This is my favorite fall picture so far.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tracing
Our three year old grandson, Asher, started pre-school this fall. From the get go, we knew he was a bright child. He even came on his due date. We watched Baby Einstein videos with him until we all knew them by heart. Very early, he knew his shapes, colors, letters, and numbers.
At Pre-school they are teaching the kids their letters and numbers and having them trace them. Asher walks around with his left hand in the air, at the ready for the next thing to trace. If he isn’t tracing the letters, he’s counting how many characters or letters are in the word or string of words. He traces letters on the TV, on boxes, on books, from the newspaper, or on the shirt someone has on. One day, I found him sitting on the floor in the dining room. We have a shelf there with accident/spare clothes for him. He had all his spare shirts lying out and his own shirt off. When I asked what he was doing he looked at me with that “isn’t it obvious, Mema” look. Then, as matter of factly as he could, he informed me that he was tracing. Every letter around him screams to be traced!
Reflecting on Asher’s tracing, I began to see three components that made Asher such a good tracer. First, he walked through his day, minute by minute and room by room, anticipating, no expecting, that there would be letters to trace or count. What do you eagerly anticipate? A quick read of Romans 8 paints a clear picture of what we need to be anticipating.
Anticipating that God is at work, that he has a plan and it includes us, drives us, spurs us, motivates us to be ready. Asher walks around expecting to find something to trace. His little hand is often in the air, making circles, like an airplane getting ready to land. The word tells us we are to be ready, to always have an answer when someone asks us what are hope is about.
Could you do that? I’m not asking if you know some specific plan or canned presentation. I don’t care if you have scripture memorized, but can you (from a sincere heart) tell someone, “This is where I was. This is what God in Christ did for me. And this is where I’m headed.” It’s your story, are you ready to tell it?
And finally, I have been so impressed by Asher’s focus. His questions reveal his passion to learn more. He listens to all our conversations. I know this because often my words come back to me through him. It has caused me to be more conscious of what I say and how I say it. We’ve even had to resort to spelling things we want to keep above his head. Everything he sees is an item to trace. If he’s not tracing letters, then his finger runs around the circumference or perimeter of an item. Some days he carries his step stool from room to room so that he can be sure to catch whatever you’re doing.
Right now Asher seems to be practicing the fine art of learning. It reminded me of Brother Lawrence’s continual practice of the awareness of God. And I started to wonder: what keeps me from anticipating God at every turn? Do I have preconceived and limiting notions about who God is and what he can do? What keeps me from being ready? Is it fear, or busyness, or ignorance of the urgency, or God help us: lack of love? What keeps me from being focused? The enemy is the expert at divide and conquer. If he can get us to thinking in terms of sacred and secular, he knows it’s just a short distance disconnecting our head and heart.
When I was in seminary the second time around, a Sunday School teacher asked our younger daughter, Beth (Asher’s mom), what she wanted to be when she grew up. Beth’s answer struck the teacher enough that she made sure to tell me. Beth’s answer was, “a student like my mom.” There is always a need for us to put into practice what we know, but oh, that God would rekindle in each of us the insatiable desire to learn. Then we would, like Asher, be anticipating, ready, and focused.
At Pre-school they are teaching the kids their letters and numbers and having them trace them. Asher walks around with his left hand in the air, at the ready for the next thing to trace. If he isn’t tracing the letters, he’s counting how many characters or letters are in the word or string of words. He traces letters on the TV, on boxes, on books, from the newspaper, or on the shirt someone has on. One day, I found him sitting on the floor in the dining room. We have a shelf there with accident/spare clothes for him. He had all his spare shirts lying out and his own shirt off. When I asked what he was doing he looked at me with that “isn’t it obvious, Mema” look. Then, as matter of factly as he could, he informed me that he was tracing. Every letter around him screams to be traced!
Reflecting on Asher’s tracing, I began to see three components that made Asher such a good tracer. First, he walked through his day, minute by minute and room by room, anticipating, no expecting, that there would be letters to trace or count. What do you eagerly anticipate? A quick read of Romans 8 paints a clear picture of what we need to be anticipating.
Anticipating that God is at work, that he has a plan and it includes us, drives us, spurs us, motivates us to be ready. Asher walks around expecting to find something to trace. His little hand is often in the air, making circles, like an airplane getting ready to land. The word tells us we are to be ready, to always have an answer when someone asks us what are hope is about.
Could you do that? I’m not asking if you know some specific plan or canned presentation. I don’t care if you have scripture memorized, but can you (from a sincere heart) tell someone, “This is where I was. This is what God in Christ did for me. And this is where I’m headed.” It’s your story, are you ready to tell it?
And finally, I have been so impressed by Asher’s focus. His questions reveal his passion to learn more. He listens to all our conversations. I know this because often my words come back to me through him. It has caused me to be more conscious of what I say and how I say it. We’ve even had to resort to spelling things we want to keep above his head. Everything he sees is an item to trace. If he’s not tracing letters, then his finger runs around the circumference or perimeter of an item. Some days he carries his step stool from room to room so that he can be sure to catch whatever you’re doing.
Right now Asher seems to be practicing the fine art of learning. It reminded me of Brother Lawrence’s continual practice of the awareness of God. And I started to wonder: what keeps me from anticipating God at every turn? Do I have preconceived and limiting notions about who God is and what he can do? What keeps me from being ready? Is it fear, or busyness, or ignorance of the urgency, or God help us: lack of love? What keeps me from being focused? The enemy is the expert at divide and conquer. If he can get us to thinking in terms of sacred and secular, he knows it’s just a short distance disconnecting our head and heart.
When I was in seminary the second time around, a Sunday School teacher asked our younger daughter, Beth (Asher’s mom), what she wanted to be when she grew up. Beth’s answer struck the teacher enough that she made sure to tell me. Beth’s answer was, “a student like my mom.” There is always a need for us to put into practice what we know, but oh, that God would rekindle in each of us the insatiable desire to learn. Then we would, like Asher, be anticipating, ready, and focused.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Little Things
If you had to make a list of the things on your job that you enjoy doing that probably weren't on your original job description, what might that list include? Are there any little things that you get to do that are just pure enjoyment? I hope so. In my job at Curves, I inherited a job. It used to be something that was on the daily to do list, but somehow it has gotten on my list and I couldn't be happier! It is my job to put an inspirational quote on the white board. Part of the reason that I inherited this task is that I started looking for specific quotes that I could put some kind of drawing wiith. The more I did that the more it seemed that people were paying attention to my stick figures and doodles. I scroll through pages of quotes on line, and find so many inspiration thoughts, but set them aside if I can't see some kind of figure to go with it.
In the picture above you see the quote that is on the board right now. I have to admit, even though I like the quote, what I really like is the rabbits. Here's why: I in no ways consider myself an artist. I typically have to google the picture I want to draw and sketch out what I find. But the whole process stretches me. I love that. The figures are far from perfect and I deliberately draw in a cartoonesque style because it's more forgiving and the goofier the better. I find it amazing that I'm drawing anything for others to see at all. It's just not anything I've done my entire life--and I'm loving it.
Want to know what else is cool? So very many people have told me that they really enjoy the quotes. Some make them laugh. Some make them think. Some make them say, oh my. Today one of the members made a point of telling me that she shares them with her grand-neice when she emails her. I can't just put anything on that board. People see it. Read it. Look forward to it.
Now, I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that this got me thinking. Thinking about my life, about my influence, about what people see...in me. They may seem like little things to me. They may seem trivial, but they make speak volumes to someone else.
A while back someone tried to make me feel bad, feel shame, that with all my education and experience I'm working part-time as a Fitness Tech at Curves. They were being petty. Little did they know how much I love my job and treasure the opportunity I have to encourage woman to health and wholeness. I really think though, that even if I wasn't working at Curves, if I was flipping burgers, cleaning toilets, or stuffing envelopes, I would find a way to make sure to find enjoyment in the task and some way to positively influence the world for the Kingdom. How about you? If you had to make a list of the things on your job that you enjoy doing that probably weren't on your original job description, what might that list include? Are there any little things that you get to do that are just pure enjoyment? I hope so.
In my job at Curves, I inherited a job. It used to be something that was on the daily to do list, but somehow it has gotten on my list and I couldn't be happier! It is my job to put an inspirational quote on the white board. Part of the reason that I inherited this task is that I started looking for specific quotes that I could put some kind of drawing wiith. The more I did that the more it seemed that people were paying attention to my stick figures and doodles. I scroll through pages of quotes on line, and find so many inspiration thoughts, but set them aside if I can't see some kind of figure to go with it.
In the picture above you see the quote that is on the board right now. I have to admit, even though I like the quote, what I really like is the rabbits. Here's why: I in no ways consider myself an artist. I typically have to google the picture I want to draw and sketch out what I find. But the whole process stretches me. I love that. The figures are far from perfect and I deliberately draw in a cartoonesque style because it's more forgiving and the goofier the better. I find it amazing that I'm drawing anything for others to see at all. It's just not anything I've done my entire life--and I'm loving it.
Want to know what else is cool? So very many people have told me that they really enjoy the quotes. Some make them laugh. Some make them think. Some make them say, oh my. Today one of the members made a point of telling me that she shares them with her grand-neice when she emails her. I can't just put anything on that board. People see it. Read it. Look forward to it.
Now, I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that this got me thinking. Thinking about my life, about my influence, about what people see...in me. They may seem like little things to me. They may seem trivial, but they make speak volumes to someone else.
A while back someone tried to make me feel bad, feel shame, that with all my education and experience I'm working part-time as a Fitness Tech at Curves. They were being petty. Little did they know how much I love my job and treasure the opportunity I have to encourage woman to health and wholeness. I really think though, that even if I wasn't working at Curves, if I was flipping burgers, cleaning toilets, or stuffing envelopes, I would find a way to make sure to find enjoyment in the task and some way to positively influence the world for the Kingdom. How about you?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Prepared
Ephesians 6 gives a wonderful image of how we are to “dress” or outfit ourselves. I get this picture of Paul getting dressed in the morning and making sure he was clothed in God’s best. His admonition to the Colossians on how they were to clothe and not clothe themselves is another example of his dressing image (Colossians 3).
I was thinking about that as I was running through my tick list of things to get ready before I headed out the door for my twelve hour work day. I would be working both jobs and not getting home in between. I had laid out my clothes, charged the phone and Palm Pilot, set out the vitamins, and readied the coffee maker, all before I went to bed. My lunch box was loaded with two meals and two snacks to get me through the day. That’s when I thought about a principle I’ve taught in my healthy eating classes: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. All those years in Girl Scouts taught me well to “be prepared.”
Driving to work, I began to ponder how “prepared” I was spiritually to walk through the day. I made sure I had a jacket with a hood to protect my hair from the wind and rain, but did I grab the helmet of salvation? I made sure my inserts were in my shoes, but were my feet protected by the peace that comes from the Good News? I knew my pants would stay up, but it wasn’t because I grabbed the belt of truth. I knew where my umbrella was, but “over all things” did I put on love?
My socks may have matched, but I think I would fare better through the day if I made sure my heart, mind, and spirit got better attention. And that won’t happen unless I plan, prepare, and follow through. I don’t know what storms, trials, or temptations may come my way today, but to fail to plan for them is to plan to fail. So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make sure my sword of the Spirit is close at hand for when the enemy attacks!
I was thinking about that as I was running through my tick list of things to get ready before I headed out the door for my twelve hour work day. I would be working both jobs and not getting home in between. I had laid out my clothes, charged the phone and Palm Pilot, set out the vitamins, and readied the coffee maker, all before I went to bed. My lunch box was loaded with two meals and two snacks to get me through the day. That’s when I thought about a principle I’ve taught in my healthy eating classes: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. All those years in Girl Scouts taught me well to “be prepared.”
Driving to work, I began to ponder how “prepared” I was spiritually to walk through the day. I made sure I had a jacket with a hood to protect my hair from the wind and rain, but did I grab the helmet of salvation? I made sure my inserts were in my shoes, but were my feet protected by the peace that comes from the Good News? I knew my pants would stay up, but it wasn’t because I grabbed the belt of truth. I knew where my umbrella was, but “over all things” did I put on love?
My socks may have matched, but I think I would fare better through the day if I made sure my heart, mind, and spirit got better attention. And that won’t happen unless I plan, prepare, and follow through. I don’t know what storms, trials, or temptations may come my way today, but to fail to plan for them is to plan to fail. So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make sure my sword of the Spirit is close at hand for when the enemy attacks!
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