Finding Faith in the Mess
Self-Care. A 2018 buzz word. We all know taking care of ourselves is important; a necessity. No one can work from a depleted spirit. We are all searching. Searching for rest. A break from the busy. A break from the news. A moment to relax …
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 It’s time. It is time you show up to your life. Too many of us are sitting on the sidelines …
I walked into the gym and set my bag down. I was in a separate room off the main floor. The room is like a small warehouse. I like it because it’s usually quiet and I can zone out. There were a few guys in the room when I got there. The music playing was pretty crude, so I put my earbuds in and jumped on the row machine.
I continued to hear the music over my earbuds and was unimpressed. It was disrespectful and distasteful; especially of women. I know these men didn’t mean to offend me with their music choice. I just happened to walk in on their workout. I decided to ignore the music and continue on. If anything, it gave me that extra oomph I needed this morning. I grabbed heavier weights and decided to make the most of it.
I could have told these guys what I thought about their music. I could have ranted and raved about how distasteful it was and how gross they were for listening to such trash. I could have given them dirty looks or got in their way as a way to show them I matter, exist, and hear the lyrics. I could have gotten in my car after my workout and ranted on Facebook about these gentlemen and the music. But, I chose not to. Not because I didn’t want a fight or because I wanted to avoid them. The music isn’t what matters. People are. And if people matter, than how I treat and react to them matters, too.
I decided to smile, say hello, and encourage these guys as we all worked out together. I decided to show them I could work out in their space without being emotionally charged from a reaction to bad song lyrics. Sometimes, we must drop our pompous attitudes of everyone needing to cater to us and our needs in order to reach others.
We are a jump society. The moment we hear one thing whether from a friend, the news media, or online, we jump. We may not have all the facts. We may not know all the details. It doesn’t matter. Our opinion is already formed. We arm ourselves and head out into battle.
We live in a “serve me” culture. If it doesn’t serve me, then it’s wrong and others must change to adjust to my needs and my opinions. No longer can we disagree and still be friends. Gone seem the days of trust in discussion. The new normal is egocentric and self-serving.
We are the most connected we have ever been in history yet, we are the most lonely. We are seeking unity with others and often find ourselves unifying for the wrong purpose. We come together out of fear instead of love. That’s a scary place to be.
“Pray before you post.”
Oftentimes, we grab a sound-bite and follow up with a post on social media. We hear something that has not been confirmed, and we instantly have an opinion which, in our little worlds, becomes a fact. What does that opinionated post do? What purpose does it serve? Have you helped your community with your rant?
Turn off the news. It’s not there to inform you. It’s purpose is to scare you. The more fear-filled you become, the more you will watch their broadcasts hoping to find a sense of peace in one of their stories. Stop reading the articles that flow so rampantly through Facebook. Get away from the negative Tweets. They are usually false narratives anyway. Remove yourself. I promise, if something major happens, you will not be left in the dark.
We need to start unifying for the right reasons. Not because we agree with that post and comment feed, but because we all have value and we all matter.
I was at a meeting the other day for a prayer group that prays for our school. We were talking about different faiths and how each express their beliefs differently. We all concluded that there is a need for different. We are all so very unique. We all have different needs and different styles. Because of our unique natures, we gravitate towards different ways of receiving the Gospel. It doesn’t matter if your Methodist, Protestant, or non-denominational. As long as Scripture is preached purely, it doesn’t matter what denomination you associate with. If we don’t unite in the Church as a whole, we are going to lose this war that is raging in our nation and our world.
God isn’t going to ask us our denomination, our gender, or our skin color when we get to Heaven. He’s going to ask us what we did with His Son.
What are you doing with Jesus? Are you allowing Him to use you to bring unity and love to those you come into contact with? Whether that be with an old high school buddy online or the barista at Starbucks. How you take your place in this life matters especially for such a time as this? What is in your feed?
We have an opportunity to make history. We all know it. We all feel it. We all see it. What is our generation of people going to choose? Are we going to continue to walk around angry at one another because we are different or are we going to lay down our pompous pride and truly live like enough is enough.
Instead of posting on social media today about the latest news story, the chaotic state of our world, or the racial tensions in our communities, why don’t you start unifying your home? Can you purposefully treat the sales clerk with kindness smiling and thanking her instead of being frustrated she’s taking too long? Would you encourage your kiddo to find someone in their day to be kind to just because?
Posting our rants on social media isn’t going to solve a thing. We know this, yet we continue the pattern. The only way our world is going to change and heal is if we change and heal. That can’t happen if we stay stuck.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
So easy, yet so hard. Love one another. It really is that simple.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
When my middle guy was three, he said it couldn’t be Christmas unless it snowed. Anytime we talked about the impending holiday, he would tell us in his sweet little voice that it absolutely not come until it snowed. Guess what? It snowed that year. …
When Jackson was a baby, I would hop into my car on my lunch break and rush to his day care to see him. I had thirty minutes with my baby and I needed every last second. I was a mess of a new mom …
Identity.
Buzz word.
Identity is a buzz word these days. Everyone is talking about identity. Young adults, teens, and kids are all searching to find who they are. Adults are finding their labels in political affiliation, religion, non-religion, or where the land on the topic of the day. We are all buzzing around shifting and squirming trying to make an identity stick.
We all want to belong to something. We have a deep longing to be someone; to have some sort of idea of who we are. If we know who we are, then we can find our purpose. That is why you see so many passionate people today. We are witnessing more and more people identifying with some cause igniting a fire within sending them into a passionate frenzy to live out their purpose in this identity.
We are created for identity.
Unfortunately, too many of us are finding our identity in the wrong place. We are finding our identity with the mob mentality rather than the One who created us. Because of this, we collapse into a heap of unrest and frustration. Our identity lies in one place: Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
We pick a side and that becomes our identity. But, that is not what God intended for our identity. He created us in His image desiring you and I to find ourselves in Him not the mob mentality. Because we are not finding ourselves in this space, we are lost. This is why our culture seems to be in distress. Everyone is searching to find themselves looking everywhere but to the One who formed them before they were born. (Psalm 139:13-14)
We are a culture of mob mentality. The loudest talking head is telling us who we are and we are hanging on every last word. We are allowing others to define who we are. It is time we stop.
Your identity is in Christ. What does that mean? It means you are full of love, grace, and mercy. It means that in all your imperfections and rough edges you are still loved. Finding yourself in Christ means you never have to question your value or purpose. You are valuable because you are His. Period. An identity in Christ means it doesn’t matter what size you are or how often you have failed, you are still loved. Personally, I would much rather find myself here than in the hands of the mob mentality.
It is time we stop allowing the mob tell us who we are. It time we enable the Creator of the universe, the moon and sun and stars, to be the author of our identity.
You are loved because you are His.
You are valued because you are His.
You are perfect in all your imperfections because you are His.
Your identity is in Him. No one else.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
I think there is one thing we can all agree on politically: the United States has been nothing short of wonky in the political arena in the last few years. We have fallen off our rocker. Am I right? Don’t worry. This is not a …
The title sounds like the start of a joke: Satan and Kaepernick walk into In-n-Out. Ha. I won’t go there. But, I am going to talk about these three.
I woke up in the middle of the night the other day. I instantly began thinking about all kinds of crazy things. Why does that happen? It’s 2am and all of a sudden your mind wants to be productive. But, at 2pm you can’t get your brain to remember why you walked into a certain room. Ugh. So frustrating.
Anyway, I was thinking about us as a people; the whole world. I was taking inventory of us and I had a vision. I saw myself standing on a busy street corner in NYC. The shot was like a camera was looking down on me from a drone. There I was, clear as day. Everything around me, however, was speeding by. So-much-so, that the cars and people looked like blurred lights like one would see in a photograph. There I stood with everyone zooming by. No one had any idea that they were moving so fast and I was standing still. They were all so focused on their lives and their offenses that they wouldn’t see me if they ran right into me.
This is how I see the world.
We are all moving at lightning pace that we cannot see what is standing right in front of us.
Every week brings forth a new offense. It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on or what you believe or don’t believe. If you wait long enough, something is going to come around to entice you to be offended.
We know this is true. We fully understand that our culture and our world operates this way. We are appalled by it, yet participate in it. It’s like a drug that we desperately want to rid ourselves of but are so addicted we don’t know how.
How do we live a life unoffended?
Satan has us in his grip. As I stood there so still while everyone passed me by, I saw it. I witnessed his hold on us. And we don’t even know it. We are so distracted with our offenses that we have completely lost sight of the battle. Our battlefield does not reside in the latest offense. Our battle is found in the unseen. We are fighting the wrong war and we don’t even see it.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
We are fighting each other when we should be fighting him. The root of our issues isn’t about who contributor what to which campaign, who signed the latest ad campaign, or what establishment has non-gender descriptive bathrooms. The origin is the heart.
We are not going to accomplish anything by burning shoes or telling others they are damned to hell if they eat a burger. Our victory lies in love.
“But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent.” Matthew 26:60-63a
If anyone can be offended, it is Jesus. I believe His silence in this moment speaks VOLUMES. Sometimes, our lack for words speaks louder than anything we can shout.
Jesus was brought before the “court” and put on trial for crimes he did not commit. I put the word, court, in parenthesis because this was not your traditional court setting. This was an ad hoc gathering. People came together for this specific moment rather than the typical Sanhedrin with strict guidelines on how to function. There were false witnesses and false accusations. Yet, Jesus remained silent.
Oh, how that silence changed the world. The only thing Jesus spoke during this time was a promise.
‘The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”’ Matthew 26: 63b-65
What would happen if we responded to our offenses in silence?
What would change if we responded with a promises instead of an indignant heart?
What if we went in and ate that burger and paid for someone else’s meal without them knowing? Or, we walked into that coffee shop even though they did something we didn’t agree with and we were kind to it’s employees? How would the culture of our world change if we shopped at that store and smiled at the person who used the “wrong” bathroom making them feel seen and valued and not like an animal? How would your circle differ if you listened more than you spoke?
Jesus was silent and that spoke volumes.
I will leave you with one last story. I was at an establishment that has come under fire in the past few years. I was drinking coffee from another company that has come under fire a few times. The woman in front of me in the checkout line scanned her card after the checker took almost 10 minutes to ring her up. Her card was denied. She made a phone call that took about 5 minutes. She began handing items back to the checker to take them off her receipt. The total kept coming down but it wasn’t enough. This wasn’t food she was purchasing. It was clothes. She finally asked the clerk to void the transaction (after she had taken off about six items typing in each skew number) and start all over. The whole process probably took about 30 minutes. I had to go to the bathroom and, like all of us, had 8500 other things I needed to do before the boys got home.
I could have been angry. I could have rightfully been frustrated. I could have started my shopping experience mad at this big box store for even tinkering with the idea of changing its bathroom schematic. I could have been peeved from the get-go that they allowed a coffee place that offended all kinds of people still operate there. My whole attitude could have sucked (excuse my language) and many of you would have called that justified. But I didn’t. I made a decision to not live offended and I do not regret it one bit.
Instead…
I saw a girl who was probably mortified that she couldn’t afford what was on the belt.
I laughed with a checker who most likely felt the pressure of that situation and was waiting for me to tear her head off because somehow it was her fault.
I entered a store that needs Christians to be present so that there is light shining in the darkness.
I myself to sip coffee from an establishment that is quick to accept responsibility for it’s wrongs.
Look, y’all, my salvation is secure. I know that I will not get kicked out of Heaven because of the brand of shoes I wear. Our focus is misplaced and it is time we recognize this.
It isn’t me on that busy NYC corner with everything and everyone buzzing by. It is Jesus. He is standing there waiting for us to fix our gaze on Him instead of everything else. Are you willing to stop?
There is a time to speak up and fight injustice. There is also a time to remain silent. Jesus’ silence during his “trial” (we all know it wasn’t really a trial) should rattle us to our core. It should remind us to trust Him when injustice is served and hope seems lost. It should remind us to know that He is still in control even when this world seems to have gone off the rails. It should also remind us that we should always ALWAYS be pointing people to the Promise not the accusation.
Don’t let Satan grab you. Don’t let him turn you head away from the real focus. He’s got us and he is not going to let go until you decide to slap his hand away.
Remind people of the Promise, not the accusation.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
