We Are ALL Broken!
So; probably like many people, I consider myself to be in relatively good condition. I guess what I mean is that I feel like I look ok "in my clothes". Out of my clothes is an entirely different story, we won't even go there. Maybe many of us feel that way. As long as everyone can't see what's going on under there we're all good. We or I know that I definitely can be just the same when it comes to personal things, matters of the heart, feelings or trials in our life. I don't share my heart openly very often. I suppose I don't wan't people to think I'm a failure or I'm not good enough. Maybe I don't want people to judge me on my parenting style or think I'm not doing a good enough job. Maybe we worry that people will judge us because their lives seem so perfect and all together. Maybe we're all just a big mess in some way and we're all just playing the same ugly game of "perfection". I'm not talking about that game from your childhood that you have to replace all of the pieces while a clock ticks away and then the entire game goes into a frenzy and spits out every bit of your progress, shooting it up into the air only to start all over again. But in a way, maybe I am. Maybe that's just what it feels like. We're so busy trying to fit pieces together, make it all work and in such a hurry. We feel that we have to beat the clock. I remember stopping that clock as a child and putting all of the pieces neatly back into place and at my own pace. No heart racing, just calm. Perhaps that's just how we are with life...hurry, hurry, hurry. What if we slowed down? What if we took our time to enjoy things a bit?
This post has gone completely awry. It's gone in a direction that I had absolutely no intention of going. I still want to try to get back to my original thought but I think there's an important lesson here for many.
Let's rip off the bandaid and hit it head on...
Last Sunday started out a bit insane. We have a new member of our family...he's furry. The sweet, hip looking guy is now named Bandit! Overall, it's been wonderful experience. Our youngest is absolutely smitten with him and we've all succumbed to his sweet spirited demeanor, except for this past Sunday!
On this particular day, he was not satisfied with being in his fence. Upon Bandits arrival to his new home, we really had no place for him to run and play safely, hence the new fence which turned out to be very expensive. He is safe so we're all happy, except for last Sunday. We got up Sunday AM and he'd somehow escaped. Fortunately he was sleeping out on our front porch. In a weeks time a sweet bond had been formed and we're so grateful that he was so at home that he decided to stay when he could have very easily fled! We'd have had a broken hearted little girl for sure. We promptly put him back in the fence but he was not willing to stay. He tried everything to get out and we did everything we could to keep him there. All of this put me behind and made me late for church. The Hubs & girls went on while I stayed behind to finish dressing. This is life, right?! Things just happen, it wasn't that big of a deal. I finally made it to church and it was a lovely morning. The preaching hadn't even begun and something very strange began to happen; I was having chest pains. Like I said, I'm relatively healthy. I don't look like I'm a heart attack waiting to happen but it could happen to anyone. As the pain progressed I quickly dismissed myself. It's not the pain or the happenings that I'm so interested in sharing with you. We have many wonderful physicians in our church. I knew where a wonderful friend/doctor was sitting & quite conveniently close to where I was. Someone went for her and she came to examine me. She said something that struck me...One of her questions to me was if I had a regular doctor. I have an OB/GYN as I'm sure most women do. I've always taken my health seriously, so I thought. I've never missed an annual check up/pap smear. As women we're all supposed to do that, right? She told me "at my age" I should have an Internist or a regular doctor! "At my age"! Wow! I'm 44 and that was news to me. How could I not know that there was more to being on top of my health? Why had no one ever told me that before? I'll be honest with you, that was a bit difficult to pallet. "At my age"...it just kept ringing in my ears.
At her command, my husband brought me home. Her recommendation was that I go home to rest! That was so hard for me...I had beds that hadn't been made because of the doggy drama. Dishes needed to be put away and the list goes on. I even told her so and her look of sternness told me that this was a no-no. She prayed for me and sent me home. I was still struggling with finding peace about sitting to do nothing. As I sat in my chair in my favorite reading spot I picked up my Bible. The very first thing I came to was Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God. Um...ok! I was immediately in tears and knew that reading this passage was not by accident. He was clearly trying to tell me something, "Be still and know that I am God". He was and is God and he had it all in control. My day was spent reading and praying. The busyness of my life had been a distraction. Sometimes the busyness had kept me from truly seeing blessings and enjoying things that He put right before me for my enjoyment and pleasure.
My request for all of you, men and women alike...have a regular physician! Make your appointment and go annually. I truly thought that visiting my OB/GYN was enough every year.
Let's get back to the issue that I didn't intend on visiting but the one The Lord so clearly wants me to talk about..."the mask". "Acting" like everything is ok. Pretending like you've got it all together. I'm not by any means suggesting that you flip on Dr. Phil for advice. There's a couple things that are important here; biblical community. You should have a small, intimate group of friends that will pray with you, friends that you can be completely honest with, friends that won't judge you and friends that you won't judge when they bear their frailties to you. We are all broken! Did you get that one? There has only ever been one perfect person that stepped foot on this earth, that's The Lord Jesus Christ. He was sin free unlike you and I. We will mess up in disciplining our children, in our marriages, in our lives. You don't have to bear your soul to everyone you meet but you can't act as though you have it all together, otherwise The Lord may halt you like he did me just to get my attention and slow me down. My reminder was very clear and fortunately he didn't have to do something more drastic to slow me down and get my attention. Here's my sweet word to you, "Be still and know that HE is God!" Be still! Slow down, spend time with The Lord daily, enjoy your family.
This post has gone completely awry. It's gone in a direction that I had absolutely no intention of going. I still want to try to get back to my original thought but I think there's an important lesson here for many.
Let's rip off the bandaid and hit it head on...
Last Sunday started out a bit insane. We have a new member of our family...he's furry. The sweet, hip looking guy is now named Bandit! Overall, it's been wonderful experience. Our youngest is absolutely smitten with him and we've all succumbed to his sweet spirited demeanor, except for this past Sunday!
On this particular day, he was not satisfied with being in his fence. Upon Bandits arrival to his new home, we really had no place for him to run and play safely, hence the new fence which turned out to be very expensive. He is safe so we're all happy, except for last Sunday. We got up Sunday AM and he'd somehow escaped. Fortunately he was sleeping out on our front porch. In a weeks time a sweet bond had been formed and we're so grateful that he was so at home that he decided to stay when he could have very easily fled! We'd have had a broken hearted little girl for sure. We promptly put him back in the fence but he was not willing to stay. He tried everything to get out and we did everything we could to keep him there. All of this put me behind and made me late for church. The Hubs & girls went on while I stayed behind to finish dressing. This is life, right?! Things just happen, it wasn't that big of a deal. I finally made it to church and it was a lovely morning. The preaching hadn't even begun and something very strange began to happen; I was having chest pains. Like I said, I'm relatively healthy. I don't look like I'm a heart attack waiting to happen but it could happen to anyone. As the pain progressed I quickly dismissed myself. It's not the pain or the happenings that I'm so interested in sharing with you. We have many wonderful physicians in our church. I knew where a wonderful friend/doctor was sitting & quite conveniently close to where I was. Someone went for her and she came to examine me. She said something that struck me...One of her questions to me was if I had a regular doctor. I have an OB/GYN as I'm sure most women do. I've always taken my health seriously, so I thought. I've never missed an annual check up/pap smear. As women we're all supposed to do that, right? She told me "at my age" I should have an Internist or a regular doctor! "At my age"! Wow! I'm 44 and that was news to me. How could I not know that there was more to being on top of my health? Why had no one ever told me that before? I'll be honest with you, that was a bit difficult to pallet. "At my age"...it just kept ringing in my ears.
At her command, my husband brought me home. Her recommendation was that I go home to rest! That was so hard for me...I had beds that hadn't been made because of the doggy drama. Dishes needed to be put away and the list goes on. I even told her so and her look of sternness told me that this was a no-no. She prayed for me and sent me home. I was still struggling with finding peace about sitting to do nothing. As I sat in my chair in my favorite reading spot I picked up my Bible. The very first thing I came to was Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God. Um...ok! I was immediately in tears and knew that reading this passage was not by accident. He was clearly trying to tell me something, "Be still and know that I am God". He was and is God and he had it all in control. My day was spent reading and praying. The busyness of my life had been a distraction. Sometimes the busyness had kept me from truly seeing blessings and enjoying things that He put right before me for my enjoyment and pleasure.
My request for all of you, men and women alike...have a regular physician! Make your appointment and go annually. I truly thought that visiting my OB/GYN was enough every year.
Let's get back to the issue that I didn't intend on visiting but the one The Lord so clearly wants me to talk about..."the mask". "Acting" like everything is ok. Pretending like you've got it all together. I'm not by any means suggesting that you flip on Dr. Phil for advice. There's a couple things that are important here; biblical community. You should have a small, intimate group of friends that will pray with you, friends that you can be completely honest with, friends that won't judge you and friends that you won't judge when they bear their frailties to you. We are all broken! Did you get that one? There has only ever been one perfect person that stepped foot on this earth, that's The Lord Jesus Christ. He was sin free unlike you and I. We will mess up in disciplining our children, in our marriages, in our lives. You don't have to bear your soul to everyone you meet but you can't act as though you have it all together, otherwise The Lord may halt you like he did me just to get my attention and slow me down. My reminder was very clear and fortunately he didn't have to do something more drastic to slow me down and get my attention. Here's my sweet word to you, "Be still and know that HE is God!" Be still! Slow down, spend time with The Lord daily, enjoy your family.
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