Monday Morning Memo: What's Normal?

I found this plague in a store on our last vacation and it just made me laugh out loud.  Oh how this took me back to my childhood.  Since I am a PK (a.k.a. preacher’s kid), I grew up in somewhat of a fishbowl.  It seemed like people were always watching us to make sure that we behaved like preacher’s kids ought to behave.  In other words…we were to make sure we were always a nice, normal family.

Of course, everyone’s definition of “normal” is different so what is normal to one family, may not be normal to someone else’s family.  And when your father is the minister, the word “perfect” is often substituted for the word normal.   So it was expected that our family would always get along…never have any disagreements…and would spend hours holding hands and singing Kum Ba Yah.

I will never forget the time my parents were painting a room in our home.  The doorbell rang, my dad answered it and a member of our congregation stood there with his mouth hanging open.  He couldn’t believe that my dad didn’t have a shirt and tie on.   I guess he thought that ministers have a suit specifically for painting.

I also remember going to school one day upset because I had had an argument with my parents that morning.  A friend of mine was mortified.  She said, “I didn’t think your family ever argued since your dad is a minister”.  I tried to explain to her that we were a normal family whose dad just happened to be a pastor, but I don’t think she ever understood.

I know there were people who wished they were in our family because they thought our normal was perfect…when in fact…there were times I wished I was in other families because their normal looked perfect to me!  Please don’t get me wrong.  There were many positives of being a PK and I wouldn’t trade my family for anything.  But my point is that we often dwell on how much better we think our life would be if we were just like someone else…when they just might be wishing they were like us.

As the familiar expression goes, “The grass is always greener on the other side”; the truth is that the grass still needs to be mowed there also.  For many of us, if we spent as much time trying to improve the relationships with our own family, as we spend wishing we were living or working someplace else, we just might have a happier, healthier existence.

This truth is applicable to our marriages, our families and even our jobs.  So much time and energy is wasted away while we “wish” our circumstances were different, that we often don’t have anything left for the journey on which we find ourselves.  God has us where He wants us and with whom He wants us for a reason and it just might be to mold us and shape us to look more like Him.  But if we are always gritting our teeth where we are planted…we probably will end up with a very sore jaw and no chance of reflecting His image.

Maybe today we should thank the Lord for where we are right now…praising Him even if our current circumstances aren’t what we think are normal and far from perfect.  Who knows…maybe His plans will be even better than we could ever imagine and we would have missed out on His blessings if we had been some place else.  I’m willing to give it a try…are you?

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly.

He delights in every detail of their lives.”

Psalm 37:23

Monday Morning Memo: He's Watching Me

I may have shared this story before, but the details came flooding back to me last week on one of my walks.  I love to listen to Christian music as I walk early in the morning because it helps lift my spirit and makes the time go faster as I exercise.  A song came on that immediately propelled my thoughts to a day years ago that I doubt I will ever forget.

On that day, I was sitting in a hospital room next to my mother’s bedside.  She was restless and confused.  As a result of Alzheimer’s, her mind didn’t always comprehend what was going on around her and being in an unfamiliar place made it even worse for her.  I remember talking to her and trying to calm her nerves, but I wasn’t having much success.

All of a sudden, she began to relax and I saw her beautiful smile return.  She looked at me and said, “Do you hear that?  Do you hear that singing? It’s beautiful!”  I have to be honest…all I could hear were the ordinary hospital noises…but I wasn’t about to let on to her that I couldn’t perceive what she could.

I decided that since whatever she could hear was calming her, I would play along.  I told her that I could barely hear the singing and I just couldn’t make out the words and wondered if she could tell them to me.  Her response?  “Oh, they are singing my favorite song, ‘His Eye is On the Sparrow’.  Isn’t it beautiful?”

By this point her face was beaming and she was completely relaxed.  We sat there together, mom being ministered to by her Savior and me being ministered to by my mother.  You see I believe that the Lord knew what words my mom needed to hear to remind her of His constant care of her.   I, in turn, needed to see once again the deep, powerful and intimate relationship she had with her Heavenly Father.  Her faith was so ingrained in her that even in the darkness of Alzheimer’s, she could still recall the promises of her Savior.  During her life, my mom didn’t just talk about her faith…she lived her faith day in and day out…even at times when following Him meant she had to sacrifice.  She was willing to give and do whatever her Lord asked of her.

That’s the kind of relationship I want to have with the Lord.  I want His words, His wisdom, His promises to be so much a part of me that no matter what happens I will be able to draw from His power.  But I realize that that doesn’t just happen.  It isn’t something that is just automatically in me because I have Christian parents and grandparents or even as a result of sitting in a pew every Sunday.  Just like sitting in a garage doesn’t make me a car…sitting in a church doesn’t automatically make me a devoted follower of Christ.  I have to be willing and open to learn from those who have walked with their Savior longer than me and from my brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I worship.  Ultimately, my bond with the Lord happens over time as I fellowship with Him, reading His Word and listening and sharing through prayer.

Mom’s favorite song says,

“Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”

Just as those words were a comfort to her during her hospital stay, they are a comfort to me knowing that nothing will happen to me today that He won’t see.   The One who knows everything, wants to have an intimate, personal relationship with me and it is my choice how close I will allow Him to be.  I have no reason to be discouraged, no reason to be lonely because Jesus is all I need and promises to be my constant friend.  It just can’t get much better than that.

“Lord, help me to make the choice every day to strive for a closer relationship with you.  Help me to seek you, to learn from you, to hear your whispers as I go throughout my day.  And may those who come behind me, see you in me, and see someone who was willing to do whatever you asked to bring glory and honor to your name.” 

Monday Morning Memo: A New Normal

This past week has been one that I don’t think I will forget for a while.  We attended two funerals of friends of ours, one 54 years old and one 56 years old.  Each of them went to bed and woke up in the presence of Jesus.  Both deaths were very unexpected and both left families in shock.

On top of those events, my father was unexpectedly admitted to the hospital after falling several times over a 24-hour period.  I had just taken him to the doctor the week before and we had received a great report on him; so this event caught us by surprise.

Sometimes, God doesn’t make sense, does He?  He allows things to happen that aren’t on our agenda.    We often think we have our plans all made and we know where we are headed…and then in a moment’s notice…everything has changed.  Those things that seemed so important to accomplish, suddenly don’t seem so urgent.  Without warning, our priorities are completely different and our schedule has to be realigned to adapt to the “new normal”.

I saw families this past week who were suddenly thrown into a “new normal”.  In a split second…life as they knew it had drastically changed and someone whom they dearly loved was gone…leaving a huge hole in their family.  But what I witnessed in both situations were followers of Christ who weren’t bitter about the hand they had been dealt, but instead were choosing to praise Him in the storm.  Yes, they were and will continue to grieve the loss of their loved one, but they have chosen to focus on the One who holds them in His hands.

The thought that went through my mind several times last week was, “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand.  But I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.”  What a reassurance this is to us as Christians.  No matter what life throws at us…we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are not alone.  Our Savior never leaves our side and never lets go of our hand.  He is already in our tomorrow and knows exactly what we will need and when we will need it.    

A song that was played in one of the funerals spoke to me and I’m sure many others.  The song, “Praise You in This Storm”, contained these lyrics:

I lift my eyes unto the hills

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

The Maker of Heaven and Earth

And I'll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

And every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

It’s not hard to sing these words when everything is going as planned.  But what a powerful testimony it is when they are shared by a family who is in the midst of a storm.  That is what true followers of Christ look like and how all of us should be living in the good times and in the bad.

Maybe you have just been thrown head first into a “new normal”.  Maybe you have also lost a loved one or maybe you have just been given a medical diagnosis that came out of the blue.  Wherever you find yourself today, if the storm is raging around you, why not try praising Jesus.  He knows every last detail of your situation and sees every tear and every sigh of despair.  You may not have a clue what tomorrow holds for you, but you can know who holds your tomorrow and who desperately wants to hold your hand.  Reach out to Him today and let Him guide you every step of the way because there are no “new normals” that He doesn’t understand.

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power

works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast

about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ

can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure

in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships,

persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Monday Morning Memo: Blessing The Laborers

Well today is Labor Day, which is a sure sign that summer is coming to an end.  UGH.  I have so enjoyed this summer and have soaked in every warm, sunny day that we have had and I’m praying that we have many more before the snow flies!

Labor Day is a day when we honor the American worker; those people who work hard day in and day out to keep this world of ours moving forward.  Everywhere we look, we see laborers who are faithfully doing their job to the best of their ability.  Yes, I’m not naïve enough to think that everyone is doing their very best and working their hardest…but I don’t want to dwell today on those who choose to do just enough to get by.

I want us to turn our thoughts to those with whom we come in contact, who are obviously giving their all to bloom where God has planted them.  It doesn’t matter whether they are a cashier, a salesperson, a teacher, a lawyer, a ditch-digger, a stay-at-home parent or a doctor…they get up each morning determined to follow God’s plan for their day.  Even when they aren’t employed at their dream job…they still do their best…working as if God was their boss.

It is so important that we recognize and appreciate these workers today on Labor Day and in the days to come.  Some people give their all in everything that they do…but never have anyone notice and I find that really sad.  It is easy to become so busy in our day that we overlook those whom God has placed in our path that need an encouraging word.  

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, as we go throughout each day, we were intentional in praising those we see?  It doesn’t have to take a lot of our time; sometimes just a simple, heartfelt “thank-you” is appropriate.  Maybe it is just asking the cashier how he or she is before they can say anything to us.  Maybe it is writing our child’s teacher a note, thanking he or she for all they do to instruct our loved one.  Maybe it is taking the time to tell our spouse how much we appreciate all they do each day to make our lives easier. 

The list of those we can encourage is endless.  The key is that we have to be intentional; otherwise opportunities will be missed.  The amazing thing is that as we lift the spirits of others, we will also be blessed.  The reason is that we can’t out give God…so as we deliberately strive to bless others…we will be blessed in return. 

So let me begin by thanking all of you, my readers, for the love, support and encouragement you have shown me.  I am so humbled that you take your valuable time to read my ramblings.  Some of you I know quite well and there are others that I have never met.  Regardless, you have blessed me immeasurably and my prayer is that God will shower you with HIS blessings as you continue on your journey with HIM!

“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Philippians 1:3-6