SPRING IS UPON US!!!
This only means it’s time to share what we learned this winter. Before we know it, we will be kissing this year goodbye without being able to embrace the lessons we encounter every season while doing some introspection and inventory of our souls. I decided to adopt this idea to slow down our fast-paced lives from one of my favorite authors, Emily P Freeman, and share what I learned in hopes you will join me too!
1. Like Mother, Like Son?
He may be slow to speak…
Now a month shy of becoming a two-year old and my tantrum-throwing tot doesn’t need to use words to let mommy and daddy know what he wants. It doesn’t matter how emphatically we remind him to “use his words,” but he simply will not. His development keeps advancing, but the words don’t flow with much ease. As I observe my little guy, he relentlessly reminds me of myself. He may be a sloppy eater, but he knows how to clean himself up after a big meal. He loves to figure out how his toys function and pulls them apart just because he finds pleasure in placing the parts together again. If something seems misplaced, he wants to fix it right away.
Nevertheless, he will not ask for help until he’s taken up the challenge first. Do not take something away from him, even if it is to help him, until he’s at least given it a few chances.
And when it comes to his very few spoken words, he will not say one until he’s sure he’s saying it… perfectly.
There are traits I wish he inherits from us except the one he’s chosen to embrace.
My son is a perfectionist… just like his mama!
2. Celebrating Small Achievements
As we learn how to discipline our son better, we’ve also learned to celebrate when he does something well in order to balance it out. So I decided to apply this on us because I’d like to think we are consequently bigger children at heart…
By now you should know I don’t cook.
Can I boil pasta? Sure! Can I chop some veggies? Yes, but it might take forever.
Like my son, I am a perfectionist. If I can’t do it perfectly, I’m not inspired to do it at all.
My cooking is limited and when married to a chef, I resign my role in the kitchen to the better cook in the household. But ever since we made the decision for me to stay home, I’ve been convicted to (at the very least) help him.
One of the best feelings was cooking a delicious meal without my chef husband’s assistance. Not only did I receive compliments from him, but our son Joshie is the pickiest food snob there is and he devoured it and, that my friends, was truly worth more than the words he has yet to learn and say.
Competition doesn’t just exist in the business or corporate world, it’s also permeated our homes and our friendships. Ladies, we are persistently comparing each other’s triumphs and defeats while seeking approval and acceptance in what we can achieve, but hide when we are not experts in an area everyone else seems to thrive in. I don’t know how many times I cringe at all the cutesy Pinterest posts, especially those that have to do with cooking and baking. Even if I try to follow the recipes or the ideas, they don’t come out the way they should.
We may be different and we may have learned ways to accept this, but this is the one aspect we must admit we struggle with. We are constantly looking at someone else’s Instagram feed or reading about their on-going adventures on Facebook while we sit there and contemplate if they have it as hard as we do. This is why we are inclined to adopt wearing masks and pretend we are someone we are not and our social media becomes a culprit of this sustained need of having to measure up to others.
So let’s celebrate when we overcome our weaknesses, mainly when they are someone else’s strengths. Yes, they may still do it better than we do, but this truth doesn’t take away the fact that we still did it. This isn’t a license to settle, but it should give you the freedom to keep striving for excellence. Look at it the Monica Geller way (from Friends), you are your own competition!
Whatever your relationship status is and whether you have a college degree or not and you are a hot-shot in your career or an amateur, we’ve been conditioned to believe in a performance-based Gospel, which equals what we do as who we are. Let’s not complicate the Gospel.
Our identity is solely in Him as He created us in His image and likeness. When we call ourselves failures, we are ultimately claiming He failed when He chose to create us. Sure, there will times when we royally fail at something (I’m looking at you Pinterest!), but this simple fact doesn’t turn us into failures. Because our value is not determined in what we do or didn’t do, but in what He did for us. He is the chief achiever and we’re fundamentally redeemed by His sacrifice on the cross. #MissionAccomplished
3. Every “Insignificant” Moment Counts
This has been the most repeated lesson I learned this season:
God distinctly cares about our insignificant moments.
It is in those times when no one is watching us, when we have nothing to gain or nothing to lose, when He expects us to seek Him and serve Him with a pure heart.
Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
John 1:48-50
Jesus’ eyes caught Nathanael at a rather ordinary moment of his life; he was sitting under a fig tree, perhaps, catching up on some reading or praying. The Bible doesn’t record what he was specifically doing, but Jesus said at that moment “He SAW him.”
Waking up every morning with a feeling of void and lack of purpose because everything I do lately doesn’t seem important. Feeding a child who doesn’t want to eat what was made for him or changing his poopy diapers and dressing him up like the handsome and charming doll that he is or having to clean up messes and folding mountains of laundry and running countless of errands.
How about when emergencies happen?
When one more thing in the house breaks and needs to be replaced or when both son and spouse are literally sick to their stomachs and they have to be taken to the doctor. Having paid a repair person to fix a dryer that is irreparable and having him deliver the news on his third visit while I realize I’ve been stepping on termite droppings as I waited for his final verdict.
When we’ve been playing the ongoing waiting game only to find out that God STILL wants us to pause a bit longer for our hopes to come true. Paying an insanely amount of bills and having to cancel the idea of a vacation this summer… again.
It’s all too real because that was just our last week. We’ve heard it all too well before, “when it rains, it pours.” But in midst of the thunderstorms, I’m reminded He is present and He requires us to believe what we know in our souls but don’t feel in our hearts. In these ordinary moments of our lives, we are reminded that He is the God who sees it all and immensely cares for us.
And when this truth doesn’t penetrate our hearts, this is the exact moment the Psalms implore us to worship.
When we think of worship, there’s a picture embedded in our minds that isn’t all definitive of what it truly is. Worship isn’t having the talent to sing or play an instrument nor uttering eloquent words when we pray, but simply an act of a surrendered heart. Worship merely takes place when we rightly respond to God. He doesn’t need our extraordinary talents, but only our fearless obedience.
Read Psalm 29. A literal thunderstorm is the backdrop, but David is writing this while he lives his own personal turmoil.
The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Psalm 29:11
Every menial task counts and every painful experience prepares us for what is to come.
David knew God had anointed him King, but he had to wait a total of fifteen years for the crown. He spent half that time serving an unruly king (Saul) and the other half running away from him because Saul terrorized him with the plan to murder him. But in those fifteen years, God prepared this young and puny boy for the role with meaningless tasks such as sling-shooting and shepherding. David was chosen because he remained faithful in his service for the little things no one else aspired to pursue. He would practice with his sling while he tenderly watched over his sheep. But doing such things wasn’t a waste of time, instead, he absorbed everything he needed to know for his eventual rise to power.
We are all too familiar with young David’s victory against Goliath as it only took one shot to kill the menacing giant. Unlike his brothers, David never trained to be a soldier, but God didn’t want to anoint another warrior; instead, He hoped He could supply a shepherd for His people. Unequivocally, God had to break David to the point of humility with the lone purpose of ridding the kingdom of the proud spirit of Saul. Ironically, God used Saul to drive that spirit out of David. The most intriguing part of this story is this, we all have it in us to be like Saul, but it takes brokenness to spare us. There is nothing like God’s redeemed people to give hope to all broken people. But first, we must break… and it will hurt… a lot!
4. Peacemakers Breathe Grace
There seems to be less and less peacemakers.
Unfortunately, the one place I’d think I could find them is where I can experience the most division. I’m not referring here to a specific church or a church as the building, but the church as the Body. If we call ourselves Christians, we are not to incite quarrels that will distract the Gospel from spreading. Social issues and our political beliefs do not come before the message we are meant to send to the world, which is of a redeeming God who deeply loves us and whose sole desire is to have a relationship with us.
When all we do is inhale bad news, we will exhale hopelessness and negativity towards those around us. Instead, when we inhale the love of Christ, we will exhale His abounding grace out to the world.
And God is able to make ALL grace abound toward you that you, always having all sufficiency in ALL things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
I had my own ideas about how the world should run and how world peace was the only solution, but thinking about how to get everyone on board was unrealistic. Thinking about how to fix all the problems consumed me. Then I thought about my own personal trials and my hope for humanity spiraled down out of control. There’s little to no encouragement out there and this alone will drive us to complete exhaustion.
In Matthew 5, the Beautitudes, Jesus says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” As His adopted children, we are commanded to make peace with ALL men, not just those who think like us and agree with us. (Romans 12:18 & Hebrews 12:14)
Then God gave me an idea… a small idea… a plan of action….
a movement to spread simple acts of kindness…
5. #WriteHopeFWD →→
I was encouraged to write a letter to a stranger and leave it at a random place. With much hesitancy, I did it. I left it on a shopping cart with a quarter on top of it at Aldi. If you’ve never been there, it is an inexpensive grocery store sans plastic bags and to use one of their shopping carts, you must have a quarter in hand. Thankfully, you get your quarter back once you return the shopping cart at its designated place. But this is how they get to sell us their products much cheaper than other stores… anyway…
I can’t even tell you what I wrote, but I prayed its content would bless someone that day. I visited another store to finish my grocery shopping for the week, but encountered a hostile environment when an older man almost drove over a mother and daughter. It happened right in front of the store, he didn’t follow the stop sign and the women caused a scene and kept cursing this man out even after he drove away. But as they kept bickering, the man reversed his car to where they were and got out of the car and retaliated with a colorful vocabulary. As a crowd kept forming, I fled the scene… the last thing I wanted was to expose my speechless toddler to those words!
As I drove away in my car, I felt the Holy Spirit gently whisper to me to write more of these letters. I can write them at home while Joshie takes his naps or in the morning before he wakes up or while he’s too busy playing. I can leave them at the park or the store or a parked car.
The best part is…
YOU can do this too!
Wherever you are, follow these simple instructions… ready?
- Pray and ask the Lord for wisdom to share. Perhaps, it could be a bible verse out of your daily devotional or an inspirational story you heard.
- Grab a piece of paper and fold it in fours. Pretend you are writing a letter to yourself or to a close friend. (Don’t write names, obviously, but you can start it out with “Dear Friend”)
- *Totally Optional* If you are an artist, draw or write something on the front cover. If you are not an artist, you could trace an image and color it.
- When you are out and about, leave the letter somewhere visible for someone to find. If you are a bit more daring, you could even hand it to someone.
- This is the most important part: End it with an encouragement for them to do the same for someone else… you can be the one to initiate a movement #WriteHopeForward
Please share your stories with the hashtag or
you could even message me privately here.
I really would love to hear your experiences with this experiment 🙂
Ally Velsor 