What We See Outside Our Window

I woke up this morning and looked outside my window to discover what appeared to be a heavy layer of frost on my car. After seeing reports of snow in the area I soon realized what I thought was frost was actually a very thin layer of snow. I made an assumption without knowing the facts. I did not go out and touch the snow. I had not listened to a weather report. I took in the situation and made a snap decision.


A short time later I noticed someone on a community Facebook page was complaining about the current state of weather. The chief complaint was that schools should be closed because outside her house was snow and ice. This woman's perception of the situation was skewed because there was snow and ice outside her window so she made the assumption that it must be the same way all over town. I do not know whether she had access to a television or if she had gone outside to look around and further assess the situation before making her decision. Maybe she just wanted a reason to keep her child home from school!

These two events got me to thinking about perception and misunderstandings. I was thinking how easy it was to make an assumption based only on what I saw outside my own window. From my perspective there was no problem outside that couldn't be taken care of with an ice scraper or a good dose of sunshine. I went on with my morning without giving it another thought until I was enlightened. Meanwhile, a few people around town were having accidents because of icy roads and schools were closing in a nearby county.

The Facebook woman made the wrong assumption when she saw snow and ice outside her window. Perhaps from her perspective closing schools and businesses was the only way to keep everyone safe. What she did not know was that sunshine was already taking care of some of the roadways and in just another hour there would be no more snow outside her own window. Hmmmm . . . Perspective.

It's so easy to make wrong assumptions about something or someone based on what we see "outside our window." There are times when we will have only the facts in front of us in which to make a decision and we come to a conclusion based on those facts. Sometimes our instincts will be right and sometimes we will be wrong. More than likely we're not seeing everything and taking in the landscape beyond our front door.

I guess it's much worse to make the wrong assumptions when it comes to relationships with our family, our friends, our coworkers. These myopic views outside our windows can put a wedge between two people.

For example: I see a headline on the news about a celebrity and make an immediate assumption based on the snappy headline. The truth is that I don't know enough about the celebrity or his situation to form an opinion. Or, someone reads something I wrote and misunderstands my intention because they can't see the gleam in my eye and the curl of my lip as I type something that I thought might be funny. Instead, that person becomes offended because they assumed I meant harm.

I've just been thinking about these things and how easy it is to be wrong. It's okay to admit that we're wrong sometimes because we ALL do it. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. We live in a fallen world full of sin and where an Enemy who is always finding ways to help us mess up our relationships with each other. I guess if there is any point to this post today it's to remind me and you that what we see "outside our window" may not be the whole story. Withhold judgment, if possible, until more facts can be obtained. Our heavenly Father extends grace and mercy to us, so maybe it's a good idea to extend grace and mercy to others--along with forgiveness. And above all, pray for wisdom and guard the tongue.

The Maze of My Life

This is the longest I've gone without posting something on my blog. I've taken short breaks before, but those were intentional. I've had a few blog ideas and even started one, but haven't had the time to really flesh it out. So, it just sits here. Frankly, there's probably not that many people who regularly keep up with it anyway. But, today I'll just do a little stream of consciousness writing instead. So the writing may be a little different.

Life--the maze of my life--has gotten a bit crazy lately. I won't go into the details here. Those closest to me know what some of those details are and that's enough. Suffice it to say, I've had some challenging days in the past few months.

When I first chose this blog name, I thought it was kind of a cute word play. But, life is often a series of mazes. Mazes are places that force you from one end to the other. Sometimes you find yourself crossing the same path time and time again. Other times it looks as if you've finally found the way out only to discover that you've run into a dead end. I hear people have gotten lost in corn mazes. Put a mouse in a maze and it sniffs its way to the end where there's a reward for him.

The only thing that remains constant through it all is Jesus. I may not see Him with my eyes, but He's there in the maze with me. John chapter 16 tells the account of Jesus talking to the disciples before the crucifixion. Jesus reassures them and tells them not to be afraid when He had to leave because the Holy Spirit would be here for us. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, our "come alongside."

If we believe Jesus to be our Savior, when the road gets tough and the path is dark, we have someone alongside us to show us the way.

I'll leave with a few verses of Scripture...

Proverbs 3:6
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take. (NLT)


Isaiah 45:2
I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron. 


Exodus 43:14
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 

Pop Quiz: Are you Ready?

Tests. They were the mainstay of our school years. We studied a subject for a period of time and then the teacher would give a test to gague how well we've learned. Most of the time the teacher would tell the class a test was coming. It gave us time to prepare. It was nice to have one last time to study the material before test time.

Inevitably I would have a teacher or two (or three) who enjoyed giving a pop quiz. Oh the groans that rippled through the room whenever a teacher greeted us with those words! Those were tests you didn't know were coming. If you didn't know the material, you were sunk! However, the teacher used these pop quizzes to learn how well we were retaining what he or she was teaching.

Spiritual life is not really that different. My Teacher often allows those tests to come along to see how well I am learning and growing in a particular area of my life.

I recently had one of those "pop quizzes," although I didn't realize it at first. I was going down the road, in a place which I had been a few times before. On this road I had the option of reacting the way I always had in the past. In church-speak some would call this "reacting from the flesh." Simply put, I wanted to react the way I always had in the past which is just jumping in and doing what I wanted to do--to take control.

However, because this is a place which God (my Teacher) has been teaching me for a while, my reaction this time was different. My initial reaction was the same as always (what can I do?), but I did not pursue that thought for long. I immediately began to ask God what I should do.

When I had gone down this path before, I asked God what to do and He put up a literal roadblock. I was kind of expecting to see the same response again. A closed door is kind of comforting, you know what I mean?

Well, do you know how teachers just stand by and watch you as you take a test? That's how I felt God was with me at that particular moment. He was there and I knew it, but He was not giving me the answer to this test. Instead, God did give me the kind of responses which made me think, "What's this got to do with it"?
This time I needed to figure it out based on what I've learned.

After much consideration and prayer, I felt that either choice I made in this situation would have been okay and covered by His grace. There was no wrong choice to be made because nothing I was considering would have been sinful or immoral. But there was an obvious choice--my way or God's way. One choice more closely fit with my resolve to allow God to control instead of me trying to control. So, I turned left instead of right.

It was shortly after that decision was made that I sensed a confirmation from God that I'd made the better choice. It was then my Teacher began to instruct again and that's when I realized I'd just been tested.

I've written about this area of control before. One of my first posts on this blog was called God's Timing. So this is not the first time I've been tested in this area of my life and it certainly won't be the last.

This pop quiz came up so suddenly that I didn't have a chance for last-minute studying, but alas... I have been a student all along. I've been learning from the Master Teacher.

Psalm 66 tells of the Israelites praising God for his mighty deeds and answered prayers. In the middle of that Psalm is verse 10 which says...

You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.

Hmmm. Purufied like silver. Reminds me of another post I wrote a while back about the proofing process.  Proofing is a phase that reveals flaws and errors in the metal. 

Tests can come at any moment. I need to stay in the word and connected to God, learning at all times. I also need to seek God's will.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on 

your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do,  

and he will show you which path to take. - Proverbs 3:5-6

There's a conditional promise in this verse. If I trust in the Lord, He will guide me to make the best choices. 

Guard Your Heart

In Christian circles we've all heard the phrase Guard Your Heart. In fact, I've almost exclusively heard it used in reference to single girls/women. As in, Be careful that you don't get hurt. Well, sistah, that's impossible unless a girl completely shuts herself off from relationships. Even if she did manage to avoid all relationships, there will still be a different kind of "heart problem" because the hurt will come from the lack of relationship. The fact is, we were created to be in relationships (See Genesis 2:18). And any sane married person will tell you that relational hurts still happen after the vows are made.


So what in the world does it mean to Guard Your Heart?

First, let's look at Proverbs 4:23 in a couple of different Bible translations.

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life. NASB

Guard your heart above all else,
    for it determines the course of your life. NLT 

Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life. NKJV 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
    that’s where life starts. The Message 

Watch. Keep. Guard. Preserve.
To keep secret. To be kept close.

The original Hebrew word is used here in the sense of a caretaker who watches over a vineyard. Picture how a caretaker keeps watch and defends. He would be diligent about carefully defending his vineyard from elements or pests that might harm it.

Okay, so based on these definitions, it's very possible that we may need to guard our hearts from someone, but not necessarily to avoid possible hurt. We should guard our hearts from anything or anyone that can mess up our relationship with God. So it's way bigger than just about a boy/girl relationship.

So what are we guarding our hearts from? I won't go into an exhaustive list here, but basically we should be careful about anything we let into our minds (what we see, hear, etc.) and the people we allow to get too close who may influence us to make wrong choices. Perhaps that children's song Be Careful Little Hands What You Do isn't so far off base. 

Why are we guarding our hearts? Proverbs 4:23 continues by saying...For from it flow the springs of life. Come again? Our thoughts and actions can shape the way we speak and live. Wrong choices can lead us down the wrong path. Springs of life sounds pretty nice in comparison to the bottom of the dry pit. One is refreshing and the other...not so much.

How do we guard our hearts? This whole chapter of Proverbs 4 is advice from a father to his son about being wise. If you keep reading beyond verse 23 it sort of all comes together (that's the beauty of reading this in context). It tell us what we should do and what will happen when we do it.

²⁴ Avoid all perverse talk;
    stay away from corrupt speech.

²⁵ Look straight ahead,
    and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
²⁶ Mark out a straight path for your feet;
    stay on the safe path.
²⁷ Don’t get sidetracked;
    keep your feet from following evil.

P.S. Don't stop reading here. The entire book of Proverbs is full of wisdom!


Ultimately, I believe that we should be like a shepherd over our own hearts. A shepherd leads. Likewise, we should lead our hearts and not let our hearts lead us. It's dangerous to allow our hearts to lead us into making decisions. Think about it. I'm positive that you have made at least one heart choice and lived to regret it. 

While I was researching this topic, I came across this great quote from a blog I recently started following. 

"Guarding my heart does mean 

allowing no one access to that 

most central place of my affections 

but God. It means keeping 

the first commandment first—and 

 loving Him with all my heart, soul, 

mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5)." 

~ Paula Hendricks 

You may read the entire blog post here:

 http://www.truewoman.com/?id=792

 What do you think?

Dry Spells and Disruptions

Have you ever hit a dry spell? You may call it a bump in the road, a hiccup, or a roadblock in life.

You're just cruising along--it's not perfect--but it's moving in a direction of some sort. You're not even sure sometimes where you're headed, but you may have a destination in mind. Then something changes. Focus is unclear. Momentum is lost. You may not even realize it's happened until weeks later.

That's where I feel like I am lately. Everything seems a little out of focus. Even the joy of writing has become less joyful for the moment. I still like writing, mind you. It's just that...well, there's this undercurrent of minor chaos all around me. I've written about some of that recently. With a busy day job that requires a lot of mental energy, lately I don't feel like I have much left when I return home in the evenings. Crash. Vegetate. Go to bed. It's a relentless cycle. I can't blame it all on my day job, though. Other areas of my life seem to be requiring more of me than before, too. Some of it's good stuff, too. It's just that managing this maze of my life has made me weary. (For the record, please don't read into this that I don't like my job.)

I used to spend a lot more spare time reading. All of that focused time kept my creative juices going and inspired so many of my blog posts. I still read, but not as much as before. I even get inspiration for writing. Yet those moments of inspiration seem to come to me when I don't have time to write them down or develop them. I think to myself that I'll write it down as soon as I get a chance. Then something happens and I forget.

I also did a lot of journaling in the past year, recording spiritual events so that I wouldn't forget. That journal is a wonderful keepsake of the way God has worked in my life. I haven't written in that journal for the past two months. So you see, I'm not really sure whether to call it a dry spell or a huge disruption.

I'll be honest. I can look back now and see that some of this started shortly after coming to the realization that a door to one part of my life had been closed. It brought me to a point where I questioned the purpose of many things that occurred in my life during the past year. Why did all these things happen which were leading me in one direction suddenly come to a startling halt? Did I miss something? What did I do wrong? What did you do, God?  I went through the gammut of emotions as I processed these thoughts. Besides talking to God about them, I even talked to trusted friends. There are no answers at this time. Just more questions. One thing has not changed, though. I still trust God. Oddly enough, I probably trust Him now more than ever. After the events He's brought me through, I've really learned how much God loves me and wants the best for me. How can I not trust Him?

Meanwhile, I've also felt this strong compulsion to keep writing. But, with this disruption...What's a girl to do? Hmmm. I know I've got to find the time to do it. The Lord keeps showing me over and over than I need to share through writing.

The writer of Ecclesiastes tell us that there is "A Time for Everything." I'm sure you're familiar with these words...

For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecc. 3:1)

There's a really great song from the 1960s based on these verses. Time truly is in God's hands. He is in control. Probably less familiar is the entire book of Ecclesiastes. The writer, Solomon, was a really wise man. Yet he struggled with life, too. "It's all meaningless," he would say. Read what Solomon writes just after the "A Time for Everything" section:

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

What do people really get for all their hard work?  

I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.  

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 

He has planted eternity in the human heart, 

but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.  

So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long 

as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, 

for these are gifts from God. And I know that whatever God does is final. 

Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people 

should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will

 happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the 

same things happen over and over again.

Even a wise man like Solomon grappled with life. He had riches untold. He ruled in peace as a King like no other has ever known. He was truly blessed by God. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about this book:

"Called a pessimistic book, Ecclesiastes is actually realistic. ...When viewed apart from God ('under the sun'), life is indeed 'vanity' (futility); but when you live for Christ, life is never 'in vain.' ...Six times Solomon advises you to enjoy life now and be grateful for God's gifts."  Wiersbe remind us that this is not pleasure-seeking philisophy, but a joyful outlook for believers who accept life as something from God to enjoy.

I feel like I rambled a bit, but just wanted to share a little of what's on my heart. What are you grappling with these days?

Distractions

dis·trac·tion

[dih-strak-shuh n]

mental distress or derangement; that which distracts, 

divides the attention, or prevents concentration; 

that which amuses, entertains, or diverts

I’ve had my fair share of distractions recently. Some of the distractions were unavoidable and/or the usual day-to-day stuff. Other distractions were like magnets drawing me in. Rather than fight off that magnetic pull, it’s just been easier to give in.  Who wouldn't rather snuggle with a book on a cold, rainy day than reorganize a closet?

Distractions are inevitable. It’s a fork in the road which requires me to choose. Some choices are clear yet not always easy to make. For example, the kitchen clearly needs to be cleaned, but a favorite television show is about to air. On the other hand, some choices are not so clear. An example here might be choosing between helping a sick friend and spending the holiday with family. Who do you disappoint? In each example something or someone distracts from the original plan.

When the plan involves a commitment to another person (or to God), it’s even more difficult to contend with distractions. I’ve had that happen several times in recent months. I made a few commitments in spiritual matters but it wasn’t long before I was met with distractions. To be honest, the distractions were so subtle that I didn’t realize what was happening until I noticed a pattern. Dare I say these particular distractions were tests?  Hmmm. Very possible.

For that man ought not to expect that he will receive 

anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, 

unstable in all his ways (James 1:7-8).

Double-minded? That term sounds curiously like the definition of distraction: divides the attention. I heard this verse in church recently and after I saw it I realized that’s exactly what was happening to me. I’ve been giving these distractions a foot-hold in my life. Becoming aware of this issue has helped some. By no means have I conquered it. I'm still working on that one.

But, these distractions present an opportunity for me to make a choice. My attention can be divided for only so long before something suffers. If these distractions are tests, it gives me an opportunity to choose God's path. When I recognize these moments I can choose to ask God, What would you have me do here?  It only takes a few seconds to ask that question. The easier thing to do is just move right ahead with what we want to do or with whatever is pulling at us harder. It’s a learning process. However, each time I make a choice to follow God's path, it strengthens my relationship with Him and strengthens my own faith. 

If we go back and look at the context of this passage in James, we see that the chapter is about testing our faith. James says in verses 5 and 6, 

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, 

who gives to all generously and without reproach, 

and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith 

without any doubting, for the one who doubts 

is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

God is ready to give me wisdom to make the right choices. And look! He is generous about giving wisdom. I just have to ask, with faith. (I just need to remember to do it! Hey, maybe I can actually get back to writing on this blog again.)

Nuggets of Wisdom

It's been a while since I've shared some of these little nuggets I glean during my reading and study time. I'll start with a quote and then follow it with my own commentary of what I gleaned from the passage.

"Failure to do exactly what God asks, regardless of how strange or incomplete

His instructions may seem, shows that we don’t trust Him. 

It shows we don’t believe that He is God and knows what’s best. 

When we don’t do what God tells us to do,

we are saying that we don’t think He is wise enough or capable enough 

to handle our situations." 

~ Priscilla Shirer, He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear the Voice of God.  

Um, wow! Just wow! I recently heard Chuck Swindoll teaching on Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. Now there is a great example of strange instruction from God. This beloved and long awaited son was now to be sacrificed. It really didn't make any sense. God didn't tell Abraham what was going to happen. Hebrews 11:17 gives us a clue about Abraham's quick obedience. Abraham knew God's promise and by faith followed those instructions not knowing how God would keep His promise, but Abraham trusted God.

"You and I were not designed to be whom others expect us to be, 

or even want us to be.

We were created to become all that God planned for us to be."

-- and --

"God had established Eve’s worth as His child and the crown of His creation. 

He also gave Eve every woman’s desire: intimacy, beauty, security, significance, 

and purpose. Yet Satan conjured up feelings of insecurity by getting Eve 

to take her eyes off what she had and focus on what she didn’t have." 

~ Renee Swope, The 7-Day Doubt Diet.

Okay, there are two different quotes here from the same book. I just started reading this short little book which is a companion to one I've already read which is called A Confident Heart by Renee Swope. The first quote is simply a great reminder that God didn't make any mistakes when He created us AND we should not strive to live up to other people's expectations, particularly if those expectations are contrary to God's principles. God has a plan for each of us! The second quote is closely related to the first. We should find our worth in God and not in others. Satan (our Enemy) WILL try to make us feel inferior, insecure, doubt, and he will discourage us.

"In the lifelong process of discovering what true love is, 

God's steadfast love holds us up. He will never leave us or forsake us

along the way. And the more we experience and live in his love, 

the more we'll be free to love like him— with no strings attached, 

without demanding compliance or running away, and… without hypocrisy." 

~ Tim Clinton & Pat Springle,  Break Through: When to Give In, How to Push Back. The Moment that Changes Everything.

I've said this before on this blog but it is definitely worth repeating. Until we begin to understand God's love for us first, it's difficult to truly love others the way we should.