Uplifted in a Broken Down World

     This past week, I asked God where we have gone so wrong with rearing the youth of today.   Is Covid, bullying and lack of family the sole causes of so many wayward young people?   God led me to a totally new perspective.   It was an awakening!!!

     Youth of today are absorbed in the worldly ladder of horizontal success.   They are judged by being the best athlete, the smartest student, the most beautiful body, etc., etc., etc.   Sadly, not only do they constantly hear this from their peers, but also, from their parents, teachers and coaches.   Standard way of the young’s thinking (and believing) is if they aren’t the best, they are sub adequate.   Those who do attain the top rung are indoctrinated that they are only valuable (and validated) if they remain above all competition.   But is this God’s doctrine?   I don’t think so, or at least that was what I heard God whispering to me.

     Truth be told, I can’t find even one place in God’s word where He speaks that any human being is perfect, without fault, and towers above all other creatures; or that this is the direction in which mankind is to strive.   However, multiple times God reveals, though we all are sinners, the gift of His grace carries us beyond the lowliness of our shortcomings and into the highest glory – the reward of being called a child of God capable of (and destined to) reach beyond the limelight of the stars and merit the heavens.

     The greatest tragedy, today, is not that our youth are obsessed with their self-worth being tied to worldly status.   It is that we, their parents, teachers and coaches, have helped their identity be tied to successes instead of instilling in them that, like us grown-ups, they are sinners, not created to be measured by perfection, but grace covered in our imperfections.   Honestly, our adult conversations concerning the individual youth in our family, more than not, would, most likely, convict us all in this regard.   Ouch!!! 

     Maybe, young people need to know they are not adored because of what they achieve.   Quite possibly, what the young need to receive is our unconditional love, not solely doled out when they stand perfect above all others, but forever theirs, even when they fall down and “soul”y need God’s gift of grace to crawl across their finish line.

     Wonder what the world would reflect if we, adults, set out to help our young identify with being a grace gifted sinner instead of the reflection of a flawless, better than the rest, human being?

     When I first noticed the bike rack, by the entry gates to my subdivision, my thought was what a strange place to park a bike.   Yet, it was completely packed with bikes of all size and colors.   I thought it was interesting that not a single electric scoter was in the mix.   The time of day was midmorning.   Late afternoon, I drove by again.   Every single bike was gone.   As the days passed, the same scene occurred – totally full or completely empty.   Finally, my timing changed.   The Middle School bus and I arrived at the bike rack at the same moment.   A crowd of preteens piled off the bus and onto their “wheels” to ride the rest of their way home.  

As the youth raced up the street, my old soul took a trip down memory lane.   Those of you sharing my ancient generation are smiling as you remember how our bikes were our favorite (and only) means of transportation.   What a reflecting journey back in time to see young people eager (and content) to hop on a bike and ride into the future!!!

     Then, early afternoon one weekday, I was walking the sidewalk outside my community.   Suddenly, I felt ambushed.   Bike after bike after bike kept passing me up from the rear.   However, this time each and every bicycle was being pedaled by a grown-up.   Since when did anyone with a driver’s license choose to pedal a bike instead of turning over an engine?   Definitely, I was in the dark and missing something.   A few blocks up the road, understanding dawned.

     I came upon an Elementary School.   All those adult bike riders who had passed me were stopped outside the school’s fence waiting for their children to be dismissed.   I, too, halted my walk and watched.   Little tykes raced out, found their wheels amongst the flock at the school’s bike racks and then searched for mommy or daddy.   (Yes, daddies were as prevalent in the parents waiting as mommies!)   Once found and united with their parent, off they went as family heading home.

     Witnessing this, I was gratefully astounded.   Who ever said old fashioned families are extinct?   There I was re-living one of the most beautiful moments of family caring and togetherness.   Might not be the norm everywhere, but I guarantee you, in my new hometown the family unit has not been removed from the face of the earth.   Quite the opposite, it is alive, well and flourishing.

     As I headed home, I found myself, once more, being breezed by with packs of parents and their children journeying through life together.   What a blessed time this was.   My heart was filled with deja vu excitement and gratitude.   Newspapers, radios and TVs might spread that parents don’t care, can’t be bothered and that children are spoiled, lazy and evil; but this is not the truth.   Families, as God created them to be, still inhabit earth.

Old fashioned bike riding, parents caring and families sharing – thank you God for reminding me, who could ask for more or accept less?   Not me!!!  How about you???

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

     Today finds me taking a step back, looking into our world and questioning do our youth even have soul dreams or are they solely drowning in nightmares?   Quite possibly, this is not only one of the greatest travesties handed to our young but, also, a very great failure of ours in their legacy.   Somehow we have turned from helping our children and grandchildren discover the God given dreams within their hearts.   Instead, we have idly stood by and let the devil drown our precious young ones in the world’s nightmares.   My soul cries over this; and my pen cries out, desiring to unmask what I believe God’s people are not seeing, yet the devil is perceiving as his victory.

     Are our youth, via the screams of social media, being so inundated with how bad the world and its population are that not even a flicker of hope enlightens them to heaven’s promise and the goodness of God?   Have our young people’s inner desire to hold a dream been wiped out by smearing them with all that is wrong, instead of wiping away their doubts of knowing that through God’s grace carrying them, their own hard work and our faith, hope and love in them, they can not only reach their dreams but also reach beyond their starry dreams and touch the heavens? 

     One additional shortcoming of us grown-ups takes reaching a dream out of the goals of our young.  Through falling into the misguided trap of not wanting our children to be lacking of anything, aren’t we doing our children harm when we remove all obstacles from their paths?  This leads to them not having  to seek (and believe in) strength beyond their known power or having to stretch their courage to earn their dreams?   Aren’t outstretched fingertips struggling to attain a dream, not an open palm waiting to be dropped into, the gift we are called to share with our young?   My heart believes this; but, too often, we grown-ups propagate in our youth the doom and gloom of nightmares over instilling in them the ability to have, strive for, achieve and hold onto a dream.

     Without any wondering, I am a forever God centered, 100% believer seeking the wonder of dreams – both those attained in heaven and the ones sewn into my journey on earth.   Recently, a new dream became mine (and hopefully, yours too).   Let’s dig even a tiny crevice in the devil’s shroud of nightmares engulfing our children and enlighten and encourage them to trust both God and themselves and, then, to dare to dream their dreams.   It’s more than time that our youth were given the gift of worn and torn, “believing-in-dreams” fingertips instead of the nightmare of Satan’s slippery slope of greased palms and worldly doom and gloom.  Simply spoken, let’s become dedicated to turning our children from being upset by nightmares into being stirred up by dreams.

     A picture is worth a thousand words, and so it was last Sunday.   The preaching pastor was excellent, but he paled in comparison to the little girl, maybe six or seven years old, who encapsulated the lesson of a joyful heart worshipping her God.   My soul melted in awe of her walk with God.   This stroll was not easy for her.   However, her eyes glistened, her cheeks glowed and her smile was ear to ear as she hobbled down the path to reach her seat amidst the congregation.   Never was I ever so grateful to have found myself planted in the rear of a Sunday worship service.   It afforded me the opportunity to, beyond a fleeting glance, witness and be forever touched by this little lassie.

     With her earthly Daddy only a step away and her heavenly Father’s arms around her, her head was held high as she creeped down the very long church aisle.   White sweater and a knee length, dark skirt topped her attire; but it was the covering of her legs, beneath her clothing’s hem, that she wore with the greatest of God’s grace – stiff non bending braces from her knees to her ankles.

     Each labored step this petite angel took was solely enabled by every ounce of energy and determination she could muster and empowered by nothing shy of her soul being carried by God.

     That precious little child brightly shone forth the epitome of what all God’s family should reflect – uncontainable joy that we are able to run, walk or even limp into God’s midst and worship Him from our hearts and souls, knowing there are no braces (nor sin) that can hold us back from embracing God’s love, redemption and grace.

     Thank you, God, for this young child of Yours, who walked me back to reflecting on your gifts, my blessings and renewed commitment to Micah 6:8 (NIV).   “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

     Found myself asking God, this week, why sins just keep repeating and repeating in our world.   Even very solid Christians fall into a repetitive sin.   As usual, my chat with God led me to a new thought concerning why sin is, so often, repetitious.  

     Might sin fall easily into a recurrent reality because the sinner repents sin’s repercussion, not the sin itself?   Let’s think about this.

     We all are sinners.   Question is when we sin, are we mostly sorry for the wrong, hurt, shortcoming, tragedy, etc. in which the sin results, instead of the actual sin itself.   Unless our remorse sees the sin as what needs to be avoided (not the outcome of the sin), there is no real way to permanently turn away from repeating the sin.   Our souls need to feel broken because of the sin, as opposed to our hearts broken because of the sin’s repercussion.

     Wonder what would happen if the sin stood alone and became our sole (and soul) focus?   Just maybe a repetitive sin might be eliminated.   If so, the repercussion would, also, automatically be nonexistent.

        “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19 (NIV)

     God calls us, His children, to walk in faith and trust, no matter the war of storms encircling us.   How do we do this in today’s world?   Evil has infiltrated, broken down and is seizing all semblance of civility (let alone brotherly love) on our planet.  

     Even just a quick glance at the news brings fear, panic and a sense of life spiraling out of control.   Our focus, as intended by the devil, sees and feels nothing but the ambush of decimating uprisings around every corner, considering us prey to be destroyed.   So, what can we do?

     I suggest we need to change our focus from uprisings to “Rising Up”.   The only antidote to the crippling destruction of civil uprisings is the overpowering strength of spiritually “Rising Up”.   “Rising Up” is not setting out to put blinders on to the world but to remove the scales from our “I’s” and let the eyes of our heart and soul see God’s promises, power and personal love for each, and every one, of us.   “Rising Up” means turning from the howls of worldly condemnation and vices to lifting our voices in praise to our God, whose grace replaces sin with loving redemption.  

     In short, we can collapse and surrender to the war of evil uprisings or choose “Rising Up” as our battle cry, knowing and believing God, and God alone, has supreme power and complete control over our world, our life and our destiny.   We can give in and give up to uprisings, or by “Rising Up” we can give it all to God.   The choice is yours and mine.

     “Who rises up for me against the wicked?  Who stands up for me against evildoers?  If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.  When I thought, ‘My foot slips’, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.  When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul….  But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.”  Psalm 94: 16-19, 22 (ESV)

     Being garbed in God’s peace is not the result of a shopping spree where we sort through racks of life’s odds and ends and, then, decide which pieces we will hand God to let Him clothe us in His peace.   To be surrounded in God’s peace is not an either/or proposition but an “ALL IN” disposition.

     To rest in God’s peace, we must place everything in His hands.   Human tendency is to give God only the right of way in what we fear, dread or by what we don’t want to be bothered.      Too often, mankind wants to keep control of what we label “life’s good stuff”.   However, for us to rest in God’s peace, we have to actively place all the good, bad and indifferent in our lives into the Hands of God.   Our fingertips cannot sift through and retain parts of our life to steer and control.   We shouldn’t view this as we need to become powerless but, rather, that our ultimate strength is found only when we give God full, inclusive power over every area of our life.

     Plain and simple, complete submersion in God’s peace comes only from total submission of every nook and cranny of one’s life to God’s control, guidance, protection, timing and wisdom.   “In peace, I will both lie down and sleep; for You, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8 (ESV)

     Calculations compute that in the Bible Jesus asks 307 questions.   In addition, He is asked 183 questions, of which He only answers 3.   Thus, I think it’s accurate to state Jesus, during His life on earth, was surrounded by over 160 times more questions than answers.   While this might be a great trivia fact, it is not trivial gospel.

     Jesus could have, if He had so chosen, answered every single question – both what He asked and what was asked of Him.   However, His will was not to do so.   Unanswered questions were of no hindrance to Him or the redemptive reason He set foot on earth.

     The questions by (and for) Jesus, if anything, were meant to make His followers (and enemies) ponder the power, control, goodness, love and wisdom of our Triune God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.   Questions didn’t unravel Christ, nor did they destroy the foundation of His mission or the completion of His purpose on earth.   Questions might have surrounded Jesus, but they never penetrated or destroyed the answer He was for the forgiveness of our sins and the reward of eternity with God in heaven.

     Our lives, like Christ’s, are marred with questions.   Why do we fail to see this similarity?   If we recognized in our lives this parallel to Christ, then, not turmoil and fear, but peace and faith would ultimately engulf our journeys on earth – just like it did our Brother, Christ’s.   A million questions can’t destroy us, if we hold fast to the soul answer to all questions — faith and trust in God.

       Maybe, we can’t get rid of life’s questions; but we most certainly have been given the answer: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

     What a month it has been.   To most, I disappeared.   To me, the duration was one of continual appearing – so much came into sight (and insight) for me.   Point is, I am back and more blessed and grown in the Lord’s peace from my past month’s long journey.

     As I began last month, so many argued I couldn’t do it alone.   My retort proclaimed I wasn’t alone.   God was with me.   Next came many warning I’d be too overwhelmed to accomplish what was ahead.   My way of looking at it was the sage ol’ reply “If God has brought me to it, and He has; then He will get me through it”.   He did, too!!!   However, one surprise to me was from where God chose to get me through it.   He was positioned not behind or in front of me but “beside” me.   I’m chuckling as I realize God’s wisdom and message in choosing to place His primary position “beside” me.

     Like I just experienced, we all (each and every one of us) face times of great transition.   Quite naturally, we, as humans, doubt our capability to survive, let alone thrive.   Seriously, if we had the choice, I bet we all would place God behind us so that when we, inevitably, would fall, He’d be there to catch us.   Yep, God behind us is the greatest of safety nets.   Who wouldn’t want God to stay firmly planted behind us.   I know, I did; but God knew better.   He chose “beside” not behind me.

     Then there’s in front of.   This is a great place to see God when we want assurance that everything, at the end of all our worldly adventures, results in perfection and sweet success.   Simply stated, during the entirety of this past month’s journey, this was not God’s focus for me.   His message and meaning for me was spelled out “beside”.  

     If my focus was on God being behind me this past month, I believe I would have failed.   So many times I would have given up, declared defeat and trusted God to be behind me, catch me and do the work for me to make it through.   This time, there wasn’t a choice to fall down and fail.   It was off the list of options.   God, wisely, just removed Himself, and me, from this scenario!!!

     How many times do we endure all forms of hardship simply because we look to God as being in front of us?   God in front of us is our escape, and future reward, from present challenge.   However, God’s present to me this past month was placing Himself, not in front of me, but “beside” me.

     God beside me – let’s explore this position of presence.   Not transplanting myself into new surroundings, but God’s inner peace, was the challenge, and gift, of my last month.   With God “beside” me, I didn’t look behind or in front of me for guidance and survival.   My strength came from God “beside” me.   It’s so natural to accept life one step at a time and trust you are not alone, but where you are meant to be, when you know God is “beside” you, right now in the here and present.   Taking life day by day (no matter the struggle) is a blessing when your trust is in God being “beside” you.   It keeps you from coming totally unglued and worrying about failing and falling into total defeat and despair.  Instead, strength and endurance, as well as a feeling of not being isolated alone, surrounds you. 

     My hope and prayer is that you, my siblings in Christ, feel God “beside” you.  Not behind you yesterday or in front of you tomorrow, but today, when needed most, may you discover God “beside” you.

     At times, all our lives face physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual challenges.   These past few weeks have certainly reconfirmed this for me.   However, my return to sharing my blog is not an essay on the effect of my moving challenges but a dialogue on two different ways we might interpret how challenges affect us.

     Many, and more times than I can count, I lovingly heard the challenge of my move would overwhelm me, and I could not do it by myself.   My retort consistently was that I was not alone.   God was with me, directing me and carrying me.   From this perspective is where I met God, and He enlightened me.

     There are two way of looking at, and perceiving, our challenges.   First view is they will be overwhelming.   Second vista is that challenges are merely God’s way of putting us under construction.   Being overwhelmed is the automatic and simple response that our challenges control us.   Under construction is allowing God to change and improve us, lead us through, strengthen us, and change our outlook from us being stifled to our being chiseled into a growing more God like and God dependent human being.      

     A challenge looked upon as the controller of our existence will without a doubt overwhelm us and defeat us.   A challenge looked upon as under God’s construction will grow us, change us for the good, strengthen us and, most importantly, put God in control.   When we relinquish ourselves to God being in control, we will not be out of control – I.e., allow a challenge to overwhelm us.

     Our God of forgiveness and grace is not intent on hurting us.   Thus, any (and all) challenges we face, and recognize as God putting us under construction, are positive encounters with adversity through which we can depend on God, instead of doubt ourselves and our abilities.

     The most miraculous result of my move is this.   Overwhelmed is no longer in my personal vocabulary.   Under construction is its replacement.   One final thought – the beauty of under construction is when the challenge is behind us, today finds us stronger Christians and tomorrow’s inevitable challenges no longer threaten us.   After all, the work zone of God allowing us to be under construction solely, and SOULy, builds on His promise: “For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”  (Isaiah 41:13) NIV