Not Always Faithful

I've been avoiding my blog! I'm in the process of transferring from one blog service (Yahoo) to another (we'll see which one wins out!). Hence, whatever I write here must be transferred there, wherever there is. I know others who have decided to write a blog and have it up and running in what seems to me to be minutes. And of course, all the blog services make that promise. But what is minutes to others has been months for me. Aargh!

So lately I've been reminding myself a lot that God has uniquely gifted each of us and no, I'm not particularly lacking in intelligence just because I can't get my new blog to work! :-) And even if I were inordinately lacking in intelligence God would still be over-the-top wild about me! And in order to avoid reminding myself of these things over and over again I've been avoiding blogging.

I've been avoiding blogging so that my self image doesn't take a hit each time I try and fail at making the conversion. I'm not proud of this. I'm not proud that not being able to accomplish this technical task makes me feel stupid (there, I said the word instead of couching it kindly as "lacking in intelligence"). I'm not proud that my approach has been to avoid the issue altogether.

One maxim I've learned is that when things seem to be happening in an unusual way, look for what's behind it. Is God at work? (Well, the answer to that one is always "yes" because God is always at work in our lives.) Perhaps better stated, the question should be "What is God trying to teach me by getting my attention with these unusual circumstances?"

It doesn't make sense to me that transferring blog services should be so difficult for me, so this morning I am asking "what might God be trying to teach me?" I can come up with several thoughts on my own, but the answer requires listening for His voice and to His Spirit. Here are my potential thoughts...

• God is giving me opportunities to practice not becoming frustrated when things don't move as quickly as I'd like or when I'm not able to accomplish what I think I should be able to accomplish -- and by giving me opportunities to practice this, He is teaching me patience


• God is reminding me that I'm not as smart as I would like to think I am (a little dose of humility is always good for us)


• God is teaching me about my need to rely on others (after all, we are a Body that is to work together, not just individual parts that work on their own)


• God is demonstrating how little it takes for me to be unfaithful to a task He has called me (revealing that I lack perseverence and that my heart condition is not as undivided as He would like it to be)


• God is teaching me about His faithfulness by demonstrating to me my own lack of faithfulness (His faithfulness so far surpasses my own -- and this lesson translates to every other area -- His mercy so far surpasses my own, His goodness so far surpasses my own, His love so far surpasses my own, His justice so far surpasses my own, etc.)

Wow! Since all of those possibilities occurred to me in the short span of five minutes or so, I'm guessing that He's doing all of those things. The one that shouts at me the loudest, however, is the last one. I am thankful that the God I serve is so infinitely more faithful than I am. Praise His precious Name. And if a little technological frustration is what it takes to remind me of that, I'll take it. Lord, You are so infinitely good to me! Thank You!

(And to my readers...I apologize for "being gone" for the past 6 weeks and I'm working on being faithful to you! Be blessed!)

Routines

I’ve spent almost the last hour looking for a quote. It’s a really good quote, but I can’t find it. So I’m going to paraphrase it..."The best thing for a dull mind is to break up the routine." Now that’s not original, The original was much more eloquent. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who said it, either. I’m guessing A.W. Tozer or C.S. Lewis. Oh well please pretend it’s eloquent and properly cited. (If anyone can find the real quote, I’d be much abliged to you if you were to pass the info on to me.)

Everyone...yes, EVERYONE, has a routine that provides structure to their lives. For some, the routine is easily recognizable and looks (from the outside) very constricting. For others, it may appear that there’s nothing but haphazardness about someone’s life...but upon close inspection, one will find a routine, even if it’s only the routine of sleeping and waking with an obvious eschewing of any routine in between. Even the eschewing of routine is a form of routine that provides structure to the person’s life.

I’ve been thinking a lot about routine lately because Phil has a new job and it’s messing with our routines. It’s a part time job — 20 hours a week — but different hours every week and at least so far it’s been constantly changing. We’re told that it will repeat, but in the 2 months he’s been there that’s not proven to be the case. This new non-routine has caused many of the things that have defined who we are as a couple no longer exist. I’m sure that sounds overstated, but it’s certainly how it feels. (I guess this is where I lecture myself on truth vs. perceptions — perception is NOT reality — truth is reality...but that’s a topic for another blog.) You see, as a couple, we had routines related to when we woke up, when we ate, when we worked, when we played and when we "talked about our day." Now that’s all jumbled up.

Phil’s new job isn’t the only thing prompting these wonderings about routine. When my dad died, I felt as if all of my internal structures has been shattered. It both made sense and it made no sense. It made no sense because I hadn’t actually depended on Dad for anything over the past 20 years or more (except perhaps the occasional advice...which I usually didn’t follow anyway). Yet it made sense because something that had been truth for 51 years, suddenly, on the first day of my 52nd year of life was no longer true. My dad had existed, had been alive...now he isn’t. And truth isn’t supposed to change. And the internal structure that had existed because of that fact had been shattered. Weird.

So I’m meditating a bit on the subject of "routine." Routine provides structure for our lives. Yet occasionally it must be jumbled up a bit to bring us out of the slumber it nurtures. A.W. Tozer recognized this when he wrote "Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth" (The Pursuit of God: p. 17).

Undoubtedly, God is a God of routine and structure. He created a world with day and night, high tide and low tide, summer and winter. Yet He recognizes our sinful tendency to not appreciate that which we have and to become self-absorbed when we’re not absorbed with something greater than ourselves. So He built into our lives seasons that jumble up the routines — seasons of mourning and seaons of joy, seasons of success and seasons of failure.

We like to pretend that we should always be at the top of our game, or at least nearing the top with the top just another step or two ahead of us. But that’s not consistent with Scripture — either the teaching or the experience documented in Scripture. "To everything there is a season" Ecclesiastes tells us. Part of "everything" is joy AND sadness, success AND failure.
Enough rambling! Suffice it to say that God has been jumbling my routines. From what I read in other blogs and from what I hear talking to others, I’m not alone. Here’s to God doing NEW things in our lives — yours and mine. May we all be open to them.

Comment by dansdesk
Good thoughts! I'm not saying this about you but I wonder how often God shakes up my routine because it's a "bad" routine!
Thursday July 19, 2007 - 04:16pm (EDT)

Response by Sandyhov
I'm absolutely positive (for me, not you) that it's sometimes shaken because it's a "bad" routine. This current shaking is a prime example. There were many reasons for Phil taking the part-time job at the hospital, but part of it was that we just came to a point where after almost 20 years in business it was a bit unhealthy for Phil & I to be working together at Data Designs as we were. We needed more outside interaction. He needed to be around people more. Yes, God's shaking is scary but good.
Monday July 30, 2007 - 09:21pm (EDT)