Full to the brim

Ever feel like exploding with possibilities? Or are you dragging your heels?

"Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed your hands have provided.


GREAT is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

That's the music track in my head this morning after a week of spiritual nourishment and physical rest. My spiritual accountability group spent three days on retreat. Then W and I relaxed for three days with dear friends -- on a boat in the middle of God's creation. This morning, I finished a 4-week "Get Unstuck Bootcamp" designed by Kim Martinez.  (I'll write more on that self-coaching system another day.) Wow. What a time of refreshing! (Thanks be to God, especially as the weather changes to Seattle autumn.)

What makes you feel "full" and ready to engage the world? For me, it's interaction with people that is paced by quiet times alone. Without friends and collaborators, I languish and circle in place. Without time by myself, I become exhausted and irritable, numb to stimulation and new ideas.

How do you refill your tank when you're weary? Here are a few observations:

1. Extroverts gather energy by being around people and introverts gather energy from time alone.

2. What you love to do aligns with at least one of your personal strengths or talents. Pay attention the next time you experience joy.

3. What you hate to do may align with a personal weakness. Do you have more choices about things you dread than you think?

• When possible, delegate the task. For this option, accept someone else's "done-well-enough." Don't micro-manage what you hand off to others.
• If YOU have to do it, emphasize parts that line up with things you love. Dislike driving to work but love to pray? Take the cause of travelers in cars next you to God -- while you sit in traffic. 
• Take a mental vacation while you work. Hate maintenance but have to change the oil on your car? Take a great book along or listen to a podcast while someone else does it. While you work, plan a reward that "rings your bells." Washing floors? Look around to see what you can redecorate or reconfigure in the room. (Decor possibilities were my pleasurable mind-escape this morning while cleaning bathroom floors.) 

4. Look around to see how people with your temperament or job cope. Copy copy copy. "There is nothing new under the sun," said the wise sage. What works for others may work for you, too.

*5. Most importantly, recognize and appreciate that The One Who Made Us is interested in developing our full potential. Whom or what has God already brought near you to help you refuel and kickstart the day or the next season?

Read more: 

*I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints—but let them not return to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Psalm 85:8-9 NIV 

*He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. Psalm 103:7–8

*I am teaching you today—yes, you—so you will trust in the LORD." Proverbs 22:19

*Declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” Isaiah 48:20

*God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by

making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 (NIV)  

Moravian Prayer: Great and loving God, you bring us redemption and reconciliation and we respond in joy to your great faithfulness. Thousand, thousand thanks to thee, dear Lord. Amen.

Of all the stupid things...

Man gets head stuck in bin

We weren't aloud to say "stupid," growing up. It was considered vulgar. Mom would have washed our mouths out with soap.

But once in a while something comes along that's so ridiculous that "stupid" applies. For example, Scottish emergency responders had to separate a man from the bin into which he'd pushed his head. Dumb fellow!

I haven't gotten my head stuck in a public trashcan but I've done my share of silly things. As I was waking yesterday, UCB Ireland programming was highlighting the value of fear in preventing us from doing stupid things or putting our lives at risk. The speaker also noted that youth is known for risk-taking rather than the wisdom of fear. Experience and age produces caution. Probably true: I'm less willing to take risks as I age.

Back in the day: at a son's wedding

However, there are three other reasons that produce caution in me. Their names are Wilhelmina, Phyllis, and Patti. I'm going on a retreat this week with them. We've met for 18 years (if I'm wrong, they'll correct my dates). The first ten years, we met every 3 weeks and did 2 annual weekend retreats. The conditions for admission to the group?

• female
• wholeheartedly seeking God
• able to keep confidences
• willing to share life

Those gals know me inside-out, and I can predict their responses to life as well as they can anticipate mine.  We've shared things our husbands don't know (mostly girl-things, attitudes, and actions that wouldn't benefit our marriages if we told the guys).

I look forward to the retreats but also dread them. God puts a finger on my heart each time, pointing out where I am spiritually dense or unwilling, where my nature is not aligned with his, and where I've been disobedient. Oh how I hate to be put on the spot.

2012

And how I welcome God's love and the kindness of the WPPRs in pointing out my faults as well as boosting me for accomplishments. It's hard to make progress when ours are the only eyes permitted on our inner beings. We are too forgiving of ourselves, either overlooking flaws and sins, or excusing them with, "That's just how I am," or "If only they would ... , then I would be different/ respond differently/ etc." An outside look of compassion or finger pointed in love have made a great difference in my life.

Do you need similar accountability? Here's a checklist of questions to clarify your answer:

• I'm in a position of responsibility. Scripture says those in leadership will be judged more carefully and severely than others.
• I wrestle with an issue or issues that I haven't been able to resolve. This might be a hidden sin, a destructive habit, or stymied progress in spiritual maturity.
• No one knows me inside and out. This self-protection usually hides the issue above.
• My spouse or roommate or friends are tired of listening; I talk in circles or only to them ... without resolving issues. A good accountability group will challenge you if you make no progress or keep bringing up the same patterns. My search for the WPPRs began after my husband asked me to "find some girlfriends" because, as he noted, "I'm not Jesus. You need someone else to talk to."
• I need input from others. Your view of ministry or job or family life may have become myopic: your in the forest so you can't see anything but the nearest trees. Trusted counselors provide perspective and balance.

Finally, here's a summary in how the WPPRS have repeatedly hauled "off the stupid truck," as a Texan friend eloquently put it. WPPRs is not a Bible Study or friends' day out. What WPPRs does provide for each of us:

• a safe haven, confidential accountability
• regular meeting; you know you will be called to talk about your life about every three weeks; provides caution in life
•  prayer partners
• insight into being a wife, mother, daughter, sister
• balance, perspective – everyone has “something,” thank God for the shape of my own cross!
• retreat – “girl time” for talking, study, laughter, movies
• unexpectedly: deep, close friendships

I'd encourage you to ask God to bring you the joys of deep connections!