Everything We Need to Know We Learned While Training Dragons

I meant to share this a while ago, when I first took my three daughters (and my dad) to see "How To Train Your Dragon 2" over the summer.  But then life happened (or laziness ensued or distraction set in or insert any other excuse here), and I didn't get around to it.  Then my nieces watched it during our family Christmas celebration, and news events happened in our country, and I was reminded.

So, in the theme of things as I close out 2014, better late than never.

While I was watching "How to Train Your Dragon 2," two themes kept coming to mind.  They, coupled with something I listened to myself whisper as I held my frightened four-year-old daughter on my lap, made up three truths about life I've learned over the last several years.  And, as I watch the news each day, I see how essential it is that I teach them to my girls.

It's been too long for me to give specific references to the film, and maybe they aren't even as important as real-life examples, so here goes nothing.

1) Talking and getting to know new people is better than fighting.
Our country is on the cusp of something major.  In college I studied the Civil Rights Movement, and in the cry of silent protesters and angry crowds I see so much history being repeated.  On another front there are lines being drawn about gay rights and transgender individuals and what is Christian and what is right. Then there is addiction--both the addicts themselves and the people who desperately love them and want to be enough for them . . .

We're in a mess of hurting people, and "we" as the Church are too often stepping up to the wrong side of those lines.  Yes.  There is right and there is wrong.  But God never asked us to judge the heart of man.  He asked us to love His children.  If I insist on pointing out the right and the wrong and ignore the brokenness and desperation, am I doing that?  No.  So.  Talking and getting to know people is better than fighting.  We need each other.  We need each other for what we can learn from people who are different than us, and we need each other for what we can share with people who are different than us.  And, most importantly, we need each other because without each other I'm not sure we can ever see a true picture of the God who created each of us.

2) Work together to fight the bullies.
Maybe this lends itself to #1 up there.  We. Need. Each. Other.  Period.  There's nothing more to it than that.  There are bullies in this world.  Some of them are big and physically violent.  Some of them are small and insidious.  Some of them are in the pews next to us in our churches.  Some of them stand in our capitol buildings.  Some of them wear a badge and carry a gun.  Some of them work on our news stations or in a cubicle next to us.

But, it's important to remember that not all of the people in those roles are bullies.

As I'm involved in a Global Learners' Initiative through my daughters' school district I have learned one important lesson: NEVER go alone.  Find a friend.  A buddy.  Someone who has your back.  Because here's the thing.  The bullies are tough.  Their insecurities and ignorance and hatred make them formidable, and their desperation makes them dangerous.

So don't go alone.

Let's join together.  Alone we can get killed.  Alone we can bend and break under the pressure.  Alone we can get laughed out of the room.

If you see a bully who needs to be fought, ask a friend to join you.  If you see a friend who's fighting a battle, join in.  Don't quarrel about differences in technique or philosophy or theology or interpretation.  Just fight alongside someone who needs it.

Fight the bullies with truth and goodness.  Maybe we'll get beaten in this battle.  But we'll win the war.

3) "It might get scary, but it will be okay."
This one is my favorite.  During the great battle scene at the end of the moview, my youngest daughter crawled onto my lap and whispered that she was scared.  I wrapped my arms around her, squeezed her tightly, and whispered back, "Baby, it will be okay.  It might get scary, but it will be okay."

There is truth to this, I realized as I heard my words.  That's life, friends.  It gets scary sometimes.  But it will be okay.

What a year my family had closing out 2013 and throughout 2014.  We were betrayed by friends--publicly.  Lies were told.  Tears were shed.  Curse words were uttered.  Truth is still taking its time stepping into the light.  In the middle of all of it, a brother ended his fight with PTSD.  And now, at the end of it (we thought), my dad has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  His prognosis is good, though the cancer is aggressive.  Still, it's cancer.  There will be surgery and, depending on what the doctors find, maybe treatments.

It might get scary, but it will be okay.

We have faith.  And we have God.  And we have each other.  And we have grace.  And we know that in the end, it will all be okay.


Let these three lessons carry us into the new year, friends.  Let this be the year that the Church stops caring about semantics and starts caring about the heart of Christ.  Let this be the year that the bullies are fought against and that the bullied find us standing with them.  Let this be the year of hope in the midst of the fear that everything really will work out in the end.  And, in the middle of it all, let us find grace and love and joy.

New Beginnings

It's the day of resolutions.  The new beginning to becoming all that I really am.  As I face 2012, I find myself wondering if I'll make it, or if I'll be sitting here one year from today, writing the same thing.  I don't want my resolutions to be just dreams, I want them to be something that can really come true.  Something that I can really make happen. 

Armed with my already well-worn copy of Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure (yeah, I was skeptical too), I'm confident that I will fail miserably at keeping any of these resolutions.  But I know who won't.  And so, here I go, reshaping it all, with my eyes on the One who makes all things possible.

Resolved, to live according to the truth found in 1 Timothy 2:17, recognizing that God has given me the spirit of self discipline, so I don't need to search it out anywhere else, and He has given me the spirit of love, so I can be found faithful.

Accordingly, I will strive to live out self discipline and faithful love in the following ways:
* Physically: Food is fuel.  God intended it to taste good and be enjoyable, but "it is only a cookie--it cannot help."  Exercise is an essential part of honoring God physically.  So is sleep. 
    Goal - I want to lose 60 pounds by December 31.
    Plan - I will learn to control my portions, stop eating when I am full, wait 15 minutes before giving in to a craving, get 7 hours of sleep each night, and exercise at least 45 minutes each week day.

* Spiritually: God is my life.  Without Him I am nothing, and I have nothing.  I need to center my day on Him.
    Goal - I want to read through the Bible this year and live a more grateful life.
    Plan - I will spend 30 minutes praying and reading the Bible each morning, using the KINGDOM Bible Reading Plan.  I will also write down a blessing each day using the year calendar from A Holy Experience.

* Mentally: I have spent the last year feeling dry and like I'm barely holding on.  I ended the year getting organized with colored Sharpies and a giant calendar on the wall.  But I still owe myself--and God, who created me with this mind and these passions and talents--more than organized chaos.  I need to challenge and express myself.
    Goal - I want to blog at least 25 days a month, and I want to read at least 24 books this year.
    Plan - I'll read all of our book club books (have the list and can start reading ahead), and I will also try to tackle at least one additional book from my bookshelf each month.  I'm also going to "steal" 15 minutes each day for myself where I can explore my thoughts on my blog. 

On the 24th of each month I'm going to reflect on the previous month so I can measure my progress and make any adjustments I need to.  So, that's it.  Above all, I want to honor Him with each of these areas of my life.  I know that tapping in to the power that He has given me and making Him the focus of it all, I'll make it.  When 2013 dawns, I hope to look just a bit more like who I was created to be and a much greater reflection of the Father who made me that way.

Another Year Is Dawning

I missed singing one of my favorite songs to close out 2007, so I'll share it here:
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee;
Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast,
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace;
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.

Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love;
Another year of training
For holier work above.
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in heaven,
Another year for Thee.

2007 closed out so beautifully, meeting, embracing, and hugging old friends--and new ones in the form of a darling nearly one-year-old girl from Ethiopia & Oregon. It truly was a lovely ending to a hard and beautiful year.

It's interesting to stand on this side of 2008, the dawning of another year, and wonder what it will bring. To whom will we say goodbye this year? Whom will we greet with the wonder and celebration of new life? Whom will we treasure and draw closer than ever before, and from whom will we grow apart? There is certainly great comfort in knowing that whatever this year may bring, whether we face it with ourselves or loved ones on earth or else in heaven, it will truly be another year lived in the grace, wonder, awe, beauty, and tender arms of God.

A new year is nothing without New Year's Resolutions--the kind that will hopefully become new ways of life rather than something I chuckle about in twelve short months.

In the year of our Lord 2008, I resolve to:
1) Cook with more veggies (thank you Jessica Seinfeld and Deceptively Delicious)
2) Think--and speak--positively rather than critically
3) Potty train our toddler
4) Welcome our darling Megan into our home as she has already been welcomed in to our hearts
5) Cherish our time with both of our daughters--especially since one will be in school already in the fall
6) Pursue publishing something I wrote years ago and swore I would publish one day
7) Spend less money and pay off more debt
8) Make real progress toward living the life I was made for and looking like the One I love and Who loves me far more than I am capable of dreaming
9) Celebrate the quiet, happy rest of Sabbath--true Sabbath