Category Archives: Uncategorized

July 5, 2013 · 1:30 pm

Music Notes

I have made a discovery.  This is going to blow your mind.  Really.  Are you listening?  Okay, pay attention now.

Girls dig boys who make music.

WHAT!?!

I know, right?  Whether he sings heart-throbbing lyrics, strums a guitar, hammers on a drum, knows how to make a banjo dance, or simply can really buzz a harmonica, boys who make music tend to cause women to swoon (definition of swoon as I understand it is along the lines of instant crush).

True statement.

And if a boy writes his own music – oh man!  Better watch out!  He’s very likely to have mobs of girls running after him.  Or screaming his name.  Or wearing his name on homemade t-shirts.  And have posters of him in their rooms.  And know all his songs by heart.  They might even randomly burst into those songs in the middle of a mall, or a hall, or a classroom.  They might even dance to those songs.

I bet you had no idea.

Music is powerful.   It can turn a stiff board of a person into a ball of spinning energy.   It can open doors.  It can alter a person’s mood quicker than a puppy, a caramel frappaccino, a great workout, or a cute new outfit.  It also has the power to keep a person in a mood, or even heighten an emotion.

When we break up with boys, we play depressing and angry songs over and over again.  When we’re in love, or really, really, really want to be in love, we listen to any and every love song that is on our ipod.  Over and over and over again.

Music is the quickest, purest way to our soul.  Really and truly.  I’m not kidding.  Hence the reason if a boy REALLY wants you, he’ll write you a song.  Or struggle through it on his newly-bought guitar.  Or, at the very least, he’ll make you a playlist.

So, it makes sense that a chunk of our time in fellowship with other Christians be spent singing, worshiping our God.  I know it probably feels weird.  I mean, where else does that ever happen, except at concerts, where a group of people just sing together?  Nowhere.  Weird.

But…but for me, it’s been during times of worship when God most often talks to me.  Or when I can finally express to Him what’s been bothering my heart.  It’s during times of worship that I have literally felt God cleanse me of all the gunk life threw at me that had been clinging to my heart. I have felt refreshed, convicted, comforted, and encouraged.  And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that worship is the key to all of that.

When we take the time to tell God how much we love Him; when we take the time to remind ourselves in song of His goodness, of His power, of His grace; miracles happen.  Chains are broken.  Lives are changed.  God’s glory is displayed.

 

So, two things –

Be careful what music you listen to.  I’m not saying only listen to Christian music (NO WAY am I saying that), but do be careful.   Remember, what you listen to is a reflection of where your heart is.  Music has the power to put your heart in a good place, or in a down-right rotten one.

And, take some time this week, all on your own, separate from church or youth group, and tell God how much you love Him – in song.  You know how awesome it is when someone sings to you; I’m pretty sure God feels the same way.  I’m pretty sure your belting your favorite worship song in the shower (because who DOESN’T sound amazing in the shower?) puts a huge, little boy grin on His face.  And it’s a wonderful thing when God smiles.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

June 28, 2013 · 4:29 pm

Eagles and Emotions

I was standing in church, one of a handful of white faces amidst a sea of darker.  It was praise and worship time, my main reason for ever attending any church service.  (First is worship, second is community, third for the stories the pastor tells, fourth for the occasional doughnut, and fifth is for the actual sermon – sorry.  It’s not that God doesn’t speak to me through the sermon, because He does.  It’s just that normally, if I want to hear from God, I close the door to my bedroom, find my journal, turn on some worship music and then start praying.  Sometimes I pull out my Bible.  After that, I call (or, usually, grab coffee with) some of my wiser friends.  Wisdom and advice is always more easily swallowed with a cup of coffee (or, in my case a cambrick) in hand. )

So, anyway, I was one sweaty (it wasn’t fall yet, and temperatures were still above the 100’s) white face in a sea of non-sun-burning faces in church. And we were singing, thanking God that, like the wind beneath an eagle’s wings, He lifts us up above the storm.  I don’t remember the exact song actually – just that image.  And I remember praying, “God, just walk with me through the storm.  I want to feel everything.  I don’t want to escape life’s bumps and bruises.  Just walk with me.”

Silly me!  That was at the start of the hardest year of my life to date.

Why on earth would anyone pray that silly prayer?  “Don’t lift me above the storm God, I want to experience it, I want to be bumped and bruised and broken and tossed about.”  Sounds painful.  It IS painful.

But by that point in my life I knew enough to know that God often does His best work in the smack middle of our pain.  And I desired God to do His best work in me.

I also knew that I wanted to experience life  – all of it.  Including the pain of the storms the song was talking about.  I didn’t want to just glide above them, I wanted to be down in them, feeling the roller coaster waves beneath my feet.  Thrilling in the ride and risks and healing that would be taking place.  I didn’t want God to protect me from this life.  I wanted to KNOW all of it, that I might know Him better, that I might share Him better with others.

But, you know what?  I don’t think I needed to pray that prayer.  I mean, yes, I did.  My heart needed to tell God where I was with Him; that I trusted Him to take care of me no matter what.

But I didn’t need to pray that prayer because God doesn’t do that – lift us up above a storm.  I was right – God walks with us, side-by-side through the storm.  Sometimes He stops us and surrounds us with His body, protecting us from some airborne shrapnel, but for the most part, we get to feel everything.  That’s kinda part of the point of this life – to experience it.  Somewhere along the line of growing up in a very Christian environment, I picked up the idea that God’s protection means that He’ll keep you from feeling too much pain.  That you’ll never get depressed because of Him.  Yeah, that’s not how God works.  Him walking beside you does NOT mean He keeps those emotions away.  Him walking beside you means He’ll help you manage those emotions, that you don’t have to be overcome or ruled by them. But He still wants you to feel the emotions He placed inside us, that respond to the situations we are in, that we might get to know Him better.

The more you live life with someone, the better you get to know them.  So, live life with God.  Get to know Him.   Don’t be afraid of the storms that come, He’s with you.  Don’t get bored during the gentle, quiet times of calm, He’s still with you.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

June 21, 2013 · 9:30 pm

Summer Time

So, it’s summer.  That wonderful time when you don’t have to do math assignments, or write research papers, or discover the force of gravity.

But how are you spending all your free time?  Are you in front of your TV for most of it?  Or on Facebook?  At the mall?  Or texting?

Some of that is good.  Some of that is restful and necessary.  But not a lot, actually.

I’ve discovered that the most restful way to spend time is often doing the things you love most…as long as those things don’t include texting, Facebook, tumblr, Twitter…you get the picture.  Go spend some time doing the things that God gave you a love for.  Use whatever it is to encourage, engage, and get to know someone else.

Give God a bit of your time this summer.  After all, we hang out with those we love right?  Why would God be any different?

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

June 15, 2013 · 4:42 pm

Community

A week ago I had a huge disappointment.  I had applied for an internship that seemed too good to be true, and I made it through most of the whittling-down process.  In fact, I was in the last six.  But, I found out last Thursday that I didn’t get it.   I had prayed since the beginning that God’s will be worked through the process, and so I was surprised at how hard it was to hear the “no”.  Hard might be a bit of an understatement.  It hurt like –  heart-being-pulled-out-of-you-while-still-fully-alive-and-breathing hurt.  Like I-suddenly-couldn’t-breathe hurt.  Like 1,000-paralyzing-brain-freezes-hitting-you-all-at-once hurt.

So, like any self-respecting woman who has emotions and admits to it, I cried.  I actually curled up on the floor of my bathroom and poured my heart out to God in tears (I didn’t have words).  Eventually, I pulled it together enough to text my dear friend, asking her to pray for me, because I wasn’t in a very good spot.

And then I went to Lifegroup, because it was Thursday, and Lifegroup happens on Thursday nights.  And no, I didn’t really feel like going.  But these people are the ones who weekly remind me, and challenge me with different aspects of my walk with God.  These people also care about me pretty intensely.  And, well, I’m a sucker for routine.  Routine is a great place to hide if everything is not okay.

So, when I showed up at the door and one of my friends asked me how I was doing, I tried to pretend everything was okay, and said “good”.  Except my friend knew me better than that.  She knows me so well, that she could look straight into my eyes, and say, “No Honey, you’re not okay at all.  Let’s go talk about it.”  She has, after all, been a part of my life for over a year now – almost two.  And she can read me pretty well.  That’s one of the benefits of Lifegroup.  Some of the people become friends who can tell when something’s up with you before you even know something is…or can tell when you don’t want them too.

Anyway, my friend somehow pulled the super-human feat of understanding what all my tears were about through my sobs and sniffles.  Later, when the group was sharing prayer requests, and I knew if I even opened my mouth, more than my eyes would be leaking (which they had been doing all evening), she went ahead and added me to the list.  She knew.

And really, that’s the point.  Wherever you are in life – young or old, student, or adult, you need friends.  The really good kind that care about you, and that tend to know what’s going on; the kind that will keep you accountable and remind you of the big picture.  It’s called living in community, and if you intend to live your life in a way that pleases God, it’s vital.  You HAVE to have it.  You won’t make it without a close group of friends.

That being said, of course, if you pick the wrong friends to surround yourself with, things won’t be pretty for you.

So, be careful who you invite into your community.  Be purposeful in who you invite.  Are they people you want to be more like? Only invite those sort.  Because whoever is in your community, your friendgroup, that is who you eventually will look like.

Have friends; have challenging, God-loving, honest, awesome, slightly scary friends.  And then let them in to your life.  You will be incredibly blessed.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

May 31, 2013 · 10:30 am

Pressure

So, you know how a fish swims through water…all it’s life?  And that’s completely natural?  I don’t think the fish ever thinks, “Huh, I’m swimming through water.  I wonder what it would be like to be outside of water.”  Yeah, I don’t think so.  And I doubt even more that the fish ever thinks about the KIND of water it’s surrounded by…or HOW MUCH PRESSURE that water is putting on him.  I mean, think about it.  He’s lived his entire life in the pressure of the water.  He’s never known any different.  So he has no idea.  In fact, since he’s lived his entire life in that pressure, he probably doesn’t think he’s under any pressure at all.

Did you know the same is true of you?  You know how the earth is surrounded by atmosphere – an atmosphere that provides wonderful things like air for us to breathe in and protection from the sun?  Well, that same atmosphere is exerting crazy amounts of pressure on you.  And yet, because from the moment you were conceived in your mother’s womb the atmosphere has been pressing down on you, you don’t notice it at all.  In fact, it feels like you’re under no pressure at all!  And all the while, the atmosphere is pressing, pressing, pressing – pressing 14.7 pounds per square inch ON YOU (thank you NASA for that info)!  I don’t know if you get it – but that’s A LOT of pressure – that you don’t even feel!  CRAZY!

It is completely mind-blowing to me to think of all that atmosphere we are surrounded by, all that atmosphere we just take for granted and don’t even notice.  All that atmosphere putting pressure on you and you don’t even (normally) realize it.

Which, of course, makes me wonder:  what else am I so used to that I don’t even notice.  What ELSE in my life is putting pressure on me that I just deal with – even though I don’t have to (unlike the pressure of the atmosphere – we actually need that).  Words like parents, friends, school, grades come to mind.  My parents put pressure on me about specific things (keep room clean, take a shower, don’t talk like that, etc) (okay – they used to, now that I’m a grown woman – not so much).  My friends would put pressure about how I looked on me, or how I talked, or what stuff I liked, or WHO I liked, or all sorts of stuff.  I don’t like to admit it, but those fuzzy-pictured magazines in the grocery store put pressure on me too – pressure to care about meaningless stuff, or to look a certain way, or to need something unnecessary, or something.  And, well, you get the picture.  We are under a ton of pressure.

And so it’s your choice what to do with that pressure.  You can buckle under it; you can choose to listen to all those voices whispering into your ear…and eventually go crazy, or get distracted from what we’re SUPPOSED to care about (because, that’s the point of those pressures, really).  Or you can do the miraculous. You can ask God to take them off you (because He can and will) and help you focus on the things He wants you to care about.

So you say, “So, I go from the pressures of the world around me to the pressures God puts me under?  Great.”

But it’s not like that.  God will lift the pressures of the world from you…and then help you pursue the things HE wants you to.  And since He’s helping, and He’s God…you won’t be under crazy pressure.  Because He’s GOD, and He carries the burden of that sort of thing.  And, when you live a life pursuing the things He wants you to, it’s more of an adventure anyway.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 24, 2013 · 9:21 pm

Cross-stitched flowers and Thankfulness

I’m a hands-on type of girl.  So sometimes I get real creative and actually MAKE presents for birthdays, weddings, or even Christmas.  I know, I know, everyone makes presents for Christmas, that’s not that big of a deal.

See, for me, when I make you something, it means I’ve spent hours scheming the exact perfect thing for you, and then I’ve spent hours actually making it for you.  It’s a reflection of my love for you, of our relationship.  Literally by the time you unwrap it, whatever the present is, it has become a tangible symbol of the prayers I have prayed for you, the dreams I’ve dreamt for you, and the memories we’ve created together.  You might not see it, you might just see a cup, or a plaque, or a book, or a blanket, or a dress, but that’s just a cover for what you’re actually unwrapping.

The thing is though, growing up, I didn’t realize how much of myself I’d pour into hand-made gifts.  I also didn’t completely realize (mostly because I hadn’t thought about it) that the cross-stitched, personalized plastic mug that I sewed just for you with your favorite flower on it might not be as cool as the gif card to Abercrombie and Fitch that someone else gave you.

The first time I realized this, it broke my heart.  I had given one of my closest friends the mug described above, and she hardly looked at it.  I don’t remember what everyone else gave her for her birthday, but they were all ultimately cooler gifts than the mug.   And then she proceeded to hang out with everyone else at her birthday party and practically ignored me.

And it hurt.

It hurt like someone had taken my heart and slapped it with a thousand rough-wood splinters, all digging deeper and deeper into my tender heart.

In fact, that’s one of the first times I remember confiding to my mother about something I was going through.  With relationship stuff, that is.

My momma was wise.  She sat on my bed next to me, and put her arm around me, and just hugged me for what felt like hours.  She let me talk and cry and sob, and she didn’t try to fix it (she couldn’t), but she did listen.  And eventually, when I quieted down, she told me that next time, before I started making a gift for someone, I needed to remember this night.   I needed to make the decision whether or not it was worth it to make that present.  Would I be okay giving a gift that might not be appreciated as much as I wanted it to be?  Would I be okay giving away something that precious if it wouldn’t be loved as well as I thought it deserved to be?

Basically, my choice was to be okay with my hand-made gifts meaning more to me than to the friend receiving it, and to keep making those gifts, or to never give a gift that dear again.  If I never gave a gift that precious again, my heart wouldn’t hurt as much.

I chose not to protect my heart that way.  I have made many gifts since then that have been carefully crafted for a specific, special someone.  And I have learned that when I make such gifts, it’s about the love I put into it, not the love with which it is received.  But it’s still important for me to give such gifts.  It’s good for my heart.  And, I like to think, whether or not my friend knows it, that the gift somehow blesses them.  That somehow, all the love and prayers and memories I’ve poured into it surrounds it and is absorbed by my friend.  I’m not sure if that’s actually possible, but I like to think so.   It doesn’t matter that my friend doesn’t know; she’s still benefitting from it.

The thing is, when I think about that cup I gave all those years ago, I think about thankfulness.  What cross-stitched mug has God spent hours making for me, that I have scorned because it wasn’t as cool as an itunes card? What has God made specifically for me;  that I receive but don’t appreciate to the fullness of the gift?  What do I take for granted, or don’t give a second glance to, that He has planned and schemed and crafted just for me?

I hope nothing.  I hope I take none of His gifts (or any of my friends’) for granted.  But I’m human, so I’m sure I do.  But I pray that God continues to open my eyes to the gifts around me that I am oblivious to.  The ones that He poured His heart into.  The ones that are meant as reminders of His love and His dreams for me.

Because He loves us better than our parents, our dearest, closest friends, our significant others.  And so His gifts are SO much better (and bigger, and more random, and more unexpected, and often crazy) than theirs.  Because He, the one who crafted YOU, the One who knows every atom of you, who knows what makes you smile and glow, loves you, and gives you such good, mind-blowing gifts.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 17, 2013 · 9:50 pm

Colorado Mountain Air

The summer I came back from Bahrain I was on sensory overload.  Suddenly, after 10 months of living in a place I describe to people as “Mars”  (think red desert with not much vegetation), I was suddenly back in my beloved Colorado.  I could hardly handle being surrounded by my mother’s gorgeous flowers, and God’s breath-taking mountains, and the wonderful, refreshing, mountain air.   I have never taken so many pictures of my mother’s garden, or stared so hungrily at the mountains that a few years for I had taken for granted.  And the air!  The fresh, clean, clear, crisp, mountain air!  If you’ve never smelt it, you don’t know what you’re missing.  But I guarantee it’s a smell you will encounter often in Heaven.  I’m pretty sure the smell that accompanies a Colorado mountain morning is God’s cologne – the stuff He puts on just to impress you.

But the thing is, the summer before, I had no idea of the wonder and majesty that surrounded me.  I spent that summer in Colorado too, but I did not take a hundred pictures of my mother’s flowers.  I did not stop dead in my tracks after stepping outside in the morning, just to soak in the wonderful air.  My spirit did not lift in joy when driving into the mountains.  I didn’t know what I had.  I didn’t know the glory, wonder, majesty that I had been given to me.

Unfortunately, over the years since then, that wonder has faded a bit.  But I can still remember that summer.  And I wonder how many OTHER things I take for granted in my life.  Just how blessed I was growing up.  How many friends I’m not near enough thankful for.  How very easy and convenient our lives are today.  How very different my life would be if it weren’t for God, for Jesus and what His amazing, loving sacrifice did for me.  For the air I breathe.

Like the air that surrounds me that I don’t think about breathing in and out, I am surrounded God’s blessings.  And I take them for granted.  Honestly, I often EXPECT them, and get frustrated when I don’t get what I want.  How ungrateful, how ugly, is that?

What are you immersed in that you have forgotten to be grateful for recently?  When was the last time you asked God to open your eyes for all the blessings surrounding you?  How many blessings can you name?   What blessings do you expect to receive?

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

May 10, 2013 · 3:30 pm

Inspiring Flight

Never underestimate your story.

No, really.

More than once I’ve been told that some part of my story is inspiring or faith-building or something.  But see, to me, it just felt like I was living life.  Like I was being obedient.  It felt like no big deal.  I mean, sure, I’ve lived through moments that have been super scary.  And I’ve made choices that don’t make sense.  But in the middle of those moments, when I’m being obedient, it just feels like the right thing to do.

Now, I’m NOT comparing myself to Moses or Noah, but I bet they’d tell you similar stories.  They were just being obedient.  Doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary.  But it was the right, next thing to do.  It was their life.  Nothing nearly so epic as to have a soundtrack playing in the background, or to inspire movie four thousand years later. But they were obedient.  They lived their lives.  And they inspire movies, and teach us about God, and encourage us.

And you know what?  Your life does that too.

No, really, it does.

If you are pursuing God.  If you’re obedient to His calling on your life.  If you take a hop of faith here and there.

Then you’re life WILL inspire someone else.  Someone else will think you’re this great person because you talked to that kid, or you gave money, or you went to that country, or you pursued whatever passion it is that God has been cultivating in your heart like some delicate, strong rose.

So, NEVER say, “Well, I haven’t really done that much” or “Well, I don’t have a story like THAT” or anything along those lines.   Somewhere, sometime, God WILL use your story (if you’re willing) to draw someone else to Him.  And that person WILL be inspired by you.

So, butterfly, don’t underestimate you’re journey through the chrysalis.  Go fly now.  The caterpillars are watching.  The caterpillars need your flight as a reminder there is something better ahead for them.  Scary and huge as it might seem for them at the moment.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 3, 2013 · 1:21 pm

En GUARDE!

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told to guard my heart.  Like sitting in 7th grade Bible, right after having a discussion about how tampons work.  No joke.  Sorry.  Or 8th grade Bible, and Language, and Social Studies, and P.E. and chapel.  And then practically every-other chapel in 9th through 12th grade. And it mysteriously came up in every high school Bible class.  And in every Christian book I read (fiction and non-fiction).

So, I thought I got the picture.  I mean, it’s pretty simple, right?  Don’t fall completely in love with a boy until you marry him, right?  Simple.

HA!

The thing is, growing up, whether or not the speakers were actually doing this, I always heard “guard your heart” in connection with dating and boys.  Which isn’t really the case.  Giving your heart away is different than guarding your heart.

SO VERY different.

There are SO MANY other things that are going to try to steal or taint your heart other than boys (or girls).  Like anything and everything.  Literally.  Anything on this earth that can be twisted and tweaked so that it can become an obsession that takes your focus away from God.  It will steal your heart.  Like food.  Like Facebook.  Like reading.  Or watching TV.  Or dreaming about your future.  Or working out.  Or computer games.  Or board games (don’t ask). Or coffee.  Or a band.  Or ANYTHING.

Now, before you freak out on me.  Those things I just listed aren’t bad.  I promise.  It’s when they become more important to you than your relationship with God – when you turn to them instead of God when you’re angry/frustrated/confused/depressed – that’s bad.

Incase you didn’t pick up my subtleties there – whoever /whatever you go to when you’re in a rough spot –t hat’s who has your heart.  Wherever /whoever you spend all your free time with – that’s who has your heart.

And it’s no use trying not to “give it” to someone /something, because we as humans are wired to give our hearts away.  You’ve given it to something already.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t guard it, or that you shouldn’t guard it.  Because you should.  Definitely.  Crazy thought – you even should guard it AFTER having given it!  In fact, hopefully whoever you give it to should help you guard it, and you should help guard theirs.

So guard it!  Your heart is the single most precious thing you’re responsible for.

Now, the question I wish someone would have addressed in all those talks I sat through – HOW?!?

I think, as simple (and impossible) as it sounds, the key to guarding our hearts are in our thought patterns.  We are, after all, commanded to think about only things that are good, pure, honorable – all that jazz (Phil 4:8).  That’s a HUGE part of guarding your heart.  Watching / listening to stuff that wouldn’t make you blush if Jesus walked in the room (I know that’s cheesy, but it works) .  And that doesn’t mean only watching stuff that is morally-right, or singers that don’t use cuss words.  It’s more along the lines of in what condition does that song/movie/show/person leave you in when you’re done listening/watching/hanging out.  Are you generally encouraged and challenged?  Or are you angry/frustrated/scared.  How is your heart feeling?  Taking stock of how the world around you affects you – that’s guarding your heart.

Be vigilant*.  Be strong.  Stand True.

 

* (I know – old-school word you have no idea what it means – go look it up!)

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

April 28, 2013 · 1:43 pm

Static Energy

                Spring – a time of new beginnings.  New flowers.  New leaves.  A fresh burst of energy to get outside and explore after having been pent-up indoors for months on end.  A discovery of extra  grace and forgiveness for those whose paths cross ours. Baby everything. Fresh air. 

                So it’s a bit odd that what I find on my heart this afternoon is the urge to encourage you to finish strong.   Maybe it’s because my students have said to me one too many times, “But Miss Amy, it’s the end of the year” as an excuse for not doing a lesson, for talking, for being late, for being crazy, for whatever their little heart thinks it can use “almost summer” as an excuse for.

                But that’s not what we’re called to do.  Sorry.  In fact, if anything, it’s now when we are supposed to push harder, faster, better.  At least, that’s what I get from Hebrews 12: 1

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and (A)sin which clings so closely, and (B)let us run (C)with endurance the race that is (D)set before us,”

                And really, that’s what most Christian adults would tell you to do.  Which, to be honest, feels overwhelming and unfair.  Don’t they just realize how tired I am?  I’ve run the race; I’m almost at the end, I don’t have any more energy.  Can’t I just be done?  My so-called second wind has come and already gone.  And I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a third wind.  There is literally no more strength in me.

                But, to use the over-used and so cliché example – that’s not what you do in a race.  If you were to stop running right before the end, everyone would think that you’re stupid, or at the very least, have ADHD and saw a squirrel or something. Not good. 

                In fact, that’s true in school too.  When are the hardest, longest tests of the year?  That’s right – at the very end of the semester.  They’re called finals, and they can affect everything.

                So, what do you do when you’re exhausted, and you still have four weeks of school left?  Or 100 more meters? Or one more test?  Do you take it easy?  Do you focus on your exhaustion? 

                If you do, you’re setting up some sad patterns for life – specifically patterns of not finishing stuff. From what I’ve noticed, those who take it easy at the end of things, have alarming tendencies to not even make it to the end.

                My suggestion is to look at the next verse in Hebrews.  Look at Hebrews 12:2 

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

                Okay, this is NOT a guilt trip saying, “well, Jesus endured the cross at the end, and I bet whatever you have to endure is not nearly as bad, so deal with it.”  It’s more of a reminder that you’re right.  You ARE exhausted.  You CAN’T do anything more.  God wanted it that way.  You need to look to Him for the strength and focus to finish whatever it is you need to finish.  And I am NOT saying that He’s going to wave His magic wand and make it easy – because He doesn’t do that.  He loves you too much to do that. But, if you ask Him to finish this with you, to work with you through this – He will.  He loves coming in and playing the rescuing hero.  Just make sure to give Him the glory.  No delusions that you did it on your own, okay?

                So, push on.  Finish that race.  Don’t give up on school just yet.  Do those last couple classes well.  Write that paper to the best of your ability.  Enjoy the crazy static energy that is bouncing around inside you, practically making you burst open at the seams.  And pray.  Pray hard. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized