Monday Morning Memo: Yielded and Still

Yes, I’m one of those people.  I love the newer choruses and songs we sing on Sunday morning.  I love how they speak to me and lead me into the worship of my Savior.

But, I also love the old hymns.  I love the words and the harmonizing sounds as we lift our voices in praise.   I love how words that were written many, many years ago can still speak to me.  I also love to read the stories behind the words because many of them have a powerful effect on me. 

One of the hymns that speaks to me is “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”.  The words are:

Have Thine own way, Lord 

Have Thine own way. 

Thou art the Potter
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me 

After thy will 

While I am waiting 

Yielded and still. 

If you google the title of this hymn…you will find the story of why it was written in 1902: 

“In 1902, Adelaide A. Pollard, a hymn writer, was hoping to go to Africa as a missionary but found herself unable to raise the needed funds to make the journey. Greatly discouraged, she attended a prayer service one evening and as she sat there, she overheard an elderly woman say, "It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord, just have your own way with our lives." The elderly woman inspired Pollard and she contemplated the story of the potter from Jeremiah 18:3 and, upon her return home that evening, wrote all four stanzas before retiring for the night.” 

What powerful words the elderly woman shared that night. But, if I’m honest, reading those words is much easier than living them…because it is sometimes hard for me to allow God to have complete control of my life. I often think I know best and so I find myself trying to change using my own power and my own strength and I fall flat on my face. But in reading the words to this song recently, I had what you might call an AH-HA moment. Because, even though I have sung this hymn many times, I realized it doesn’t say that the Lord should mold me and make me while I’m running around trying to change on my own. He is to mold me and make me...while I wait, yield and am still. OUCH. MY responsibility is to yield; HIS responsibility is to do the work in me. MY responsibility is to get to the place where I can honestly say it really doesn’t matter what He does with my life; He can have complete control to change me anyway He sees fit...while I wait, yield and am still. 

Are you feeling tired, frustrated and burned out because you are trying to change on your own? Maybe today you just need to wait, yield and be still and let HIM do the work. I think you just might be amazed as to what HE can accomplish when HE has complete control! 

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

and in His word I put my hope.”

Psalm 130:5

Monday Morning Memo: The Bookends of Life

I had the privilege of speaking at my 94-year-old aunt’s funeral this past weekend.  On January 14th, she took her last breath on earth and her first breath in heaven.  While we weren’t ready to let her go…she was so ready to meet her Jesus.

Aunt Gerry had planned some of the details for her funeral…so we had some information with which to begin.  I was not at all surprised she wanted Psalm 8 included in the service.  It is the only praise chapter which is addressed entirely to the Lord.  

The first verse brings us straight into the presence of the LORD: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” That presence is maintained throughout the chapter, right down to the repetition of the same line in the final verse. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”  This phrase puts “bookends” around this chapter as it reminds us to whom we are addressing.  This… is how Aunt Gerry lived her life…with the majesty of our God as the bookends of her life.  She knew that her Lord was the Almighty God.  She knew the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the same God she so faithfully served.  She knew there was no one greater than her Jesus and she served Him with everything she had within her.

Gerry served as a missionary nurse in Africa for 37 years and in everything she did, she always wanted God to be glorified, not her.  She knew how important each person was to her Jesus and she wanted to make sure everyone knew about His great love for them.

Gerry is in heaven today, not because she was a good woman, even though she was an amazing woman. Even Gerry wasn’t good enough to earn a place in Heaven.

-Nobody is that good.

-Nobody has ever lived a perfect life but Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But you see, Gerry was forgiven. And she is in Heaven today because she opened her heart to receive Jesus as her Savior and Lord.

She is in Heaven because she trusted in the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Likewise, you and I will go to Heaven too if we put our trust in Him.  Aunt Gerry didn’t just talk the talk…she walked the talk…and each of us can have that same vital relationship and have the majesty of our God as the bookends of our life.

I once heard the story of a young girl who walked through a cemetery every night because it was the shortest route to her house. When asked why she had no fear of passing through the graveyard she responded, “The reason I’m not afraid?  My home is just on the other side.”

Saturday, we gathered to celebrate the life of a woman who had made her way home over to the other side and is now walking the streets of gold.  I so want to make her proud as I learn from her example and serve the Lord…our Lord…whose name is majestic in all the earth.

Monday Morning Memo: Let's Get Running!

At any given time in my home…I usually have technology within my reach.  Whether it be my laptop, my iPhone or my watch…I am able to connect with the world wide web fairly easily.  They are all amazing products when you consider how much information can be accessed from such small devices.

 

I remember the computer that was used in the company I worked for after I graduated from high school (yes, this was back in the dark ages!).  The computer almost filled an entire room because it was so big; and it couldn’t do near what my small devices can do now.  It just blows my mind to think of how far technology has come because there were people who had the vision; people who didn’t dwell on their failures – but learned from them and kept “keeping on” until each hurdle was jumped and they had success.

 

What if they would have just been happy with that huge computer they first introduced?  What if the designers would have given up when they hit their first “speed bump”, thinking it would be so much easier and take less effort to just be happy with what they had?  Think of all the wonderful devices we wouldn’t have today if that would have been their attitude.

 

This can also apply to our lives.  God has such amazing, incredible experiences He wants us to encounter, but unfortunately, we are often satisfied to just stay where we are. We hit a speed bump and we immediately back off, mope about our failure, and decide it just takes too much effort to move forward.  I often wonder how many times there is something amazing waiting for us, but we never experience it because we’ve planted ourselves in our recliner watching the world go by...because that is where we feel “safe”.

 

There is a saying I have shared many times in my speaking.  It reads: “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – Wow, what a ride!” I don’t know about you, but I can feel my heart beating and my blood pumping just reading these words!  

 

This is how I want to live my life.  I want to experience everything God has for me, because when I stand before Him, I so desperately want Him to say, “Welcome my good and faithful servant.  Wow, what a ride you had!”  

 

So why don’t you join me?  Put your helmet on, strap on your boots, and let’s continue moving forward on the journey God has planned for us.  We will probably make mistakes and yes, we will more than likely hit a few speed bumps, but that won’t stop us. Remember, our “Tour Guide” knows the way, He never gets lost, and our final destination has streets of gold!!  Now THAT ought to get your blood pumping!!!

 

And if you still aren’t convinced…..read what it says in Hebrews 12:1-3 in The Message: 

“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

 

Let’s get running!!!

Monday Morning Memo: The Child In Us

I had an interesting conversation recently with my five-year-old grandson.  He found a ball in our toys and on it were the words “stress ball”.  He brought it to me and asked what it was for.  This is how the dialogue went:

Zeke:  Grandma, why does this say it is a stress ball?

Me:  Well, when people are stressed, they can take that ball and squeeze it in their hand and it’s supposed to help relieve their stress

Zeke:  What is stress?

Me:  It’s when you have things going on in your life that are causing you to feel anxious

Zeke:  What does anxious mean?

Yes, I realized this conversation wasn’t going to go much farther.  Researchers have found that curious children ask a staggering 73 questions every day ... half of which parents (and grandparents) struggle to answer.  I soon realized that at five years old…Zeke doesn’t have a clue what these words mean, because he hasn’t really experienced much stress or anxiety in his short life.  Oh, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say that about ourselves?

As I’ve reflected on this exchange with my precious grandson, I’ve thought about his eagerness to learn and his willingness to keep asking questions.  He’s not embarrassed if he doesn’t know something…he simply asks.  He wants to know who, what, why, when and where concerning just about everything and while it can become exasperating to those who he’s asking…he doesn’t usually give up.  Trust me…he is a very persistent young child 

What would happen if you and I were more like Zeke?  What if we were persistent in wanting to know the who, what, why, when and where about everything in God’s Word?   What if we wouldn’t stop until we understood everything He wants us to learn so we can look more and more like Him?  I can’t help but believe that if this was how we lived our lives…maybe we wouldn’t know so much about stress and anxiety either.  If we could learn to maintain the wonderful and beautiful characteristics and qualities of children…that life in this sinful, chaotic world tends to beat out of us…we might be able to keep the child in us alive.  Then maybe, just maybe, we would come to realize and trust in the fact that the One who knows it all…is able to handle far more of our lives than we can even imagine.

And the best part?  Our Jesus never tires of hearing our questions.  He wants us to share everything with Him and He will never struggle to know the answers.  Thankfully, He has much more patience than this grandma does 

"And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change 

and become like little children, 

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:3

Monday Morning Memo: The Battle is His

Confession time…I find it hard sometimes to concentrate when I’m reading the Old Testament.  Sure, I know all the facts and lineage details are important…but oftentimes my thoughts go haywire as I attempt to absorb what I’m supposed to learn from my reading.

As a result, I was struggling one day as I attempted to read 1st Chronicles. It was so hard for me to get much out of the fact that Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah and that Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. Sorry, but if I can’t even pronounce the names...I can lose interest real fast. 

So, as I sat down one morning just thrilled (tongue in cheek) to read about who bore whom, I came across these words in Chapter 5:18-22: “The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men ready for military service—able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle. They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. They were helped in fighting them, and God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him. They seized the livestock of the Hagrites—fifty thousand camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep and two thousand donkeys. They also took one hundred thousand people captive, and many others fell slain, because the battle was God’s. And they occupied the land until the exile.” 

The reason these verses jumped out at me is because I’m currently having difficulty trusting God to take care of a concern of mine. I know He cares even more about this matter than I do, and He is more than able to handle the details, but I want to hold onto it…fretting, stewing and losing sleep. As I read these verses, I was reminded that God wants me to make sure I do what He has asked me to do…by spending time in prayer and reading His Word.  Just like these men who were able-bodied and trained for battle, He expects me to make sure I am doing all I can to learn His ways.  These things will help me be prepared for whatever happens in the days to come.  

He then reminded me that He is the one I should call out to as I navigate these uncertain times.  I need to trust Him FIRST, before He has even answered my prayers and keep in mind that in this life, the battle is His not mine. That’s often hard to even comprehend with my Type A always-want-to-be-in-control type personality.  But if I fully trust Him and His ways, and remember that the battle is His…not mine…there is no reason for me to worry. 

Are you holding onto something in your life that needs to be turned over to God? Are you having trouble trusting Him with every area of your life? There’s no better time than now, as we begin 2022, to start trusting as we let Him fight the battle. I’m going to give that a try this year and, believe it or not, I’m even looking forward to reading more of the Old Testament 