Stray Cat Lesson

So I have this stray cat that showed up at my house a few months ago.  It’s a cute cat with shiny black fur and huge eyes.  I’m a good person and I have compassion towards the poor homeless cat.  I start putting out a bit of food, then a bowl of water, and I fix a place for Cat to sleep.

Cat mostly ignores me. I’ll walk outside and see Cat.  “Hi Cat!”, I say.  Cat stops, looks at me, meows, and then continues on with whatever it is Cat does during the day.  I find myself thinking about how to help Cat when the weather gets cold.  Cat continues to mostly ignore me.

Until today.  Today, I saw Cat and spoke as usual.  Cat stopped, looked, and then actually walked right up to me!!  I bent down and began petting Cat which he/she totally loved.  So I found myself sitting in my garage while a loudly purring Cat enjoyed a few moments of total feline bliss in the form of head scratches and back rubs.

I explain to Cat that I’ve been trying to take care of him/her.  I’ve provided food and shelter and other things a cat needs.  Cat (I said), if you wouldn’t always walk away from me, I would scratch your head and love on you more often.

And then I realized something…

Isn’t it fascinating how we are given life lessons through the simplest of interactions?

Because what I was explaining to Cat, is what God tries to explain to us.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  (Matthew 23:37)

God loves us and He is full of compassion towards us.  God provides for our needs, even when we mostly ignore Him.  But, oh, can you imagine how much God desires for us to stop and walk towards Him? 

Have you done that?  Have you taken time to stop whatever it is you do and just go to God?  Do you let Him love you?  Have you experienced the bliss that comes from spending time in the Father’s presence?

Often, I have found myself like Cat – too caught up in my own thing to notice the One who is providing for me.  I didn’t expect to learn a lesson from Cat, but I’m sure glad I did.

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Thankful in the Waiting

Recently I gave myself a prayer challenge.  That challenge is that for a week or so I will only pray with a total attitude of gratitude.  Too often, I’ve found myself praying more along the lines of “God, I want…” and “God, I need…”.  I know that God does want us to ask in prayer for what we need.  God also wants to us to turn to Him with the struggles and issues we face in this life.  He knows it can get tough at times.  But He also wants us to notice how He is at work in the world around us.  

Prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving are a way of praising and worshiping God.  The last couple of years have been tough ones and I’ve leaned heavily on God the Comforter to get me through some very dark and difficult days.  I want God to know that I deeply appreciate His presence and His strength.  I’m very thankful for all that He has done.  So I’m taking some time to just thank Him daily and to ask for nothing.  It has been going well.

Until – I found myself waiting for a phone call.  I also found myself wanting to ask God to make that phone call happen.  

I remembered my challenge – Just Be Thankful.

But how am I supposed to be thankful when something I want to happen isn’t happening? 

What is there to be thankful for in that?

As I pondered over this question, it suddenly came to me.  

Be Thankful For The Waiting.

Be Thankful, for the waiting means that some things have already been accomplished and done.  Life is a journey, always moving forward.  As we move from one season of life to another, there will be times of waiting.  Waiting is a sign that growth and change has already happened. 

Be Thankful, for the waiting is filled with anticipation for the new things ahead.  I have a friend getting married in a couple of weeks.  She is deep in the waiting phase and is counting down the days to the wedding.  Her waiting is filled with a growing sense of excitement as to what the future will hold.

I’ve face days of waiting on lab results after some major surgery.  The waiting was a time of hoping for the best and preparing for the possibility of the worst.  The waiting strengthened my faith as I knew whatever happened, God would provide the means to face it. 

Be Thankful, for the waiting is a reminder of God’s timing.  I want it now and God says not yet.  God knows when the time is right.  I don’t wait alone – God waits with me.

So often waiting is taken as a sign that God is teaching us patience.  But it may be that the waiting is the very thing God wants us to experience.

To be still and know…

To know that He has brought us this far.

To know that He is good.

To know that there are so many things to be grateful for now … in the waiting.
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Advent - Hope (To Dance with the Joyful)

I've spent a great deal of time pondering over the question of what to do about Christmas.  It is the first Christmas without my husband.  There is sadness just in admitting that fact.  One thing is certain; Christmas at our home will look different this year.  I’m not going to do a lot of decorating and I probably won’t bake Christmas cookies.  There are several traditions that I think I may skip this year.  But there is one thing we did the last few years that I am going to keep doing.  I'm skipping the Christmas tree but I have pulled out the Advent set.

Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and is a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ child.  For us, it was a weekly reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and a way to stay focused on God in the midst of the hustle, bustle, busy of the holidays.  Each week I would light the advent candle and Bobby would read the week’s devotional thought.  We would usually talk a bit about what that meant to us.  It was a good little tradition the two of us shared.

This Sunday is week one and today I lit the candle of Hope.  Christian hope is not a wishful, maybe-something that might possibly happen one day.  Christian hope is a looking forwards with a certainty of knowledge that God is faithful and He keeps His promises.  God is hope. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 

so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  (Romans 15:15) 

Allowing God to fill me with joy and peace has been challenging.  I'm learning to be sad without letting the sadness take over and to grieve without being completely overwhelmed by grief.  

What does hope mean to me this year?  Someone shared Jeremiah 31:4 at church tonight.  That verse says, “you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.”  I had to smile when I heard those words.  I thought of my husband being pain-free, making music and dancing with the joyful in heaven.  There is joy in that very thought and I believe it to be true!  Hope means that I am able to own that joy and thank God for it.  

Whatever your life circumstances are at the moment, I pray that you too will be able to find the joy and peace which the God of hope longs to share with us all.

The Gratitude List

The holidays are approaching quickly.  It is a time of joy, excitement, and anticipation for many.  This time of year can also be touched with sadness, especially as we think of those who will not be with us this year.  A really good habit (that I’m not always so good at) is to keep a gratitude list.  I got to thinking about that last night.  There has been much sadness in my life this year but there has also been much to be thankful for.

I’m thankful for…

My Friends and Family – The older I get, the more I realize what a blessing it was to be raised among a large extended family.  I grew up not only with parents, siblings, and grandparents, but also within a large circle of aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends.  I am thankful for the impact that each person had on my life and I treasure memories of family get-togethers.  I’m thankful for the other family I joined when I got married.  I’ve been blessed with some awesome friends and I am thankful for each one of them.

I'm thankful for...
The Simple Things – It is the simple things in life that tend to get overlooked and taken for granted.  I’m thankful for sunny days in autumn, music, little birds outside my window, flannel sheets, friendly hugs and smiles, sweet potato fries, baby animals, and long walks.  I’m thankful for rolling hills, tiny creeks, pine trees, and the sounds of nature.  I’m thankful for the ability to find humor in life and for smiles in the midst of grief.  

I'm thankful for...
Life – Life is a gift from God and to be thankful for life is to be thankful to the One who gives life so abundantly.  Faith in God above is the foundation of my life.  I am so thankful for the life He has given me.  I’m even grateful for all the bumps and valleys along the way.  God has used the tough parts of my life to mold me into the person I am today and He will continue to do that.  It is hard to be thankful for sadness and dark days, but I am.  I know there is something more to come, there is a light in the darkness, and there is a path that leads to joy.  The dark days teach me to better appreciate that light and to cherish the good days.  Lord God, I thank you for this. 

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart  (Psalm 138:1)

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Combating that Feeling of Failure

Ever feel like a failure? This is something many people struggle with from time to time.  We fear that we are not doing enough or we are not doing it correctly or we are just plain out living life wrong.  It is a tough thing - feeling like a failure - and there have been some major pity parties thrown as we worry over the real and imagined failures of our lives.

This sense of failure can come when we measure ourselves by an impossible standard.  Perhaps we set up unattainable goals for ourselves - trying to be the perfect spouse, parent, volunteer.  We see people on social media who seem to have the perfect life and wonder why our lives can't be like that.

How can we combat that feeling of failure?

Turn your thoughts from yourself and fix your eyes on Jesus.  This is a habit worth cultivating.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that we are to take every thought captive.  We do not have to dwell on thoughts of failure when they come to mind.  There are much better things to think on as Philipians 4:38 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
 

Realize that God can use even the most imperfect life.  No life is beyond repair.  No one is un-fixable.  God is able to work in ways that will turn our biggest failures or messs-ups into something wonderful.  This, I think, is one of the true lessons of Romans 8:28.  "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Stop striving for perfection and simply trust God.  We may not always be able to see it but God does have a plan.  I often remind myself that my view of life is so very tiny and limited by space and time.  God has a much bigger view that is unlimited.  His plans are really big and how awesome it is that He uses us to accomplish those plans.  Our parts may be tiny and we may not understand how we fit into the plan, but He uses us anyway.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."(Proverbs 3:5-6)


 Ed Welch has a few words on the subject of failure in this post at CCEF. http://www.ccef.org/resources/blog/failure-deconstructed

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