Monday, June 29, 2020

Why are you always so happy?

Why are you always so happy? That's a question I get quite a lot. Honestly, I'm not sure but I've got some ideas...

I usually respond that it's the joy of the Lord and get back something along the lines of "Well, I've got that but not like you." I know they do, but it just shows in a different way than it does in me so I continue to explore - just why am I so happy?

It's certainly not because life is easy and everyone around me is happy. My own children prove on a regular basis that my happiness is not shared by them, (although they both have a great sense of humor!) And life - well, it's 2020...enough said about that.

Today I was struck by a random thought. Maybe I'm so happy because it makes me happy to be happy. It is what makes me tick. I LOOK for things to make me happy! It might be a flower I pass on my walk or a dog that greets me with a barking "Go, Donna Go!" as I pass their yard or a beautiful blue sky or a turtle that comes up to inspect my gardening - that one happened yesterday. I smiled about that for the rest of the time I spent out there sweating! There are a million little things that make me smile each day and being happy makes me happy!

I know that there's a lot out there right now to make people unhappy - angry even. I recognize that there is pain and awful things in the world that try to steal our joy - things that just aren't right. But even in this, I know that somehow, someway, God is going to use this to bring about a good outcome and bring us closer to Him. I don't believe God causes the evil, but I do have the promise that which was meant for evil, God uses for good. (Genesis 50:20)

My students sometimes ask me if I watch ______ (usually a scary show) and I tell them no. I really do try to live by the verse that says whatsoever things are good, noble, pure - think on these things. 

I realize all this sounds sort of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms" and some would tend to believe that my "happiness" is an indicator of my lack of intelligence or that I just don't understand what is going on in the world. Maybe they are right, but I will tell you that it is hard work to be this happy. And I have my moments of sadness - and anger - but usually when they are the worst I realize I have spent way too much time looking at and listening to all that is wrong in the world instead of spending time listening to praise to the One who can make a difference.  

Last night, I turned off the tv, put away the computer and Facebook, and picked up a book I haven't read in years. It was Joshua and the Children by Joseph Grizone. I love the Joshua series because it helps me refocus and think "What would Jesus do?" Not the slogan type WWJD, but really asking myself how can I react and act more like Him. It helped me refocus on "whatsoever."

So why am I so happy? I guess the answer is because it makes me happy and I like it that way. If you need a happiness boost, here's a song by Zach Williams to get you started: don't let nothing steal your joy!

Philippians 4:8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

Friday, June 26, 2020

a story from my childhood...The $5 Lawn

There is a story that pops into my head from time to time and today, thanks to google, I finally found it again! 

Too often we see people who want to know, "What's in it for me" or "How much will you pay me to do it?" This story is about so much more than money. It's about making yourself proud of the work you have done because you know you've done it to the very best you could do. And yes, it's about doing the impossible - and who could ever place a price tag on that.

It's a powerful story - how do I know? Well, it has stuck with me for about 50 years and I'm still learning from it today. 

The Countess and the Impossible
(As I remember it, The $5 Lawn)
  
      No one in our Utah town knew where the Countess had come from;  her carefully precise English indicated that she was not a native American.  From the size of her house and staff we knew that she must be wealthy, but she never entertained and she made it clear that when she was at home she was completely inaccessible.  Only when she stepped outdoors did she become at all a public figure--and then chiefly to the small fry of the town, who lived in awe of her.
      "The countess always carried a cane not only for support but as a means of chastising any youngster she thought needed disciplining.  And at one time or another most of the kids in our neighborhood seemed to display that need.  By running fast and staying alert, I had managed to keep out of her reach.  But one day when I was about thirteen, as I was short-cutting through her hedge, she got close enough to rap my head with her stick.
      "'Ouch!'  I yelled, jumping a couple of feet.
      "'Young man, I want to talk to you,' she said.  I was expecting a lecture on the evils of trespassing, but as she looked at me, half-smiling, she seemed to change her mind.
      "'Don't you live in that green house with the willow trees in the next block?'
      "'Yes, ma'am.' . . .
      "'Good. I've lost my gardener. Be at my house Thursday morning at seven, and don't tell me you have something else to do; I've seen you slouching around on Thursdays.'
     "When the Countess gave an order, it was carried out.  I didn't dare not come on that next Thursday.  I went over the whole lawn three times with a mower before she was satisfied and then she had me down on all fours looking for weeds until my knees were as green as the grass.  She finally called me up to the porch.
      "'Well, young man, how much do you want for your day's work?'
      "'I don't know.  Fifty cents, maybe.'
      "'Is that what you figure you're worth?"
      "'Yes'mAbout that.'
       "'Very well.  Here's the fifty cents you say you're worth and here's the dollar and a half more that I've earned for you by pushing you.  Now I' m going to tell you something about how you and I are going to work together. There are as many ways of mowing a lawn as there are people, and they may be worth anywhere from a penny to five dollars.  Let's say that a three-dollar job would be just what you have done today, except that you'd have to be something of a fool to spend that much time on a lawn.  A five-dollar lawn is well, it's impossible, so we'll forget about that.  Now then, each week I'm going to pay you according to your own evaluation of your work.'
      "I left with my two dollars, richer than I remembered being in my whole life, and determined that I would get four dollars out of her the next week. But I failed to reach even the three dollar mark.  My will began to falter the second time around her yard.
    "'Two dollars again, eh?  That kind of job puts you right on the edge of being dismissed, young man.'
     "'Yes'm. But I'll do better next week.'
      "And somehow I did.  The last time around the lawn I was exhausted, but I found I could spur myself on.  In the exhilaration of that new feeling, I had no hesitation in asking the Countess for three dollars.
      "Each Thursday for the next four or five weeks, I varied between a three and a three-and-a-half dollar job.  The more I became more acquainted with her lawn, places where the ground was a little high or a little low, places where it needed to be clipped short or left long on the edges to make a more satisfying curve along the garden, the more I became aware of just what a four-dollar lawn would consist of.  And each week I would resolve to do just that kind of a job.  But by the time I had made my three dollar or three and-a-half dollar mark I was too tired to remember even having had the ambition to go beyond that.
      "'You look like a good consistent $3.50 man,'  she would say as she handed me the money.
      "'I guess so'  I would say, too happy at the sight of the money to remember that I had shot for something higher.
      "'Well don't feel too bad,'  she would comfort me.  'After all, there are only a handful of people in the world who could do a four-dollar job.'
      "And her words were a comfort at first, but then, without my noticing what was happening, her comfort became an irritant that made me resolve to do that four-dollar job, even if it killed me.  In the fever of my resolve, I could see myself expiring on her lawn, with the Countess leaning over me, handing me the four dollars with a tear in her eye, begging my forgiveness
for having thought I couldn't do it.
      "It was in the middle of such a fever, one Thursday night when I was trying to forget the day's defeat and get some sleep, that the truth hit me so hard that I sat upright, half choking in my excitement.  It was the five-dollar job I had to do, not the four-dollar one!  I had to do the job that no one could do because it was impossible.
      "I was well acquainted with the difficulties ahead.  I had the problem, for example, of doing something about the worm mounds in the lawn.  The Countess might not even have noticed them yet, they were so small; but in my bare feet I knew about them and I had to do something about them.  And I could go on trimming the garden edges with shears, but I knew that a five-dollar lawn demanded that I line up each edge exactly with a yardstick and then trim it precisely with the edger.  And there were other problems that only I and my bare feet knew about.
       "I started the next Thursday by ironing out the worm mounds with a heavy roller.  After two hours of that I was ready to give up for the day. Nine o'clock in the morning, and my will was already gone!  It was only by accident that I discovered how to regain it.  Sitting under a walnut tree for a few minutes after finishing the rolling, I fell asleep.  When I woke up minutes later, the lawn looked so good and felt so good under my feet, I was anxious to get on with the job.
       "I followed this secret for the rest of the day, dozing for a few minutes every hour to regain my perspective and replenish my strength. Between naps, I mowed four times, two times lengthwise, two times across, until the lawn looked like a green velvet checkerboard.  Then I dug around every tree, crumbling the big clods and smoothing the soil with my hands, then finished with the edger, meticulously lining up each stroke so that the effect would be perfectly symmetrical.  And I carefully trimmed the grass between the flagstones of the front walk.  The shears wore my fingers raw, but the walk never looked better.
        "Finally about eight o'clock that evening it was all completed.  I was so proud I didn't even feel tired when I went up to her door.
         "'Well, what is it today?'  she asked.
         "'Five dollars,'  I said, trying for a little calm and sophistication.
         "'Five dollars?  You mean four dollars, don't you?  I told you that a five-dollar lawn job isn't possible.'
        "'Yes it is.  I just did it.'
        "'Well, young man, the first five-dollar lawn in history certainly deserves some looking around.'
       "We walked about the lawn together in the light of evening, and even I was quite overcome by the impossibility of what I had done.
      "'Young man, she said, putting her hand on my shoulder, 'what on earth made you do such a crazy, wonderful thing?'
      "I didn't know why, but even if I had, I could not have explained it in the excitement of hearing that I had done it.
     "'I think I know,'  she continued,  'how you felt when this idea first came to you of caring for a lawn that I told you was impossible.  It made you very happy when it first came, then a little frightened.  Am I right?'
     "She could see she was right by the startled look on my face.
    "'I know how you felt because the same thing happens to almost everyone.  They feel this sudden burst in them of wanting to do some great thing.  They feel a wonderful happiness but then it passes because they have said,  "No, I can't do that.  It's impossible."  Whenever something in you says,  "It's impossible,"  remember to take a careful look and see if it isn't really God asking you to grow an inch, or a foot, or a mile, that you may come to a fuller life.' (Emphasis mine.)
       "Since that time, some 25 years ago, when I have felt myself at an end with nothing before me, suddenly, with the appearance of that word, 'impossible,'  I have experienced the unexpected lift, the leap inside me, and known that the only possible way lay through the very middle of impossible."
 
     (Richard Thurman, "The Countess and the Impossible," Reader's Digest, June 1958.)

How many of us would have quit - said the old lady is crazy and unfair and selfish? How many of us would have short-circuited what God was doing in this boy's life by saying something along the lines of "It's okay, you tried so here's $5"? How many times in my own life have I done less than my best and said, "That's good enough." And how many times have I started and then given up because it was difficult?

Funny thing is, in my devotional time today I read about David fighting a battle (1 Samuel 30 - trust me, this all fits together) and the devotional made the point that "assured victory does not mean easy wins." God told David in advance he would "certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue" but then we read that it was a difficult battle full of hard work, non-stop fighting over a 24 hour period, and over 400 escaped. 

"God often gives us a victory that requires blood, sweat, and tears...When He can bring about a victory and strengthen and mature us all at the same time, He's likely to do it....God's idea of a victory has virtually nothing to do with plunder. It has to do with people. What comes out of a battle isn't nearly as important as who comes out of a battle." (Beth Moore, A Heart Like His study, page 81.)

During all that is going on in the world today, I believe God is working in us to achieve so much more than we see and I believe He will bring us through stronger and more mature than ever if we'll just let Him. It may not be easy, but it will definitely be worth it.

And that will be a story worth retelling.

Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

mean people...

I would have titled this "mean girls," but that might have been some sort of copyright infringement, so...

I'm not sure why this story came to mind this morning, but it seems to be calling out to be written, so here goes.

This true story happened when I was five years old and honestly not much different than I am now. Loud, excited, and in love with the world. I could do anything! Everyone I met was a potential new friend. And on that day, I was starting something new and exciting - dance class! I - well - my mom, had shoved my pudgy legs into tights and put on tap shoes for my next big adventure! What little girl doesn't get excited about dance! (Keep in mind, this was so long ago, I probably thought I'd be the next Shirley Temple - another little girl who was in love with life and saw everyone as a potential friend.)

I don't remember a lot of things nowadays, but this moment in time is pretty well etched in my mind. I stood in line with all the other little girls and waited for class to begin. The teacher stepped out of the room with all the other adults for some reason. Back then, we were often left alone while adults did "adult things" and were trusted to not destroy the world or each other.

I knew no one - not a good situation for a kid who likes to talk, especially to someone else. So, I did what any little kid would do. I tapped the shoulder of the girl standing beside me so I could say "Hi!" and begin my newest friendship. After all, everyone loved me!

That's when it happened. This mountain of a girl, (at least I remember her as being HUGE) turned around and said, "Watch who you're shoving!" and pushed me HARD! Maybe it was because I was wearing tap shoes or maybe I was just totally uncoordinated, I don't know, but for some reason her shove caused me to fall face forward. It all happened so fast, my hands didn't have a chance to break my fall, but no worries - I stopped my downward momentum with my face. That's right - my little five-year-old face hit that tile floor full force.

I had no idea what had just happened. I'm pretty sure I realized I didn't have a new friend, but I also thought I had done something wrong. This was NOT the reaction I expected. I pulled myself up to my feet just as the teacher came back into the room telling us to get back in line and stand up straight...so I did. I shoved down the tears and closed my mouth and stood up straight. 

I think that's when she looked at me and saw something wasn't quite right. Maybe it was the tears that threatened to overwhelm my eyes, or because for the first time in my life my mouth was closed, or maybe it was the trickle of blood that was escaping my lips, but for whatever reason, she came over and asked what was wrong. 

I don't really remember what happened after that. I know my mother came and picked me up and took me immediately to a dentist because my two front teeth had been broken off at the gum line and would have to be pulled. Not how I'd imagined my first day of becoming the next Shirley Temple would go.

So, why did this story come to mind today? Maybe it was because I'm reading about the life of David and Saul's behavior toward one who had done him no wrong made me think of it. Maybe it's because of all that is going on in the world. For whatever reason, today I'm thinking of that little girl who stood next to me in line that day. Maybe she was a nice kid just having a bad day, but in my memory, she was just MEAN.  Sort of like David encountering Saul. 

I don't know why some people are mean, but evidently, it's been going on for centuries. It doesn't have to do with the color of their skin or their political persuasions or whether they are rich or poor from what I can tell.

My husband once said people in pain are mean because they just plain hurt. Maybe that's the best explanation.

Yesterday, I gathered with a few others and with pastors of every color and denomination on the steps of our county courthouse. Just days before, those steps had been covered with protestors, but today there was only a handful of us. I guess protesting is more popular than prayer. We stood together and prayed for our city, our state, and our nation. We prayed for justice and peace. I guess in a way, we prayed for the "mean people," too. 

In all of this mishmash of thoughts the lyrics from this song came to mind. "God, You take what the enemy meant for evil and You use it for good. I'm gonna see a victory, for the battle belongs to the Lord." "I'm gonna see a victory" song 

That little five-year-old me learned a hard lesson that day. Not everyone is nice...some are downright mean. But I know this - that which the enemy meant for evil, God turns it for good. And if I "tap you on the shoulder," please don't take a swing at me. I just want to be your friend.

Genesis 50:20 New International Version (NIV)

20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Separated...

There's a random thought that has been rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure I'll be able to convey what I mean, but I pray my words are given in love.

To be honest, all that is going on overwhelms me. I have talked to God more than once saying I was ready to go home when He was ready for me. But God reminded me that I was born during this time for a reason. Perhaps we were born for such a time as this. Someone has to stand up to injustice, just as Esther did.

Esther 4:14

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?

Never has it been more evident that we have an enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy and it is not a person, not flesh and blood. Our enemy hates us because God loves us, so he wants to destroy. The best way to do that is to separate us.

First came a pandemic that forced us to separate from each other - to isolate ourselves. The communication that we received wasn't face to face - it was filtered through news media and yes, through social media. We couldn't look each other in the eyes and see the other person's heart. We were separated and it became easier to pick off the most vulnerable.


The next part occurred with the murder of George Floyd. What should have brought us together instead has caused people to look at each other in mistrust. It reminds me of the battle that Gideon watched as the soldiers began to turn on each other. They destroyed each other and from what I see on the news, that is pretty much what seems to be happening again.

Judges 7:22
22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.
My thoughts traveled once again to the separation. During the Nazi occupation, they moved the Jews into areas called "ghettos" under the pretense it was for their own "protection." We can now see what a lie that was. Once they separated the people, it was easier to paint them as the enemy. This reminds me so much of what seems to be happening now. The more we are separated, the easier it is for the enemy to paint people groups as the enemy, whether based on skin color or political leanings. The enemy continues to work to separate us.

We, as children of God need to recognize the tactics of the enemy. We must actively refuse to turn on each other and instead turn to God, lifting each other up in prayer, crying out for His intervention and for His reformation and divine justice in the earth.


The government isn't our enemy. The person who has a different color skin from me is not my enemy. As hard as it is to understand, even the person shouting out hatred and slurs is not our enemy. Our enemy is not flesh and blood but he is very real and the only way we can defeat him is to turn to God and repent for OUR (not your, or my, but OUR) wicked ways. And it begins with me.


Well, I'm not being separated anymore. When you see me, I'll be wearing my mask, but look into my eyes. Feel free to talk to me. It's much more difficult to hate when we get to know each other and love each other despite of how we are different. And I will pray and do battle, not against flesh and blood but with the enemy of our souls.


We may not agree politically or about all issues or even about whether or not to wear a mask, but I will fight tooth and nail for you my brothers and sisters. I won't yell. I won't argue. I will fight on my knees.


Once again, I pray people can hear my heart. If you disagree - that's okay. Don't expect me to argue. I've got a real enemy to fight.


Photo by Jordan Rowland on Unsplash

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

but it's not...

Every year I choose a word to focus on (see previous post) and this year my word was "Good" - the problem is, so far this year has been anything BUT good. I'd make a joke about this year being worse than all the Sharknado movies and the Tremor movies put together, but it's just not funny. Even with the things we could make fun of, like staying inside with our families, there has been a realization that for many it was anything but fun or funny. And now this. 
I won't write my opinion in all this - it doesn't matter. Instead, I'm going to try and look at how in the world any of this can work out for "good". I know it was my word for the year and yet I just don't get it. Sort of like the year my word was "hope" and by the end of the year, hope was all we had to hang on to. So...I'm going to look at finding "good."
The first verse that came to mind was that God works all things together for my good...wait. How does that verse go EXACTLY - not from memory? Thanks to google search, I can find the exact address - it's Romans 8:28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. That's the King James Version. Okay - but I know a lot of people that love God that are hurting right now. And angry. And confused! Maybe I'll look at some different versions.
The Message version includes verses 26 and 27, (it never gives you just PART of what has been said!) Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." Well, that's a little different. "every detail in our lives of love for God" - now I'm more confused.
I found an article on the Billy Graham website, (full link here: Do all things work together... ) and this part really stood out to me: "The fifth thing is the purpose of the promise. It is about those who are called according to His purpose. What is His purpose? In Romans 8:28-29 we read, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
That’s the key. What is the good that all things are working together for? To make us like Jesus. To be conformed to the image of His Son. There is no higher good than to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many times this promise has been trivialized. For example, someone may be driving down the road and a tire will blow out. The person may say, “Oh, well, the Bible says that ‘all things work together for good.'(1) Maybe there’s a sale on tires.” That isn’t what this verse means. The good is not to make us necessarily healthy or happy but to make us holy, to make us like Jesus. If the goal of our lives is not to be like Jesus, that goal is too small. Our goal must be to be conformed to the image of God’s Son."
I once read that since I KNOW God works all things together for my good, if it isn't good then God isn't finished yet. Kind of simplistic, but it does help me hang on. Through all this, I keep asking myself how would Jesus respond? What would He do? If I can align with that, then perhaps I will become more like Him and that will be "good." 
It seems that NOTHING has been good this year, and with each day instead of better it only seems to be getting worse. All that makes me wonder - what will God do to turn all this into something that we can somehow look back on and say, "it is good"? If nothing else, 2020 is driving us to our knees in prayer and helping us clearly SEE just how much we need the Lord and revival in the hearts of people everywhere...beginning with me.
Thanks to Aaron Burden for sharing their work on Unsplash.