A new blog post. Click here: https://lifepainlaughter.com/2020/02/08/choices-decisions-and-faith-oh-my-the-journey-begins/
SEASONS CHANGE
Season change can either turn into a never ending Complaint or a constant Celebration. However, celebration is not always automatic; it must be intentional. If we are still here (and we are), we can celebrate that God’s plan for us is still intact (Ephesians 2:10).
CELEBRATE
Choose to live, not just exist. John 10:10b - “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Endure hardness with grace: Galatians 6:9 - “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Live In The Moment; Yesterday = cancelled check, tomorrow = promissory note. All we have is today.
Extinguish Doubt: Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” ~William Shakespeare
Banish Fear: 1 Tim 1:7 - “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Receive Grace Graciously: An offer to help is a gift, not an attempt to point out a weakness or limitation.
Thank God for His protection and provision
Accept Limitations: Like it or not, seasons change - Ecclesiastes 3 (Diahann Carroll says the legs are the first to go).
Expect The Great: In yourself and others.
God’s got this! God’s got you!
Celebrate!
Season change can either turn into a never ending Complaint or a constant Celebration. However, celebration is not always automatic; it must be intentional. If we are still here (and we are), we can celebrate that God’s plan for us is still intact (Ephesians 2:10).
CELEBRATE
Choose to live, not just exist. John 10:10b - “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Endure hardness with grace: Galatians 6:9 - “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Live In The Moment; Yesterday = cancelled check, tomorrow = promissory note. All we have is today.
Extinguish Doubt: Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” ~William Shakespeare
Banish Fear: 1 Tim 1:7 - “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Receive Grace Graciously: An offer to help is a gift, not an attempt to point out a weakness or limitation.
Thank God for His protection and provision
Accept Limitations: Like it or not, seasons change - Ecclesiastes 3 (Diahann Carroll says the legs are the first to go).
Expect The Great: In yourself and others.
God’s got this! God’s got you!
Celebrate!
Had wifi connection problems so I called Comcast. As we are go through the steps to re-connect and wait, the person with whom I am speaking says, "For this new year I wish you blessings, happiness and adventure."
Our call suddenly disconnected; the person called back and left a message for additional steps and closed that message with the same sentiments as above, adding "God bless!"
#howdidheknowwhatineededinthatmoment
*******************************
THIS PLACE
I have been thinking about two “Ps” as in the alphabet “P. “
I have been thinking about Purpose and Place.
I believe that purpose is fueled my passion and passion (another “P”) isn’t relegated to any one place at any one time.
However, even though I believe passion is in place in every place, it does not necessarily mean that passion fueled purpose is in place in every place.
Actually, I believe purpose is not confined to the building that houses the church or is applicable only to the body of Christ (as we church folk often think). I believe we walk in our purpose, function in our purpose, wherever we are because the passion is always present. But, I must ask myself, “Is that passion fueled purpose always in place?”
Since I’m looking at this from a spiritual, Christian, perspective, I will talk about passion fueled purpose in the right place in the local assembly.
Every believer is given at least one spiritual gift that is to be used for the edifying, the building up, of the body of Christ.
The gift is fueled by the passion that propels us into the work of the ministry. We long to do it. We love to do it. We must do it!
The structure of most ministries, churches, links spiritual gifts to a place and our gifts will function well in that place but again I have to ask myself am I really in the right place?
We function well in that place. We are really comfortable in that place. We like that place. But sometimes, the place has an expiration date. No matter how well we do it, live out our purpose in it, there comes a time when God says, “Let it go! It’s time to move out of that place.”
God begins to poke us. We become a restless, but because, ”I know this place, I will stay in this place.”
We are creatures of habit. We stay in the place long after we should have released it and moved on, even in the church. This happens of the secular world, but even more so, I think, in the church.
Because we are so good at fulfilling our purpose in a place in the church, we tend to become functionally stagnant. We do what we do because we can do it even when we begin to feel constructed, constrained, in that place.
What do you do when God says,” Times up?”
Will you trust Him enough to follow Him to a new place? Will you follow Him into the unknown, to a place where your purpose can still function with passion but it is a place of new beginnings? Will you follow him into a place of stretching and growing, that new place where God will give you roots and wings, roots to grow even more and wings to soar higher in that purpose?
Listen, don’t build a tabernacle where you should only pitch a tent.
We’re great at building tabernacles of purpose and when God tells us to move from that place, we resist because it takes a lot more energy to tear down a building than it does to dismantle a tent.
A few months after my husband died, the church where he pastored began to move in a different direction. Change was implemented without conversation. Doctrines were skewed. Nothing felt the same. The ministry began to crumble around me. Before I was trapped in the rubble, I had to get out.
Another time, I was comfortable in a place. A place I went to after I left the church my husband had pastored. I did not seek God in this transition. I moved into that new place by default. I became comfortable in that place. After a few years, maybe five years or more, God began to poke me. I ignored Him so God kicked me out of that place unceremoniously through the decision of the authority in that place.
God told me where he wanted me to go but I ignored his direction through my own faulty reasoning and I began to wander for a while, looking for that right place for me.
The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because God told them to go to a place they resisted. When the spies returned from the Promised Land, the children of Israel chose to believe the bad report of the 10 spies rather than the positive report of Caleb and Joshua. God did not tell them to take the land. He told them He would give them the land. But the resisted and as a result, they spent forty years trying to get to a place that should have only taken forty days had they acted on God’s command.
God will allow you to wander in the wilderness when you choose not to move forward in his direction. He will allow you to get lost in your own reasoning.
Should I stay or should I go?
Sometimes when things seem not to be going in the right direction, we take that as a sign to move on. But, before you bust a move, consider the following:
1)
Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things, even the place where we should be, will be added to us. Do not trust emotions. The only thing emotions validate is that you have them.
3)
3)Sometimes it’s a sign to reassess how we do what we do, or it may be a sign of rebellion, “It’s not going my way so I’m going another way.”
3)
3)Make sure when you begin to reassess that you are lining up with the word and the will of God.
Always remember that God is our Hiding Place. In Psalm 119, verse114, we read, “You [God] are my hiding place and shield. I will wait for your word.”
Always wait for God’s word before you make any decision. We can find a shelter and refuge in him as we wait for him to direct path.
Faith tethers us in place
Or
Faith leads us to a place god has already designed for us.
STEPS TO BEING IN PLACE
Matthew 7 is a familiar passage of scripture to most of us, especially verse seven: “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” AMP
God will get you to the right place if you will ask, seek and knock.
The question should always be, “Am I in the place you designed for me?”
We build on a faith foundation, the confident expectation that God will hear and answer.
Most of you know I love word study. And often the meaning for a word when the Bible was written is not the same meaning today. Often, to get a clearer meaning of a text, a word study is in order.
Ask: This word is in the present tense which means “now,” not tomorrow, not next year, but “now.” It is an active word meaning “do something.” It is an imperative which means it is a command, not a suggestion.
The definitions can be beg, call for, desire.
Given: The definitions can be grant, bestow, bring forth.
Seek: This word is also in the present tense the active voice and the imperative. Imperative means this is not a suggestion. It is a command for the seeker to do something.
Find: This word is in the future tense, it is contemplated, a certain occurrence of that which has not yet happened. It is indicative, meaning it will occur if you take action.
Knock: Just what it means, take action and knock.
Opened: this is a passive, meaning one is the recipient of the action. The door will be opened to you when you knock. It is an indicative, meaning, if you do this, it will occur.
I may have noticed this before, but I noticed it again as I was putting my notes together. The acronym for verse 7, ask, seek, knock, is ASK.
If you will ask God for direction, for guidance, for revelation about the place in which you find yourself, you can expect him, according to Matthew 7, verse 7, to answer.
Ask. Expect. Act.
This applies not only to that which we deem spiritual, and I believe that for the believer everything is spiritual, but it also applies to that which we call secular.
Questions about your place and this place In time? A S K God!
********************************
FIRST THINGS FIRST
John 8:36
The first step to freedom is to recognize we are free. The story of the circus elephant that has been kept chained to a stake most of its life can be used to underscore this point. The elephant’s movements in any direction are limited. Eventually the chain is removed, but the elephant will not venture beyond those boundaries originally set by the chain. His body is free, but his mind still believes bondage. Some believers are like that elephant, spiritually free but still in mental bondage. We still see the chains, and believe the lies of the enemy when he declares we can never be free.
God wants us to be free to be Jesus’ disciple. Consider the story related in Mark 5:1-19. The man wanted to be with Jesus, wanted to stay with him. It was only natural. Jesus was the one who had been freed him from the misery he had endured for so long. But, what did Jesus do? He told the man to go home and tell others what He had done for him. Now that the man was free, it was his mission to tell others of the one who freed him. This is our mission as well, to tell others what Jesus has done, not only for us, but what He can do for the entire world. He has freed us from the misery of our pasts and the sure penalty of death, eternal separation from God. What stories do we tell? If we continue to tell the stories of our faults and our failures, and our troubling pasts aren’t we still in bondage? Think about it!
NO MORE CHAINS
The hot, hostile hands of the men pull her from her house. Propelled by their brute force she cannot resist the forward momentum as they drag her into the street. Clutching her robe around her, the woman resigns herself to the fate that surely waits. The angry voices of the men force their way into her psyche, “Let us see what the great teacher has to say about this! He will look foolish before the people! Then we will be rid of him forever!” The men stop abruptly. Angry hands push her to her knees. “Kneel before your judge woman!” “What need of a judge?” the woman wonders to herself. The law of the Ancients decree what her punishment should be. Why prolong her agony? Still holding her robe around her, the trembling woman does not raise her head, but stares blankly at the feet of the man in front of whom she has been thrown. “What say you, Teacher? What is your verdict? You know the law! What say you?” The voices of the men meld into one as they shout at the top of their voices. The man kneels down and looks into the eyes of the woman for a moment, and then he begins to write in the dirt. “Why doesn’t he say something? What is he waiting for?” The woman closes her eyes and groans silently. The man looks up at her again, but just as quickly looks down and continues to write in the dirt. Gradually the woman becomes aware of the eerie quiet that surrounds her. The men have stopped shouting. No one says anything. Opening her eyes she does not look up, but she is sure that all eyes are on the man who continues to write in the dirt. The man looks up and scans the crowd slowly, and then speaks simply, “Those among you who have no sin are free to cast the first stone.” The woman knows these men, these keepers of the law. They are fanatics for the Law and in their self righteousness they will not hesitate to carry out judgment. She closes her eyes again and waits for the sting of the first stone. She hears shuffling around her, but she does not feel the bite of a thrown stone. In what seems like an eternity, the man speaks to her, “Woman, who condemns you?” Startled, she looks up and around. All the men are gone. None of those who dragged her to this man remain. Slowly, still unsure of her fate, she answers, “There is no one here Master. They are all gone.” “Then I do not condemn you. You may leave, but do not go back to your old way of life.” Struggling to her feet, the woman grips her robe even tighter as she stumbles back to her home. She thinks to herself, “How can this be?” She does not understand such mercy. After all, she had been caught in the act of adultery even if the man with her was not publicly humiliated as she was. How could she ever live up to the expectation behind this acquittal? The gentleness in the eyes of the man who spoke to her comes back to her as she recalls his words: “Woman, God has set you free; do not go back.”
___________________________________________________________________________
I'M JUST TRYING TO KEEP MY BALANCE
It was a birthday party for a daughter of one the members of the Church. Pastor and I were invited to attend the celebration which was to be held at a skating rink, a roller skating rink. We went with every intention of joining in the celebration, but certainly not with the intent of becoming a part of the roller skating crowd on the floor.
I was raised in a small town in north Texas. I lived and played within the boundaries established by Jim Crow, so I never learned to swim or roller skate. There were no pools or rinks for us. Some of my friends learned to swim in the swimming hole, maybe a creek or the man made lake outside of town. But, I do not recall any of my friends roller skating down the concrete sidewalks of Rock Hill, our side of town, though it is possible that they may have skated when I was not around. I knew about roller skates and skate keys, mostly from books and television, but bicycles were my thing. I was the daredevil who would climb to the top of the steep hill that ran down the street in the front of my house and fly down it on a bicycle, straight through an intersection, screaming with joy every inch of the way. Bicycles, yes! Roller skates, no! So, there was no reason for me to even think about roller skating at the birthday part.
Initially, I just stood in what I called the waiting area, the area outside of the rink for spectators and non-participants. I stood and watched and admired the children and the young people and even some of the adults, as they floated around the rink. Then I began to think, “Maybe it’s not as hard as it looks.” I eventually decide to just try on a pair of skates, “Just to see how they feel.” I walked around for a while in the skates in the waiting area (on the carpet), and thought, “I think I can do this.” Talk about a senior moment!
Bravado firmly in hand, I gingerly made my way onto the rink to the cheers of the crowd. Instantly I realized that I had suffered an attack of temporary insanity. What was I thinking at this stage and age of my life?! But, now that I was actually on the rink, I had to save face, so I gingerly inched my way around the rink holding on to the rail. It seemed like an eternity before I could get to a place of exit. Children and youth and some adults floated by, some offering to give me some assistance, to which I responded, “Don’t touch me; I’m just trying to keep my balance.” Everyone thought it was great fun to see Sister Williams slowly making her way around the rink. I, on the other hand, just wanted to safely get off the rink with every bone intact.
Sometimes, I feel that same way about my life in Christ. Just when I think I am firmly planted and grounded in God’s word in His waiting area, patiently waiting for His will to be done in my life, I observe that others seem to be doing something more noteworthy, actually activating and accomplishing some dream or project in the name of the Lord. I begin to think, “I can do that,” and rush headlong into “birthing my dream,” not because I actually believe that I can make anything happen through my positive affirmation, but because I want the recognition, the accolades of the crowd. Inevitably I find myself in the midst of something God never intended for me at the moment, or maybe never ever intended. So, out there, all by myself, I have to try and keep my balance until I can get to the exit that takes me back to the safety of God’s word, and the assurance of His guidance for my life, where I realize that the birthing of dreams is God’s domain; He just gives me the responsibility for its care and well being.
Yes, it is challenging to wait for the Lord’s timing, especially when we believe that a life dream or desire we have is one God has given to us. Determined to make the dream become a reality, we rush headlong into the rink of “making it happen” without any thought to the consequences or the challenges that await us. Perhaps this is why some of us are still holding on to the rail, trying to maintain our balance while we look for the safety of the exit that leads us back to the security of God’s waiting area.
God has taught me to wait through waiting. This may sound like circular reasoning but I have found it to be true in my life. Learning to wait is like learning to be patient. If we choose to stop fidgeting in the waiting area, we learn how to wait, how to endure. There is joy in working for the Lord while in the waiting area. Remember, “faithful over a few things. . .,” well, I think you know the rest.
By the way, did I ever tell you about the time I tried snorkeling by diving off a boat in Maui?
Our call suddenly disconnected; the person called back and left a message for additional steps and closed that message with the same sentiments as above, adding "God bless!"
#howdidheknowwhatineededinthatmoment
*******************************
THIS PLACE
I have been thinking about two “Ps” as in the alphabet “P. “
I have been thinking about Purpose and Place.
I believe that purpose is fueled my passion and passion (another “P”) isn’t relegated to any one place at any one time.
However, even though I believe passion is in place in every place, it does not necessarily mean that passion fueled purpose is in place in every place.
Actually, I believe purpose is not confined to the building that houses the church or is applicable only to the body of Christ (as we church folk often think). I believe we walk in our purpose, function in our purpose, wherever we are because the passion is always present. But, I must ask myself, “Is that passion fueled purpose always in place?”
Since I’m looking at this from a spiritual, Christian, perspective, I will talk about passion fueled purpose in the right place in the local assembly.
Every believer is given at least one spiritual gift that is to be used for the edifying, the building up, of the body of Christ.
The gift is fueled by the passion that propels us into the work of the ministry. We long to do it. We love to do it. We must do it!
The structure of most ministries, churches, links spiritual gifts to a place and our gifts will function well in that place but again I have to ask myself am I really in the right place?
We function well in that place. We are really comfortable in that place. We like that place. But sometimes, the place has an expiration date. No matter how well we do it, live out our purpose in it, there comes a time when God says, “Let it go! It’s time to move out of that place.”
God begins to poke us. We become a restless, but because, ”I know this place, I will stay in this place.”
We are creatures of habit. We stay in the place long after we should have released it and moved on, even in the church. This happens of the secular world, but even more so, I think, in the church.
Because we are so good at fulfilling our purpose in a place in the church, we tend to become functionally stagnant. We do what we do because we can do it even when we begin to feel constructed, constrained, in that place.
What do you do when God says,” Times up?”
Will you trust Him enough to follow Him to a new place? Will you follow Him into the unknown, to a place where your purpose can still function with passion but it is a place of new beginnings? Will you follow him into a place of stretching and growing, that new place where God will give you roots and wings, roots to grow even more and wings to soar higher in that purpose?
Listen, don’t build a tabernacle where you should only pitch a tent.
We’re great at building tabernacles of purpose and when God tells us to move from that place, we resist because it takes a lot more energy to tear down a building than it does to dismantle a tent.
A few months after my husband died, the church where he pastored began to move in a different direction. Change was implemented without conversation. Doctrines were skewed. Nothing felt the same. The ministry began to crumble around me. Before I was trapped in the rubble, I had to get out.
Another time, I was comfortable in a place. A place I went to after I left the church my husband had pastored. I did not seek God in this transition. I moved into that new place by default. I became comfortable in that place. After a few years, maybe five years or more, God began to poke me. I ignored Him so God kicked me out of that place unceremoniously through the decision of the authority in that place.
God told me where he wanted me to go but I ignored his direction through my own faulty reasoning and I began to wander for a while, looking for that right place for me.
The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because God told them to go to a place they resisted. When the spies returned from the Promised Land, the children of Israel chose to believe the bad report of the 10 spies rather than the positive report of Caleb and Joshua. God did not tell them to take the land. He told them He would give them the land. But the resisted and as a result, they spent forty years trying to get to a place that should have only taken forty days had they acted on God’s command.
God will allow you to wander in the wilderness when you choose not to move forward in his direction. He will allow you to get lost in your own reasoning.
Should I stay or should I go?
Sometimes when things seem not to be going in the right direction, we take that as a sign to move on. But, before you bust a move, consider the following:
- Don’t rely on emotions. Seek God first.
1)
Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things, even the place where we should be, will be added to us. Do not trust emotions. The only thing emotions validate is that you have them.
- Vanquish fear
- Consider your relationship in that place in that ministry, in that local assembly.
3)
3)Sometimes it’s a sign to reassess how we do what we do, or it may be a sign of rebellion, “It’s not going my way so I’m going another way.”
3)
3)Make sure when you begin to reassess that you are lining up with the word and the will of God.
Always remember that God is our Hiding Place. In Psalm 119, verse114, we read, “You [God] are my hiding place and shield. I will wait for your word.”
Always wait for God’s word before you make any decision. We can find a shelter and refuge in him as we wait for him to direct path.
Faith tethers us in place
Or
Faith leads us to a place god has already designed for us.
STEPS TO BEING IN PLACE
Matthew 7 is a familiar passage of scripture to most of us, especially verse seven: “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” AMP
God will get you to the right place if you will ask, seek and knock.
The question should always be, “Am I in the place you designed for me?”
We build on a faith foundation, the confident expectation that God will hear and answer.
Most of you know I love word study. And often the meaning for a word when the Bible was written is not the same meaning today. Often, to get a clearer meaning of a text, a word study is in order.
Ask: This word is in the present tense which means “now,” not tomorrow, not next year, but “now.” It is an active word meaning “do something.” It is an imperative which means it is a command, not a suggestion.
The definitions can be beg, call for, desire.
Given: The definitions can be grant, bestow, bring forth.
Seek: This word is also in the present tense the active voice and the imperative. Imperative means this is not a suggestion. It is a command for the seeker to do something.
Find: This word is in the future tense, it is contemplated, a certain occurrence of that which has not yet happened. It is indicative, meaning it will occur if you take action.
Knock: Just what it means, take action and knock.
Opened: this is a passive, meaning one is the recipient of the action. The door will be opened to you when you knock. It is an indicative, meaning, if you do this, it will occur.
I may have noticed this before, but I noticed it again as I was putting my notes together. The acronym for verse 7, ask, seek, knock, is ASK.
If you will ask God for direction, for guidance, for revelation about the place in which you find yourself, you can expect him, according to Matthew 7, verse 7, to answer.
Ask. Expect. Act.
This applies not only to that which we deem spiritual, and I believe that for the believer everything is spiritual, but it also applies to that which we call secular.
Questions about your place and this place In time? A S K God!
********************************
FIRST THINGS FIRST
John 8:36
The first step to freedom is to recognize we are free. The story of the circus elephant that has been kept chained to a stake most of its life can be used to underscore this point. The elephant’s movements in any direction are limited. Eventually the chain is removed, but the elephant will not venture beyond those boundaries originally set by the chain. His body is free, but his mind still believes bondage. Some believers are like that elephant, spiritually free but still in mental bondage. We still see the chains, and believe the lies of the enemy when he declares we can never be free.
God wants us to be free to be Jesus’ disciple. Consider the story related in Mark 5:1-19. The man wanted to be with Jesus, wanted to stay with him. It was only natural. Jesus was the one who had been freed him from the misery he had endured for so long. But, what did Jesus do? He told the man to go home and tell others what He had done for him. Now that the man was free, it was his mission to tell others of the one who freed him. This is our mission as well, to tell others what Jesus has done, not only for us, but what He can do for the entire world. He has freed us from the misery of our pasts and the sure penalty of death, eternal separation from God. What stories do we tell? If we continue to tell the stories of our faults and our failures, and our troubling pasts aren’t we still in bondage? Think about it!
NO MORE CHAINS
The hot, hostile hands of the men pull her from her house. Propelled by their brute force she cannot resist the forward momentum as they drag her into the street. Clutching her robe around her, the woman resigns herself to the fate that surely waits. The angry voices of the men force their way into her psyche, “Let us see what the great teacher has to say about this! He will look foolish before the people! Then we will be rid of him forever!” The men stop abruptly. Angry hands push her to her knees. “Kneel before your judge woman!” “What need of a judge?” the woman wonders to herself. The law of the Ancients decree what her punishment should be. Why prolong her agony? Still holding her robe around her, the trembling woman does not raise her head, but stares blankly at the feet of the man in front of whom she has been thrown. “What say you, Teacher? What is your verdict? You know the law! What say you?” The voices of the men meld into one as they shout at the top of their voices. The man kneels down and looks into the eyes of the woman for a moment, and then he begins to write in the dirt. “Why doesn’t he say something? What is he waiting for?” The woman closes her eyes and groans silently. The man looks up at her again, but just as quickly looks down and continues to write in the dirt. Gradually the woman becomes aware of the eerie quiet that surrounds her. The men have stopped shouting. No one says anything. Opening her eyes she does not look up, but she is sure that all eyes are on the man who continues to write in the dirt. The man looks up and scans the crowd slowly, and then speaks simply, “Those among you who have no sin are free to cast the first stone.” The woman knows these men, these keepers of the law. They are fanatics for the Law and in their self righteousness they will not hesitate to carry out judgment. She closes her eyes again and waits for the sting of the first stone. She hears shuffling around her, but she does not feel the bite of a thrown stone. In what seems like an eternity, the man speaks to her, “Woman, who condemns you?” Startled, she looks up and around. All the men are gone. None of those who dragged her to this man remain. Slowly, still unsure of her fate, she answers, “There is no one here Master. They are all gone.” “Then I do not condemn you. You may leave, but do not go back to your old way of life.” Struggling to her feet, the woman grips her robe even tighter as she stumbles back to her home. She thinks to herself, “How can this be?” She does not understand such mercy. After all, she had been caught in the act of adultery even if the man with her was not publicly humiliated as she was. How could she ever live up to the expectation behind this acquittal? The gentleness in the eyes of the man who spoke to her comes back to her as she recalls his words: “Woman, God has set you free; do not go back.”
___________________________________________________________________________
I'M JUST TRYING TO KEEP MY BALANCE
It was a birthday party for a daughter of one the members of the Church. Pastor and I were invited to attend the celebration which was to be held at a skating rink, a roller skating rink. We went with every intention of joining in the celebration, but certainly not with the intent of becoming a part of the roller skating crowd on the floor.
I was raised in a small town in north Texas. I lived and played within the boundaries established by Jim Crow, so I never learned to swim or roller skate. There were no pools or rinks for us. Some of my friends learned to swim in the swimming hole, maybe a creek or the man made lake outside of town. But, I do not recall any of my friends roller skating down the concrete sidewalks of Rock Hill, our side of town, though it is possible that they may have skated when I was not around. I knew about roller skates and skate keys, mostly from books and television, but bicycles were my thing. I was the daredevil who would climb to the top of the steep hill that ran down the street in the front of my house and fly down it on a bicycle, straight through an intersection, screaming with joy every inch of the way. Bicycles, yes! Roller skates, no! So, there was no reason for me to even think about roller skating at the birthday part.
Initially, I just stood in what I called the waiting area, the area outside of the rink for spectators and non-participants. I stood and watched and admired the children and the young people and even some of the adults, as they floated around the rink. Then I began to think, “Maybe it’s not as hard as it looks.” I eventually decide to just try on a pair of skates, “Just to see how they feel.” I walked around for a while in the skates in the waiting area (on the carpet), and thought, “I think I can do this.” Talk about a senior moment!
Bravado firmly in hand, I gingerly made my way onto the rink to the cheers of the crowd. Instantly I realized that I had suffered an attack of temporary insanity. What was I thinking at this stage and age of my life?! But, now that I was actually on the rink, I had to save face, so I gingerly inched my way around the rink holding on to the rail. It seemed like an eternity before I could get to a place of exit. Children and youth and some adults floated by, some offering to give me some assistance, to which I responded, “Don’t touch me; I’m just trying to keep my balance.” Everyone thought it was great fun to see Sister Williams slowly making her way around the rink. I, on the other hand, just wanted to safely get off the rink with every bone intact.
Sometimes, I feel that same way about my life in Christ. Just when I think I am firmly planted and grounded in God’s word in His waiting area, patiently waiting for His will to be done in my life, I observe that others seem to be doing something more noteworthy, actually activating and accomplishing some dream or project in the name of the Lord. I begin to think, “I can do that,” and rush headlong into “birthing my dream,” not because I actually believe that I can make anything happen through my positive affirmation, but because I want the recognition, the accolades of the crowd. Inevitably I find myself in the midst of something God never intended for me at the moment, or maybe never ever intended. So, out there, all by myself, I have to try and keep my balance until I can get to the exit that takes me back to the safety of God’s word, and the assurance of His guidance for my life, where I realize that the birthing of dreams is God’s domain; He just gives me the responsibility for its care and well being.
Yes, it is challenging to wait for the Lord’s timing, especially when we believe that a life dream or desire we have is one God has given to us. Determined to make the dream become a reality, we rush headlong into the rink of “making it happen” without any thought to the consequences or the challenges that await us. Perhaps this is why some of us are still holding on to the rail, trying to maintain our balance while we look for the safety of the exit that leads us back to the security of God’s waiting area.
God has taught me to wait through waiting. This may sound like circular reasoning but I have found it to be true in my life. Learning to wait is like learning to be patient. If we choose to stop fidgeting in the waiting area, we learn how to wait, how to endure. There is joy in working for the Lord while in the waiting area. Remember, “faithful over a few things. . .,” well, I think you know the rest.
By the way, did I ever tell you about the time I tried snorkeling by diving off a boat in Maui?