DIY: Peace in times of change

Between my friends and me, we've experienced huge changes this year. A few have had weddings, funerals, divorces, home purchases, and financial crises. I've completed a five-year study goal. Each of us is trying to find equilibrium and inner peace in these fluctuating circumstances.

check out Doug's hilarious website:
www.savagechickens.com

Where do we look for balance? Is it to ourselves? To others? To pop-advice gurus? (DIY books abound in recognition than we can change no one but ourselves.) Or do we seek God's wisdom and insights?

After summer, I promised myself that I'd clear my office of dissertation flutter. I still need reference books for two presentations. But all those papers? I made origami of some, filed others, and binned the rest. Check out the before and in-process after the big dissertation desk was removed and its drawers emptied... everywhere.

 I know. I know. But look at it now!

Sitting desk, current files, and dog bed

The room is not perfect: I'm NOT a perfectionist and I've studied, exercised and written in the space for a few days. I can see my artwork. Everything has its place. Whew. (Mom, you were also correct about "clean your room!")

The study was symbolic for me. I had to wrap up a part of life that I was leaving behind for a new season. The rest of the house is waiting for renewal and I'll tackle it this fall between other obligations.

Standing desk (with high chair option), files

How do we find rest and peace in times of change? How do we get from before to after? Through a mess? Into the future - with our sanity intact? Here are some suggestions:

1. Evaluate what is important. Note what you are keeping and what you have learned from the past.
2. Think about the day. What is facing you today? Do you have friends and family who will support the day? If not, find a church family and begin the journey in community. "Everything costs something," according to my mom. It takes time and effort to find support systems.
3. Tackle what you can change now. Don't procrastinate because you're waiting for someone else or life to change.
4. Invest in tomorrow. Need devotional time to hear from God? To plan out some goals for the year ahead? Desperate for organizational help? Looking for storage for summer clothes and the bbq as fall approaches? Do you need marriage counseling? Or to spend time with your kids to talk to them about their walk of faith? 
5. Be content in the moment. God has made you "YOU" and placed you in this day. He will help you walk through the challenges and opportunities of the moment and the future, whether circumstances come through our choices or the decisions of others.

 Read more:

*Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Psalm 85:9,10 

*The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Nahum 1:7 NIV

*Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish. 2 Peter 3:14

Moravian Prayer: You are our salvation, righteousness and peace, O Christ. While we await your coming, fulfill in us your holiness so others may see and know that you are God. The time is now for faith and a holy fear that binds us resolutely to you. O spotless Lamb, take away the sin in us as you have taken away the sin of the world. Amen. 

New every morning

Is your life an adventure or ho-hum day after day?

I've experienced both kinds of seasons. In one, you know the routines, get in the car at the same time each morning and return each evening, while attending meetings and fill out forms between. In the other, you wait to see what the day brings and how God will speak to and through you.

My checklist today:

• type at least 10 pages from Alice Wood's diary (from her handwritten notes)
• translate at least 10 pages from Uncle Erich's autobiography
• work on Harmonnaires and family reunions (1/2-1 hour)
• play piano at a CHRISTA luncheon (2 hours)
• option: watch 2 episodes of My Girl (Korean drama)

I love this season! Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well:

“Be not the slave of your own past––
plunge into the sublime seas,
dive deep, and swim far,
so you shall come back
with self-respect,
with new power,
with an advanced experience,
that shall explain
and overlook
the old.”

Is it any wonder I don't miss the "olden days"?

Read more:
*We wait in hope for the LORD;  he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,  even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:20-22   NIV

 *You shall be called priests of the Lord; you shall be named ministers of our God. Isaiah 61:6

*You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Moravian Prayer: Dear Father, we pray that we may serve as your ministers, showing love and peace to those around us, sharing faith and hope to all in this world. Empower us with your gifts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The terror of a call

Many people aspire to teach or preach or stand on a platform of importance. "Be careful," Paul warned. "If you have a position, God holds you accountable in added measure."

Jeremiah's call was more awful than that. About to embark on a lifetime of telling people God's thoughts and judgments, God buttressed him up with words we use to pacify people who are feeling troubled. Our salve for the weary began as God's iron backbone for difficult ministry. Unlike many of us, Jeremiah had no confidence in his ability or maturity for the task ahead:

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 

“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” 

But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:4-8 NIV)

When Jeremiah agreed to go in God's name, he did not know the risks, the life-threatening obstacles, and the sheer meanness of his people. We would say he followed his call in faith, trusting God to take care of him. 

Reading Jeremiah a few times the past year, I want to shout a caution to him as he embarks: "It's a worse ministry than you know. Are you sure you want to do this? No one will believe you. You will suffer! You'll doubt yourself and God. Are you very, very sure about your call?" 

We quote many verses from Jeremiah as platitudes. For example, the prophet said, "When you pass through the waters, you will not drown." But he didn't say it to people about to undergo surgery or looking for a new house. His nation wasn't merely experiencing financial set-backs or a bad year of harvest. No - they were about to be dragged into captivity by a vicious conqueror. Many would die, starve, and be raped or tortured. Yet God said he would keep a remnant for himself.

It's probably correct to apply those verses to our difficulties. However, we must recognize that the greater context of most promises is God's ability to do as he pleases. He carries out his purposes and does what he intends, no matter how devastating the circumstances to humanity. He will be in control when our country loses its identity to war, when famine claims the few survivors, and families are torn apart in death and displacement. 

The promises seem greatest when the hardships are overwhelming. When saying yes to God's call, we need to remember that the prophet is rarely welcomed with a message of bad news. It doesn't matter how many reassurances he or she offers alongside the truth.

Lent Day 6: A father's confidence

I grew up with absolute confidence in my father. We kids were thrilled by how he loved Mom and treated her as his sweetheart. He embarrassed us as youngsters when he came home from work and danced Mom around the kitchen to kiss her. "Ooooo, yuck!" we'd scream, covering our faces to hide our happiness and embarrassment.

He has always believed in the potential of others, and conveyed his optimism about what we would accomplish. "You can be whoever you want to be," he communicated, though he is a man of few words.

Each of us children had the freedom to find our diverse callings. We tried all kinds of endeavors, some successful, some not. Through it all, Dad's wise words summed up the experience and encouraged us. I got fired from a summer job as a food server, and came home in humiliation. Dad shrugged it off with, "Well, I guess God hasn't called you to be a waitress, has he?" That settled down my wounded pride and squared my shoulders for the next task.

My younger brothers have a definite flair for their jobs: the youngest, a computer consultant, works from his office in Canada for a British firm. The middle brother, with a high people IQ, makes everyone feel welcome and included, working as a successful and sought-after realtor.

My oldest brother and I are officially in ministry, though not in the traditional sense. He wanted to do music, and nothing but music. He learned to play one instrument after another, loathing his post-high school job at a building supply and running a thriving retail business into the ground. When he heard God's call, he bought plane tickets dated seven weeks hence, picked up his wife and two kids, and moved to Europe without pledges of support or guarantees. Thirty years of God's provisions later, he continues to compose, arrange music, and design special-events productions. He leads worship in the most creative, missional ways I've ever heard of. His touring "big band" consists of a small cadre of volunteer musicians who play in towns where churches are dying and need renewal or where churches are being planted. Local musicians (often professionals) join the team to play his big band arrangements of World Music. The audience, whether in taverns, theatres, town squares, or churches, sing and dance along, opening their hearts to stories of the gospel and God's love ("testimonies," between songs.) The IHS Orchestra has traveled the globe, including Africa, Cuba, Israel, and Europe.

I learned early that when God called, the only answer was, "Yes, please speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." My father taught me what Jesus' father taught him: a father who believes in you invests his character, resources, and confidence in his children.

Our heavenly Father can be trusted to take care of the details of provision and care, leading us from one place to the next. In the process of maturing us for Kingdom service, he may lop off beloved appendages that are unhelpful to the missio dei. He may place us into hard schools to train us and shape our gifts. He oversees our development, not to control us, but to release us into the freedom of being fully human.

Jesus assured us that God responds to our needs and knows what is best for us and for his whole Family: "You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:9-11)."

Today, our Father in heaven has confidence in us. But do we have total confidence in him as our parent—who knows us, believes in us, and calls us to tasks impossible to do without his help?

Has he called us to life and ministry that seem beyond our capability? Perhaps he knows things about us as his children that we haven't yet recognized or accepted. Let's trust him completely, as a child trusts a good father (someone like my dad!)