Food… and bed and stuff and pizza… and boxes

Food… and bed and stuff and pizza… and boxes

Rachel is 3, and this was her prayer at bedtime. Simple. Straightforward. Often I make prayer too formal and stilted, too grown-up. Here’s what I can learn from her.

• Nothing is too small to pray about. Or too unusual.
• It’s for God’s ears. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about the requests.
• No big words. You don’t have to impress God with style or oratory. No sense wearing Him out either.
• Prayer naturally flows from what’s already on your heart.

Just a quick post today. My calendar filled up all the sudden. The older kids are in a play this spring and practice has begun. We’ve added voice lessons to our weekly routine. Homeschool PE moves to the pool at the college for a swimming unit. What was manageable last week suddenly got nuts.

Times like this are especially challenging for me. It seems if the pressure mounts to get everything done, I start having trouble getting anything done. I lose perspective. I lose focus and I end up spinning my wheels.

Jesus says “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest… Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message)

Freely and lightly. Yes!

“We will show forth Your praise to all generations” Psalms 79:13

Some days you just have to praise God…

I was in a praise service Sunday evening with my whole family. Jon and I sang. Lauren played the piano and Alan gave his testimony. I’m sure Rachel will take her part soon enough. What a blessing to sit in church as a family! We received word today in the morning service about a family torn apart by suicide, about a family touched by the uncertainty of job loss, about another family devastated by catastrophic illness.

God doesn’t owe me anything, but yet He pours out blessings upon blessings. Friends, family, life and health… I don’t know why except that that’s just the way He is. Here’s an exercise I’ve done with the kids on occasion- Thank God right now for ten things you’ve never thanked Him for.

In no particular order:

1. Corrective lenses so I can see without getting a headache

2. Chocolate milk (the store-bought kind AND Nestle’s Quik)

3. Toothbrush (Could you imagine NOT having a toothbrush?)

4. Being able to read

5. Hearing my children laugh

6. An alarm clock, really. It means I’ve got something to do.

7. Medication (otherwise that tachycardia might just take off on me)

8. Getting to choose at the grocery store (Not only is there food there to buy, that’s safe, but I can get just about anything I can imagine.)

9. Leisure time (Jon and I – and the kids too – don’t have to work every waking moment just to eat.)

10. An office full of books

One of my jobs each week is getting the bulletin ready. It’s less of a program for the worship service and more like a newsletter. In trying to find something substantive for the back page, I ran across an email with a piece reprinted from Rick Warren. He quotes Habakkuk (which is one of my favorite little books) and makes the statement, “Even as you make a decision to follow the dream God places in your heart, you can expect a delay.”

When God does that, every bit of faith I mustered to take that step, to follow that dream, gets pitched right out the window. If God would tell me up front, “Now it’s going to take five years (or ten or twenty) before this all comes to pass,” I’d be all set. He never does that though. He expects me to trust Him. From beginning to end. Without constant reassurance.

I don’t have to be reassured that Jesus is really giving me eternity in heaven. I don’t have to be reminded that God is omnipotent. So what’s the difference? Me. That dream, that assignment began in God’s mind and is a part of His plan which cannot fail. However, I often fall into believing the success rests solely with me now. The pressure mounts to make it happen.

God never tells me I have to bring His plans to fruition. One reason for the delay is to make sure I understand that it isn’t about what I can do for God. It’s about seeing God’s purposes fulfilled, getting to be there when it happens.

The other thing I need to grasp- quoting Rick Warren again- “A delay is not a denial.” If things don’t fall in place after what I think is a reasonable time, I take that as a sign I’ve done something wrong, God is displeased, and I’m being benched. God has a timetable and His purposes will always be accomplished. Always. A promise is a promise.

If I trust God with my eternal soul… surely I can trust Him when it seems things aren’t working out the way I thought they were going to. It sounds so simple when I type it out. I’ll keep working on it.

I’m watching an indoor track meet from Madison Square Garden, hoping to catch sight of my nephew, Josh. He’s a collegiate runner and also competes in the race walk. I’m just barely a runner, mind you, but his walk time of just over 6 minutes is almost half my run time for a mile. Ah well.

Watching the meet, I understand why Paul used running a race as a metaphor for the Christian life. I have teammates, coaches and trainers, but ultimately, it’s my personal race. It’s my responsibility to train, to condition myself, and to work through injuries. Most of that preparation is done alone, depending on my own self-discipline. If I slack off even a day, it may cost me. It’s important that I eat right and strength-train. I need to be equipped with the right shoes. I have a course laid out before me, and it’s critical that I stay on track. My finish depends on it. I can’t get distracted by what other runners are doing. I can only run my race well.

Josh runs cross-country, too and in some ways that’s a better picture of this race we’re in. The runners get individual times but the team does better when each runner performs well. As we run our races well, we encourage those around us to finish strong.

In 2009, I only ran a few months before it got too cold for me, so I have yet to reach that point real runners talk about when they feel like they could go forever. (I had no trouble getting to the ‘I hope this is not a heart attack’ point.) This Christian race, though, I’m running to the very end.