read the Bible all the way through front to back Genesis to Revelation. I know I know what kind of person hops around and cherry picks the books to read out of the whole Book? Apparently I’m not alone. Lots of people start a daily Bible reading plan and stop part way through.  Three years ago I said, I’m doing this and with the help of a great app You Version I was able to read the Bible all the way through. I got jazzed about completing something as daunting as that was since I had started and stopped too many times to count. My enthusiasm carried me into the next year and I did it again! Two years in a row!

Well last year I hemmed and hawed during the first week of January; was I going to simply read the Bible through again? Wouldn’t that be boring to just do the same thing? Then I saw that You Version had a Bible reading plan called Reading God’s Story: the Chronological Bible. I decided I was going read that plan to change it up.

Well since I took the whole week to decide if and then what I was going to do, I am still finishing the chronological Bible. But, this year our former church is reading through the Bible in a year together, so I chose a different plan and started on Jan 1. So here is where the amazing experience comes in.

Right now I am reading the last book of the Bible in my last year’s plan while reading the first book of the Bible in this year’s plan. The beginning and the end. The Alpha and the Omega. Our pastor Tim encourages us to read the Bible looking for Jesus whether we’re in Genesis or Leviticus or Psalms or the minor prophets. Look for Jesus and His influence. He’s there throughout the book.

As I am reading the promise to Abraham I read of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It’s an amazing trajectory from beginning to end but I have to say, the last book is as exciting now as reading C.S.Lewis’ The Last Battle in Chronicles of Narnia. I guess what I am trying to say is the Book is full of adventure, intrigue, Mystery, suspense and Love. You should read it!

bible

 

Change it Up

By

il_570xN.328961664This is lovely sketch was made by artist Rebekah Leigh Marshall.  I am found her work online. I’m fond of tandem bicycling…

I’m four months into my 57th trip around the sun. That is a sobering statement. Oddly it is also an invigorating challenge.

What new things can I learn to do? What old things can I make better? What about my character needs refining? What about my character needs sharing? Where are my gifts, talents and skills needed?

Those are some of questions I have pondered prior to the beginning of the New Year, 2014. And like most people I have lists: lists for groceries, projects, tasks, reading, writing to people; you name it. I probably have written a list. But this year isn’t about lists.

I’ve learned some things about myself in these many annual trips: I like some things to stay the same and I like to change some things.  Unfortunately the things I’d like to stay the same are completely out of my influence to remain the same. (think children growing up and moving away). The things that I’d like to change and are completely within the realm of my influence to accomplish I have often not accomplished. blegh.

As I have pondered my lists and recognized my one very-within-reason-to-change character flaw, I chose the word for my change-it-up efforts for the year: Resolve. I explained my choice more fully here.

My firm commitment is not just to complete my lists. Or change a character trait. Although those are both great things to commit to accomplishing. No my firm commitment is to live out the words of Paul to the church at Corinth. Near the end of his letter he wrote this: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Now a casual reading might give the impression this about being stodgy and stiff; that you’re supposed to never change and never rest. And like most times when we take a verse of Scripture out of its context we can run the risk of misinterpreting what is there for us. So a brief interlude for a valuable point of history:

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth because they had started to live their lives like everyone else around them rather than following the teachings of Jesus as they had been shared by Paul. The church had the same values as the culture.  Paul spent a lot of specific writing reminding the Christ followers what it means to actually follow Christ. And near the end of his letter he encourages them to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Knowing the context helps me to try to make sense for my own life of following along the Way. I need to break things down into little pieces that I can somewhat wrap my head around.  So here’s what I’ve learned in looking at this verse and why I’ve ended up with the one word Resolve for my focus this year.

Steadfast is not a word we use in daily conversations. Why not? Maybe our culture doesn’t support a word like this; listen to the definitions: fixed in direction; a steadfast gaze. firm in purpose, resolution, faith; a steadfast friend. unwavering. What is steadfast in our culture?

Abounding is also another word lost to our regular speech. Too bad. It’s a cool word. It originates from Latin and means overflow, or run over.

So stitching these word meanings into this verse helps me see that as a Christ follower what I do in my life with the Lord (which is everything because He lives in me, in you if you name His name) isn’t wasted. It’s not in vain. I can be fixing my gaze on Christ, getting to know Him more and more, and overflow with what He shows me in His Word. So, how I live my life, how I speak to others, how I spend my time, how I show grace to those who hurt me, how I forgive and forgive and forgive again, is not just me going through the motions. It is God at work. Changing it up in me, making me look more like Jesus every day. WOW!

I need to get on His two seater bike and be in tandem with Him. And what a ride it has been so far; He promises the adventure of a lifetime!

He has promised many good things but most of all His abiding Presence. Life here does not get any better than living daily with the awareness of His very real Presence.

I resolve to be on the bike in Tandem with Jesus.

What are you changing up this year?

Please also visit Rebekah

A New Year, A New Day, A New Attitude

By

resolve Day 1 part 3

New New New!  There is enthusiasm. Relief. Anticipation. New Year. New Day. New Attitude. If you’re a bandwagon-er you are probably also one who makes resolutions. My soon to be sis-in-law posted on Instagram today that their resolutions to eat less junk food and exercise more were broken on Day 1 when the cake they planned to take to a football party broke on its way from pan to plate for frosting.  Instead of repairing it, they ate the broken cake with frosting on each bite. Resolution dissolution on Day 1.

Been there? Of course.  Most regular people have difficulty with resolutions because they focus on negative behavior.  Ironically, what we focus on is what we reinforce. So if we are trying to change something we can’t focus on what needs to change but rather what the is goal.  All kinds of research in human behavior shows that if you want to be able to do something, you picture yourself doing that something. Focus on the positive result not the negative to be changed. Psych 101.

For decades I have been that person who wants to improve. Learn new things. Change old habits. Yes, lose weight. Eat healthier. Exercise more.  Yada Yada Yada.

Well this new year of 2014 is a perfect storm of learning and application for me.  If you’ve visited my blog before you already know the major life changes 2013 brought my way. All good but all of them very hard to walk through.  Lots of tears.  Lots of goodbyes.  Lots of losses.

2014 is about New. New place. New church. New life. New Attitude.

I have read many great books near the end of 2013. I have begun applying new learnings.  I have been encouraged by colleagues in new communities online. There is much to do.  I could be overwhelmed with all the new applications, but instead of feeling fragmented and working down a list of things to do, I am choosing to focus.  On just One Word.

Instead of a list of resolutions I have chosen My One Word.  Resolve. It is a word to encompass all the lists.  It is a noun meaning a firm determination to do something.

I am a great starter.  I love to gather the info, the materials, all that is needed to accomplish a new idea or project.  When we moved last year I was confronted with just how many projects and needed materials I had gathered!  I have lacked follow through (to quote one of my dear family members) and that is a character flaw that I want (and need) to change.  So my one word for 2014 is Resolve.

Resolve is a strong word. A firm determination. Not a ‘I-want-to-get-around-to-doing-that’ kind of word. Resolve is a ‘kick-butt-and-take-names’ kind of word. I want to be a woman of my word. I want to be known as a woman of The Word.  Someone people can rely on; to trust to be full of wisdom and follow through; to complete what I’ve committed to.

I chose the picture of the sand dunes at Oceano as the back drop for the word Resolve since sands shift but Resolve does not.

The beauty of this word Resolve is that it aligns with God’s desire for me as I walk this life with Him.  “Be steadfast (resolute)  immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”1Cor.15:58

If you are tired of making resolutions that fall apart the first day (like a cake I heard of) spend some time reflecting on a character trait you want to grow in your life.

Hop over to My One Word and join in the community. Take the step and commit yourself to just one word for 2014.

Resolve.

 

 

Follow Me…

Categories