WONDER | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for the ‘WONDER’ Category

Back to School … in a Pandemic

Posted in Faith, WONDER, tagged #backtoschool, #backtoschool2020, #backtoschoolinapandemic, #covid19, #flexibility, #godwillnotleaveus, #prayer, #prayerfortheschoolyear on September 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Back to school is always a paradox of excitement and anxiety. This year, this 2020 September … in the midst of a pandemic … there might just be more anxiety than excitement.

Returning to work in a secondary school, last week, I found myself less anxious as I leaned into the F-word that needs to be the focus of the school year … flexibility. I also gained strength by praying … for the administration, for colleagues, for the students and their parents.

Prayer is our best back to school tool. It reminds us that we are not in control, but we know who is and that he doesn’t leave us in our time of need, our time of anxiety.

Prayer gives us a place to speak our fears, to name them, to be real.

Prayer gives us an amen … meaning ‘so be it’ or ‘truth’. It is the release of our burden … not just the giving of our worry and concern to God, but trusting him with our prayer (ie. not taking it back).

So … let’s pray for this school year:

God,

We come to you, acknowledging that you are God … we are not, Coronavirus is not … only you are God and you are God over everything.

God our kids (we) are starting a new school year and we confess that we might be allowing worry to control us. We confess that we have given far too much attention and time to social media and it has left us anxious, even hopeless. We confess that we often look first to those in government, in education to calm our fears. Lord we give the things that cause us to be anxious to you. We seek you first for confidence, for protection, for comfort.

We also seek your leading, for some are unsure about their return to school. There are staff, students, or family members at home with compromised immune systems, or pre-existing conditions that make us unsure about the wisdom of returning to school. Please, Lord, guide and lead those who are unsure. Lead them to their physicians who can help them make the best decision for themselves, their children and those they love. And Lord, if they choose to not return, help the rest of us to embrace them in their personal decision.

There is such anxiety about the start of this school year, Lord. There are those who may be frozen with fear. Bring them reminders of peace and comfort. Bring your people to them, to embrace and encourage them where they are, but also who will walk them through the fear to a place of ease.

May we, who follow you, hold tightly to you, so that we can be beacons of your love to those around us.

Thank-you that you give to us a spirit of power, and love, and a sound mind … those are your gifts to us (the evil one brings fear). With our sound minds we can make the decisions that are best for those we love. With the power from you, we can be confident in our decisions. With love we can make decisions based on what is best for not just we and those we love but for those around us … and in doing so, we are your hands and feet.

May we encourage those who are returning (or have already returned) to work in classrooms. May we hold up in prayer to you those who will be cleaning, teaching, administrating, assisting students in our schools. May we be like Aaron and Hur for Moses, holding his hands high in the midst of Joshua’s battle … holding school staff up to God as they battle for educating in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

God, we give this school year to you. We give the families represented, the school staff, those who sit in tall buildings making decisions about education and safety … to you. And we walk in faith that you will not leave us alone in the path ahead of us.

Amen … and amen.

Read Full Post »

Good Things about Covid

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #coronavirus, #goodchanges, #goodthingsaboutcovid, #handwashing, #pollyannathinking, #stayhomewhensick, #thebubble on September 6, 2020| 2 Comments »

You read that title right … there are good things that have come from this Covid 19 pandemic.

Call me Pollyanna if you wish, but my mind seeks to see the good in the bad as it’s method of processing, accepting and moving on from the dark and nasties of life.

The thing is, as I went back to work last week and prepare for the start of a new school year in the week to come, it hit me that there are at least three good things that have come from the Covid 19 pandemic.

The first is hand washing. Not only are we washing our hands, but there are reminders everywhere of how and how long, ensuring that we are not just dipping our hands in water and then drying them. This simple and quick act of protection will probably also help to reduce the spread of viruses beyond Covid 19. According to the CDC, hand-washing alone can reduce respiratory infections by 16% and this practise can reduce the spread of other diseases as well.

The second is that people will not just be encouraged, but will be expected to stay home when sick if one is feeling unwell. Working in a high school I have had the experience of what we call ‘typical’ students cough or sneeze directly towards my face … yikes! Yet, I have also had the experience of working alongside colleagues who have decided to work while sick, spreading their viral germs through the air and on every surface from the photocopier to the door handles. I have to say I actually feel more confident returning to school, with this new social, school and workplace change in thinking to feeling unwell.

The third is the bubble. In North America (and all around the world), we were encouraged to stay home, within our household bubble. Our families were forced to spend time together. Now, Pollyanna-like I may be, I do recognize that this was not a good or safe reality for some, where households are the most dangerous and harmful places to be. But, for the majority, we were involuntarily brought together, under one roof. During this time people learned how to cook their dinners, how to play board games, do puzzles, watch movies, how to garden, go for daily family walks and bike rides. We learned what together means, we might even have learned who lives under our roofs.

There are many unfortunate and even tragic results of the Coronavirus, but I do hope that these three have positive changes in our thinking and in our communities, long term.

Read Full Post »

This Moment

Posted in Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #keepmeinthemoment, #notlookingforwardorback, #thisistheday on September 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I love looking ahead, anticipating the next long weekend, school break. This forward thinking provides a goal, a desired ‘carrot’ at the end of the week or season. It also helps me to not take my job too seriously, to not allow it to come before the more important things in life … worship, family, friends.

This summer I have been stalked by a message, that I realized I’d been hearing without listening when I heard these lyrics in a song:

“Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss
what you have for me”

Something about the first line … keep me in the moment … it stirred something visceral within me, as though those words were intended specifically for me.

To keep, or stay in the moment is to not look forward, or back with longing, but to be completely in the now, the present. It is to fully attend, to be mind, body and soul in the present task, with those present.

It is in the attending, the being fully present that we see the purpose, the learning, the value of that time, that moment. We learn the contentment of leaning on God.

As I look to the fall, to the return to work in a high school, in this season of Covid, I know that I need to focus on the very moment I am in, giving my full energy and attention to this moment.

“This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24

Read Full Post »

Ways to Deal with the Real

Posted in life, tagged #dealingwithpain, #howdowehandlepain, waystodealwiththereal on September 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Fred Rogers: There’s no normal life that is free from pain.
Lloyd Vogel: How do you deal with it?
Fred Rogers: … play the lowest keys on a piano all at the same time.
Lloyd Vogel: Do you ever talk to anyone about the burden you carry?
Fred Rogers: Bong! [imitates hitting the piano keys again]

That is my one of my favorite scenes in the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It is a reminder that there are ways to deal with pain and burden without hurting someone else or yourself … we just need to find what works best for each of us.

This movie tells of the research done by author Tom Junod for an article in Esquire magazine, which resulted in research and redemption in the author himself. Watching such a movie is a mood reset for me.

What do we do … how do we handle the deepest pains in our lives? Do we drain a bottle of alcohol? dive into the cupboards for carbs? pull a Mt. St. Helens on those around us? go for a run? kneel down low and lift our burdens high? or play the lowest keys of a piano all at once?

It is good to ask ourselves this question, searching for what our most natural response to pain, to burden, anxiety. Pain and burdens are real and we have to find ways to deal with the real.

I have had times when I felt like a pressure cooker, ready to explode in tears or anger or a disquiet that made me vibrate all over. I am, most naturally, one to seek our the carbs … as if a tummy full of yeast and sugar is gonna lighten my mood (or my weight).

When I am thinking clearly but the weight on my shoulders heavy, I sit down in the dark and turn on a story that explodes with positivity, redemption, light … it’s like playing the lowest keys on a piano all at the same time.

Read Full Post »

Morning Light

Posted in Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #becarefulthatyoudonotforget, #donotforgetthelord, #godisfaithful, #memorials, #morninglight, #walkinginthelight on August 30, 2020| Leave a Comment »

As I opened the bedroom door I was temporarily blinded by the light shining through my office window, illuminating that room and the hallway.

A bit startled by the abrupt visual awakening at such an early morning hour (due to the need of the Wonderdog to go out), I squinted, raised my hand to shield my eyes.

Once the startling awakening subsided, I was able to take joy in this fleeting gift of light beauty to start my day. What a lovely way to start the day … walking into the light.

That dazzling early morning moment stayed with me all day long, bringing a smile to my face as I remembered the joy of my entrance into a new day.

It was startling, unexpected, overwhelming, heart-stopping.

All words that also fit those moments in our life when we are walking with God, our very own sunshine-maker … and we know it. Moments that are gifts to us, that keep us spiritually afloat when the waves of life rise threateningly.

These are the moments that linger … like that gleaming morning light that greeted me one morning.

In Deuteronomy 6:12, Moses tells the Israelites,

“be careful that you do not forget the LORD,
who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.”

This warning is valid, because we humans are quick to forget the blessings, the gifts, the good times and where they come from. When times get tough we are often quick to pull out the woe is me complaint.

In the Bible, memorials (usually with stones) were created so that people would not forget the faithfulness of God in a difficult time or situation. These memorials are also a testimony to others, showing evidence of the presence of God in our lives.

I just took a picture, saved it on my phone, then told my sunshine story here to you … and you.

Be careful that you do not forget …

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

Read Full Post »

More Love than Hate

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #charliemackesy, #lightinthedarkness, #morelovethanhate, #theboythemolethefoxandthehorse on August 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

It arrived!

I opened the door to see that familiar brown cardboard box, wrapped in black tape, at my doorstep.

Just two days earlier I had ordered a little gift … just for me. A simple hardcover book, filled with few words, simple sketches, yet the images and words had been boosting my mood all summer long on the Instagram account of the author.

The book title, sounding more like a children’s picture book … The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, is like taking a meandering walk with a young child, still inquisitive about absolutely everything, still unguarded, willing to ask the tough questions … willing to share their deepest thoughts.

It is pure delight!

I think what drew my attention to the work of this man was that it’s message is simple, vulnerable, positive … real.

I think too that it was like a mirage in the desert … for this summer, this year has been dark, depressing filled with hate.

It is too easy to sit on the dung pile too long.

Eventually, we all need a ray of sunshine, a light at the end of the tunnel … a little positivity to shine a light in the news of a dark world.

Through the beautiful simplicity of real and vulnerable words, my heart was lightened, hope restored.

“My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that…In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours, Albert Camus”

“They dare to be vulnerable,
which makes them closer.”
Charlie Mackesy

Read Full Post »

Respond Gently

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #dontfeedthemonster, #powerinwords, #respondgently, #thetongue, #thinkbeforespeak on August 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Don’t fight fire with fire

Live by the sword, die by the sword

or, my personal favorite,

Don’t feed the monster

These idioms are all variations of one of the easiest Proverbs (for me) to say, but doing it, living it’s wisdom is so … unnatural.

A gentle answer turns away rage,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1

Why is it so hard to just be quiet? To speak gently?

Why is it so easy to respond quickly and harshly?

Our tongue, it’s sharp! Sharp like a sword!

Proverbs 12:18 reminds us, “there is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Man, when you look at the power we have through our words as either wounding or healing … I kinda shake in my boots, because I don’t want to wound … I just … forget to pause before speaking, or I retaliate when another’s words have hurt me, or … I just don’t take my words captive and so they allow me to implicate myself.

There is such responsibility in our words!

Matthew 12:36-37 tells us, ” … on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Though I have so not mastered this (ask my family, they will confirm the practise I still need to apply), I think it’s all about pausing before we speak. For, even when daggers are thrown our way, our responsibility is for how we respond, what we say … not what is said to us.

Respond gently … motto of the day (week, month … life).

Read Full Post »

To the One Carrying a Burden too Big

Posted in life, tagged #burdenbearers, #heytherewearysoul, #inhaleexhalerepeat, #jesuswantsourburdens, #totheonecarryingaburdentoobig on August 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Do you bear the burdens of others? Do you hear the stories, the struggles and the heartaches of others and wear them like a heavy coat? When the conversation ends, do you walk to your car carrying the substance of the conversation with a friend or family member, like carrying the weight of a massive suitcase? Does your mind whisper groans to heaven … interceding for others? Do you awaken the next day exhausted, for wrestling with thoughts overburdened by another’s … burden?

Are you a burden-bearer?

That has been my week … or so. My heart so full of the stories of others that focus on my daily tasks resembles that of the animation of the speed of the Road Runner escaping Wile E. Coyote.

To process my heavy heart for one individual, I began to write them a letter. Then I realized that it could be written to all of them, for the hopes and prayers, the groans and the whispers are so similar, because when downcast hope is what we need most.

So, this is my burden bearer perspective, for those whose story is hard, from someone who is sharing your load.

I hope you know that I listened, to every single word, every pause, every tremor in your voice. I heard it all, felt it all. My heart has been living outside of my chest, beating in time to yours. When we parted I took your story home with me, carried it while I drove, while I cleaned my house, on my walk that evening, then I took it to bed … the only time I let it go was when I put it in the arms of Jesus … over, and over and over again. I want to do something to fix your story … to erase, re-write, to intervene … but I, in my human state can’t do that, I can only help you carry it … carry it to Him.

Here is what I know about Him …

He knows. He knows what is going on in your life. He knows the loss, the loneliness, the feeling of being lost. He knows your story and he knows how you got to this chapter … the mistakes made, the injuries inflicted, the dark valley you are walking through. He also knows how this story can end, how it will end.

He’s not going anywhere. He will never leave you (even though he will never force you to love him back). He is right beside you, ensuring that you are never alone. Yes, you might feel alone at times (right now), but he’s with you, closer than a a sister or brother.

He has a purpose for your life. It begins with each breath inhaled, exhaled … repeat. Some days just getting yourself out of bed is so hard, just breath through it. Some days it can seem that you are making one step forward, then two back … Put one foot in front of the other, inhale … exhale … repeat.

He loves. That is what he is, the personification of love … limitless, unconditional, always within reach. He loves you. Just as you are, in the middle of your story, as you sit on your dung heap … he loves you.

St. Augustine has said of the Psalms, “if the psalm prays, you pray; if it laments, you lament; if it exults, you rejoice; if it hopes, you hope; if it fears, you fear. Everything written here is a mirror for us.”

Weary, lonely, burdened one, with so much load to carry … know that you are not carrying it all alone. There are those who love you and who are bearing your burden with you and there is a God, the creator of heaven and earth and everything in them, who wants you to know how very loved you are … right this moment.

inhale. exhale. repeat.

Read Full Post »

The Fixer

Posted in WONDER, tagged #listeningishelping, #prayinthebrokenness, #problemsolving, #thefixer, #trustinthelord on August 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Anyone out there a fixer?

When something is broken, you want to jump in and repair it? When you hear of a need, you want to meet it? When a problem is presented, you immediately want to find a solution?

People like that drive me nuts! Probably because I am one of those people.

A few months back, I had a problem which I presented to my hubby. When I started, he interrupted and asked,

do you want me to help find a solution or just listen?

I just wanted him to listen …

so I poured out the story for him, but I was mentally distracted, for his question caused me to question the help I offer to my friends, family … to him. Because, like him, I am a fixer, and fixers fix … listening isn’t really part of our natural response system.

Last week I fixed something in our home that had been irritating to me for years. This fix took maybe a total of five minutes. There is a frame with various pictures of our family in it. The picture of our son was too narrow for the slot it was in, so there was white emptiness on either side of it. The other day I took it off the wall, cut a piece of black card stock to fit the opening, attached the picture in the center and hung it back up. Now there is no glaring white lines to pull my eye to it as I walk by … problem solved.

But …

those white lines … they drew my eye to that picture, like a magnet, reminding me of the imperfect fit of the picture to the opening … but also drawing my eye to the image of my son, reminding me to pray for him.

This story of the imperfect picture that reminded me to pray and the one of hubby asking if I wanted a solution of to just listen … they niggle at my ‘fixer’ instincts. They remind me that sometimes we need to not just see a problem to fix, but also a purpose in the problem … a learning in the midst of the problem … a creativity born out of the broken.

We live in a world full of problems, brokenness, heartaches, struggles … and we cannot fix them all … but we can always listen, we can always pray.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5

Read Full Post »

What is God’s Will?

Posted in Walking with God, tagged #actjustlylovemercywalkhumbly, #createdtoworship, #godswill, #purposeinlife, #spiritualworship, #spurgeon, #usedbygod, #whatisgodswill on August 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Lord, use me in your will for my life in this world.

I long to be used by God. To be his hands and feet in my small corner of the world. I don’t need his pat on my back, I just long to be used … needed.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16

When you don’t know how God wants to use you and you so desperately want to be needed. When you feel certain that you have something to offer but you’re not exactly sure what it is, why doors aren’t opening and just feel useless.

Walking with God, being in his will, in his purpose for life and breath is simply heaven on Earth. It is what gets us up out of bed each day.

But we (I say ‘we’ but, let me tell you, I am preaching this one right back at ‘me’) are always walking with God, when we choose to rely on him, on his provision of opportunity to shine for him.

Being in his will, being used of the God of creation doesn’t mean we are always walking in a surreal, sweet-smelling rose garden. It doesn’t mean that our every more (or word) is flawless. Doesn’t mean that we ‘feel’ good about what we are doing all. the. time. It doesn’t mean that we ‘know’ we are doing God’s work.

Micah 6:8 reminds us of what God’s will actually is for each of us … what he requires of us all:

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.

Spurgeon writes (of this scripture), “it was a spiritual worship that the Lord required; not externals, not outward gifts, but the heart. If thou wilt bring an offering, bring thyself; there is no other gift that the Lord so much desires. The prophet mentions three things that the Lord required of his people: “To do justly:” here are the equities of life. “To love mercy here are the kindnesses of life, which are to be rendered cheerfully. The prophet does not say, “to do mercy,” but to “love” it, to take a delight in it, to find great pleasure in the forgiveness of injuries, in the helping of the poor, in the cheering of the sick, in the teaching of the ignorant, in the winning back of sinners to the ways of God. “And to walk humbly with thy God.” These are the things which please him; and when we are in Christ, and he becomes our righteousness, these are the sacrifices with which God is well pleased; they make an offering of a sweet smell, a holy incense which we may present before him. Talk no more of your outward ordinances, your will-worship, with abundance of music, or human eloquence and learning, and what not. These things delight not the Lord; no offering is acceptable unless the outward conduct shows that the heart is right with him.”

And so we walk today, in his will.

Not because of something we are doing for him, but by allowing him to do a great work in us.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »