I Wish You Could See

I coach middle school and high school girls volleyball and I have for many years now. One of the things I tell my young charges is that when I watch them play I see two versions of them. I see the young, just learning the game player and the player that they can become. I tell them this so they know that when I am pushing them it isn't because I am mad at them or don't like them, it is because I see what they can become and I am trying to get them to the point. I am also a middle school and high school math teacher and I treat my students the same way. I see the people they can become and I push them as hard as I can in that direction. Some fight it and others flourish under it. This has really hit home in the last few years when I have had students that have faced issues that no teenager/pre-teen should ever have to face and are dealing with real world things that adults would crumble under. These struggles have manifested themselves in classroom struggles that allowed them to get overlooked and just passed along. I keep gently pushing and nudging them toward the future that I know they can have if they could just see themselves like I see them. I thought that was what I wanted to write about, but I was having trouble forming it into something "spiritual" as that is apparently what this space has come to be. I have had this title for months. I have had the parts you have already read for nearly as long, but I haven't had any idea what to do with it. The I realized that I am them. I am the person floundering and thinking that I will never get this. I will never be good at this. I will never be... fill in the blank. I keep saying those things ad God is looking at me saying, "I wish you could see you the way I see you. "When we look at ourselves we see the grimy, sinful person we are while God sees His child made in His image that was made for a purpose. He sees the purpose that we not only can, but will, fulfill. God is looking at you saying the same thing, "If you could only see..." When you feel God pushing outside of your comfort zone, it isn't because He is made at you, it is because He sees what you will be, not what you are.

Surely Goodness and Mercy 

      "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Even people that don't know scripture probably know that one. The 23rd Psalm is probably one of the most quoted scriptures. Students memorize it in Sunday school. It is read at funerals. It is used to comfort people facing difficult times. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil" (v4) Who can't find comfort in those words? "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies: thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." (v5) Again, comfort and peace in difficult times. 

      You have heard everything you can about this Psalm. You have probably learned about shepherds and the imagery that goes with that. You have heard about The Good Shepherd and all that means, have you paid attention to all of it? The psalms are full from beginning to end and you have to look at everything they contain. We can walk boldly into the valley of the shadow of death with the confidence that God's rod and staff will be there to comfort us. Wait, comfort us, not protect us? "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..."(v6) What? Follow me? No, I need your goodness to go before me. God's goodness and mercy are to follow us wherever we go, not go before us. 

     We should leave behind goodness and mercy where we go, it doesn't go before us. Don't wait for God's goodness to go before, take it with you. Take it to places where it isn't. God's rod and staff will be there to protect you and comfort you, but you need to walk though the valley as goodness and mercy follow you.

The Day After

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving you see them. No, not the early Christmas decorations, you will see the "Today I am thankful for..." posts. There is nothing wrong with that and, in fact, I have made them before. Having a day set aside specifically for thankfulness is a great idea, My question is this, "What about today?" Are you still thankful on Friday? "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Those are the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:18. It seems clear that we are to be thankful, not just a few weeks in November, but all of the time. It also says to be thankful "In every thing..." A lot of people are thankful for things, but what about in things? Being thankful for things isn't inherently bad, I am thankful for a lot things: family, friends, a job I love, my students, etc... Being thankful for things is easy, being thankful in every thing is a different story. Being thankful in things means your current circumstances shouldn't affect your level of thankfulness. When your car won't start and you are running late, you are to be thankful. When your team loses, you are to be thankful. When you are facing your first holiday without a loved one, you are to be thankful. We are to be thankful in the hard times too. Now, being thankful in every thing is not the same as being thankful for every thing. Nowhere are we commanded to be thankful for every thing, just in every thing. That little preposition is important. For every thing give thanks would be a much different scripture. The man that penned these words wrote many of his letters while in jail. He was never thankful for being in jail, but he was thankful even though he was in jail. To be thankful in things you have to look beyond your current circumstances, be they good or bad, and focus on God and His blessings. God's blessings are not things, they are promises. They are the assurance of things hoped for, they are the promise of eternity with him. So now that it is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, are you still thankful. I would encourage you to continue listing the things your are thankful for into December and beyond, and remember there is a difference between in and for.