June | 2018 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for June, 2018

The Cause of the Problem

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #costcoonsundays, #costcoparkinglots, #dontdowhatidid, #icausedtheproblemmyself, #thecauseoftheproblem on June 5, 2018| 2 Comments »

Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 9.38.01 PM I went to Costco on a Sunday afternoon! I thought that going just an hour before closing would mean it wouldn’t be so chaotic … I was wrong.

It took forever to find an empty parking spot. Then I gave up and started watching for people who were walking out of the store, towards their vehicles. Finally I saw someone with just a few items in their cart, and stalked them back to their vehicle (pause, now just visualize this happening …

one frazzled lady, fleeing the box store, with not a cent in her bank account and her sanity barely intact. Another lady (that’s me) desperate to find a place to park her vehicle, driving slowly behind shopper lady …

I awaited my ~~prey~~ parking spot to become available (seriously, this lady took more time loading her car than I did filling my cart once I got into the store!), with my turn signal alerting everyone in that row that THAT SPOT WAS MINE … BACK OFF. Cars behind me started to form a line out of the row, and around the corner (I bet I was a Sunday blessing to those happy not-yet-shoppers).

Finally the lady lowered her trunk lid, and got herself into the driver’s seat.

I am pretty convinced that she returned texts, emails and updated her Twitter and Instagram accounts at this point. She may have touched up her make-up as well, it took her so long to put it into reverse.

Then, the moment I was anxiously awaiting, her reverse lights were on! She s l o w l y backed out toward my vehicle, and began to move forward. As she did another car was coming … this made me temporarily anxious that they might do a Fried Green Tomatoes move and snag my spot. They didn’t. But they kept coming and ended up stopped … blocking my preordained parking spot.

The driver of the car that was blocking me looked not at all happy about being halted from leaving the Costco parking lot. They made hand gestures, were verbally and facially animated and honked their horn. What they did not know, was that their being stopped was because they stopped me from parking, which stopped the cars (plural) behind me from moving forward, which also stopped the cars from being able to exit the row, thus blocking them in.

As I eventually got parked and was walking into the store, I realized something … they were the cause of their own problem and they were completely unaware.

Then I found myself wondering, how often is that the case in my life? That the rut, struggle or frustration I am currently experiencing is caused by my own choices, actions or movements … without looking at how I might be contributing to the problem?

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Get Out of Your People Group

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #getoutofyourpeoplegroup, #learnfromothers, #spendtimewithotherpeople, #varietyisthespiceoflife on June 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Screen Shot 2018-06-02 at 7.53.43 AM Writer Jonathan Lockwood Huie has said, “unsolicited advice is always meddling.”

So … let me meddle a bit.

If I were to give two bits of advice to anyone who would listen, they would be:

search after God
surround yourself with people of various ages

I am not going to touch on the first, as … well, I hope that permeates all of my posts, all of my breaths.

It is the second that I am going to dare to meddle, and give my two cents worth.

From my experience of life, it is better fed into and I have more to learn and take away from when I spend time with people of various ages.

Our world and society seem to constantly be pushing people of similar thinking, similar living and similar ages together at the exclusion of all others. We have day care for babies, toddlers or preschoolers. We have elementary, middle and high schools. There are developments that are for the forty-five or fifty-five and up, exclusively. Bible studies for preteens, teens, college and career, young married, re-married, expecting, new parents, new moms, parents of teens, single adults, single parents, empty nesters, seniors, etc., etc., etc.

Though all of those have good rational for grouping together, as they are groups who have something in common, there is also good rational for groups, or circles of friends who do not all drive mini vans, eat avocados, do homework, vote for a certain political party or collect a retirement cheque, if you do too.

To spend time with those at the end of life is to see the perspective of one who knows what is a major problem, and what is a minor one. They have more of an eternal view, as they are not anticipating the next epic movie, they are anticipating their own epic move into eternity.

To spend time with people who have completed their career years is to spend time with people who are loving their time, enjoying their days, not taking a moment for granted.

To spend time with those whose nests are emptied is to be reminded that it is coming soon, and to make time for your children while they are under your roof.

To spend time with those in the throws of the career and family years is to be reminded … to pray for them! Those are the most challenging years to time, finances, energy and relationship to one’s spouse. We need to hold them up in prayer, that they do not get so busy doing that they forget to live and have life abundantly.

To spend time with those in the years of building family, home, career, hobbies is to be reminded that life doesn’t always go as expected. Those are the years of the building of faith, through successes and trials and failures and disappointments. The years of marriage, or not. Of having children, or not. Of purchasing a home, or not. Of scoring the dream job, or not.

To spend time with those in their early twenties is to be reminded of idealism. It is a season of life when we humans actually believe and make strides to change the world, globally and locally. It is a window that, those of us who are older, need to peer through more frequently than we do, so that we do not stop trying to do good, so that we do not become stagnant in how we live as part of a bigger community.

To spend time with adolescents and teens is to be reminded of what it is to feel awkward and under pressure. It is the season of development when striving begins. Striving to be seen, striving to be successful in school and extracurricular activities, striving to make others proud, striving to be perfect. They remind us how unnecessary the striving is, and the toll it takes on us.

To spend time with children is to be reminded to play. To just play and play hard. To awaken each day eager to learn, to do, to be. This is the season which the phrase joy of life is most visible.

Ah, and then the babes … they remind us of the miracle of life. That just breathing is a gift.

May our circles be filled with those who can tell us what is coming, as well as what has been. May we rub shoulders with those we can assist, and who can assist us. May our lives include those who remind us of the value of eternity, this moment, of a breath.

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The Good that God Gives

Posted in GOD, life, Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #godgivesgoodgifts, #godisnotagenie, #godspromises, #iwillneverleaveyou, #thegoodthatgodgives on June 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Screen Shot 2018-05-31 at 6.59.55 AM

Did you know that God is not a cosmic equivalent to a fairy godmother?

I know that …

yet I often live and speak as though I was completely unaware of that reality.

I live and think that my version of good is the same as God’s version. I sometimes think that I deserve something (though, in the moment I wouldn’t necessarily confess that was my thinking) and that because I need it God will provide it.

That sort of thinking creates a genie-like description of God,

but God is not a genie.

What God promises is not heath, wealth, perfect children and that we will always be loved by our friends, neighbours, co-workers or families.

God promises:

that we will be saved (Romans 10:9) … if we confess that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead
that we will not be tempted beyond what God has given us the ability to resist (1 Corinthians 10:13) … NO excuses
that we can have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives … if we repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38) … we have to repent!
that he will not leave us alone (Deuteronomy 31:6)

As I was typing those four promises, I realized that three of them are … conditional. They are promises that are predicated by our actions.

We are saved if we confess that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead.
we will not be tempted beyond what God has given us the ability to resist
we can have the Holy Spirit in our lives if we repent and be baptized

We first have to act in faith, then God will fulfill his part of the bargain.

The only promise that does not come with a condition is that God will not leave us alone.

In the human experience one of the most common fears is loneliness. Perhaps the greatest gift, the greatest promise that any can human being can receive is a promise to never leave us.

No fairy godmother, no genie in a bottle and all the magic that goes with them, no amount of money or security or even health can compare with knowing that there is one who will always be with us.

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