July 2011

Me!

Megan Breedlove July 11, 2011 No Comments

My three-year-old daughter Jessica loves to help around the house. She takes pride in being a “good helper”, and whenever she’s asked to do something, she trots off importantly to accomplish the task. Upon being told she’s done a good job, she beams with pleasure.

I knew Jessica was convinced that she is a good “cweaner”, a good mopper, and a good cook. But I didn’t know she was also a…well, let me tell you the story.

The other day, my husband was preparing homemade strawberry topping for the homemade shortcake I had made. “Can I help?” Jessica asked.

“She’s a good helper,” I affirmed to my husband, not because he didn’t know, but so Jessica could hear me say it.

“I have to slice the strawberries with a sharp knife, so that’s something Daddy has to do himself,” he said. “Then I just have to macerate them.”

“I’m a good macewator!” Jessica shouted happily.

I’m sure she had no more idea what the word meant than I did (apparently, it means letting the berries sit in sugar until the juices come out). But that didn’t stop her. She just knew she was a good…whatever it was.

It’s kind of like a point Robert Fulghum made in his book All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. He talked about how if you ask a class of kindergarteners, “Who’s a good (singer/artist/runner)?” they will all shoot their hands into the air and shout, “Me!” But ask that same group of people twenty years later, and few of them will say, “Yep, I’m good.”

Why is that? It’s because kindergarteners haven’t yet learned to compare themselves to others and find themselves inferior. They haven’t fully grasped the idea that “some are better than others” and that they might be part of the “others”. As adults, we know it full well, and we’ve categorized ourselves with the “some” or the “others” depending on the category.

Many of those kindergarten girls might dream of being ballerinas. Many of the boys probably dream about being sports stars. But those same kids twenty years later no longer have those same dreams. They “know” they can’t do it, so they don’t want to try.

Sometimes, this isn’t a problem. After all, we have to be realistic. For example, I’m 5’4” and female. I will never play for the NBA no matter how hard I practice, so I might as well admit it now. The problem comes in when we categorize ourselves wrongly (an “other” when we should be a “some”, or vice versa), or when we let our “otherness” cause us to feel bad about ourselves. Worse yet is when we let our perceived “otherness” cause us to believe we can’t do something God has called us to do, or when we lose the desire to try because we believe we can’t be the perfect “some”.

Instead of being a really great “some”, even if not the very best one, we wind up being, in terms of our service,…nothing. Instead of being an average “some”, but one whom God has called, we are…nothing.

Moses would understand how we feel. When God met him at the burning bush and called him to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses made excuses. “They’re not going to listen to me,” he said.

“Okay,” God said, “tell them My Name. Then they will listen.”

“Maybe,” Moses said. “But what if they still don’t believe me?”

“All right,” God said, “I’ll teach you how to perform miracles that will validate your credibility in their eyes.”

“But I can’t speak very well,” Moses protested.

“Who do you think made your mouth?” God demanded. “And if I say you can do it, you can do it already! Now go! I’ll even help you!”

“Aw, come on, please pick somebody else,” Moses begged.

“Moses, you blew it!” God said. “I’ll pick your brother, all right, but you just missed out on a huge blessing.”

Obviously, I have paraphrased this story, but don’t miss the point: Moses didn’t want to do the job because he was afraid he wouldn’t succeed.

How often are you and I tempted to do the same thing—to let somebody else do the job because we don’t want to fail? Granted, nobody likes failure, but why in the world would we think we’d fail if God has called us to do it? Do we not believe that He will enable us to do that which He’s commanded us to do?

No, we don’t. Or at least, not always. We’re more concerned with how we will feel if we fail or how we will look to others (which gets back to how we will feel) than we are with God’s greatness and complete ability. We’d rather miss out on a few blessings than take a chance on looking foolish to others. In other words, we care more about what others think of us than what God thinks of us. And what do you think God thinks of us in that situation? Sure, He still loves us. He always will. But I bet He thinks something like There’s my beloved child who just won’t trust me! Why won’t you? Why do you not believe that if I call you, I will never abandon you?

So we spend our lives being only intermittently willing vessels for His use—provided, of course, that He doesn’t call us to do something out of our comfort zone. Provided that He doesn’t ask anything beyond what we think we are capable of.

Friend, God can—and will!—make you capable of anything He calls you to do. Don’t limit His work in you by hesitating or refusing when He calls you. Choose to trust Him. Be useful for Him. Let Him make of you what He wants—not merely what you will permit.

I don’t know what use He might want to make of your life today. But I do know it’s incredible. In fact, it was valuable enough to Him that He wants to assign you to do it. Will you let Him do what He wants to do? Or will you be your own master? Will I?

I pray we won’t. I pray when He asks “Who’s a good servant for me?” that instead of saying “Please find somebody else,” we’ll shoot our hands up and shout, “Me!” knowing that He will enable us. Let’s all go back to kindergarten, when we believed anything was possible. Because anything He calls us to is possible.

2 Corinthians 9:8—And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Independent

Megan Breedlove July 4, 2011 No Comments

Today, our country celebrates gaining our independence 235 years ago. For many people, it will be a day-long celebration—grilling out, swimming, hanging out with family and friends, and watching fireworks. Actually, Americans spend quite a bit of time celebrating independence—not just our country’s independence, but our own personal independence.

It’s right and good to celebrate some steps toward independence, such as when children reach developmental milestones (like being able to open the tube of Desitin all by herself when you aren’t looking. Oh, well; at least I now know how to get waterproof substances out of bed linens). But sometimes, independence shouldn’t be celebrated. That’s because it can be a really bad idea, or even tragic.

For example, trying to do everything on one’s own as a mom, failing to ask for help when needed, and refusing it when it’s offered falls under the category of “really bad idea”. Everyone needs help at some point. Maybe even at lots of points. It’s foolish to think we can or should move through life independently of other human beings.

But it’s tragic when we think we can be independent of God. We were made to need Him, and our refusal to acknowledge that fact doesn’t change a thing. One of Satan’s favorite tactics is to prevent people from realizing how much they need God. Sometimes he might have to actively move in their lives to convince them of this; other times, he doesn’t have to do a thing, because they already think that way.

I’m not referring only to non-Christians. True, by definition, they believe they don’t need God. But we Christians can act the same way, calling God in as a consultant when life gets too difficult and running the show by ourselves the rest of the time. Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads “God is my co-pilot”? What that’s saying is that God is a consultant. An assistant. The pilot consults God when necessary and otherwise handles things on his or her own.

How would we know if we are treating God as an assistant rather than chief pilot and architect? We can know if, when something bad happens, we consult friends and the internet before we pray. It’s also a pretty good indication when we can’t remember the last time we spent time with Him, but we can remember the last time we were on Facebook. Likewise, it should tell us something when we spend more time asking for God’s blessings than we do praising Him and putting ourselves at His disposal.

We’ve all been there, my friend. We’ve all been far too independent at times. And we’ll be tempted to “forget” God again in the future. How do we prevent this from happening? We can’t necessarily prevent the temptation. But we can make it such a priority to spend time with God and ask for His perspective that eventually, it will become unnatural not to do so. We can get so used to being in His presence and checking in with Him first that doing so will become as natural as breathing. (For more on this topic, see my recent series on “Growing in God: Mommy Edition”.)

I don’t know about you, but on this Independence Day weekend, I need a little more dependence in my life, at least where my relationship with God is concerned. I don’t want to be independent of Him. Ever. Countries may decide they don’t want another country to rule over them, but I know I need God to rule over me. I would take no pride in declaring my independence of Him; instead, I take pride in the greatness of the One Who is my Master. I want to be under His rule. I hope you want the same.

Joshua 24:15—And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.