Pressing on

Life can be heavy. Each step can be a struggle. Things pile on. Anxieties about parents, children, spouses (spice?). Fears about health – your own or a loved one’s. Finance. Pension. Nursery fees. Job security. 

Jesus invites us to come to him and lay all that stuff at his feet, and he will help us carry it. Then it feels light. Then you feel light.

Such a lovely thought. So hard to do. But this morning I read Paul’s words to the Philippians two millennia ago. ‘Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race...’

I reckon I’ve done a bit over two thirds of my race. I’m in my last trimester. Suddenly I feel unburdened. I feel as if I’ve been set free to run that final bit of the race, trusting God to carry the ‘stuff’ which weighs me down, focused on the goal: to live a life which demonstrates Jesus and his love. And the freedom from fear that is ours in him.

The changes that are afoot in terms of people moving away offer opportunities for new relationships. 

Life is a blessing. It is a gift. I am an American and so yes, I am slipping into the season of thankfulness. But actually, it’s the tune I should always hum as I go through my every day, pressing on, forgetting the failures and yes, even the triumphs, so I don’t get bogged down in navel-gazing but keep on moving forward.

God bless your day.

Promised Land

We have a colloquial phrase about ‘going into the Promised Land’. I suppose we think of such a place akin to heaven itself, a place of perfection and peace. 

The Israelites certainly thought of the Promised Land as a place blessed by God in which they could live in peace and prosper. They had a few problems going into it, associated mostly with their lack of faith in God to deliver.

I read the other day that whatever we focus our eyes on grows bigger in our sight. As we focus on our fears, they inflate until they totally overwhelm us. Many are the stories of agonising childbirth experiences which are told to expectant mothers, drawing them to consider elective C sections rather than endure the horrors recounted to them. Others like to inflate the difficulties associated with a probationary teaching year until those embarking on this second part of their teacher training feel overwhelmed and totally intimidated. Just two examples of ways in which what we focus on turns into a giant which can paralyse us in anxiety and initiate self-doubt and fear.

We need to train our eyes to focus on God and to stay there, not to wander. I don’t imagine that David’s gaze shifted from the target of Goliath’s forehead as he slung his rock. But his inner eye would have been totally trained on God, who he knew was mighty to save and to deliver. 

Giants prevent us from entering all that God has for us. We are easily stalled by fears imagined by us or fed us by others. I know that God has a promised land he dreams that each of us will step in to. 

Today I want to extend the borders by focusing on God and trusting him for what he has promised.

Years ago, he promised that he would find the publisher for one of the books I have written. I am waiting for the fulfilment of that promise, but I am aware that over the years I’ve not so much shifted my gaze on to giants as let my eyelids droop and fall asleep. In other words, I’ve kind of given up on the fulfilment of that promise. But today, publicly and deliberately, I am going to refocus my gaze on God to deliver on this promise, and move forward into a new writing project.

I am going into a new neighbourhood of my promised land, trusting in God all the way. How about you?

Giants

Following on from my thoughts yesterday on courage and God making me brave, I’ve been thinking about how often in the Bible God encourages us not to be afraid but to put our faith in him. 

I’ve just read the story of the Israelites who let their fears run away with them when they were told about giants living in the promised land. Rather than believing God and trusting him to take care of them, they got angry and wailed and even wished they were back in slavery rather than being in the position they were in where they saw giants looming ahead.

Giants rise up on the horizons in all of our lives from time to time, and if we let our fear get hold then we can be paralysed in our current position, alter our route to go around them, or even turn back. 

I believe God is well able to keep me, and so I need to act on that. Whenever fears rise and my heart pounds, I need to put my faith in him and keep going on the same path. 

We get to do the children’s address in church on Sunday and we’ve got a puppet show planned, and that always gives me a wee frisson of fear. What if the logistics don’t work out? What if the point isn’t clear to the kids? What if we get into trouble for not adhering strictly to the text? What if ...

Be bold. Be strong. For the Lord your God is with you. I know this is a pretty pansy giant in comparison with other giants, but it could make me go back and just tell the story in the usual way. 

But no, I will trust in God and step out, puppets on hands and silly voices at the ready!

At the foot of the Cross

God commands that we have no idols before him, but people and situations which are on our minds and hearts often squeeze him off the throne of our lives and out of focus. 

At the start of this new year, it’s so refreshing to take some time with God and prayerfully picture Jesus on the cross. He hung on that cross out of choice, out of love for you and me and the creation. He could have avoided it. He could have called on his legions of angels, or just spoken a word which would have wiped out his enemies forever. But he didn’t. He allowed his blood to be shed so that it could cleanse, heal and restore all who call on his name and put their trust in him.

As you imagine Jesus on the cross, see yourself, bent over with the burden of the concerns you carry. The people who are close to you. Situations of financial need, health concerns, relationship issues, job insecurities, fears for the future, etc. The list is endless for most of us. One by one, lay each burden at the foot of the cross, and see the blood of Jesus covering those people, those concerns. 

Allow him to restore freedom in your life. Freedom to laugh and rejoice in him. Freedom to entrust all these precious people and serious situations into his loving hands.

And then let him arise again in your heart. He is alive! Invite him to fill you again with his Holy Spirit. And step forward into the world with a spring in your step and a song in your heart, a song of praise to the King.

Let your focus be fixed again on King Jesus, and run the race set before you with perseverance.

That’s my plan for 2013. With his grace I might just manage. Blessings.