Monday Morning Memo: Better Days?

Several weeks ago, our three-year-old grandson, Ezekiel, had his tonsils taken out.  It’s so hard to explain to a young child what they are going to have to endure…and what it will be like when they wake up from the surgery.  He was smiling before they took him back, but unfortunately, there were few smiles after it was over.

Naturally, it didn’t take long for Ezekiel to know that whatever they did to him, didn’t make him feel any better.  Through tears he looked at his parents and asked, “When will they put my tonsils back?”  You see in his young mind, if they would just put the tonsils back where they belong…his pain would be gone.  In the long run…he will be much better off without them…but that was impossible to understand in his current situation.

I had to chuckle when I heard what his question was, but it didn’t take long for me to wonder how often I ask the same thing in my life.  When life is throwing painful, difficult circumstances my way, I can find myself asking when things will return to the way they were.  Sometimes, yesterday’s life seems so much better and if God would just allow me to return to those “good old days”…I wouldn’t have to experience today’s pain any longer.

We read in Romans 5:3, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.”  While I know these words are true, I have to admit that it is easier for me to believe them when I am looking in reverse in my life…but it’s often hard to hold onto them when I’m in the pain.

If I take some time and review the past moments in my life when things were difficult, I can usually see how God was working through those days…molding me, making me stronger and hopefully making me look more like Him.  While going through the pain wasn’t fun, I can see that in the long run…I am stronger and better off because He allowed me to walk through those challenging times.  

I don’t know what you are going through today, but odds are that someone reading this is experiencing a difficult time and you are begging God to take you back to those “better” days when things were easier.  I want to encourage you to use your past life events as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and then use your current difficulties to help you grow to look more and more like Him.  Just like it was with our grandson, the pain of your today just might make you a much healthier person in the days to come.  Keep looking forward and allow God to work His perfect plan in and through you today!

PLEASE NOTE:  My next five weeks are going to be rather crazy…so I will be taking a little break from my Monday Morning Memo.  I am confident that my experiences during this time will give me some new, fresh insights to share when I return.  Blessings to all!

Monday Morning Memo: Panic Mode

There is never a good time to be sick…but there are times when being out of commission can create added difficulties.  These past couple of weeks have done just that.  I had not put into my schedule to start 2020 being too sick to do much of anything…so when that is where I found myself…I began to feel a little panicky.  Ok…maybe a lot panicky.

The first of every year brings with it added office responsibilities for me because the government expects to receive end of the month forms…end of the quarter forms…end of the year forms…and then of course employees expect to receive W-2 forms so they can get their taxes done.  Neither the government nor the employees are going to let me off the hook, even if I have a signed doctor’s slip saying I was under the weather.  Add to that the fact that I have some things planned this month that require all of the above work be completed even earlier than normal…and I began to feel my pulse quicken as I laid in a recliner with little to no energy.  Sure…I knew that somehow everything would get done, but after a while I realized I sure didn’t like the stressed-out mode I was falling into.

At some point, I heard that voice in my head ask, how big is your God, LuAnn?  Is any of this a surprise to Him?  Is He wringing His hands wondering how in the world everything is going to get accomplished?  Of course I knew the answer to each of these questions…I just had to decide whether I was going to believe those answers and trust Him to do what He has promised to do…which is walk with me every step of the way…giving me whatever I need at the time I need it.

I wish I could now tell you that all of my tasks have been completed…but they have not.  I have been able to work for short periods this past week and have gotten more done than expected…for which I am very thankful.  I keep reminding myself that I serve a God who is more powerful than I can even imagine and that in His time, everything will be completed.

Why is it often so easy to fall into the panic mode, instead of automatically putting our trust in our heavenly Father?  The reason I am asking this today is because, unfortunately, I often hear myself and other Christians talking about our problems as if there is no hope. As if what will be will be, and nothing or no one can make any difference. We talk with such despair; lamenting about the doom and gloom of our current situation and the days ahead and I just wonder what others, especially non-Christians, are thinking. If I wasn’t saved and I heard a professing follower of Christ moaning and whining about their situation, I doubt I would want what they have. If our God isn’t powerful enough to handle our problems, there will be no reason for them to think He could handle theirs. 

I wonder what we are missing out on when we don’t allow God to handle any and all situations in which we find ourselves. What misery could be avoided if, as difficulties or concerns arose, we immediately gave it over to Him and let Him “take the wheel” as the popular song says? Would we have fewer ulcers? Would we retain more hair on our head? And most importantly, would we be a better example of God’s power and grace to those with whom we come in contact? 

I love these words: “Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup, uncertain in asking for any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better, I’d have come running with a bucket.”   Do we not realize how big and powerful our God is, because we don’t know Him very well? Does our knowledge of Him come from the children’s stories that we heard growing up, or are we, as adults, really thirsty to absorb any insight we can of the One who created us? It’s that hunger for Him that will help us realize His size, His power, and His ability to handle ANY detour that comes our way. 

I know that on the spectrum of problems, my situation these past couple of weeks has been pretty minor.  But if I can’t trust Him for the smaller “hiccups” of life…I probably won’t immediately trust Him with the bigger times of crises either.

Are you going through a time in your life when you are living in the “panic mode”?  Are you convinced that nothing will ever change?  I want to urge you today to listen to that voice in your head that is asking, how big is your God?   I am confident that like me, you know the answer to that question.  You just have to decide whether you will believe the answer and put your trust in Him to do exactly as He has promised. 

 “How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
His understanding is beyond comprehension!”

Psalm 147:5

Monday Morning Memo: Are You Willing to Tinkle? (Again!)

I am in day 10 of the flu…and to say my mind isn’t clicking…is an understatement.  So today I’m sharing a blast from the past…something I wrote several years ago.  I’m praying it will be just what you need to read today.

I’m currently reading in the Old Testament and I have to be honest, some of it is rather boring. Who begat who (which includes names I can’t even pronounce) and what animal could or couldn’t be eaten, can, at times, cause my mind to wander.  But the other day I came across a verse that caught my attention and even made me chuckle a little bit.

The verse was Exodus 28:35, “Aaron will wear this robe whenever he ministers before the Lord, and the bells will tinkle as he goes in and out of the Lord’s presence in the Holy Place. If he wears it, he will not die.”  I know…I have a weird sense of humor, but I just kept picturing Aaron walking around with his bells tinkling and the scene just made me smile.

Of course, it also made me curious.  Why did Aaron have to wear bells when he went into the Lord’s presence?  Why was it important that he tinkled?  These questions took me to several commentaries to see what others thought about this scene.  

The consensus of the writers was that the bells were worn so the people knew every move the priest made while he was in the tabernacle.  He was there to perform the sacred rite on their behalf and so the tinkling of his bells was proof to them (even though he was out of their sight) that he was doing just that.  This was so important that if the priest failed to wear a robe with the bells, he would be put to death!

This really got my mind wandering.  What if you and I had to wear a bell so that we tinkled throughout our day?  What if, because we tinkled, everyone would know exactly where we were and what we were doing?  Would I be ok with doing that?  Would you be ok with doing that?

I guess if we are doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do during our day, we shouldn’t mind tinkling.  Our day should basically be an open book to those around us and we shouldn’t have any actions that we need to hide.  There shouldn’t be books we are reading that are filled with pornography or television shows or movies that take our mind to places not pleasing to the Lord.  We should be treating our spouse and our children with the utmost respect and showing love to whomever we come in contact.  Our business affairs should be above board with nothing done “under the table” and our employer should see us doing our very best at all times. 

I don’t know about you, but I have to admit it made me smile when the priest had to wear the bells…but not nearly as funny if I had to.  I like to think that my life is totally focused on the Lord and His desires for my life, but unfortunately, there are times when I would be ashamed to have others listening to my every word.  But, of course, there IS Someone that hears my every word and sees my every move and I’m even more ashamed of those times I let Him down and cause Him pain.  I’m afraid that I would have been dead a long time ago for not tinkling when I should.

As we go throughout our week, let’s imagine we have a bell around our neck that others will hear.  You may even want to put a bell in your pocket as a constant reminder that there is Someone who knows your every move, hears your every response, and knows your every thought.  This just might help us remember that we are to be the light in a very dark world and hopefully, even in the darkness, those around us will hear us tinkle J

“So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—

before the Lord returns. For he will bring our 

darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. 

Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.”

1 Corinthians 4:5

“You are convinced that you are a guide 

for the blind and a light for people 

who are lost in darkness.”

Romans 2:19