Love Me? Love My Stuff

I am having a garage sale this weekend – selling some of my more sentimental pieces. It is amazing how attached we can get to things that are wood, plastic, metal. I have a wooden furniture set that I hand-painted when I was pregnant with our son who is now 12.5 years old. It says, “Children are a blessing” on the pull out drawers. It’s painted with fun colors and I have fond memories of painting it for him in anticipation of his arrival. He’s almost a teenager and could care less – so there it sits in my driveway waiting for someone to love it as much as I do. Funny thing, nobody seems to be loving my stuff as much as I do or did. They come and nitpick at the scratches in my glass covered coffee table (do they realize they are at a yard sale)? They rummage through my children’s once favorite t-shirts and toys and books without any longing looks in their eyes – no reflections on past fond memories. And why should they? It isn’t their stuff or their memories or their family. Nobody loves your family the way you do (except for God of course). but that is why it is so important to be expressive in that love you have for one another. That is also why it is so important as a Christian to share love to others – they are not used to it. It really does set us apart. They can’t imagine anyone really caring for them and their family and when we reach out to someone and love them like family we are being Jesus to them in the most intimate way. John 13: 34-35 says, “A new command I give you; love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Strength Series Lesson 2

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the things we buy are for the purpose of making our lives easier to live?
I walked down the aisles of Costco just yesterday noting all of the things I would like to buy. “Oh – I need one of those it would make cleaning so much faster.” I would love to get a new set of pans because I could cook more accurately with those pans.” “A new organizing system to stay better organized.” We want to buy things that will save time, money or energy – but our favorite thing to save on is effort. If you are selling something that will help someone do a menial task with little to no effort – you have a winning product. Every exercise apparatus that promises model –like results in five minutes per day with little to no effort on your part is sure to get some responses. Why? Because we are either really lazy or not stupid. If we can get those same results without having to work for it, who wouldn’t opt out of the work?
Unfortunately, we transfer our efficiency mode into our walk with Christ. Five minute devotional books are great – but they shouldn’t take the place of real heart-felt time with Jesus every day. Bible study at church is great – but it is not the same as just you and Jesus time. Recently I asked my son if he had read his Bible before going to bed the night before. We have taught our kids to have personal devotion time since they were very small. We started with just a Bible story picture book. Although we read them other books, this one was saved for “Alone-time” with Jesus. They could look at the book and talk to Jesus about whatever was on their mind. So, it has been expected as part of my son’s getting ready for bed habit, but lately I had noticed it was slipping – so I asked him about it. “Well….,” came the reply, “No, but we read the Bible every day at school.” He’s no dummy – efficiency at its best. Why do something twice when you can do it once? “Well,” I explained, “Reading the Bible at school is great, but it doesn’t take the place of your special alone-time with Jesus – I am sure He missed your company last night.” “Oh,” came the sad little reply, “I understand – I don’t want Jesus to be sad.”
Without even realizing it, we have “Effeciencied” ourselves right out of an intimate relationship with Christ. Our group Bible-studies, and Sunday morning gatherings are great – but if three’s a crowd – well, you do the math. We tend to think we are getting more accomplished the more people we are around. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible says “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” We definitely need church, but even Jesus withdrew to spend time alone with His father. The world quips, “I just need some ‘Me’ time.” Our Christian thinking should be, “I need some Jesus time.” and the cool thing about that is – Jesus wants some “You” time! I don’t know about you, but when I know someone wants to spend time with me, it makes me very excited to spend time with them. Have a great week – I would love to hear about how your “Alone-time” with Jesus is going.

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Climbing the Mountain

A couple of days ago, my family and I hiked Camelback Mountain. If you live in Arizona, you probably know – that’s a hard hike! It is 1.2 miles, 1264 feet of elevation gain, with huge boulders, steep slippery yards of rock-face - with cacti jutting out into the path. In fact, people continually have to be rescued off of that mountain because they underestimated the mountain and overestimated themselves. This was not our first time and so, I already knew the work ahead of me. This time we went toward the end of the day and most of the people were coming down from the mountain instead of heading up it. But there we were – heading up the mountain at about 4:30 in the afternoon.

Although we do this as a family activity, it is an “Each is on his own” method. Being a competitive family – we time ourselves and try to beat each other to the top. Usually I am so preoccupied with how hard it is, I don’t have room in my brain for any other thoughts. Maybe it was the time of day, or maybe I’m getting better at climbing, but whatever the reason, I actually had some interesting thoughts running through my head.
I thought about the different personalities that God has given us and also, our different climbing styles and motivational signals. Some people run up the mountain, so people take their time. I noticed that some people stop for breaks and turn around to see the view – this brought some interesting thoughts:

There are three main styles for climbing a mountain:
1. The people who climb a little and then look at their progress
2. The people who climb a little and stop to look forward as though they were
planning their strategy for the next few steps.
3. The people who just climb. 

Here’s what I discovered about myself: If I climb and then look at my progress my brain says, “Hey, I did pretty good – I’m fine with how far I’ve come – I’ll just stop here.” If I climb and then stop to strategize the next few steps I get discouraged because I can see how much further I need to go and it seems like an impossible feat. But if I climb like the last example – one foot in front of the other, neither distracted by how far I have come, nor by how far I have left to go, I am in a good state of mind, but I am dangerously unaware of my surroundings. God is not a “Cut-and-dry” kind of God. He has a way that He wants us to discipline and challenge us. Applying my knowledge of God through scripture, it becomes evident that God would have me use a combination rather than one method. Having tunnel vision by only applying one method leaves me handicapped.

Here is a more biblical approach:
1. Glance back once in a while and thank God for progress made
2. Look forward once in a while to strategize and ask God for help for what is ahead
3. In-between looking back and looking forward – put the head down and focus on the task at hand – putting one foot in front of the other because that is the only way you are going to get to the top – one step at a time. 

Here are those steps outlined in God’s Word:
1. God had the children of Israel build memorials to tell their children about their journey and how God had helped them.
2. God had the children of Israel build alters to help them remember that the past is forgiven and the future is clean
3. God had the children of Israel build relationships with each other but mostly with Him – so that they can take the next step. 

Another observation I made on my little hiking adventure is that nobody else can take your trip with you except for God himself. Even with my family in front and behind me – it was my own journey – no one felt my same level of difficulty, pain, sweat, or excitement – the only one who really knew how I felt at any given moment was God.

You know where I am going with all this – it is all the same in real life. The only way to make progression in life is to combine the methods – look how far you have come, strategize for the future, and keep putting one step in front of the other. And only God can go with you on your journey no matter how many friends you have.

Philippians 3:12-14 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

If you notice – it covers the same three approaches:
1. Forgetting what is behind (to forget, you have to make a conscience decision to appreciate the past and then let it go)
2. Straining toward what is ahead (is strategizing for the future)
3. Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (This is putting one foot in front of the other)

So wherever this message finds you – take courage in your journey and have good success today as God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus. One step at a time enjoy the climb – prizes are good, but enjoy the process with the one who takes each step with you.

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