LOOK AT ME!

Do you remember caring for a child that wouldn’t listen or maybe you were at the doctor right before a shot and needed your child to focus on anything but the needle? You grabbed that child by the sweet little chin and looked directly and deeply into their eyes and said, “Look at me! Look - at - me. Focus on me. Stay focused on ME.” Don’t you think that God wants and sometimes has to do that to us to get our attention? I truly believe God sometimes needs to say the same things to us, but he adds something else that is very special. A special promise only he can give. He whispers “look at me! Look - at - me. Focus on me. Stay focused on me and I will bless you more than you could EVER imagine. Focus on me! I am here and I’m holding your little hand, but you keep squirming. I have you, you’ll be okay - trust me.”
Why do we do that? We ask our children to focus on us, to trust, to stop squirming. It’s really not an unusual request and we expect them to follow our directions, but when the creator of all things asks us to do the same we tend to find numerous excuses. Many times we reply with a “really God? are you sure? or maybe, why don’t you just let me fix it?”
My precious sisters in Christ, we must refuse to be the Mom here. Being the Mother is not our role; no we are the child whose hand is held. Our eyes should be focused in only one direction. This seemingly simple task gets very complicated in our messed up world. Please take time today to just sit and gaze at him, to refocus your eyes and still your hands. You will not be sorry you took time to see the mighty one.

A Sharp Pencil

Lately I have found myself being asked by God to reconsider - to look at life and my purpose in a different way. I have looked up only to find myself completely defined by my career in a place that I have no idea how I came to be. I am here to tell you this new consideration is uncomfortable. I guess that is one reason it has taken me so long to blog. You see I have had some pretty significant changes in my life. I have changed jobs and while God’s hand was “all over” this change it has made life – as Priscilla Shirer would say “divinely interrupted”. While my home and husband are still in one town the boys and I are in another during the week. This means for all intensive purposes I am a single mom all week long. I just need to say to all the single moms, there is a special place in heaven for you, because this mom of 3 boys cannot wait to get home every Friday night to get some help. But in all of this God is revealing himself to me in ways that he never has before. You see for about the past year I have been praying for God to show me his way, so that I can follow him. I would pray “Lord show me your will so I will know what decisions to make”. Do you see the pattern? If not just go back and notice how many times I used the word I, me, or my in the last couple of sentences. You see until recently I wasn’t getting it. I am not the star of my own movie. This is not about me. I know what your thinking, I’ve heard that before - but you see I wasn’t ready- maybe I wasn’t listening. Here is what I have realized. I’m not even going to be the best supporting actor in this film- THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME! Let me say it this way, because it took a lot of analogies for me to understand and since I enjoy writing I am now thinking about it this way. Here it is- in God’s movie- the best I can hope to be is the pencil; the pencil that he might happen to pick up as he writes his story. What do I hope? I just hope as he grabs from the many pencils in his desk that I might be sharpened enough to use. 2 Timothy 2:20-21 tell us that “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some of ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” So I ask you today, how about you? Are you sharp enough to use? Do you know this movie is not about you? And more importantly, do you call the star of this film, friend and father? If so, please dear one, be that sharpened pencil ready to be used.