Fancy WHAT?!?

Ok, time for a funny post.  Teaching in first grade is quickly showing me that 6-year-old's are in their prime of being funny while not trying to be.  It is stories like this that get me through the tough days...

I have a young man in class who is exactly that... a little man.  He is very sensitive and particular and is just hilarious.  His mother was telling me a story about a vocabulary word he just can't quite grasp.  The word is "hangers"...  as in clothes hangers.  He calls them "hookers," and is especially fond of the padded ones that don't cause your sleeves to have bumps.  He has been told over and over that they are called "hangers" not "hookers" but he just can't seem to remember.  One day, instead of asking about going to the store to buy some new padded clothes hangers, he asked his mom if they could go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up some "fancy hookers."  Good thing you're six kid...

Don't Be So Concerned

"... even the thought of seeking God is a step toward our transformation.  Still, we often do not notice the first signs of our spiritual renewal, for as we grow increasingly more aware of God, we simultaneously grow increasingly less aware of ourselves.  Though we may not see that we are changing, others certainly will."  - Francis Frangipane

Wow.  Reading that this afternoon gave me hope from a perspective I have not been privy to in the past.  I think what Frangipane is trying to say here is that as we draw nearer to God, we are getting further from being concerned about ourselves and our own interests.  As we begin to live life closer to the One who created us, we will change whether we notice it or not.  As we get closer, we become more focused on the Lord and less focused on how it effects us.  This is probably why you will notice that the people who inspire and influence you most in your walk with the Lord often do not intend to and are often surprised if you tell them.  So, if you are trying desperately to seek the Lord but don't feel satisfied... GOOD.  If you felt satisfied you would no longer be hungry.  Keep that desperation.  Trust that when you are seeking Him, you don't need to be concerned with changing "enough" because then the focus is on you instead of Him.  If you feel like you aren't making any ground... it's ok.  You might just be focusing on the Lord enough to not allow yourself to see what's really happening in your own world yet.   

What Are You Praying to Find?

I am coming out of a season that required me to pray like never before.  There were times when I felt like it was the only thing I could turn to... the only thing I could "do."  The funny thing about prayer is that it really isn't for God, it's for us.  We tend to think that praising Him, lifting up our burdens, and asking for the desires of our heart is in some way going to earn us a little extra favor with the Big Man Upstairs.  Not true.  There is nothing we can do, of ourselves, to win extra brownie points.  He loves me the same as He did yesterday, today, and He will love me that much tomorrow too.  There have been burdens in my life that I would pray for ceaselessly... sometimes thinking that this one extra prayer might just be it... it might just be the one to move God to action.   More often times than not, it doesn't work that way.  But I will tell you one thing, the more prayer that goes into a circumstance, the more God will allow me to consider His perspective and the more peace He will bring to my heart.  Why?  Because when we pray our hearts are knitted a little more tightly to our Father's.  Not because of the act of prayer, but because through prayer a relationship gets stronger.  He understands me more than I even understand myself.  That will never change.  But Lord, there is SO much I don't yet know about You.  When we have a conversation with the Lord, we get to know Him better.  Shocking revelation... I know.  And one important thing that is becoming life to my dry bones is believing that when I know Him, the rest simply makes more sense.  When we seek answers to our questions or solutions to our problems, we are expecting just that... an answer or a solution.  In my life, vast majority of the time, the Lord matures and makes me more like Himself through a process, not an answer.  With a process there is an experience, with an answer there is an answer.  If you tell me 4+4 equals 8 that's fine, I now know the answer to a simple addition problem.  But if you tell me HOW and WHY the answer is 8, and if I can add the numbers on my own, I will know answers to lots of problems.  Follow?  So, next time you pray and your heart is heavy before Him, try seeking HIM instead of the answer.  Don't worry, He will tell you about Himself (Matthew 7:8.)  I bet you will not only find your solution, but you will come to know Him better.  And next time, when you have a question, you may find that you already have the answer:)       

Here Goes...

I have never done a blog before... so I think I'll give it a whirl.  I really like to write and I also find that when I write things I've learned, I process them better and that usually results in applying them to life in a more "real" way.  Not really sure yet what this will entail... so consider my blog like "a box a chocolates."  I may share something funny from experiences with my first graders.  I may share something I learned from someone else that changed my life.  I may share what the Lord is teaching me.  I may share a knock-knock joke... I like to keep people on their toes:)  So, here is my attempt at documenting the trials and triumphs of a life that is never as easy as it could, should, or would be.  But that's life.  Here's to finding calm in the calamity!