Don't let this make you "Miserable"

It's Saturday and I deliberately woke up early this morning to beat the crowds to the local discount store.  We needed a few items and I needed to avoid people so I said to myself, "Self, let's go when they open up and no one will be there."  Well, I was wrong.   

I had a strategy in mind--avoid people at all costs, and get in and get out as quickly as possible.  In fact, I was in such a hurry that it took me a while to notice it.  Even though there were a lot of people there, no one was crowding each other.  In fact, everyone appeared to go to great lengths to give each other distance.  I ended up in the craft section looking at fabric and another very nice lady wandered over as well.  She politely stood back the suggested 3-6 feet while I looked at the fat quarters before I stepped over so that she could look as well.  We started chatting and turns out she was purchasing cloth to make hospital masks for visitors so that the other masks can be saved for hospital personnel. There is a terrible shortage in some places and hospitals are asking those who sew to help them out.

Then on my way home, I decided to listen to some uplifting music (cue laughter), and put on the finale to Les Miserables.  This perfectly fit my mood at the moment and I cruised along singing when I heard it--the phrase that perfectly fits our situation and reminds us of what we need to hear each day, "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise"--Victor Hugo.

This existence can only make me "miserable" if I let it. I can choose to let this all get me down or I can choose to use this extra time I've been given to be a blessing to someone else. Instead of grumbling about what this stinkin' virus has done, I choose to count my blessings and enjoy the time I am given with my family. I refuse to be one of  Les Miserables today! (bad pun intended)

Liz

A "Paine" in my Tushy

A Paine in my Tushy

These are the times that try men’s souls, wrote Thomas Paine in 1776.  These words written almost 250 years ago are just as relevant today as they were then. I was able to hang out at school today for a little while during the lunch program.  Let me just tell you, lunch duty was a little different than usual.  Our sweet lunch ladies are sitting under the awning outside with lunch in coolers handing bags to cars that drive up. 

The halls are quiet and echo when you walk down them now.  There is no banging of lockers, no loud voices, and the rooms are dark.  I sit alone in the office on my solitary duty and wonder how we got here.  The President has delivered his daily address and not a lot has changed in 24 hours except more stores are closing their doors and more people are worried about how they will pay their bills. 

These are the times that try men’s souls…

As educators we contemplate what the coming days and weeks will be like, and we miss our school babies.   I miss talking to them about their daily problems, their grades, their athletic accomplishments, and their triumphs.  I miss their hugs and silly jokes.  I miss telling each one of them good morning as they enter the front doors each day and singing silly songs to our special needs classes.  I miss talking with the stragglers waiting to be picked up about how their life is going.  And I even miss hanging out in the hall during bathroom breaks because that is when I get the most hugs!

So while I can’t go hug each of my school kids today, I will go home in a little while and hug my personal children a little tighter in honor of each of those children who might have needed a little love from Mama James today but didn’t get it.  

I hope they remember who loves them (You do, Mama James!).

Carona-who?

Two weeks ago Covid-19 entered my world.  Until then, it was someone else's problem somewhere else in the world. The problem belonged in a distant land with distant people who we prayed for non-specifically.  And then...then it invaded my space.  

As a middle school AP, my worst fear has always been that a school shooter would invade my campus. While that is still a fear that I have, I can honestly say that I never saw this threat coming.  It snuck up on us with every disregard for common courtesy and decency.  It had no care for those who would have been going to prom this weekend. It did not care that as educators we had to stop accepting hugs from our students. We had to explain why this was and try to alleviate fears without hugging them--an impossible task.  It didn't care that those of us with compromised immune systems live in fear of something like this, and as much as we wanted to crawl into bed and hide, we couldn't do that because the kiddos needed us. 

Despite all of this, however, we may have seen one of our finest hours as educators in this state. We literally had it dropped in our laps at 3:30pm on a Friday that we would not be coming back to school for two weeks and we needed to come up with a plan to help our students continue learning.  We did what any educator worth his salt would do--we came up with a plan and executed it with aplomb. In a matter of hours on Monday, plans were made, copying began, and packets were made. On Tuesday and Wednesday we created a drive-thru campus where parents were able to pick up assignments and lunch for their children without ever leaving the car.  We did what Americans do best in times of crisis. We put on our big girl pants and had a parking lot party while we worked.  We played greatest hits, we line danced, and we laughed. And then we said goodbye. We said goodbye not knowing if this would be it for our year or if we would see each other again in a few weeks.  

Since Coronovirus entered our lives we have learned to look at everything with suspicion. Do I shake hands for this meeting? Will my eye doctor put on a mask to do my exam? Will I look crazy if I ask him to? Do I care? That person over there coughed. Do they have it? Or is that pollen making them cough?

I told someone last night that I refused to live my life in fear. I'm going to keep on telling myself that and maybe I'll begin to believe it after awhile.  

Until next time,

Liz

Peace

Storms.

When I was little I was terrified of them, especially if they were at night.  They would blow up and I would huddle in my bed afraid to breathe.  Even pulling the covers over my head didn’t seem to help! As the thunder got louder and the lightning popped brighter, I would tremble beneath the covers until it began to pass.  Only as the storm passed by could I breathe easier and rest.

Life is a lot like that.  Storms come. They blow in like a gale sometimes and almost take our breath away with their suddenness.  The disciples knew all about this kind of fear.  Remember when they were out on the boat and the storm blew up? They were mad at Jesus for sleeping while they trembled for their life! All it took to calm the storm was for Jesus to show up and speak peace over it.

Sometimes life takes our breath away. Things happen that we have no control over.  What we have to remember, however, is that we know the one who controls it all.  Jesus is able to speak peace over any situation we find ourselves.  What keeps us from feeling that peace is us.  Sometimes we prevent Jesus from doing what he does best—taking care of us.  He may not choose to resolve the situation as we would choose, but he always speaks peace over us when we allow him to.

My daddy had a stroke a few months ago after going into the hospital for a fairly minor procedure.  He is diabetic and needed a toe amputated. Several tests later and he needed his entire leg amputated.  Somewhere in the midst of that day, he had a stroke that affected the only good leg he had left as his entire right side was paralyzed.  His speech and swallowing were also affected.  He spent weeks in the hospital and I truly never believed he would come home again. I just knew we would lose him. For a while I fretted and worried and then something marvelous happened. Jesus spoke peace over me.  I suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever happened, Jesus would carry me through it. Whether that meant carrying daddy home to heaven, a convalescent home, or a miraculous healing I knew that we were in the safest place we could be—Jesus’ hands.

Daddy is recovering at home.  Now tell me that God is not a God of second chances and miracles!

I don’t know what storms you are experiencing, but I pray that you are allowing God to speak peace over you.

Blessings!

For Such a Time as This...

The book of Esther has always been one of my favorite stories.  It’s kind of a Cinderella story if you think about it.  A simple, orphaned Jewish girl is raised from anonymity to the heights of the kingdom when she catches the eye of the king.  The problem comes when she hides her background. No one but her uncle knows that she is actually Jewish, and her Uncle Mordecai wants something BIG from Esther.  There’s a bad guy in the story and he wants to kill all of the Jews. Mordecai thinks that Esther can get the king to save them all, but if he is wrong then she and all of the Jews will die.

Woo!  That’s a lot to have on one person’s shoulders. Naturally Esther protests that she can’t do it. And then Mordecai says it,  “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)

For such a time as this.  What a profound phrase.  It resonates with you when you are a Believer. Just this week God smacked me over the head with it not once, but three times.  I prayed with a complete stranger over a sick child--perhaps I was at just the right place for such a  time as this. As I told the story to a group, a friend stood up and said God told her to share those exact words with the group of kids she was working with--maybe we are here for such a time as this. And then today as I had a small pity party for myself a complete stranger walked over to me, handed me a bouquet of flowers, and prayed for me--and God whispered in my ear “for such a time as this.”

There is power in obedience, folks.  When we are obedient to the whisper of the Holy Spirit God is able to use us in magnificent ways for his kingdom.  We may never know why we are in the circumstances we are in, but just maybe it’s so that God can make beauty from ashes.  Just maybe, it’s for such a time as this.  

Great Expectation

In 1995, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first children.  We were overjoyed!  Just a few weeks later we discovered we would welcome twins!  We were still joyful, but now we were a little scared as well.  I wasn’t sure that i could handle raising two at one time, but my husband quickly reminded me God was on our side.

At 24 weeks of pregnancy I went into premature labour. After a week in the hospital, I went home to be on complete bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy.  I suddenly faced weeks of nothing to do but think.  Now you would probably think that I spent that time worrying, but oddly enough, I never worried about my babies. God gave me the peace that passes all understanding throughout that pregnancy and I felt closer to Him than I ever had in my life.  Instead, I spent my time thinking about those babies.  As I felt them move and saw the tiny imprint of their feet on my belly I wondered where life would take them.  I dreamed of their lives, the women they would one day marry, and the children they would one day have.  

I wonder if Mary did the same thing. I wonder if she stared at her pregnant belly in wonder at the child within.  Did she have any idea just what that child would accomplish? Did she truly believe what Gabriel had told her? Did she know??

God gave us the greatest gift we could ever have through a tiny baby.  No gift ever given could come close to comparing to the magnitude of God’s gift of Jesus on that ancient day.  Jesus would literally change the world with his birth, life, and death on a cross.  

Luke 2 has this to say of the birth:

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Read that last line again.  They came with HASTE.  They hurried to see this miracle boy, this one whom angels watched over and heralded his birth.  

We should do the same.  This Christmas, don’t lose the wonder and excitement of the baby.  Remember Mary and all that she must have been feeling,  and hurry to the Savior.

Merry Christmas!

Ghosts and Goblins

When I was a little girl, we lived way out in the country. My mom ran a restaurant, so we inevitably were driving home in the evenings. Country roads are dark at night, folks! And to make matters worse, we had to drive past an old, old cemetery.  That sucker was so old, it was grown up with weeds, the headstones were tilted, and there were trees with moss draping down over the headstones to add to the effect.  As we rode by each night, I would squeeze my eyes shut as tight as I could, slump down in my seat, and try to think of anything I could to keep my mind off of that spooky old cemetery and the ghosts and goblins that must have inherited it.

As I repeated the ritual night after night, I must have exasperated my dad, because he finally asked me what I was doing. When I shamefully explained my actions, my dad said something that has always stuck with me. He said, “It’s not the people in the cemeteries you have to worry about; it’s the ones who are living.”  He was clearly talking about the state of the world we live in. Our fallen nature has made this place something much less than the garden God intended.  But I see those wise words much differently now.

We should be living each day with a sense of urgency.  We are too late to help those who have gone on before us. We need to spend each day “worrying” about those who are walking among us who don’t know Christ.  My friend Beth reminded me today that we need to live each day as if it is our last with regard to telling people about Jesus.  

Romans 10:14 says: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

We have an amazing story to share! There are opportunities all around us to tell people about what a wonderful Savior we serve. Don’t miss them because your head is covered up and you are slumped down in the seat in fear!