Plan and Play

After a long day yesterday of counseling, meetings and study I decided I needed to go home and do something with my hands. I love to build things and create things for our house. Bu yesterday was different. I did not feel a need to make anything for the house or create anything. I just wanted to play with my saws, drills, wood and kids. So I got out a bunch of old wood that I had around and just started cutting and building. In the end all I built with my kids was a box that I will probably take apart. But when I was doing this I realized a very important life lesson. Sometimes you don't need a plan you just need to play.

Too often in my life I plan, plan, plan. And after that I plan some more. I love to schedule, plan and think about the future. But what I am realizing is that I need to have tim to play as well. Too much planning takes the fun out of life. Too much planning leaves no room to be spontaneous. Too much planning makes you rigid and stressed. If all we ever do is plan everything out we live and die by a schedule. We live a life that is run by everyone else.

But when we leave room for play we have to use our minds to be creative. To wonder. To play. To imagine. To dream. When there is always a plan I work the plan and lose creativity. Now I ma not saying that plans and schedules are not good. They are good and they are necessary. Too many people play and have no plan and this can be destructive in life and relationships. But I believe we can make space in our life to play as well.

But here is the tricky part. You can't plan your play. You just need to have space in your schedule and plan where you are not sure what you are going to do. This time could be filled with being creative, playing with your kids or visiting a friend. I am not sure what play looks like for everyone but I do know this we all need to take some time out of our planned days and weeks and months and play a little. So take a little time today and go play. Use your imagination. Let wonder take over your heart. Open your eyes to the fun around you. Enjoy the company of another. Maybe let today or tomorrow a day to play.

Coffee and Chaos

I was sitting this morning having a cup of coffee at my favorite coffee shop. I enjoy a great cup of coffee in the morning. I don't need the caffeine but I love the smell, the taste and what a coffee shop brings to life. You see the different types of people. Those that come in and need that caffeine. Those that are in a rush because they are running behind. Those that are relaxed and enjoying life. And those like me who want to enjoy a great coffee a good book and some conversation with others. It is amazing that coffee like so many other things in life brings people together. 

As I sat there this morning reading and having friendly conversations with those around me and those running in and out I realized one common thread in all of us...chaos. It did not matter which person you looked at, from the people working there to the retired fella sitting outside by himself pondering life. As I sat there embracing my warm cup in my hands I thought to myself why are our lives so chaotic. We all had jobs, relationships, clothes, homes and enough money to buy a cup of coffee that morning. But the common thread between all of us this morning was not coffee it was chaos. 

Chaos of our mind, heart, and mind created by the very things that we should be thankful for. As I sat and  processed this in my life I realized that our lives are chaotic because our outside circumstances are running our life. Now I realize that to some extent this is necessary because of jobs, family, meetings, money etc. But we have lost peace and rest in our life. We move from one thing to the next. We rarely take time to stop and ponder the discussion we just had with a friend or a stranger. And so our relationships become superficial and selfish rather than deep and long lasting. We become so connected with everyone that we are really not connecting with anyone. 

Our eyes have become closed to the brightness of the sun except when it hurts our eyes. And so beauty has become bothersome. We can't see the hurt or pain in someone's eyes and heart because our lives are lived in a rush. Love has become inconvenient and selfish rather than intimate and giving. We have no time to stop and breathe. To smell the coffee we are drinking. To feel the warmth of the mug. To taste the flavors that are consumed in that drink. To open our eyes and see others around us and give them a smile. To listen to someone who is living in a chaotic world and for a moment give them peace and rest all because you were able to stop and have a cup of coffee. 

We always talk about escaping this world to find peace. To escape our job, relationships, technology, and family. We go on vacation to escape the chaos. But we often returned more tired then when we left. What if finding peace and rest is not about escape but about embrace? Maybe the problem is not escape of these situations but to embrace them all as life giving. But in order to do that I believe we may have to stop and have a cup of coffee. To smell the beauty around us. To hold the hurt and pain of another. To hear the joy in others lives. To see where we can become a gentle breeze in someone life and they can feel our sensitivity to them in that moment.  What would life be like if we actually tasted what it was meant to taste like. Feel what it was meant to feel like. Hear what it was meant to sound like. To view it as it was meant to be seen. To smell the aroma of life. 

I believe we need to turn our chaos into a good cup of coffee. When I slow down and enjoy the life that is held in that cup of coffee my senses are slowly opened to the life around me. A life of people that need to be embraced out of the chaos. People that need to stop for a moment and talk, feel, see, hear and share. People that need others to sit so they can sit. Listen so they can talk. Embrace so they can cry. So maybe today when you are having that cup of coffee embrace the world around you and bring peace into it rather than more chaos. Don't escape chaos around you, embrace it so that others might be able to sit for a moment and enjoy a cup of coffee with you.

Britta and Me

Yesterday, I went to the park with my family. This is a somewhat usual occurrence for us. Often times we go and hang out at the park so my daughter can play and get some energy out. Sometimes its all of us that go and sometimes its just her and dad or mom. But this day we all went. It was one of those beautiful days that was warm but not to warm. The sun was out and there was a nice quite breeze. All in all it was the perfect park day. So we jumped into the car after naps and headed to the park. When we got there it was full of kids climbing things, running around, playing tag and games about dinosaurs that they had made up. The smaller kids were chasing the ducks and dog's were out getting there walks in. Babies were in their strollers being walked around the small pond where dads and their sons were bonding as they fished for anything that would bite. What a beautiful scene of God's creation and His people enjoying life. When we got there my daughter and I headed out to the playground and we climbed all the steps. We went on the swings with big underdogs and lots of laughter. We went down the slides and through the tunnels. We climbed the rock walls and went on the monkey bars. It was pure joy seeing her enjoy the outdoors and all the things that her body would allow her to do as she got her energy out. For me it was a big day as I enjoyed my daughter and my family being able to be there together and enjoying one another.
The reason I write this is because the park for was often a place that I did not enjoy my family. It was often a place where my mind would be thinking about all the things I needed to do and get done. It was a place where I was distracted by ministry and work and projects hanging over my head. Which often left me irritated and irritable. It often made our time at the park short and left my family always wanting more. You see I was consumed with what I had to do rather than who I needed to be in that moment. Because I was so consumed with what I needed to do I missed out on lots of things. I missed out on small moments of laughter, joy and God's creation. I missed out on my daughter's desire to be with her daddy. I missed out on the laughter and the moments of trust when she wanted me to help her. I was not in those moments because I was so distracted by what I had to do. But yesterday and over the last few weeks I have been desiring to be in those moments. To embrace being a dad so that I can enjoy my family and enjoy being a dad. Being in those moments allows me to see the love that I have been missing. It allows me to see my daughter as my child and not a chore. It allowed my wife to have a few moments to think. It allowed my son to laugh as he got put in the swing for the first time. And I did not miss it this time. I was there. Fully present with my family. It was such a huge moment for me and my prayer is that I will be able to continue to BE the dad I need to be and stop just doing the things that will always be there to get done.

Frustrated?

Sometimes our frustrations lead us to break through thoughts, ideas, and spiritual enrichment. Usually our frustrations are the cause of someone else doing or saying something to us. Sometimes our frustrations are due to ourself as well. But the range of emotions that we go through during frustration is huge.  We get angry, mad and ticked off. We then sometimes move to self loathing, depression, and other emotions as well. Often times we put those emotions on someone else or we keep them in. Both are unhealthy to us mentally, spiritually and emotionally and sometimes even physically. So how do we deal with frustration? Frustration is often times and opportunity to either embrace the emotion in a negative way or to allow it to push you into a positive direction. When we allow it to push us in a negative way the emotions stated above play out in your life and usually there is sin involved there. But what does it look like to use frustration in a positive way? If we are willing frustration has the ability to make us look critically at our life or what we are doing. It has the ability to allow us to come up with great ideas because we allow the frustration to make what we are doing or who we are better. It can allow us to dream about what if I was not this way or what if what I am doing was not this way. It can allow us to be creative, and push ourself to something greater. Maybe that greater is our character, our ministry, our job, our family, our relationship with Jesus or others. Frustration can bring joy to our lives as we embrace the thoughts or criticism that comes to us, whether that is personal or form someone else. Either way frustration can be turned positive and be used to bring greater glory to Jesus Christ in our life and in others lives. So don't let frustration get your down let it pick you up. Allow frustration to let your mind be creative, visionary, disciplined, and loving. Let it show you who you really are and move from that in a way that moves you closer to Jesus. Let frustration give you life in who you are and what you are doing.

Do you love going to Church?

Does your head pop off the pillow sunday morning because you are so excited about going to Church and spending time with below believers? Or are you like most of us where sunday morning is the hardest day to get up. Maybe you were up to late on saturday, or your church starts way to early. Maybe its getting all those kiddos dressed, fed, and out the door on time not to mention you getting ready in the midst of all of that. Or maybe it is a spiritual thing where you know you are going to be convicted and so you drag your feet. For a lot of us I think we have this experience maybe more often than we should. And for others of us maybe the Church we attend we are tired of, we don't like the music, the pastor is not all that great, you feel lonely when you go. Maybe you are not sure where you fit in and so you just sort of wander in and out when you feel like it. Sure, there are so many reason why we should not love going to Church. But they really are all selfish reasons. I think that we as Christians need to develop a love for Church one again in our lives. A time to worship Jesus, Spend time with one another, share with each other, give of our time, gifts and money, pray with one another, fellowship, laugh, listen to God's word, reflect on our lives. We need to love the drive to and from with family and friends. A time to share what God is going to do and what He did in our life at Church. We need to develop an excitement about Church that goes far beyond the building. so that we don't just love going to Church but we love being the Church wherever we are.

Feeling Empty?

Some days just feel empty spiritually. Maybe it is because you have poured out all that you have for a season or for an event or walking with someone as you do life together. Maybe it is because you have walked far away from God and your emptiness is an absence of that which gives you life. Or maybe your tired and its just a gloomy empty felling sort of day. I often find spiritual emptiness like the emptiness of our stomach when we are hungry. Out stomach moans, and groans because it wants food. It churns and sometimes cramps up because it needs nutrients. Our body gets weak, we get headaches, and our muscles don't feel as they should. And when we are spiritually empty the same thing occurs in our heart and mind. We moan and groan cause we feel the way that we do. We pace and stress and wonder and question why God feels so far away. We know that we need Him yet we feel weak cause we don't feel Him. An so our spiritual life gets weak, and our spiritual muscles get tired and fatigued. But what I find so interesting about this spiritual emptiness is that there is a need to be filled. Yet for so many of us all the moans, and groans, and headaches, and wonder and questions don't push us to fill that need with Jesus. Instead we fill that need with other things. For each of us it is different. But what each and everyone one of us has is a need and I believe that everyday we all feel an emptiness and a need to fill it with something. For many of us when we have that need physically we fill it with junk and this is why we are overweight which shows us our poor choices in an obvious way. But in the spiritual realm we can fill our need with junk and maybe hide the results. But this need is not something that is going to go away. We will wake up with it every morning and walk with it all day long. I believe that God put the need there for us to fill our lives with Him. Well so many people ask what does that look like? When you decide to fill your life with God you have chosen to live in a way that fills others needs through Christ. So God uses us to fill others needs when they are empty. We can show love, a listening ear, serve, give, show compassion, mercy, grace, maybe be a strong voice of change in someone's life. Whatever it might be the very things that we can be to someone else are the very things that we desire for ourselves to be filled. I often find so many unhappy Christians, maybe it is because we have only fed the emptiness with things like anger, hatred, gossip, lust, sarcasm, and other things. Rather than fill each other's emptiness with good things in Christ. Maybe there would be less junk in others lives if we could walk with one another through emptiness. I have felt empty at times in my life and all I wanted was someone to walk with me and fill me with the good things of Christ. My prayer is that as Christians we begin to not feed the emptiness with junk and thus create more emptiness but to feed the emptiness with the good things of Christ in order for people to find true satisfaction in Him.

Only God

There are times in my life where I feel as though I have to get so much done and accomplish things in order to do other things. There is always stuff hanging over our head and the stress of that sometimes feels overwhelming. I believe far to often I lean on my own strength and wisdom when I should be relying on God. I believe in the Church we rely on the help of others for so many things when we should be relying on God. Now I am not saying that God does not use people but have we gotten away from totally relying on God and mixed that with a reliance on people. In other words we trust God will do it but we rely on people. Rather than rely on God and trust that the will provide the means or the people to accomplish what He wants. I believe when we rely on people we limit what God has for us. As I sat and listened to a pastor last night he said something to the effect of when we come to God in prayer for things what if we did not come with our own agenda but came with only His Word from scripture and said God this is what you say and promise, please do this in my life, my Church, my communities. I believe that we have moved so far away from this reliance on God that He will help us, guide us, support us and love us but we must go to Him and not others first.