It Might Seem Far, but God Will Bring You to it

When I was younger, I was always excited to see blimps flying over my neighborhood. It was a typical sight to see a Goodyear or MetLife blimp sailing across the air. I often wondered was there anyone inside of it. After all, who was piloting it and making sure that it went were it was supposed to go.

Yesterday, as my mother and I were driving from North Dallas back home to DeSoto, we spotted a blimp in the distance. We were heading south on Interstate 75 and saw this large figure floating in the sky. “Look, it’s a blimp,” I yelled, narrowing my focus more intently on it as we rode along.” I said this with the same enthusiasm as I did back when I was an adolescent.

By the time we neared downtown Dallas, the skyline of tall, beautiful buildings had swallowed it. It was no longer visible and seemed completely out of reach. We veered onto Woodall Rodgers Freeway and as soon as we did, the blimp reappeared.

We made our way onto Interstate 35 to head south for home. In the distance, we could see the blimp as it cascaded over the Margaret Hunt Bridge. “That blimp sure is getting around,” my mother shared. “It’s as if God is showing us something in the distance that we will never be able to reach, yet the more we drive the closer we seem to get to it.”

Our trek took us on to Highway 67 and we made it home. I didn’t think much more about the blimp. A short while later, I went to check the mailbox and lo and behold, I looked up toward the sky and there was the blimp! It was now in “reading view” and hovering over my neighborhood. What once seemed to far away, so unreachable and at such a distance was now in direct view.

I realized that’s how God handles his plans with us sometimes. God will give us the “vision” for something and it can seem so far away and unreachable. We often find ourselves thinking that we will never be able to “reach it” or “attain it.” It can literally seem impossible. But after we’ve traveled enough on our journey, remaining faithful and navigating all the twists and turns, the highways and byways of life, God will bring it to us. We don’t have to chase our blessings. God brings it to us.

Whatever you’re dealing with today, I pray that God will remind you that his plan will come into “direct view,” and I pray that you will stay the course of this faith journey. Keep this acronym for faith in mind: For Anything Impossible Trust Him.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for showing me a glimpse of your plan for my life. Even when things seem so far away and unreachable, I trust that you are working your plan for me. Help me to stay focused on you and to believe that nothing is impossible with you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Are You on the Wrong Train?

One late afternoon, I left work early to board the Metro Subway in search of the Department of Motor Vehicles on the lower end of Maryland. I had been a new resident all of six weeks and was informed by the management of the apartment complex where I lived that I was required to have  Maryland license plates and a Maryland driver’s license or risk having my car towed.

I made my way to the platform of the Metro Subway and waited for the Orange Line to pull up. It was the one I rode everyday to get to the Smithsonian Institution where I worked. I boarded it, and after listening to the operator announce the calls of what was next, I realized that I was going the wrong direction. The train was going north and I was supposed to be going south.

I got off at the next stop and headed back to where I began. When I arrived, all the other workers in DC, Virginia and Maryland also arrived. So much for leaving work early. It was crowded. Trains were full, people poured out like maple syrup and I needed to cross over to the other side of the platform to get on the right train. I did - only to miss the first one that came. I looked up and the sign indicated that the next train was coming in seven minutes. It was the Red Line and I learned that it would take me to the very place that I was trying to reach. As I rode the train, daylight began to grow into dusk. The fall season in Maryland adheres to the time change and night comes quickly. I arrived at my stop, walked two blocks to the DMV and saw the “closed sign” on the door. It was 6:05 p.m. I was tired and frustrated. It was a wasted trip.

As it turns out, I never went back to the DMV and my car was never towed. I made a trip and headed to a place based on a “mandate” given to me by someone else, yet was still able to move through the city with the license and tags that I had from Texas. In fact, I kept them the duration of the time that I worked in Washington, DC and never once was stopped by anyone, ticketed or given a citation.

God recently brought that back to my memory as I have pondered and discerned where I am in my career. I know am in the right “subway terminal” but somehow I feel like I am on the wrong platform, on the wrong line, and need to cross over to get to the right train. Sometimes we think we are headed in the right direction based on simply being in the “subway terminal” of where God is calling us, but trying to navigate your way through the different routes of your call can easily have you on the wrong line. And in the process, it can be expensive (I went through two zones and used up what was on my Metro card) and time-consuming.

Maybe God is telling you to move around the platform and get on the Red Line because the Orange Line is taking you on a different route than what’s necessary for where God wants you to be. And maybe the very thing that is being “mandated” is not even necessary for you to continue in what God has called you to do! Are you on the wrong train? Is it time to go in a different direction? Seek God for clarity.

Relationships: Being in Direct Sunlight

    

This morning I awoke to find a bright red, blossoming flower, standing tall and proud atop my banana plant. In the midst of my excitement, I noticed that its counterpart, standing tall in the same soil beside it, yielded a scraggly, burnt remnant of a flower. It got to me wondering how can two plants that share the same soil produce something so unequivocally opposite. More than that, I wondered how within a marital relationship, if two are planted together, why is it that one seems to grow and look vibrant while the other appears almost lifeless and barely extant.
      In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells a parable to his disciples about plants and seeds. He tells of the farmer who planted seeds and how some fell on fertile ground and lavished while others fell on rocky ground. Still others fell among thorny weeds and choked the good plants. This is pause for reflection – sometimes relationships don’t grow as they should because they are not able to thrive on rocky ground. Like any good cultivator knows about plants, so too, is it true that relationships need nourishment and proper care, attention, ample water and sunlight to grow. 
     Remember when Jesus met the Samarian woman at the well and offered her eternal water so that she would never thirst again? Sometimes when we are in the deserts of our relationships, the hardest thing to do is to simply search for God and cry out to Him. The psalmist expressed these words in the 63^rd Psalm: God! My God! It’s you – I search for you! My whole being thirsts for you! My whole body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.” If we are honest with ourselves, that’s how our marital relationships feel at times – like we are in a dry and tired land with no sign of water anywhere. But let us not forget that our loving and merciful God is always right there. We need only cry out to Him and he will give us the water that we need. Remember, as believers we are dependent on God, yet often times we neglect to simply call on Him for our most basic needs.
      So what about this sunlight that is required for growth?  There has to be exposure to God’s light – prayer, Bible study, and intentional time together allowing God to order your steps for a healthy and growing relationship. We can’t choose to continue to sit in darkness – that is, void of spending time with God and being disobedient to his Word - and expect there to be a transformative change within our marital relationship. Without God leading, guiding and ordering our steps, we cannot possibly thrive!
     And as for the thorny weeds in this parable – these are the seasons in our relationships when communication becomes harder, being around one another becomes a chore and simply trying to be on the same page becomes almost impossible; and, like in the parable, weeds will choke the good plants. In the instance of my illustration, it appears that two plants can indeed grow in the same soil, but one gets choked. When we spend more time quarreling, being upset, unvalidated, underappreciated and less time being loving, giving, attentive and supportive of our God-given mate, the aforementioned weeds will most definitely choke one of the plants and render it looking and feeling lifeless.
     I dare to even suggest that one plant can be sucking the life out of the other plant. While both are in the same soil, presumably privy to the same level of moisture, water saturation and sunlight, one of these plants is having a tough time adapting. Perhaps its relationship immune system has grown weaker by the frenzy of life – stresses from work, unmet goals, unrealized dreams, financial burdens and the like. It’s not that the other plant does not suffer these same things, too, but these real-life situations have taken its toll on the non-thriving plant. But all hope is not lost.

    

If you read more in the parable of Mark, you will see that in verse 26 of chapter 4, Jesus shares this truth: The kingdom of God is like someone who plants seed in the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether the person is asleep or awake, the seed still grows, but the person does not know how it grows. ²⁸ By itself the earth produces grain. First the plant grows, then the head, and then all the grain in the head. ²⁹ When the grain is ready, the farmer cuts it, because this is the harvest time.”  

 

     In other words, God is our harvester. And while we may not be able to explain nor understand how two (who have become one in a marital relationship), grow at different stages, or more so handle things differently, what we do know is that when we surrender and submit ourselves fully and wholly to God, we will begin to thrive and flourish again. Our season of darkness will be short and our exposure to sunlight - God’s light – will make things bright and vibrant again where they once seemed to be withering.  We serve a God who works wonders and who offers us unmerited favor  (grace) each day, nudging and prompting us to do better and serve better as we are planted firmly on the foundation that God has established for our relationships.

 

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.