Diligence

Megan Breedlove October 12, 2009 0 Comments

My daughter Ellie is a good worker. For example, when I ask her to clean something, she does a great job, even down to the small details. Because she is six, however, there are times when it is difficult for her to stay on task.

Once, I had assigned Ellie a job to do. I went to check on her and found her doing something else. “Ellie, you’re supposed to be doing your job,” I said.

“I was,” Ellie said. She then explained how she thought that the thing she had stopped to do was helpful also.

I could see her point. She was trying very hard to be helpful, as she almost always does. But she needed to finish the work I’d given her.

“Ellie,” I said, “I expect you to do the job I gave you without letting anything else interfere.”

If only I performed the duties God assigns me in the same way I expect Ellie to carry out those I assign her. Too often, however, I allow other things to get in the way.

Usually, those things aren’t “bad” in and of themselves. Playing games, reading, and resting can be good—even very good. They only become bad when we allow our participation in them to distract us from our primary responsibilities.

Playing word games on the computer, which I love to do, might be a great way to unwind after a stressful day. It might also be sinful, if I were to allow my time on the computer to crowd out my time in the Word. Reading can be relaxing and edifying. It can also take up too much of my time, if I’m not careful, leaving me too little time to accomplish the other things I should be doing, such as taking care of my home.

What things tend to distract you from your primary responsibilities? Do you spend too much time shopping, talking to your friends, or even serving on church committees?

None of these things is intrinsically bad. But not one of them is worthy to be put ahead of our primary responsibilities.

What are our primary responsibilities? To answer that question, I borrow an answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In response to the question, “What is the chief end of man?” the answer is, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

That, dear friends, is our primary responsibility: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We must not allow anything to interfere with that.

Is there anything that keeps you from the purpose for which you were created? Is there anything that makes it more difficult for you to carry out your assignment?

If something is already coming to mind, confess it to your Father. Tell Him you don’t want anything to interfere with your carrying out His purpose. If nothing comes to mind, but you have the feeling that there might be something, ask God. He’ll tell you. And if you’re sure that there isn’t anything, that you’re completely on track—well, make sure in prayer that you’re right. Sometimes we don’t even realize where we’re going wrong.

Whether you’ve been a Christian for a week or for twenty years; whether your heart is truly devoted to God, or whether it’s divided; whether you know what the next step is, or whether you have no clue—commit yourself anew to God. Lay your heart, life, and service before Him. Ask Him to help you keep your eyes focused on Him when the things of this world, or your own desires, try to turn you aside.

It’s much more than the right thing to do. It’s the first step in entering into the incredible life God offers you—a life where your greatest glory is glorifying Him, and your greatest desire is eternally satisfied in enjoying Him forever.

There’s nothing that’s worth turning aside from all that.

Psalm 119:37—Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Paint Water

Megan Breedlove September 28, 2009 0 Comments

Sometimes, as a mom, I make decisions that I’m afraid I might regret later. For instance, a few weeks ago, the kids and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some watercolors. I had passed some up at Target, hoping for a better price at Wal-Mart. So I promised the kids that on the way home from the Y, we would stop and buy the watercolors at Wal-Mart. The only problem was, Wal-Mart’s price was even worse than Target’s.

As I stood there thinking, “Now what am I going to do? I’ve been promising them paints. Okay, so a dollar difference isn’t that big a deal,” I noticed some other paints right next to the watercolors.

I don’t know what you call this kind of paints, but they’re the kind you have to dip a brush in, with no water involved. They’re thick, and goopy, and they look like if they spilled on your carpet, you might as well not even bother trying to get the stain up. I looked at these paints, and then, in a brief moment of insanity, I heard myself saying, “Hey, kids! How about these?”

“Yeah!” they shouted, and the deal was done.

We brought the paints home, and I’m happy to report that the painting went quite well. All four kids wore their “craft shirts” (cheap t-shirts I bought for a dollar each at Dollar Tree) to protect their clothes, and we had a vinyl tablecloth protecting the table. Nobody spilled anything on the floor, and nobody painted themselves or each other—much. The kids had a blast, and I deemed the project a welcome success.

At one point as they painted, I took the cup of paint water out to the sink and began to pour it down the drain. I watched the ugly brown water as it streamed from the cup, leaving a couple smears of bright colors on the inside where the paint hadn’t quite dissolved. I thought about how beautiful those colors had been in the hands of my children—the designers—but how ugly they were when messed up and mixed together.

It’s the same way with our lives. In the hands of the Designer—God—the colors of our lives are beautiful. They make not just pictures on plain white art paper, but masterpieces, created by the Master Artist.

It’s when we get involved and try to produce the art ourselves, that we mess things up.

From where I stood at the kitchen sink, I couldn’t see my children’s paintings. I was completely unable to see the pictures, but I trusted that they looked nice, at least to the designers, and that was enough for me. Oh, if only we would do the same with God. If only we would realize that the picture looks just like the designer wants it, and accept that, without trying to paint it ourselves.

We would never presume to tell Monet, if he were still alive, how he should paint. Much less would we ever take the brush from him and start completing the work ourselves. Yet we do this very thing to God, for one of two reasons. Either we don’t like the way He’s making the picture, so we try to make it turn out the way we want it to be, or we look only at the paint water, which is ugly, and we therefore assume the whole thing is a wreck.

But when God paints, He never makes a mistake. When He is allowed to paint without interference, His designs are always grand and glorious. It’s when we try to straighten out His work that we mess the whole thing up.

Friend, you and I are not the Master Artist. God is. Let’s trust Him that He knows what He’s doing, and cooperate with Him.

After all, what do you want? Do you want a picture that looks like an amateur painted it, or do you want a masterpiece?

Isaiah 55:8-9— “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Super Kenny

Megan Breedlove May 25, 2009 0 Comments

Inside my four-year-old son, Kenny, lives the heart of a superhero. Superman, to be precise. Kenny has two pairs of Superman jammies—long ones for winter, and short ones for summer. Each set of jammies comes with a cape that I velcro to the little spots on the shoulders of his pajama top. With this addition of this cape, Kenny becomes Super Kenny. He can run really fast, and he can even fly with his arms straight out in front of him, just like Superman (if we hold him up). Super Kenny has the biggest, proudest grin you’ve ever seen.

Without the cape, though, he’s just a little boy in a pair of jammies that’s missing something.

I found this out one night when Kenny was getting ready for bed. He came into the room where I was, wearing his pajamas. “You’re Super Kenny!” I said.

“No,” he said sadly, gazing toward the floor. “I can’t find my cape.”

“You can be Super Kenny even without your cape,” I said.

“No,” he repeated. “I have to have my cape.”

“Go look again where your jammies are,” I suggested.

Kenny left silently. He returned less than a minute later, holding the beloved red polyester rectangle. “I found it!” he said excitedly.

I quickly attached it to his shoulders, and Kenny turned to face me, his grin lighting up his whole face. “Now I’m Super Kenny!” he said proudly.

I knew that he’d been Super Kenny all along. But Kenny didn’t know it. He thought he needed that piece of fabric to complete his identity and transform him from a regular boy into someone spectacular. What he didn’t realize was that he’d been spectacular all along.

Kenny’s status as someone truly marvelous never depended on what he wore. God has declared him to be fearfully and wonderfully made, and that right there is enough to bestow upon him “super” status. I knew that Kenny was just as super no matter what he was wearing, or what he possessed. But he thought that in order to be truly spectacular, he needed something more than himself.

Precious mommy friend, do you ever find yourself thinking the same thing about yourself? That if you had something more—if you just dressed better, or looked prettier, or were smarter—you could be truly spectacular?

For many years of my life, I bought into Satan’s lie that if I were just prettier or more popular, I would be more special. I spent years trying to improve myself in these areas so that I could be something remarkable, all the while failing to realize that I already was.

How I wish I had realized much sooner that I was already super because God said so, and if He said so, that made it true. My status as marvelously unique and wonderful didn’t depend at all on what anybody else thought, or even on what I thought of myself. It depended then, and depends now, solely on what God declares to be true of me.

Can you empathize with me? Do you wish you could change one or more areas of your life so that you could finally feel like you really are super? It’s understandable. The devil is an expert liar and deceiver, and he is very skilled in hitting us where it hurts: our sense of ourselves. Instead of valuable and special, he wants us to see ourselves as worthless and common.

I don’t know the circumstances of your life, or why you feel that you aren’t very special. I do know that you can do the same thing I did after many years and much pain (though I hope it won’t take you nearly as long as it took me): you can choose to believe God.

It’s that simple. Simple, but not easy. I know it’s not. Remember, I’ve been there, and I stayed there for awhile. But what it all comes down to is this: will we choose to believe what God declares to be true about us, or will we find our sense of value in the things we possess or in what other people tell us about ourselves?

God has declared you to be His wonderful creation. You can choose to believe that, or not. You can count the opinions of other finite human beings as more valuable than His. But oh, friend, if you acknowledge that what He says about you is true, even if it doesn’t feel true, that’s the first step in truly coming to believe in the depths of your soul that you are marvelous and precious.

Take that first step. Declare that you believe God and want to take Him at His word, and He will meet you there at your point of need. He will clothe you not with a red polyester cape, but with every spiritual blessing that you need in order to realize that you are His beloved, amazing child.

Of course, if you don’t know God, the first thing you need to do is get to know Him. If you’re not sure how, check out the How to Know God section of this website, or ask a family member, friend, or pastor. Don’t miss out on knowing a God who knows you completely (because He made you) and loves you so deeply that He sent His son Jesus to die on a cross, taking the punishment for your sins so that you could then draw close to Him. He loves you that much.

You can trust a God like that. Do it, and choose to believe His opinion over anyone else’s, including your own. After all, His is really the only one that matters.

Psalm 139:14—I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Dirty Apples

Megan Breedlove July 14, 2008 0 Comments

My daughter Lindsey loves apples. She loves playing with them, eating them, hoarding them, stealing them, making a mess with them…you name it. (Of course, this is pretty much how she treats everything, but that’s another story.) One time, when she was 18 months old, she asked for an apple for a snack. I got out my handy-dandy apple slicer, where you press the thing down on top of the apple and it cores it and chops it into slices, all at the same time, and sliced the apple for her.

She was not content, however, to take one measly slice, or even to wait for me to put the slices into a bowl. Instead, she had to grab all the apple slices and walk away—probably to leave them on the floor somewhere, or maybe to actually eat them.

But fresh-cut apple slices are slippery, and when you’re only 18 months old and you’re trying to hold eight slices in your two little hands, well, it’s tough to do. So as she headed across the kitchen, most of the slices slipped out of her hands and landed on the floor.

I headed toward her to pick up the slices, intending to throw them away and slice her another apple. But Lindsey saw me coming, bent down, scooped up the slices in both hands, and started toddling away as fast as she could go.

I caught up with her, and when she felt my hand touch her, she sat down on the floor and began to cry, clutching those apples in her two little fists like they were the Hope Diamond and I was trying to steal it. “No! No!” she screamed tearfully as I pried them from her grip. Then, when she finally gave in to the realization that she had lost, she stopped saying “No!” and just wailed.

“I’ll get you some more apples,” I had tried to say as I took the apples away from her. “These are dirty. I’ll get you some more.”

But she didn’t want more apples. She wanted the ones she already had. The ones that fell on the floor and were dirty now. The ones fit only for the trash can. Those were her precious apples, and I was taking them from her.

Friends, have you ever tried to hang onto dirty apples?

Oh, I don’t mean actual food that has fallen on the floor. I mean things that God is trying to take away from you, telling you that they’re no good. When he wants to remove something from you, do you let him, or do you scream and cry and clutch your dirty apples with all of your might? When he finally, mercifully, removes them from you by force, do you wail, heartbroken?

I think we have all been there. But oh, dear friends, we don’t have to be there ever again.

Lindsey was too young to understand that I was taking the apples away for her own good, intending to replace them with something far better. Or if she did understand, the pain of losing the apples she already had was too great for her, and she clung to what she already had hold of, even though they were dirty. Even though they were trash.

There is a Rich Mullins song with a line that goes, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than to take what you give that I need.”

That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

God never asks us to give things up, or removes things from us, just to cause us grief with no other good purpose in mind. We know for certain, because we know his character and because he has revealed this in the Bible, that everything he does to and for us is for our good and his ultimate glory (which are one and the same).

So why, when he asks us to turn loose of something, do we fight him? Maybe it’s because we forget his character. Lindsey thought I was being mean to her. Sometimes, we question God’s goodness. Other times, our emotions are so intensely involved that we simply can’t bear to part with the thing in question, and any attempt to make us part with it sets off such intense grief that we just can’t consider anything else.

There’s another way we could respond when we’re asked or required to give up something we hold dear. It’s easy to say “Okay, God” when we understand and agree with the reason for giving it up. Right now, I’m talking about when we don’t understand, or we understand but don’t agree. During those times, we can make a decision of our will to voluntarily give up to God that which he is requiring of us. This doesn’t mean saying we desire to give it up. Quite the contrary, sometimes. What it does mean is that we can tell God, “God, I know that you wouldn’t ask me to give this up if there weren’t a sufficient reason. Although everything within me wants to fight you on this, I choose to follow not my flesh, not my limited understanding, but that which I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is true—that you are good, all the time, and that if you require something from me, that is good enough reason, even if I don’t understand why. So I choose to give this up to you so that you don’t have to pry it from my hand. I do this even though it grieves me…even though it tears my heart in two…even though if you gave me the choice, I would scream, ‘No! Don’t take it!’”

Hard? Oh, yes. Friend, I’ve been there. I know it can be agonizingly hard. But I also know it’s worth it to surrender willingly.

You see, God will take what he needs to take, whatever our response may be. So will we fight him? Or will we let go?

Will we hold onto the dirty apples? Or will we trade them in for something better, that even if we can’t see and don’t understand right now, we know it’s coming? Because you can be assured that God will bring good out of even the greatest tragedy. That’s the kind of wonderful God we have.

Isaiah 55:9—For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Romans 8:28—And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.