The Things I Can Do with my Spirograph

As a little kid, one of my favorite ways to pass the time was doodling and making designs with a geometric drawing toy called Spirograph. If you're older than 30, chances are you had one, too and you might remember the commercials featuring the children having endless fun as they sang, "I just don't believe it, I don't believe it, the things I can do with my Spirograph."

The kit came with paper, special drawing pens/pencils, a master guide and circular grids. You could make hundreds of circular designs by simply placing your pencil in the grooves of the various-sized round grids within the space that was allowed. This circular motion gave you the ability to make simple to complex designs freely – so long as you stayed within the master template guide.

You could be creative and come up with your own designs or you could re-create designs from ones that were on the traceable paper. Whichever one you chose, there was a pattern that formed, enabling you to create something that was symmetrically and perfectly aligned. The guiding template was there to keep you from straying and from making unnecessary strides that would take you too far from the intent of the design. It kept you within the boundaries and parameters of where you needed to be.

Reflecting back to it, what I remember most and now understand from a spiritual standpoint is that with every stroke and every circular motion, in order to get anywhere, the movement of the Spirograph forced you to always come back to the center as that was the base. You couldn’t effectively go anywhere without returning to the center for direction. Even if you became confused with rotating your little circle, not sure if you should move clockwise or counter-clockwise, you could always come back to the center for guidance.

Life is a lot like that. It’s a spiritual Spirograph with God as our center, base and master designer. If we learn to move only in the circles that He instructs us to move in, and return to the center base for further direction, then we end up with an amazing masterpiece design! God gives us free will to make choices. We should make those choices under the careful guidance of God’s Almighty hand and let him lead us in the direction that we should go.

Who knew you could learn so much from a geometric toy!

Is Your Light On?

On Friday I made a quick trip to Target just to get a few items. I hoped to get in and out in 10 or 15 minutes, but I noticed that only two lanes were open. And the lines were fairly long. As I stood in line behind three other shoppers, the lane to the right of me seemed to be moving along faster than the other lanes. In that split-thinking of deciding whether I should change lanes – you know, wondering if I’ll get over there and get detained by a price look-up of the person in front of me – I backed up my shopping cart and headed over. The young woman rang my purchases up pretty quickly and as she did, I watched as a couple of other shoppers started toward the line, but chose other lanes instead. I was curious. After all, I only had six items.

As soon as the sales associate handed my receipt to me, she announced that she would take the next person in line. Two women who had passed this lane up, and opted for the longer line instead, threw a perplexing look and said to one another: I didn’t know she was open. Her light wasn’t on.

Her light wasn’t on.

Something about that simple statement led me to think about how as Christians, sometimes people might not approach us because our light isn’t on. How do we keep our light on amid the hustle and bustle of our busy lives? How do we show a genuine sense of “light” especially when we don’t even know it’s not on?

I thought about this more and considered how in one of the most famous sermons ever given, Jesus tells a huge crowd: “You are the light of the world.” These words are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus gives his Sermon on theMount. In the most simplest terms, when we have the light of Jesus shining in us, it should show in our countenance, in our actions, our deeds and behavior.

My mother is one of those people who always has her light on. No matter where we are – the post office, the bank, supermarket – someone comes up to my mom and begins to share their troubles, obviously looking for some encouraging words. And my mom responds every time with Christian love. The same is true when she is transacting business on the phone. Without fail the person on the other end of the line usually changes the direction of the conversation to something like this: “you sound like someone I can talk to. Do you mind if I share something personal with you because something about the kindness in your voice sounds like you are someone who can help me?”

That’s how you know your light is on. When others feel compelled or comfortable enough to talk to you or to seek your encouraging words, it means that your light is on. When you simply display a warm smile, offer a kind word, a helping hand or extend God’s love through your actions, your light is very much on. On the other hand, when you are frowning, looking mad all the time, seem rushed, uninterested or have that “don’t even come near me” look, then your light is off and you are hiding the light of Jesus.

In my own reflection, I have to take notice that sometimes I turn my light off inadvertently. As a Christian, a minister and candidate for ordained ministry, I have to be especially conscious to make sure that I don’t have a “flickering light.” This doesn’t mean that I have to be “on” for everyone, all the time. Not at all. That would be unhealthy and overwhelming. But what it does mean is that I have to remember that a lot of people are in dark places, going through dark moments and experiencing dark and troubling times and they need someone to “light” the way for them and share the love of Jesus. Or sometimes people just want to warm up in the glow of the light that is shining in me.

So today I ask you: is your light on?

Spiritual Temper Tantrums

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Recently, I saw a little boy tugging at his mother’s coat and pointing at a small toy that was near the check-out stand. She ignored him for a while until she finally looked down to see what he wanted. He looked up at her and in that small little voice with his eyes transfixed on the toy, he said: I want that. His mother glanced at it and told him no, explaining that he wasn’t getting it today.

The little boy let out a booming cry that rivaled a wolf’s howling. I mean he cried. His face was now red and tears had taken over. He wiggled around in frustration and cried even more. It’s a temper tantrum that most of us are familiar with either from our own childhood or from handling our own child’s tantrums.

And at the root of it is this sense of wanting something – right then and there – and instead being told no. It’s like something erupts in our minds and this sea of emotions begins to overflow causing us to work ourselves into a tirade of anger, disappointment, frustration and sadness. Our whole countenance changes.

The same true is in our spiritual lives. We pray for something and want God to answer it right then. More than that, we want God’s approval and affirming yes to our desires, plans, ideas, etc. Sometimes God answers right away with a yes if it aligns with his plan and purpose for our lives. Other times, God gives a resounding no because it’s not what he wants for us. And then there is the not yet– you’re not getting it today.

God designed us and knows all about us. He knows our strengths, weaknesses, and those areas that he still has to prune. We’re not ready yet. For a number of reasons, this is true. We haven’t had the right experience to deal with what’s ahead. We wobble in our faith, trusting God some days and doubting him on other days. We haven’t overcome certain fears that will surely cause us to not enjoy the very thing that we are asking him for. So no – you’re not getting it today.

On this spiritual walk, there will be moments when you are absolutely fed up, frustrated and crying, throwing temper tantrums at God. It’s a part of your spiritual maturity. We learn that this faith walk isn’t about having our way. It’s about God having his way in all areas of our lives. It’s about being in deeper relationship with God and trusting him whole-heartedly, believing deep within our heart and soul that he has our best interest in mind.  

Sometimes when we look back on those temper tantrums, upset at what God didn’t do, we can see now how glad we are that he made that decision. Glad that he protected us from an unhealthy relationship, an expensive purchase that we really couldn’t afford , or a position in a company that went through major layoffs  three months later.

The more you are actively engaged in this faith walk, the healthier you become spiritually. You might still have a spiritual temper tantrum every now and again, but you will grow through it knowing that God is transforming you to accomplish his plans and purpose for your life.