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Abide in Love ~ Abound in Thanksgiving ~ Work in Joy...
Live Fully ~ Suffer Rightly ~ Trust Deeply ~ Bless Truly!

LISTEN & LEARN:

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
~ Psalms 25:4,5

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LESSONS FOR A LEARNER

Sunday, July 8, 2012

"You have to let me take risks, Mom"

The four and a half year old voice echos the 36 year old voice, "You have to let him take risks," which echos the almost 50 year old neuro-psychologist's as his 14 year old son shows off his explosive chemistry projects.  "You have to let them take good risks [like parent supervised chemistry explosions] or they'll choose to take bad ones."

And all this after DS4 stands on the chair and jumps up and over the arm of the chair to the wooden floor below.

And his words ring back to me right after he's practicing balancing on a football and as I say, "Uh..." right before he steps up to balance on the empty foot talk oats cylinder and right as I shut my mouth and then say, "OK, go ahead."  And the cylinder buckles under him and he stumbles, but he doesn't fall and he's proud of his risk and his mama realizes that was a "good risk" - a risk with only the possibility of maybe a bruised shin and a bruised ego that leads to humility and better judgment?

And all this from cautious first born who still gets stiff in the swimming pool, his mama's second home.  This cautious first born who took the training wheels off at 51 months of age and 2 weeks later was ready for a motorcycle.  This cautious first born who is blooming into a risk-taker?

And his cautious first born mama?  Have I bloomed yet into a risk-taker?  Have I open-handedly, open-armedly, open-heartedly trusted the One in control?  Have I been a risk-taking Pray-er, a risk-taking Hoper, a risk-taking faith-filled Truster, Share-er? Have I taken the risk of breaking my alabaster jar of all I'm worth to express my love and gratitude for my Christ-bought forgiveness?  Or have I stayed in my comfortable box in which I have pseudo control...what has that gained me, really?  Hmmm...the freedom of risk-taking in God's control...what risks does God want me to take for His glory?  What will that be like?

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Peeling A Hard Boiled Egg

What comes to mind when you think of peeling a hard boiled egg?

The frustration of the egg white getting stuck on the egg shell?  The potential of a beautifully smooth tasty oblong object marred by the craters?  Sometimes it's a smooth unpeeling and other times...well, there's just not much of the desired egg remaining, huh!?!

I was standing over my kitchen sink, gazing up to the pines past the park, letting the shell drop in the sink and I had an Ann Voskamp moment.  I don't feel like I have them very often.  Is that a special gifting or a learned practice?  The ability to glean a spiritual lesson out of a mundane task.  Did this analogy come to mind because I am trying to have my mind set on things above while living down on earth, having my eyes open to see the glory of God in the little things here and now?  OR was it just a coincidence?

Whatever the cause, I want to remember the lesson:

Some eggs are easy to peel other eggs are a pain in the rear - slow going and frustrating.  But, no matter how they peel, their make-up and taste is the same.  Likewise, God has created us each with the same make-up: His Image.  And yet our sin has hardened us, made us stiff-necked, obstructed the pure, smooth beauty of the glory of God to be seen by all.  God is in the business of refining for our good and His glory.  As God is peeling away our hard outer shells, does He have an easy shell to work with, like pliable clay on a potter's wheel, or do we make His work more challenging by being the stubborn piece that clings to the "comfort" of the protective shell, leaving a marred crater in its place.

Whatever it is that makes eggs easier to peel, LORD, make me a learner of Your ways - that I way live in Your world in Your way - a way that makes me easier to work with in my sanctification process and a way that bears the image of Your glory more purely and majestically!