For this I have Jesus - Mini Blog

Nearly 6 years ago a heavy clothing rack fell and its large, pointed metal arm landed on my shoulder and damaged my trapezius muscle. I'm reminded of the injury when I reach the wrong way, when I try to carry to much weight with that arm, when I get stressed out and sometymes on cold, rainy days. 

On this cold rainy day, I am feeling stressed and I reached the wrong way when trying to lift too much...the quadfecta. Ouch.
 
Recently though, I read a Daily Bread entry where a lady suffered greatly in many areas of life. When asked how she got through her struggles, her reply was, "for this, I have Jesus".
 
I don't think she'll mind if we borrow her mantra. A good day or a troublesome day, for it we have Jesus to thank or on which to lean. For this, I thankfully have Jesus.

Clearing the Fog from Your Joy - Mini Blog

When everything seems to be going wrong and we feel lost and confused, it's easy to let something like work or a project become the tangiable thing on which we place our main focus. In doing so, we allow the actions and words of other people to control us. 

That's been happening to me lately. Today when I relayed a situation to a friend and asked for prayer, my friend reminded me that when your main focus is blurring your joy, it's difficult to see anything clearly. 

So I thought about it and what it is that I've unable to see in my fog filled existence. Joy. Hope. Peace. Then I remembered, yet again, that God is joy. God is Hope. God is Peace. I put my focus on Him and, like a veil, the fog lifted and my vision cleared. 

God calls us to be kind and do our best, not to the expectations of others, but to His. 

Every now and then we'll have a Foggy Morning Breakdown, but the important thing to remember when it happens, is we have the power to let The Son shine in!

Can You Guess the Assignment?

He walked in and everyone shared a reaction of displeasure. His spirits fell. No one wanted him to come. If it was like last tyme, they would tolerate his presence, simply because they had to, but not without their share of under-the-breath comments containing snide remarks and over-the-breath comments dressed as lame attempts of humor at his expense. The obvious truth was, he was not wanted there.

It was a difficult truth for him to handle, for their feelings toward him were not always that of displeasure and disdain.  He had always come to them, on tyme and bearing new ideas and possibilities, but somewhere along the way, their good opinion of him soured. Now, his mere presence brought them nothing but distaste.

He longed to comprehend this terrible truth, to figure out what happened to alter their opinion of him, but he had his own truth that trumped his desire to understand. He had to come. That was his truth, an undeniable fact that they would realize if they were honest with themselves. They would see it and stop blaming him and resist the urge to use the thought or site of him as a focal point for their frustration.

He had to come. Why couldn’t they understand and appreciate his presence? After all, he was just like the others. He had the same look, the same build; in fact, the only differences between him and the ones they loved were his name and the tyme he arrived. Could such things really cause them to dislike him as they did?  Surely not. Surely they could recognize his likeness to the others. Surely they would not allow such insignificant details to create the prejudice they had toward him. But if not that, then what?

As he made his way through the crowd, he held his head high and acted as he always had. He smiled and offered them blessings in abundance.  He gave them his tyme and all the beauty within him. Still, they treated him with disdain and did not, or perhaps could not, appreciate all the opportunities he afforded them.

Later, after he endured their insolence for his required amount of tyme, he packed up his things and, as he made his way to the exit, listened to the sighs of relief and cheers that his leaving prompted. They were happy to see him go. Though his heart ached at the realization, he did not hold their ignorance against them.  He simply thought how horrible it had to be to live as they did, with such an inability to enjoy the moment because it didn’t come packaged as they wanted. Alas, their jaded perception of him forced them to miss out on so many blessings.

Finally, as he was completely gone from them, he smiled.  He would be back again, same tyme as always. He knew it. They knew it. They would have another chance. If only next tyme he could make them understand. If only next tyme he could help them learn to love and appreciate. If only next tyme…his name wasn’t Monday.

'Whale-ing’ Experiences

“Jack of some trades, master of none”. That altered cliché sums me up in a nutshell. I’ve spent my entire life gaining skills that so far have done nothing to advance my position in life. At age ten I was mowing yards and learning the art of ‘scaping’ land. At age twelve, I was still mowing lawns, but now I was babysitting as well…not simultaneously, as a rule, however…no, no, that’s a story for another tyme. Suffice it to type, I was adding valuable skills to my set.

At age 16, I ventured out in the world and got a job at the local fast food place and let me tell you, anyone who claims working fast food is not really a job, well, they are wrong. I learned a great deal working that job, so much so that I went from front counter attendant to crew chief in six months. I learned everything from how to work with high energy in a super fast pace – it was fast food after all – to how to be diplomatic when offering customer service. One of the most memorable pieces of knowledge I gained at the golden arches (admit it, you were wondering which one) was the art of multi-tasking. I got to the point where I could dress sandwiches (no, not with shirts and ties, but with special sauce, onions, lettuce, pickles cheese and two all beef patties on a sesame seed bun) with two hands while dropping nuggets to fry and taking drive-thru orders.  One tyme, while working both front counter and drive-thru, I took an order in the drive-thru and asked the person, “is that for here or to go?” Okay, so my multi-tasking moments were not always stellar, but at least the lesser ones offered some comic relief…but, I digress…

After high school I took a job as a wood-shop worker where I became a spray-paint, sanding and quality control professional. I developed my craft into a fine art and, with the techniques required of the profession, often found myself referencing The Karate Kid: wax on, wax off. Of course there was no waxing involved for me, but the back and forth motion, well, you get the idea. Before hanging up my spray gun, I helped implement new safety procedures and a mask filtration system. 

At age 19, my life fell apart in a way and I found myself treading uncharted waters.  I was all set to go to school to be a massage therapist, but the rough seas of life sent me in a different direction and I ended up taking a job as a data entry clerk for a company that happened to be working in the big city of Philadelphia. Now that might not seem like a wow factor to you, but to a small town girl who never traveled much on her own, especially not to cities, Philadelphia was a major wow factor.  The commute was 52 miles one way and it involved one of the strangest, craziest, busiest roads in the country: The Schuylkill Expressway – the definition of “Bottleneck”. While my job in the city (I advanced from data entry to Junior Consultant in a little over a year) taught me a lot, I think the most lasting skill I obtained from it is my ability to really drive with an aggressive caution.  And yes, that is a major skill, one that many (o so many) people do not have, but here I go, digressing yet again.

Fast forward several years, more than I’m willing to admit, and you’ll find out that I’ve been a roadie/merchandiser on the bluegrass music tour. I’ve been a publicist, a pattern and fabric cutter for a sewing business, a visual manager for a department store, a webmaster, a graphic designer, a photographer and a radio disc jockey. So yes, you see, “Jack of some trades; master of none” is my unsolicited mantra.  If you think that I have no idea what I want to be ‘when I grow up’, well, you’re wrong. I’ve pretty much always known what I wanted to be, what I lacked, however, was the confidence to go after it.

Yes, I admit it, I am a Jonah. I run away from what God tells me and try to justify my running with every excuse in the book. Oh sure, I have my reasons, good ones too and I can spout them off and spin them around to justify a fear or a concern or a Tuesday for that matter. What I’ve never been able to do is follow God’s prompting and because of that, I’ve had a life tyme of ‘whale-ing’ experiences that have led me no where…or at least that was my view point when I started this expedition.

I realize now, having typed down many of my experiences, perhaps God’s been using my tyme in the whale to prepare me for what I always wanted to do: write. You see, the main measure of a good writer is believability and the most authentic way for writers to achieve such it is to write about what they know. Well, it just so happens, a great deal of what I know comes from my whale tyme.  Isn’t that something? I’ve been struggling against what God has for me, but instead of giving up on me, He’s been using my rebellion to prepare me for the moment I’m ready to accept His direction.

All my twists and turns in life have made me who I am: A Jack of some trades with One Master, Who has equipped me with an eclectic collection of knowledge that He can use to reach, help and inspire people – or at least they can look at me and see examples of what not to do.  After all, isn’t that one of the lessons we learn from Jonah? What not to do? Of course we can also learn from Jonah’s adventure that God gives second (third, fourth…) chances and He is right where He was when we sailed away from Him. … but again with the digressing…

So, where does my profound revelation leave me? Is it an instant cure-all or even a cure-some for my current state of professional weariness? No, it isn’t. It is, however, a helpful reminder that God is in control and even in my weakest emotional state or my strongest moment of rebellion, God is right there, ready to hand me my ‘get out of whale free’ card and lead me on the path He has for me…and, having been in whale for a while, you might say I’m all write with that.

I believe God has a plan for each of us, a bright plan (Jeremiah 29:11) but some tymes it takes tyme in the dark of the whale to realize or appreciate that fact.  So if, like me, you feel lost in your professional (or personal) pursuits and you’ve fallen into the Jonah trap; just remember you know the Who holds the key to unlock your whale cell. There’s nothing fishy about it. Just knock and the door will be open (Matthew 7:7-8)…and then go tell your whale of a tale so others can see there’s no way to de-bait God’s reel plan. 

L.D. Kirklin

P.S. The Bible tells us in Jonah 1:17 that God prepared a "Great Fish" to swallow Jonah.  We don't know that it was a whale, but it could have been...and the idea that it was lent well to my word play.  Something to ask yourself though...after the Great Fish/Whale spit Jonah onto dry land (Jonah 2:10) do you think the Fish went down and told his sea creature friends..."I once caught a man and he was this big!"...it could have been history's first Whale tale ;)

Obstacles - A Lesson in Not Being a Zax

Obstacles are, at best, not fun and, at worst, detrimental to our progress. I’m reminded of the classic Dr. Seuss book “The Zax”. In short, there was a North going Zax and a South going Zax and it just so happened that in the Prairie of Prax they met on the same path and came to a standstill. So, after years of traveling in their respective directions they met with an obstacle and suddenly the Zax' were without trax in the Prairie of Prax.

What did they do, you ask? Nothing. They did absolutely nothing to conquer the obstacle in front of them.  They refused to budge from the path on which they wanted to go and they went NO-where, for years and years and yes, you guessed it, years.  They stood still for so long that an entire Metropolis was built around them and the highway was bridged right over top of their heads.

So, what does this story teach us? Well, in my mind, there are two different lessons to be learned; one from our stubborn title characters and one from the Metropolis and highway builders.  The Zax teach us that if we do nothing about the obstacle in our path, be it because of stubborn pride, fear or whatever reason we might conjure up to justify our motionless approach, then we will not progress in our journey. The builders however, teach us that when we encounter an obstacle in our path and we find a way around, over or under it, we will be amazed at what we can accomplish in our travels.

Now, while I am a country girl and do not advocate for the building of Metropolis’ and highways as a rule, I do see the genius in that aspect of the story. As a photographer of nature, I encounter obstacles in my efforts to capture the exact capture I am seeking. Everything from the tyme of day to the weather of the day, the height of the object I’m after and the briar patch in front of it can add frustrating obstacles to my process.

One rainy, Spring day – rainy days tend to, as a rule, be great obstacles for a nature photographer – I was working in my office, which is a self-standing structure near my home, and decided I needed a break. I walked up the path to the front porch which is closed in by lattice on the far end.  Now, one thing I do like about rainy days is seeing raindrops on flowers. Well has it happened, the roses on the other side of the porch’s lattice were in beautiful bloom and yes, delightfully decorated by raindrops…and yes, I did sing a bit of that song from The Sound of Music.

Naturally, I got my camera and went down into the yard to take pictures of the roses.

–        Insert obstacles here –

No matter what I did I just couldn’t seem to capture the essence I was after. Finally, I decided to settle for the shots I had and went back up to the porch to go inside and get a glass of sweet tea. As I opened the door to go in, I took one more look at the roses through the lattice and that’s when I saw it; the shot I was after.  Excited, I got my camera back out and went to get the capture.

–        Insert obstacles here –

No matter what I did or how I contorted my body or attempted to manipulate my lens, I simply could not get the angle I needed on the shot.  Frustrated, I took a few more pictures and then, begrudgingly, gave up on the idea.

So, how is this a lesson in overcoming obstacles, when clearly I didn’t?  Well, that came later when I looked at my pictures and saw something I didn’t expect. In frustration, I took some pictures of the roses and included the main obstacle in my path; the lattice. As it happened, that which I deemed a formidable foe turned out to be a unique aspect that gave my picture more depth in both view and meaning.

In the long run, I started out as a Zax, refusing to budge from the view I wanted, but eventually I built a Metropolis as I looked at the picture that God gave me and realized that He allows obstacles in the path of life to frame the beauty of life and that sometymes the best way to overcome an obstacle is to include it in the journey.

The Handlebars of Life

I got it in my head one day that I was going to try and ride my bike without using my hands. Much to my surprise, this challenge was easier than I anticipated. In my first attempt, I went ‘hands free’ for several hundred yards on one of the back roads near my house…and so a challenge was born. How far can I ride my bike without using my hands? 

The next tyme I set out on the same road, I tried again and got farther than I had the tyme before. After a few weeks, I found myself going up and down the road’s small hills with more ease and zooming along its expanses with little effort, all while sitting up straight and relying on my legs to pull me along. 

Then one day I decided that it would be a significant accomplishment to ride hands free from the beginning of the road to the first intersection, a two mile stretch. I did it.  I was excited and amazed.  That evening when a friend asked me about my day, I relayed the story and details of my accomplishment.

“How in the world can you ride two miles without using your hands to balance? Weren’t you terrified that you’d fall?”, my friend asked in earnest.  I smiled and replied with a simple “Nope”. After some discussion, I finally said, “I wasn’t afraid I would fall because my handlebars were right there. All I had to do if I felt uneasy or started to lose my balance was reach out and take hold of them. Knowing that made it easy to relax and enjoy the ride.”

The next tyme I set out on my hands free route, I thought about the conversation I had with my friend and I realized that what I said to her related just as much to life as it did to my bike riding accomplishment, but lately I’d been failing to apply it. 

I’d been dealing with a lot of fears in my day to day life. I’d been focusing on the “what ifs” and the “if onlys”. I’d been worrying about what to do and where to go and from where the money I needed was going to come. I was losing my balance and terrified that I was going to fall. I was afraid to take chances, afraid to follow the path that God was leading me down, afraid to simply try.

How was it that I could ride two miles on my bike relying on my own balance, but I couldn’t trust Mighty Creator and Controller of the Universe to balance me in my walk of life? As I sat straight backed atop my bicycle seat I realized that just like my handlebars, God is there for me to take hold of when I feel like I’m about to fall, all I have to do is reach out to Him and take hold. Knowing that, I have no reason to fear the things in my day to day life. Whatever He asks me to do or whatever I set out to do looking to honor Him, I have assurance that simply cannot fall.

Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

To date, I’ve ridden my bike more than three miles at a tyme without taking hold of the handlebars. Just knowing I can reach down and to find my balance is enough to give me the confidence I need to accomplish my goal. And now, especially when I ride, I remember that God is my handlebars in life. He’s always there for me to take hold of, but unlike my bike which might, He never lets go of me.

Never Tire of Doing Good

Becoming a Christian is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Living as a Christian? Well, sometymes I think that’s the hardest thing I have to do, especially when faced with the injustices that people do to one another.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve been severely hurt in the past or maybe it’s because when I was taught the Golden Rule, I took it to heart. 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

While this phrase sounds like it’s right out of the Bible, it isn’t.  However it is a synopsis of a commandment that Jesus gave when some of the uppity religious leaders were trying to test Him.  In Matthew 22 we read that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees with His direct and unwavering answers to their questions, something that didn’t sit well with leaders of the synagogue. So, in trying to trick Him they got a lawyer to, in a sense, cross-examine Jesus.

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus was basically saying to treat other people the way you would want to be treated.  I don’t know about you, but I appreciate it when people show me things like love, kindness, understanding and patience. If that’s the case, that’s what I should be offering to those around me and, with the exception of a less than stellar moment here and there, I find these actions rather easy…that is until I see someone treat another person with utter disregard and complete unfairness, then, well you might say I want to drop hold of the Golden Rule in order to exercise the spirit of slap that swells up in my hand.   

I recently learned that some members of my church family were going through a difficult patch in their marriage. Of course my first instinct was to pray for healing. So for about a week I prayed to that end, but God said no.  The man moved out, leaving his wife and three, young children.  Devastated by the news I shifted the focus of my prayer and began praying God’s comfort for the mother and children. 

One evening when going to dinner with my mom we drove by this family’s house and I voiced a quick prayer for the mother and the children.  When I was finished my mom pointed out that I didn’t include the dad in my prayer.  In that moment I confessed that I was filled with the spirit of slap for the man and I found it hard to pray for him after what he did to his family.  Why should he get the benefits of the Golden Rule when he chose not to apply it to his wife and children?  My mom was quick to point out that if he could do what he did then he needed more prayer than anyone.

It was then that I unleashed my spirit of slap…on myself.  I didn’t mean judge the man for his actions, though I guess I did and for that I’m sorry. I’ve just never done well with things I can’t comprehend and his actions exits in that category.  The bottom line is that I absolutely hate what the man did, but I love the friend that did it and he truly does need my prayer. 

There’s a passage in 2 Thessalonians that talks about people who are idle and how to handle them. I related it to this situation I’m trying to understand because in my mind idleness in relationships can bring them to an end.  But instead of focusing on what the passage said about idle people, I focused on what was said to me as an onlooker. At one point the apostle Paul writes: 

¹³ And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.  Later he ends his letter by saying: ¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

These two verses are significant to me. The first verse reminds me that no matter how hard it may be I need to continue to do good or more specifically to keep implementing that Golden Rule, whether I think it’s deserved or not. The second verse reminds me that God loves us all, even when we mess up, even when He has no reason to love us, He does while He patiently waits for us to repent. His grace is always there for us and it is sufficient.

So, while this situation is far from being resolved and I am certain that I will have an ongoing battle with the spirit of slap, through it all I learned, yet again, that living life as a Christian isn’t always easy, but it’s always the answer. 

L.D. Kirklin