Power in Perseverance

Butterfly migration is an amazing thing. These delicate, seemingly weightless creatures fly up to 3,000 miles from as far as Canada to reach their winter destination in Mexico. This weekend I got to witness hundreds of them making their pilgrimages across the state as I traveled the backroads of Texas. I became fascinated by their fortitude.

To watch them you would think butterflies are at the mercies of the winds, blown from place to place as they flit about. They do not fly with the determination of geese or the soar on powerful wings like an eagle. That they make it even a mile seems nothing short of miraculous. How many times must they flap their fragile wings to complete their journey? What motivates them to keep moving forward? How do they trust that what they cannot see will be worth the effort? There are many similarities between life and butterflies.

How many times do you feel tossed by the winds as you journey through life? You don't seem to have the power of those soaring above you and you can't hear the sounds of encouragement coming from those behind. You flit, you flail, and you flutter as you try to move forward. Troubles come and send you reeling out of control. You feel weak and powerless, but that is not the truth. The truth is you are miraculous. You are beautiful. Your power is not in your strength, it is in your perseverance. It is easy to fly when you are strong, but it is amazing to keep flying when you are frail. You may not know where you are going right now, but you will definitely know when you get there. You are furiously flapping at the moment, but it is just a season. When that season passes it will be followed by another of rest. It is just around the bend, do not give up! There is a purpose in your pilgrimage and it is for your good. You only have to do one thing--- just keep moving your wings! Hope awaits!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 20:11

Obstacles or Interventions?

You all know that I am a big believer that so much of life is about perspective. I am constantly trying to adjust the sail of my life to use the winds to move me in a more positive direction. But let’s face it, life isn’t always smooth sailing.  We run into obstacles that seem to be keeping us from the things we feel we want/need to be successful, happy, healthy, safe, satisfied. But what if the obstacles that we run into are actually interventions? What if they are carefully placed in our lives in order to move us to something better? What if the relationship that falls apart is leading us to the one that will last a lifetime? What if the job we didn’t get frees us up to accept the one we love? What if the light that turns red when we’re running late keeps us from an accident further down the road? What if?

There are so many things in our lives that we cannot control. The older I get the more I see the illusion of controlling my life was hysterically misplaced pride. BUT, I can control how I view things and I can control how I react to them. Charles Swindoll says, “We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.” How would our attitudes, and in turn our lives, change if we began to reframe obstacles as interventions?  Let’s test it out. When the obstacles come, and we can be certain they will, how will we view them? Obstacles or INTERVENTIONS?

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20

Why?

The Word of Wonder

One of the first questions we learn to ask in life is “Why”. “Why is the sky blue?”,“Why do I have to take a bath?”,”Why does the back of your arm jiggle?” (That one may have hurt my feelings once!), “Why can’t I have a tiger?”,”Why do the stars twinkle?” Any parent of a preschooler can tell you the list is eternal! We begin our lives in a world of wonder --- we wonder about every little thing we see and hear.

Perhaps we lose some of our curiosity as we get older or maybe we just stop asking every question that pops in our head, but as we mature the frequency of our whys decreases. It seems as though we lose some of our wonder and stop asking some of the questions; until the problems roll in, that is. Then we default back to the whys. “Why me?”, “Why this?”,“Why now?” As we grapple for understanding the whys just roll through our mind and out of our mouths. I think it is as much a part of our human nature as the whys of a three-year-old.

What I have been thinking about is why don’t we ask why when things are good? When the kids are healthy, and the bills are paid we rarely stop to ask why. When the car doesn’t run out of gas even though it has been on E a little too long, we breathe a sigh of relief as we coast into the station, but we don’t ask why we made it. When we get an unexpected bonus or some small sign of grace we don’t bother to ask why now or why me?

I wonder why we are so quick to question when things are bad and so slow to do so when things are good?  Do you want to know why good things happen to you? Want to know why your teenagers are doing okay and you slept in a warm, safe bed last night? Want to know why that car almost hit you yesterday and didn’t? Want to know why you didn’t have enough money in your account and yet somehow you made it through the month? Want to know why someone was kind to you out of the blue yesterday when you were privately having a really bad day? It is because, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Why are we so quick to question him when things are rough and so slow to stand in wonder when things are good? In the past few years of my life I have begun to see that why not might be the more appropriate question when things are bad. We live in a broken world. The surprise is not that bad things happen, but that they don't happen a lot more often. Most days (actually probably all days) my life is way better than I deserve yet I don't ask why. Asking why on the good days leads us to a place of gratitude and appreciation. It reminds us that tiny little miracles happen all day every day if we just begin to wonder again. I don't know about you, but I need the joy of those little wonders to keep me afloat in a world that seems full of ugliness.  I want more whys in my life. "Why does that rain smell so good and the sky look so beautiful tonight?" "Why do I see my grandad in my boy's twinkly eyes?", "Why do my eyes water when I laugh so hard?","Why did he use so many colors and textures when he really didn't have to?" "Why so many different variations of butterflies and flowers?", "Why does my God love me when I am so undeserving?", "Why?", "Why?", "Why?"

Let's return to the word of wonder! WHY?