I Wish I Was OR I Wish I Were?

There are so many customs humans have when they want to wish for something - blowing dandelion fluff, blowing out birthday candles, pulling the turkey wishbone, crossing their fingers, or finding four-leaf clovers.  You could probably add something else to this list.

The other day I indulged myself in watching the musical version of Cinderella that was often on television when I was a child.  In the story, all the girls in the kingdom are hoping to become the chosen bride of the prince and they are wishing they were older, or younger, or sweeter, or bolder, or any of the other traits they don't have that cause them to be disqualified from having their dream fulfilled.

That's been the story of my life for quite some time now.  It's not that I want to marry a prince.  I married mine over 32 years ago and I thank God for him.  My wishes are of the self-improvement kind.  I wish I was a person who kept better track of my checking account or flossed every day or could lose weight AND keep it off.  As a Christian, I wish I were a person who studied the Word more or prayed more or reached out to people more naturally.

I started thinking about the was vs were and just could not remember my high school English teachers addressing that subject when it comes to these types of phrases.   So, like any modern person, I did an internet search.  I found a variety of opinions on which is correct, but one of the most interesting things I found is this:  One should say, "I wish I were" when the thing they are hoping for is impossible or highly improbable.  This would be like me saying, "I wish I were 21 years old and five feet and eight inches tall." Those of you who know me are aware that I'll never see 21 again and I have never even glimpsed five feet and one inch. It's just not going to happen.

The phrase "I wish I was" is reserved for those things that are approachable.  In my case, most of the things I truly wish for are possible, but most of them require some action on my part.  How do I get to become a person who does all those things?  Well, the people that do those things are the people who make a decision to do them and then follow through. On a daily basis, I do the things I have to do, like go to work, but in my free time I end up doing what I want to do instead of the things I should.

I am one decision away from everything I want to change in my life.  I can't do any of it on my own, but with God's help, I can be successful. However, God won't force me or do it for me.  His Word says that God's divine power has"given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness".  (1 Peter 1:3)  There's nothing for which I have to wait to begin making those changes in my life.  It's one of those "one foot in front of the other" kinds of beginnings.  What are you wishing of yourself?  Let's take some first steps and the sooner, the better!

And God Loves Loopy!

It's been a while since I told a "Bella" story, but this one had to be told.  Our granddaughter is 2 years and 9 months old this month.  She talks a blue streak, as they say, and teaches me things every time I see her.  Sometimes, the lessons are sobering, but this one was a real laugh - at least for a while.

She was spending time in the master bedroom with her Papaw yesterday.  She knows if she goes back there she can usually get him to play one of the shows she likes on his television, even if her daddy is monopolizing the one in the living room.

Most of the programs she likes we can tolerate, but there are a few that are so silly or repetitive or boring that we groan as soon as she asks for them. One of those she used to call "Loopy" because she got confused about the character's real name.  I'll leave it at that so I don't publicly criticize the show.  I'm sure he's a perfectly lovely person, but the goofiness of the show grates on the nerves of all the adults in the house.

Anyway, yesterday she was sitting on the floor, watching one of her shows, when she suddenly said to her Papaw, "I like God.  God loves me.  God loves Loopy."  How can you argue with that logic? So with a groan, he turned to that crazy show and she got to watch.

She did a lot of that this weekend.  In fact, on the way to church this morning she asked if our pastor, Michael, would be at church.  I told her he would and she said, "I like Michael.  Michael loves me."  I think she is beginning to connect that love goes both ways and that God's love encompasses all of us.

I laughed over the "God loves Loopy" comment until this afternoon it hit me that I was sometimes forgetting just how much God loves all of us and how we are commanded to love one another.  I was venting on the telephone to an old friend of mine about a situation in my extended family and how a particular person has caused a great deal of resentment and alienation in a situation and I realized that I've spent more time talking about the pain she has caused than I have spent in praying for her and asking God to intervene in the situation.  After all, if God loves Loopy, He surely loves her too.  Who am I to vent instead of pray?  Yes, she is in the wrong.  Yes, sins have been committed, relationships harmed, lies have been told, but God loved me when I had the same list of strikes on my record.

I'm teaching this little girl many things as she grows, but thank God that He is using her to teach me too.

Can You Hear Me Now?

I just saw the Christian movie, Overcomer, with a group of friends from my church.  We met in a room at the theater after the movie was over to discuss the thoughts we had about what we had seen. Without giving away the plot, one of the main characters was a girl who was a cross-country runner.  In a crucial race, she is able to listen to some pre-recorded coaching using an earbud in one ear. As she runs, she receives encouragement, direction, affirmation, and strategies to help her run the best race she possibly can.

I remarked to the group that I wished that I could hear the Holy Spirit that directly and clearly as I try to run this race of life.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if in each and every situation of your life you could hear the audible voice of God guiding you?  Of course, that kind of constant, tangible guidance wouldn't take much faith and it's not the way that God chooses to direct most people.  Yet, we desperately need His influence along the way.

Yet at any point in the movie race, the runner could have chosen to switch off the device and run the race her own way.  I think sometimes that's what I do.  God uses all kinds of things to speak to us.  His main avenue to get the message across is His Word, but how often do we let other things distract us and neglect reading the remarkable love story He has given us in the Bible?  He uses the words of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but do we discredit their loving correction because it's just coming from another human being?  If you've read much of my writing, you'll know that He uses simple, everyday occurrences to teach lessons, if I'm listening.  He'll do that for you as well.

I guess I'm saying that if we don't already make use of the ways God has already used to communicate to us, why should He give us more?  Sometimes, I haven't obeyed the last direction I heard from Him, so He can't trust me with another yet.  We must walk in the direction of what we have already received in order to have the next steps outlined for us.

Luke 11:28 says in part, "...... blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

Fingers on the Right Keys - Starting from a Position of Truth

I was typing some sermon notes earlier tonight and I glanced away from the screen for a few seconds.  When I looked again at what I had written, it seemed as if I'd stopped typing in English and begun recording notes in some very foreign language! Evidently, my hands had moved one place to the left and had carried on typing in the correct pattern, but with absolutely the wrong letters, causing an incomprehensible jumble of unpronounceable syllables on the screen.

When you start from the wrong position in life, it has a profound effect on the things that you think, the opinions you hold, the principles on which you base your life choices.  You may have very strong convictions about things and you think you can justify them. You just keep on churning out ideas in the way you speak and the way you live, but unless those things are rooted in the only real truth that exists, all your rhetoric is just as foolish and nonsensical as my typed gibberish.

Our world today is full of many opinions. It seems that everyone is constantly arguing about politics and religion, morals and values, judgment and mercy.  Even in the church world, there is great compromise and a rejection of the very Word of God by people who think they are being more loving and compassionate by changing the gospel to fit the culture instead of letting the Jesus of the gospel transform the culture. There is one constant in all the changing landscape of our civilization and it's not pop culture, the media, or anyone's personal opinion.  It's the authority of an Almighty God who doesn't need to "get with the times" or update His Word to fit modern sensibilities.  When we start thinking that we know better than our Creator, we've got our fingers on the wrong keys and everything that we say or do beginning in that position is flawed.

The thing that everyone seems to be missing is this - it's not that God set down some arbitrary rules just so He could be in charge and make everyone toe the line or else.  It's the fact that He designed us and He knows what will bring us the greatest fulfillment in our lives and what will cause our lives to be a blessing to others and not a heartache.  He's a loving Father who could control every aspect of our lives but allows us the choice to accept or reject His plan. 

No matter how intelligent someone is by the world's way of measuring intelligence, he or she is no match for God. The best-laid arguments that begin by setting man in a position as more "with it" than the God who created him are just so much babble and nonsense.

1 Timothy 2:4, in talking about the people of God praying for all men, expresses God's heart on the subject of truth and how He views it.  It says, .... who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."  Please notice that the scripture says the truth, not "one of the many truths" or "your truth" as the world says these days.  He loves us and He knows that only His truth will really set us free.

When Does Church Start?

At the church where I am a member, we use screens to display announcements, song lyrics and just before the beginning of the service, there is a countdown clock to let people know when the service will begin.  Last week, I was thinking about that countdown in terms of the question, "When does church start?"

Church doesn't start when the praise and worship leader plays the opening notes of the first song.  It doesn't begin when the pastor walks into the room or when the ushers close the doors between the lobby and the sanctuary.  

Church starts in each one of us from the day we are born again because we are the church - people are the church - the building is only a place where we gather - the service is only an appointed time we join together.

So when does church start?  It starts at home when you open your eyes each day and walk out into a world who needs to see Jesus in you.  It starts when you are in prayer for your pastor during the week so he might have a timely word for you and your brothers and sisters when the church next gathers.  It begins when those who serve on a Sunday morning in various ministries of the church are preparing for the needs of the people.  It begins in thousands of ways through millions of believers all over the world.  

So if you gather with other believers on Sunday, make sure you are being the church - not just attending a meeting.  There's so much more to this Christian life than putting in an appearance for a couple of hours in a building with a church name on the front.

A Way of Escape

This morning on the drive to church, a bug on the inside of the driver's side window was annoying my husband.  As we slowed to a stop at a traffic light, he rolled down his window and tried to shoo the bug out into the fresh morning air, but the stubborn creature clung to the edge of the window.  He batted at it several times, but it was no use. Finally, in exasperation, he squashed it against the window that it seemed so determined to occupy. 

My first reaction was, "Ewww!" as I heard the crunch of the bug under his finger.  I remarked that he surely had given the bug plenty of opportunities to escape, but that in rejecting the offer, the bug had chosen his own disaster.

In this case, the insect's choice had literal life or death consequences but for us as spiritual beings, the choices put before us are eternal - a never-ending, joyous home in heaven with God or eternal separation from Him in hell. It's based on a single choice.

Acts 4:12 says, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved".  

However, it's not only the eternal escape that we need but also a way to be rescued from the challenge of our sin nature still rearing its ugly head in our lives.  Fortunately, God has provided a solution for that issue as well.

"No temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."  1 Corinthians 10:13

I'm so glad that God has mercy towards us and is long-suffering - even waiting many years for some of us to take advantage of that open window into the fresh air of life in Him, but as my pastor taught this morning, God has also said that His Spirit would not always strive with man. (Genesis 6:3) That window of escape - of a chance to live and prosper and find your purpose in this life - won't always be there.  Take advantage of the unfathomable opportunity God has given you - first to accept His salvation and then to walk with His Spirit to rescue you from all the traps and snares the enemy lays for you in this life. It's your choice.

Juggling Chainsaws

I am in information overload tonight.  There are situations going on in my family that, though I am trusting God to handle, are still on my mind.  The school year has begun and I have lesson plans and schedules and special education paperwork and meetings spinning around in my head. I have dozens of alarms and reminders on my cellphone because I can't possibly keep up with everything that is going on.  There are also the hundreds of big and little things that we all have to keep track of to run our homes, manage our finances, care for our loved ones, and even just get ourselves dressed and out the door in the morning. 

It's like juggling chainsaws, herding cats, or flying an airplane WHILE building it. It's overwhelming and it's tiring and it makes me feel like a failure at all of it.

There's so much swirling around in my brain that I couldn't even remember hearing God once this week.  I usually see or do or hear something between blog posts that drops a little lesson into my heart, but the mental noise has canceled out anything He might have been trying to say.  As soon as I realized that fact, there was the post.

"Stop the noise, stop the input, and just listen."  The Bible puts it this way in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God".  So this post is short and to the point.  Put everything else out of your mind.  Sit at His feet.  Hide the to-do list.  Just be.  Be still. Know - remember, recognize, acknowledge, meditate on, consider, discover, understand -that He is God and He's got this.  A year from now, all of the things that are cluttering your heart right now will a distant memory - and He will still be God and He will still be there.