This is the week that I usually link up with Heather Gerwing for a look at Something Loved, Read, Treasured and Ahead. This time, though—after a month that hasn’t really turned out how I expected—I decided to share four random (and probably obvious) somethings about life instead.
Simply putting these thoughts into words settled my soul; perhaps reading them will do the same for you.
We have what I call birthday season at our house. It starts in early November, when two of us have birthdays one day after the other, and continues through early January, when we celebrate the fourth and final birth date.
Add in Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it’s roughly two months of cake, presents, special meals and the making of warm memories. With the house decorated and holiday music playing continually, it’s my favorite time of the year, hands down.
Several weeks ago, while I was running on the paved trail by my house, my foot hit an unseen knot on the wooden bridge and I went flying—headfirst—onto the bridge.
I mostly landed on my left knee and the left side of my face and forehead, which resulted in some significant bruises and abrasions, along with a sizable goose egg above my left eye.
Several people on the trail stopped to see if I needed help. They urged me to call my doctor in case I had a concussion. One sweet lady even walked back to her house, returned with her car and drove me home.
This all could have been very embarrassing, but along with inheriting my dad’s propensity for falling, I also seemed to have inherited his tendency not to get embarrassed much.
I fell, but it was an accident. I looked bad, but so would anyone else who unexpectedly crash landed on his or her head on a wooden bridge.
Mostly, I was grateful. That nothing was damaged too badly, although it took a solid week for the painful abrasions on my knee to heel and several more weeks for the lump on my head to go away completely. That, after consulting with my doctor’s office and monitoring myself for neurological symptoms, it didn’t appear that I had a concussion. That, even though the inside of my eye turned black several days later, I didn’t break my nose in the fall.
And also that there are still kind people in the world who stop to help a middle-aged woman sprawled out on a bridge.
We hear so much about all the hatred, outrage and angst that readily pours forth these days. It happens online, of course, but also in person—sometimes subtly, sometimes not.
But there’s still good in the world. There is.
And, as Samwise Gamgee tells Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, “It’s worth fighting for.”
What that fight looks like in real life differs from person to person. But it starts with what we think about. What we read, listen to and watch.
We can focus on the bad—there’s certainly enough of that to keep us occupied for a good long while. Or, as we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we can turn our hearts, minds, eyes and ears toward things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, morally excellent and praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8)
I don’t care how much pressure anyone feels to keep up with all the latest things on social media and YouTube. The truth of the matter is, nobody can make us watch or read material that we don’t want to watch or read.
It’s up to us to choose well and wisely, every day. And if we fill our heads with good, there’s a pretty good chance that what flows from our mouths and lives also will be good.
It’s not easy, but it’s possible. Worth fighting for, even.
Some—perhaps many—of us are called to do more, to go farther, to dig deeper. To boldly speak up, to run for office, to stand firm in the public square or in the marketplace, to graciously take unpopular stands even when every aspect of our culture is going the opposite direction.
But we’re all called to fight on our knees, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (rather than our Instagram stats) as we shine the light of God’s love and truth in this crazy world.
There is good in the world, and it is worth fighting for.
Let’s fight together, shall we? And when we stumble and fall—as we all will eventually, one way or another—let’s help each other up. That might be the best way we can show a hurting world what real love looks like.
♥ Lois
When we stumble and fall—as we all will eventually—let’s help each other up. That might be the best way we can show a hurting world what real love looks like. Share on X We’re all called to fight on our knees, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (rather than our Instagram stats) as we shine the light of God’s love and truth in this crazy world. Share on XP.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee, Inspire Me Monday, #HeartEncouragement and Grace & Truth.
Every time I start one of these monthly posts, my first inclination is to go on about how fast the last four weeks have gone. It’s true, every time. Maybe even more so in the summer.
Here in Kansas, we’ve already had one heat wave, followed by a cooler spell. The rain came back last week, but more always makes me happy. (And all the other Midwestern gardeners said “amen.”)
Several years ago, we took the family to see comedian Tim Hawkins perform. The auditorium was packed. We were high in the balcony, surrounded by people who—like us—were all laughing so hard they were crying.
It was a fun, memorable night.
I was pushing my shopping cart back to the cart corral at Aldi when I noticed another customer approaching the store. A larger man with a bushy white beard, he was wearing a mask, overalls, a long-sleeved knit shirt and no coat (a detail that caught my eye because it was a blustery March morning).
I put my cart away and turned back around just as he was shuffling up to the door. He didn’t look familiar to me, but I thought I saw recognition in his eyes when he glanced my way.
This isn’t an uncommon occurrence. After spending the first 12 years of married life in a different state, I now live near where I grew up and occasionally run into people I knew long ago who recognize me (or the family I came from) before I realize who they are.
“Fancy meeting you here,” the man said. (I think that’s what he said, anyway. The wind, the mask and my less-than-stellar hearing made it a little difficult to tell exactly.)
After getting a closer look at me, he immediately followed up with, “Oh sorry—you’re the wrong person.”
I just laughed and called “It’s hard to tell with these masks” over my shoulder as I headed back to my car. It was a slightly odd exchange, but I knew what the man meant. He thought I was someone else, and he was mistaken.
Still, it got me to thinking.
Even when it’s a case of mistaken identity, it’s a bit jarring to be told you’re the wrong person. I wonder, though—have you ever thought this to yourself, about yourself?
Perhaps that you might be the wrong person to do something you have no choice but to do? That while you desperately long to do your job well, you suspect someone else could do it much better?
I remember feeling this way when my daughter Lilly was much younger. She was a constant blur of words and motion. I was in my mid-30s—perimenopausal with zero energy. I knew in my heart that God had given me my specific children, but if I had been a P.E. teacher, I may have been able to handle this phase of my life a bit better.
Years later, when my parents’ health declined and I had to fulfill all the executor and power-of-attorney responsibilities in their wills that I happily agreed to but never expected to actually perform, I thought the same thing. Out of all my high-achieving, take-charge siblings, I felt like I was the least likely to be in charge.
Yet in both cases—no matter how I felt at any given time—I wasn’t the wrong person. And neither are you.
We might be the wrong person for certain tasks or jobs. I don’t know about you, but I certainly would be the wrong person to sing on the praise team at church, to unload a truckload of heavy furniture, or to solve a complex calculus problem.
When it comes to who we are as individual children of God, however, we’re not the wrong people. We don’t have the wrong personality, the wrong wiring or the wrong emotional makeup to do what our all-wise heavenly Father has given us to do.
I’m not saying we are perfectly equipped for every role, right when we start. We might need to take the initiative and make some changes when it comes to our attitudes, our habits or how we respond to various situations.
There are plenty of times when we receive exactly what we need, just in time, and other times when we simply have to muddle through the best we can.
In any event, the Bible tells us that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
If you’re feeling like the wrong person today, I want you to remember this. You are not the wrong person.
And you never go wrong when you bring your insecurities, frailties and failures to Jesus and ask Him to strengthen you for your current task or season—whatever it may hold.
“The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Lord, your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.” (Psalm 138:8)
♥ Lois
We don’t have the wrong personality, the wrong wiring or the wrong emotional makeup to do what our all-wise heavenly Father has given us to do. Share on X You never go wrong when you bring your insecurities, frailties and failures to Jesus and ask Him to strengthen you for your current task or season—whatever it may hold. Share on XP.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee, Inspire Me Monday, #HeartEncouragement and Grace & Truth.