As I was working with students in small groups today, something happened. Now, this thing that happened was small and should not have caused any distress. However, this was not the case. The effect that this event had on my entire small group was alarming; some students yelled, others cried, and still others stared unbelieving.
What happened, you ask?
A crayon broke.
That is it. That is all it took to bring on tears, shouting, and wide-eyed, open-mouth faces. A crayon broke. I have taught prekindergarten for eight years and I have seen hundreds if not thousands of crayons break. I can say, however, that I have never before seen the reaction that I experienced today. As I tried to process through how this broken crayon seemingly broke my students, I simply asked, "Why are you all so upset? It is just a broken crayon." I would love to say that my entire small group provided a cacophony of answers from the literal to the philosophical. However, that was simply not the case. Although, after what seemed like ages, but was only moments, one small voice piped up and simply stated, "We can't use it no more. It's broked." Then after a few more moments, this student stood up, picked up the crayon, and said, "It's okay. I can throw it away."
That was it. The death of a crayon. It was broken, so it had to be thrown away.
Well, being that crayons break all the time, especially in prekindergarten, we have a special bin to put them in where they are eventually turned into other crayons. Luckily, the student remembered this before chucking it into the trash can. The students regained their composure and the day went on.
However, I cannot get the image of these students and their resolute belief that the crayon was now useless out of my head. Although, I get annoyed with broken crayons because that means that I have to go through cabinets, drawers, and bins in order to find replacements, the simple truth is that the crayon was not actually useless. It was just broken. A crayon's purpose after all is to be used to create, draw, color, or write. That crayon, even though it was broken, could still accomplish its purpose. It could still be used to create, draw, color, or write.
In the same way, we often think that because we fail or are broken, that we have no purpose or that we cannot accomplish the purpose intended for us. However, nothing is further from the truth. We were all created for a purpose. I am thankful that we do not have to be perfect to be part of God's purpose. We all have cracks, faults, chips, and broken pieces. It is not these seeming imperfections that determine our life, but rather what we do with them.
We can wallow in being broken or throw a pity party for our flaws. Or we can stand up and say, "I am here. I am not perfect. BUT, I will seek God and His will so that His purpose for me can be accomplished." It is in our imperfections that God comes alongside us with His perfection. He can turn our brokenness into a bridge from one chapter of our life to the next.
Now, the choice is yours. Do you see the broken crayon as something purposeless, only fit for the trash? Or, will you choose to see that even broken things can be used to accomplish a great and mighty purpose?
Tranquility
Monday, November 17, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Single Living
I listen to music all the time. The genre doesn't matter, nor the volume. I listen to a variety from classical to screamo to hip hop to techno to worship. Oftentimes, I end up listening to the radio as I drive to work and around town. It was during one such drive to work, that I listened to a conversation on a Christian radio program. The point of the message was that marriage is the purpose for living. That was it; there were no ifs, ands, or buts. This left me with one question, if marriage is our purpose for living or where we find our purpose for living anyway, what is the purpose for those of us who are single? Are we just in a holding pattern until the right person is brought into our life or are we simply purposeless as long as we are single?
Single. How long were you single? Did your season of being single last for your teenage years, or maybe a few years beyond that? What would you say if I told you that I have been single for the majority of my life? Throughout these years being single I have found that there can be a stigma attached to someone in their late twenties or early thirties who is still single. Well-meaning people raise questions like, "Don't you want to be married?" "Don't you want to have kids?" "Don't you want to have a family?" "Why aren't you married?" Unfortunately the questions are just the tip of the iceberg; the generalized statements are even worse. Comments like, "The right person will come along when you least expect it," or "God is just preparing you for an amazing person." The underlying message in these questions and comments is that it is abnormal for an adult in this age group to be single.
Being single is seen as a deficit, as if God cannot or will not use you until you are married. I believe that although it may be atypical in current society for someone in this age group to be unmarried that it is not abnormal. Every one has a different story with different chapters and different characters. The purpose for living is to serve and worship God in obedience to His command to go to the ends of the earth to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is truly the sole purpose of living. This purpose is accomplished through every believer following God in the timing He has within His plan for their life, whether married or single, whether man or woman, whether young or old.
Being single may be just a season in my life, however, I hope that if God calls me to a life of singleness that I would have the faith required to be obedient to that. To answer the questions posited at the beginning of this post, yes to all. I want to get married one day. I want to share my life with someone one day. I want to have kids one day. I want to have a family one day. That day is not today and if for me that day never comes - okay, I'm still going to strive to fulfill the purpose that God has called me to, single or not.
To all the married people out there, celebrate your marriage every day by living out your purpose to follow God together. To all the single people, just know that your purpose doesn't start after you say "I do" to a spouse, but rather it began the moment after you said, "I believe" to God.
Single. How long were you single? Did your season of being single last for your teenage years, or maybe a few years beyond that? What would you say if I told you that I have been single for the majority of my life? Throughout these years being single I have found that there can be a stigma attached to someone in their late twenties or early thirties who is still single. Well-meaning people raise questions like, "Don't you want to be married?" "Don't you want to have kids?" "Don't you want to have a family?" "Why aren't you married?" Unfortunately the questions are just the tip of the iceberg; the generalized statements are even worse. Comments like, "The right person will come along when you least expect it," or "God is just preparing you for an amazing person." The underlying message in these questions and comments is that it is abnormal for an adult in this age group to be single.
Being single is seen as a deficit, as if God cannot or will not use you until you are married. I believe that although it may be atypical in current society for someone in this age group to be unmarried that it is not abnormal. Every one has a different story with different chapters and different characters. The purpose for living is to serve and worship God in obedience to His command to go to the ends of the earth to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is truly the sole purpose of living. This purpose is accomplished through every believer following God in the timing He has within His plan for their life, whether married or single, whether man or woman, whether young or old.
Being single may be just a season in my life, however, I hope that if God calls me to a life of singleness that I would have the faith required to be obedient to that. To answer the questions posited at the beginning of this post, yes to all. I want to get married one day. I want to share my life with someone one day. I want to have kids one day. I want to have a family one day. That day is not today and if for me that day never comes - okay, I'm still going to strive to fulfill the purpose that God has called me to, single or not.
To all the married people out there, celebrate your marriage every day by living out your purpose to follow God together. To all the single people, just know that your purpose doesn't start after you say "I do" to a spouse, but rather it began the moment after you said, "I believe" to God.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
In Just a Moment
A few evenings ago, I had the opportunity to engage in an experience with one of my neighbors. I had come home late in the evening from a long day at work, the length of which can only be described as "start of the school year long." I was ready to scrounge together some dinner and put my feet up. However, there were different plans in motion for my evening.
As I walked around my car to get my "teacher bag" out from the passenger seat, I noticed my neighbor walking down the sidewalk. In that moment, I had a decision. My neighbor had not seen me, I could get out of having conversation, or I could step in. As I looked over the little old lady who lives on the corner, I chose to begin the conversation.
Over the next 95 minutes or more, we talked and listened to each other. By this I mean that she talked and I listened, mostly. I heard tales of her late husband, her twenty-some years since his death, her recent activities, and memories from when I was a child. There were times that the conversation became cyclical and redundant, however, I did not end the conversation. I chose instead to allow my neighbor to determine the length of the conversation and the focus of the dialogue.
I hope that one day when I am in my nineties that someone extends this same courtesy to me, to tell of my life's experiences, joys, troubles, and hardships. There were many things that I could have gotten done in those 95 minutes, however, in just those moments the course of our days were changed, for the better.
Let us imagine also, that instead of engaging in conversation with others in order for our voice to be heard, that we seek to hear the voices of others.
As I walked around my car to get my "teacher bag" out from the passenger seat, I noticed my neighbor walking down the sidewalk. In that moment, I had a decision. My neighbor had not seen me, I could get out of having conversation, or I could step in. As I looked over the little old lady who lives on the corner, I chose to begin the conversation.
Over the next 95 minutes or more, we talked and listened to each other. By this I mean that she talked and I listened, mostly. I heard tales of her late husband, her twenty-some years since his death, her recent activities, and memories from when I was a child. There were times that the conversation became cyclical and redundant, however, I did not end the conversation. I chose instead to allow my neighbor to determine the length of the conversation and the focus of the dialogue.
I hope that one day when I am in my nineties that someone extends this same courtesy to me, to tell of my life's experiences, joys, troubles, and hardships. There were many things that I could have gotten done in those 95 minutes, however, in just those moments the course of our days were changed, for the better.
Let us imagine also, that instead of engaging in conversation with others in order for our voice to be heard, that we seek to hear the voices of others.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Change Agents
There are people we meet that that irrevocably change our life.
We never know, going in, how long we will know a person. Just as we never know if the friendship will endure the pressures and stress of life. Some people we will know but for a fleeting moment in our lives, whereas others we will know for years. Then there are the select few relationships that we manage to keep throughout our lives.
The people we meet change everything. Whether they know or we acknowledge it or not, change occurs. This change occurs slowly over time or falls into place all at once. No two people have the same effect on our life. Just as we have potential to grow from people, we have the potential to grow others. It is what we do with that potential that matters; it is our choice.
There are so many people that we meet and engage with on a daily basis that we may never come into contact with again in the course of our life. I think about the weeks that I spent in Australia and New Zealand during college and of all the people that I met and interacted with that I may not see again during my life. There are people whom I met during those travels that grew me and strengthened me, that caused changed within me because I chose to allow those interactions to change me. It is my hope that through those interactions I was able to bring about change in their lives as well.
I more recent memory stirs within me though, of a group of people that I engaged with this summer. This group of people have irrevocably changed my perspective and through that my life. Through them, I learned that the power that God has put within me to reach into and shape people has not been wasted on me, but rather has been given to me for a purpose. I ache in my heart for this group of people, to be in community with them again, to go through life with them. Regardless of whether or not that I will be able to do that, I press into God that I may not simply know them in this season and then forget about them in the next. Rather, I hope that the interactions we had would hold weight and the changes God used them to stir up in me would be used for others. In as much as they have shaped me in such a short time, I have also spoken into them.
We never know where our influence stops or where the impact of our decisions or relationships end. God will use every single interaction we have if we simply make ourselves available to him. It is amazing that through a simple smile and wave that we can be agents of change in someone else’s life. I think about a day when my path briefly crossed the path of an older lady from my church. To me, it was naught more than a wave and smile to greet, but for her, it held an impact that I did not truly know until weeks later. This lady came to me in a rush, asking if it was me that had waved and smile that day, upon learning it was, she told me that, “God used you to make me see clearly that day. He used you to refocus and center my heart. In that moment, I knew that God had not left me and that I needed to push through my circumstances.” Too often we miss these moments because we have a tunnel vision perspective that what matters most right now in our lives is that which affects us. This perspective couldn’t be further from the truth, everyone has circumstances in their life that requires their attention and oftentimes these circumstances bring stress to the person. However, God did not create us to live independent of one another or their circumstances. Instead, we were created to do life together in community; this community requires us to be vulnerable to others and dependent upon God.
It is when we strip away that tunnel vision and seek for God to use every circumstance, every step, and every word, that He provides opportunity for us to be changed and to affect change in others. This change only comes when we are first changed by Jesus Christ.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.” Titus 3:14
We never know, going in, how long we will know a person. Just as we never know if the friendship will endure the pressures and stress of life. Some people we will know but for a fleeting moment in our lives, whereas others we will know for years. Then there are the select few relationships that we manage to keep throughout our lives.
The people we meet change everything. Whether they know or we acknowledge it or not, change occurs. This change occurs slowly over time or falls into place all at once. No two people have the same effect on our life. Just as we have potential to grow from people, we have the potential to grow others. It is what we do with that potential that matters; it is our choice.
There are so many people that we meet and engage with on a daily basis that we may never come into contact with again in the course of our life. I think about the weeks that I spent in Australia and New Zealand during college and of all the people that I met and interacted with that I may not see again during my life. There are people whom I met during those travels that grew me and strengthened me, that caused changed within me because I chose to allow those interactions to change me. It is my hope that through those interactions I was able to bring about change in their lives as well.
I more recent memory stirs within me though, of a group of people that I engaged with this summer. This group of people have irrevocably changed my perspective and through that my life. Through them, I learned that the power that God has put within me to reach into and shape people has not been wasted on me, but rather has been given to me for a purpose. I ache in my heart for this group of people, to be in community with them again, to go through life with them. Regardless of whether or not that I will be able to do that, I press into God that I may not simply know them in this season and then forget about them in the next. Rather, I hope that the interactions we had would hold weight and the changes God used them to stir up in me would be used for others. In as much as they have shaped me in such a short time, I have also spoken into them.
We never know where our influence stops or where the impact of our decisions or relationships end. God will use every single interaction we have if we simply make ourselves available to him. It is amazing that through a simple smile and wave that we can be agents of change in someone else’s life. I think about a day when my path briefly crossed the path of an older lady from my church. To me, it was naught more than a wave and smile to greet, but for her, it held an impact that I did not truly know until weeks later. This lady came to me in a rush, asking if it was me that had waved and smile that day, upon learning it was, she told me that, “God used you to make me see clearly that day. He used you to refocus and center my heart. In that moment, I knew that God had not left me and that I needed to push through my circumstances.” Too often we miss these moments because we have a tunnel vision perspective that what matters most right now in our lives is that which affects us. This perspective couldn’t be further from the truth, everyone has circumstances in their life that requires their attention and oftentimes these circumstances bring stress to the person. However, God did not create us to live independent of one another or their circumstances. Instead, we were created to do life together in community; this community requires us to be vulnerable to others and dependent upon God.
It is when we strip away that tunnel vision and seek for God to use every circumstance, every step, and every word, that He provides opportunity for us to be changed and to affect change in others. This change only comes when we are first changed by Jesus Christ.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.” Titus 3:14
Monday, August 4, 2014
Fireflies
Every time I see fireflies outside at night blinking around the yard, I think of when I was a little girl. As the world outside would settle into dusk, I would play out in the yard with my father. I would say, "Daddy, Daddy, can we catch the fireflies?" Over and over again, I would repeat that phrase as my father looked on smiling. Finally, he would respond to my request by standing up and going inside. For a moment, I would be alone outside wondering if his return to the house meant it was time to go inside. Then, just at the moment I would move to go inside, the screen door would open and my father would walk to me with a glass jar and metal lid, a random jar headed for recycling.
Together, we would go to the shed, take out his hammer and a nail, punch holes into the lid. He'd put the lid back on to the jar and hand it to me saying, "Here you go, Punk. Let's go catch fireflies." I would run around the backyard barefoot catching fireflies and putting them into the jar until it was full of floating, blinking lights. I would sit for what felt like hours and just watching the fireflies fly around with their lights blinking on and off in persistent patterns. The next words my father would speak, always came too soon. He would smile at me and say, "Alright Punk, it's time to let them go." I would plead with him, asking to just watch them a little bit longer. He would always respond in the same way, "If you watch them even a little longer, they might not get enough air, their lights would fade, and they would die. If they die, their lights are gone forever." Reluctantly, I would let the fireflies go and watch them, in their freedom, take off across the yard. It would always finish with me smiling again hand-in-hand with my dad watching the blinking lights.
It is with similar feelings tonight that I reflect on three incredible weeks of camp. Each camp was different, in that there were different responsibilities and leadership roles on my part and different age groups. Kids camp. Middle school camp. High school camp. Throughout each of those camps, students' lives have changed because they had the opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ. Each of those students have different lives they have returned to, with different gifts, hopes, and dreams. Just as, each one encountered Jesus Christ in different ways. Some encountered Him for the first time and now know Him as Savior and others were filled with the knowledge, direction, and calling they are to pursue in their life. Each student who encountered Jesus has been filled with light; a light that shines and blinks and calls others to them that they may encounter Jesus as well.
I love camp and there are days when I wish that camp would never end, just as I know there are countless other staff and students that wish the same. Camp is an amazing place where everyone is in community; life is done together. This includes everything from meals, to chapel, to free time, every moment is in community, the community of believers. In that community it becomes easy imagine how people lived during the time of the early church. In our contemporary culture, the goal is to live our lives apart from one another. Separation that occurs based on occupation, beliefs, goals, income, material wealth, and other social constructs. There needs to be a shift from living in a community or neighborhood to living IN community with one another. As camp ends and students have to adjust from doing life twenty-four hours a day with their cabin-mates and leaders to their life separate from that community, it is difficult to remove the lid. The students become like the fireflies that I caught as a child, filled with light and purpose.
Then, the lid pops off and these students are released into the world as bearers of light. These students have the potential to take wing and fly, and by doing so, change the course of a generation. This in turn could change the course of a world, a world in need of God. So as much as my heart aches to return to the camp community with leaders from around the country and those incredible students, I stop because I hear my heavenly father telling me that these lights must be free to go where they were called to go and shine the light that they have been filled with that all may see and be changed as they have.
Fireflies...
Together, we would go to the shed, take out his hammer and a nail, punch holes into the lid. He'd put the lid back on to the jar and hand it to me saying, "Here you go, Punk. Let's go catch fireflies." I would run around the backyard barefoot catching fireflies and putting them into the jar until it was full of floating, blinking lights. I would sit for what felt like hours and just watching the fireflies fly around with their lights blinking on and off in persistent patterns. The next words my father would speak, always came too soon. He would smile at me and say, "Alright Punk, it's time to let them go." I would plead with him, asking to just watch them a little bit longer. He would always respond in the same way, "If you watch them even a little longer, they might not get enough air, their lights would fade, and they would die. If they die, their lights are gone forever." Reluctantly, I would let the fireflies go and watch them, in their freedom, take off across the yard. It would always finish with me smiling again hand-in-hand with my dad watching the blinking lights.
It is with similar feelings tonight that I reflect on three incredible weeks of camp. Each camp was different, in that there were different responsibilities and leadership roles on my part and different age groups. Kids camp. Middle school camp. High school camp. Throughout each of those camps, students' lives have changed because they had the opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ. Each of those students have different lives they have returned to, with different gifts, hopes, and dreams. Just as, each one encountered Jesus Christ in different ways. Some encountered Him for the first time and now know Him as Savior and others were filled with the knowledge, direction, and calling they are to pursue in their life. Each student who encountered Jesus has been filled with light; a light that shines and blinks and calls others to them that they may encounter Jesus as well.
I love camp and there are days when I wish that camp would never end, just as I know there are countless other staff and students that wish the same. Camp is an amazing place where everyone is in community; life is done together. This includes everything from meals, to chapel, to free time, every moment is in community, the community of believers. In that community it becomes easy imagine how people lived during the time of the early church. In our contemporary culture, the goal is to live our lives apart from one another. Separation that occurs based on occupation, beliefs, goals, income, material wealth, and other social constructs. There needs to be a shift from living in a community or neighborhood to living IN community with one another. As camp ends and students have to adjust from doing life twenty-four hours a day with their cabin-mates and leaders to their life separate from that community, it is difficult to remove the lid. The students become like the fireflies that I caught as a child, filled with light and purpose.
Then, the lid pops off and these students are released into the world as bearers of light. These students have the potential to take wing and fly, and by doing so, change the course of a generation. This in turn could change the course of a world, a world in need of God. So as much as my heart aches to return to the camp community with leaders from around the country and those incredible students, I stop because I hear my heavenly father telling me that these lights must be free to go where they were called to go and shine the light that they have been filled with that all may see and be changed as they have.
Fireflies...
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