When there isn't "room"

I wrote here about having more grace -- grace abounding -- even where it's not easy.
Especially when it's not easy.

But even then, I do have my limits.
I'm not advocating for crazy license for anything anyone ever does; or tolerance that says, "I'm okay, you're okay" when, frankly, some things are not okay.  I do believe in right and wrong.  I also believe, however, that the grace is in how I handle those situations.

Take racism.  It still exists.  It's ugly and hurtful and downright mean.
If someone uses a racial slur toward me or my children do I sigh and say, "Well, there's room" and move on?

HECK NO!!
That needs to be addressed!!!
*insert mama bear*

But I will say this:
I think that these issues fall into the "love the sinner hate the sin" mantra we hear so much about.

Truthfully?  I hate that phrase.
Mostly because I think it lends itself to actually hating the sinner and covering it with "well, I just really don't like your sin".
Whatever.

So I want to coin a new phrase for the same idea.
Like "address the sin and give grace to the wounded."
Sin.... grace.

That's why Christ came, right?  That we would have saving faith in HIM and receive grace for all of OUR sins.  Why not extend the SAME to our brothers and sisters?  After all, their sin comes from their own woundedness.....and there is ALWAYS grace for that.
Or should be.

Back to the racism example.  Children are not born racist.  We learn racism, either from family or circumstances or communities.  And that learned hate is expressed -- inappropriately -- through racism.
I HATE racism.
At the same time, I know it didn't come from nowhere and in this broken world I can do my part to educate about race, demonstrate racism-free living (or try), and have grace where it's needed.

To be clear, this is not easy.  I despise it when people exemplify hate for any reason, but most of all the race reason.  But if I don't show grace in those situations, who am I???

Truth . . . Grace . . . Love . . .
That's what it's all about.
Lord, help me to understand more about Your grace so I can extend the same to others.  Amen.

Still more.

Dear Leah,

While you're just three years old, I'm already making a mental list of all of the things I want you to know about this life -- this crazy life.  One of them smacked me in the face while we were at the pool last week. 

As I watched you and your brother swim, play, giggle, splash and have an all-around great time, my eye was drawn to the "candy" around us.  Perfect body there; gorgeous man here; fake stuff on the other one; too thin; too thick; not quite right; BLECK.  In short, I found myself looking around, comparing myself to all of the other people in the pool, dressed in next to nothing, and even lusting (Lord forgive me) for some of the perfect male bodies that were floating around.  Sigh.

And so, there's this:  No matter what you look like when you're a grown up, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Full stop.  If you're tall or short, athletic or skinny, curvy or straight -- God made you and he loves you.  Fiercely. 

You don't need to be rail thin.  You don't need to have big breasts.  You don't need to be taller or shorter.  You don't need to be darker or lighter.  You just need to be YOU.

I do believe in staying in shape and hope to model that to you (....ehm....).  Being healthy and treating your body as God's temple is not only Biblical, it's wisdom.  However, and this is a biggee, don't make it an obsession -- because like so many things, at the end of the day, it just doesn't matter either.  Yes, be healthy.  Yes, exercise.  But don't make it a life goal.  Much of the "eye candy" out there requires hour upon hour of work -- away from loved ones and God's work -- to maintain.  Don't obsess about your appearance for appearance sake.  And please, for the love of God, do not judge other people for whatever they look like!  They are wounded too and there's room.

Know this, my daughter:  however you look twenty (or forty) years from now, you are beautiful.  I see it already.  Your superficial beauty grows everyday.  I pray that your inner beauty will grow too, because when Christ is the center of your life, you will shine like the Son (sun) and your outward looks will pale in comparison. 

I love you, round and round the world.

to be continued.....

There's Room

God has also been working me over in other ways.

For example, I regularly get itchy (or better said, irritated) with a variety of "life issues" that arise every day.

Right now, God is working me over on the GRACE message again.

That is, there is (or should be) GRACE for everyone.

Believer or not.

Kind or not.

Generous or not.

I love the words of a new Casting Crowns song:

"Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away

We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing"

*     *     *    *    *    *    *

"No one knows what we're for only against when we judge the wounded;

What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did?"

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

And, aren't we all the wounded?

Really?

The homeless man who begs for food everyday as I walk to work.

There's room.

The guy who cut me off while I was hurriedly driving to my next "thing."

There's room.

The professionally dressed woman who loudly yelled (and not in a fun way) at a Greenbay Packers fan yesterday that he needed to GO HOME and this is Bears' country.  (Seriously?  Yes.)

There's room.

For teenagers who never (ever) turn off the lights.

Room.

The annoying lawyer on the other side of the call.

Room.

For annoying rules that (seem) to curb our enthusiasm.

Room.

For differences in politics.

Room.

The babies at my house who just don't want to listen (ever had one of those days?).

There is room.

Do you catch my drift here?

I'm not saying that each of these people are saved or that they know Jesus.

That's not my job to decide.

What I am saying is that I am standing on MY faith in Christ and knowing that MY job is to treat them like Jesus would.

To love them; forgive them; be patient with them; be kind to them, even (or especially) when they are annoying.

My job is to be a sweet fragrance for Christ.

And that's just one more thing floating around my brain while I'm itchy.

To be continued.....

Itchy

I think I've written this post before...

or at least I've thought it.

A million times.

I'm itchy (again).

About everything.

Life is weird that way -- at least for me.

I hit a stride;

we hit a stride,

and I get restless.

I told my expensive friend this week that I can't sleep there are so many things running around this brain of mine.  *sigh*

I suppose none of them are original thoughts -- more just my two cents on the issues of the day, so to speak.

It can be hard for me to reconcile my life as a believer with living here in the U.S.

Often.

Now.

We are so obsessed in this country with things that, at the end of the day, just.don't.matter.

For example, I don't believe that God is sitting up in heaven, looking down on us and thinking, "Uh!  A woman taught at that church this week!  *gasp*  That's it!  They are OUT!"  (Said in His best umpire voice)

That's not the God I know.

And I am not convinced that's what the Bible teaches, either.

Instead, scripture says, "man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart."

Further, no one in Uganda (and many churches around the world) is worried about "who" is preaching the sermon; only about Christ and Truth and love and forgiveness and justice and mercy.  Are we ready to say that none of them are saved because they got the "doctrine" (or is it "theology"?) of women in the church wrong?  Not me.  Way too much energy is spent on issues like this, and I'm done with them.  It's time to practice the freedom in Christ that we are promised.  As for me and my family, we will be free.

Similarly, I am over this country's obsession with politics.  Over it.

I've read a few blogs lately that capture it for me, almost completely.

Pastor Brian Zahnd wrote:

"There are committed Christians who conscientiously vote Republican. And there are committed Christians who conscientiously vote Democratic. This is true. You simply have to accept it."

So simple; so obvious.

And yet so overlooked as we slay one another for not thinking the same way about everything.

He also wrote, "If your political passion makes it hard for you to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to turn it down a notch."

 Amen?

You can read his entire article here.

Then there is Jen Hatmaker.  If I could move to Austin, Texas and attend the church her hubby pastors, I'd do it in a heart beat.  She recently wrote:

"The lines we draw in the sand do absolutely nothing except assure everyone else: YOU’RE OUT. When we turn to politics and power to legislate our brand of morality, we take the opposite approach of Jesus whose power was activated in the margins with the outcasts...humbly...peripherally."

And, I have to share the back end of the article:

 "If you are weary of the storm, come on downstairs. We’re going to get on with the business of loving people and battling real injustices and caring for the poor and loving Jesus. We’re going to go ahead and offer mercy to one another, even if it is viewed as “soft” or “cowardly” or “dangerous.” (But once I conquer all my own demons definitively, I’ll be happy to turn a critical eye on everyone else’s. Good?) We’re going to trust that Jesus is actually at work in this world like He said, and when he promised that “His kindness leads us to repentance,” we’re just going to believe Him.

Sure, the storm will rage on up there. But you can find refuge just down the stairs. We have a whole thing going on underground. Gay friends and family, you are welcome down here. Marginalized women, come on down. Isolated and confused by organized religion, afraid your questions aren’t welcomed? Join us. Activists and bleeding hearts, you are our heartbeat. Plain, old, ordinary sinners saved by grace, you belong here. Misfits, ragamuffins, and rebels, bring the party. Reformed legalists, you are my people. Pastors contending for God’s glory and people, help lead us. Dissenters, dreamers, visionaries, we need you."

How many churches do you know that look like THAT?  I told my parents this week, that if there is ONE thing I can teach my children....one.... ONE, it's this.  Jesus is the God of the outcast, the underdog, the powerless and the powerful.  And He loves them all.  But if we are the powerful, that does not give us license to marginalize others.  And like Jen Hatmaker, I'm over it

Remember Zacchaeus?

I think I (we) like to forget him.

That most despised, hated, overlooked sinner who Jesus loved and led to saving faith in Him.

Even when Jesus could have condemned him, like everyone else.

No, Jesus practiced the message of His great Sermon on the Mount.

And thank God for me (and you) He did.

Then there are the needs of this world.

The endless needs.

Financial needs; parenting needs; emotional needs....

the need for JESUS flesh on.

It often pains me as I sit at my computer, read blogs, look at the news (I find it hard to read it), or follow my Facebook feed, and realize how much need there is.

And as that reality sinks in -- once again -- I find myself asking how my family can do more.

We can cut back here or there to give more.

We could volunteer more.

I can pray more.  Or harder (what does that mean?).

We can refocus and readjust our priorities back to the only thing that matters.

Because there really is only "one thing."

(Name that movie???)

And His name is Jesus.

So as I'm itchy and restless and looking for more ways to lean into my Savior, I'm also trimming the fat and looking for ways that I can help my babies do the same.  Because at the end of the day, the real end of the day, NONE of the rest matters.

To be continued....

Faithful God (Part 1)

In this most recent season of life, I'm learning more everyday about how God may see me and my faith (or lack of).  For example, when it's nearing bedtime, we often watch one TV show before we head up to bed.  I have heard myself tell Seth, "One 'Octonauts' and we are going up."  Not five minutes into the thirty minute show Seth is on my lap, back to the TV, begging me to watch two.  Or three.  He can't even watch the show that's on because he is so worried about what will happen in 30 minutes.  I've tried to explain to him that he's missing a gift by worrying about what's next but he can't get there.

Then today, I was getting a massage (time for some self-care).  I enjoyed the first 20-30 minutes and then I too became preoccupied about the massage ending.  I obsessed that it was almost over and how disappointed I would be.  (sigh)  I missed the gift!

Clearly, I have more to learn about living life right where I am instead of in the unknown and, at times, scary future:  Anxiety about a new job and providing for my kids.

 Faithful, forever You are faithful

Father to the fatherless
You uphold the one who feels forsaken
You are faithful, God

Anxiety about getting my kids into the right school district, which means selling our house and finding a new one -- all in the worst.market.ever.

Faithful, forever You are faithful
Lover of the wounded heart
You defend the poor and the forgotten
You are faithful, God

Persistent sadness over circumstances that need to be accepted and even embraced.

And I will sing to the maker of Heaven and Earth
God, You reign forever and Your will endure
Faithful and true is the name of the Lord
You are faithful, God

 Loneliness that God stands ready to salve, if only I'll let Him.

Faithful, forever You are faithful
Shelter for the fragile soul
You lift us up, You hold us all together
You are faithful, God

 Burdened by need around the world -- and particularly in Africa -- and what role my family can play.  Burdened and troubled by orphans needing families and families needing food.

You are there in every season of my soul
You are there, You're the anchor that will hold
You are there, in the valley of the shadows
You are faithful, God

YOU ARE FAITHFUL, GOD.

Thanks, Chris Tomlin, for the lyrics.

In that Moment

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get "up-side-down?"  At least it is for me....  Earlier this week, I was reading in Matthew about Peter's little jaunt on the water.  I mean, really.  If you could suddenly walk on water, what would you do???

The story is a familiar one, and I love it.  But it seems like each time I read it I'm in need of some kind of little reminder about FAITH and TRUST and FEAR and how important those are in our lives.  For me, Peter's little stroll to Jesus relates to all three.  He had faith to step out.  He trusted Jesus to help him, and Peter walked on water. 

Then there was that moment where, in the midst of faith and trust, he looked around.  Maybe he saw the looks on his friends' faces.  Maybe the waves were pressing at his knees.  Maybe the wind was rocking his every step.  Maybe he saw a shark.  I don't know.  What I do know is that in a moment, his gaze was no longer fixed on Jesus.  He became distracted by the world.  Peter was afraid.

The moment he took his eyes off Jesus, Peter sank.  But Jesus was there too, lifting him out of his despair and back to safety. 

How like Peter I am.  When my eyes are fixed on Jesus, the things of this world seem to fade away.  And then, I blow it.  I get distracted by the world, my eyes dip down, and I panic.  I fear.  In that moment, I need Jesus.  I want Jesus.

Truthfully, though, I want Jesus all the time.  I want Him when I'm sinking but, equally, I want Him when I'm living in victory, running across the water.  Because He's the reason why I can.

As we move closer to Easter, I pray that I can keep my eyes fixed where they are supposed to be.  On the ONE who is the maker of the universe and the giver of faith, trust, peace,  . . . . Jesus.

"And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'"  Matthew 14:28-33.