Independence?

Some kids are born independent, others learn it later but everyone learns it as some point. Sometimes we become too focused on it. Sometimes we become so obsessed with independence that we forget that we weren't designed to handle everything on our own. Or we go on towards the opposite extreme of independence and focus on our relationship with God and no one else. Don't get me wrong, that is the most important relationship in our lives but it's not the only ones.

Think about this. During Jesus' time on earth living in a human body he didn't choose to come as an adult but as a baby. A baby born to two parents who had brothers and sisters at least one cousin that we know of and probably grandparents and other people in his family. He also had friends.

During Jesus' public ministry there were crowds of people that followed him but there were also twelve disciples that were his "inner circle".

Now I come from a good sized family, I'm the youngest of five kids and my house was at times crowded growing up. Then I spent over a year living in an apartment with three roommates, and there was plenty of the time that we drove each other crazy. And there were only four of us.

Can you imagine living, working and traveling with eleven other people? For years on end? I can't! But I do think that this example teaches us a very important lesson.

It teaches us that relationships with other people are important. We're not designed to handle our lives completely on our own. We need the help of the Lord and the help from the people that he puts into our lives.

When you're going through hard times don't try to deal with it on your own. Talk to a friend, reach out to your pastor, ask for help, rely on the people that God puts into your life. You'd be amazed what a difference it can make.

Help

I don't have a lot to say today friends but sometimes the fewer words the better. Today's post feels like one of those times.
As I was walking the dog I was looking up at the mountains that surround me and a verse came to mind.

Psalm 121: 1- 4 NIV

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

Advice From Star Wars

I love Star Wars, in fact if you ask family and friends they might jokingly say that "love" doesn't quite describe it. It's kind of a family obsession, we were those kids that had Mom make us Star Wars Halloween costumes, our parents took us to the theaters each time a new movie came out (and they were just as excited about it as we were) and when we went to Disneyland we each picked out our own lightsaber.
So when we were all together a while back it just made sense that we'd all have a Star Wars marathon. Sadly with limited time on our hands we were only able to make it through the first three (chronologically not the original three) but while I was watching it I did find some very good advice I want to share with you.

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." -Yoda

Yeah it sounds silly to take advice from a Jedi Master who happens to be a little green creature and is 900 years old but Yoda is wise and in this case he's also right. When we let fear take the place of faith we can become angry and as that anger builds up it turns to hate. Hate makes us suffer but it also reaches out and touches the lives of those around us, making them suffer to.

So take some advice from a galaxy far, far away and instead of fear choose faith, instead of anger, choose forgiveness, instead of hate choose love, instead of the dark side, choose the Light.

Reaching Out

My less then one year old niece needed to go down to sleep so my brother tucked her into her playpen that was in my room but I needed to go in and grab something. She was still crying so I knew I wouldn't disturb her too much when I slipped in. She had pulled herself up and was standing against the side of the playpen, sobbing. When I walked by she reached out for me, wanting me to pick her up. I knew if I took her out she wouldn't go to sleep, in my head I knew that if I let her cry for a while she would lie down and get the sleep she desperately needed so I had to walk but it hurt and it that moment I caught a glimmer of how God must feel every time we go through pain.

He knows that what we're going through right will lead to what's best for us but as we cry out, His heart hurts, as we falls He keeps us from stumbling too far and as we lie down, ready to give up, He sustains us.

Maybe God picks us up and cradles us, rocks us in His arms like a mother with her baby and waits for us to go to sleep but in our pain we don't sense that. Or maybe like with my niece He stays close by, watching over us, waiting for us to surrender to His plan as I was waiting for her to surrender to sleep, because He knows that His plan is what's best for us.

Night Terror

My oldest niece, E, will be four soon and will she was here visiting she had a night terror. I was lying in bed and she was sound asleep across the room, her sister close by in a playpen, and suddenly E start sobbing and crying out in her sleep. Jumping out of bed I ran across the room to her side, trying to comfort her but she wouldn't calm down. I didn't know what to do and I picked her up and took her out of the room so she wouldn't wake up her baby sister and the rest of the household. Going downstairs I sat with her in my lap and I realized that even as she sobbed and cried out her eyes were still closed, she didn't seem to be awake!

I was trying to talk to her, hoping she could hear my voice, that she would realize that she was safe, that Auntie had her and that it was going to be okay but I couldn't seem to get through to her. I knew that if only she could wake up and open her eyes she would realize that I was holding her close and that she was safe, then the terror would pass and she would be able to go back to sleep but she couldn't seem to do that.

Eventually her Grammy took and was able to calm her down and she went back to bed but in those few moments that I had her and I was scared, not knowing how to help her wake up I realized how much this child's night terror was like our lives.

So often we're scared, terrified, and we're screaming and crying out and we can't understand why God's not answering us but what we don't see is that He's right there with us, He's holding us in His arms begging us to open our eyes and see that He hasn't abandoned us, He hasn't let us go but He is still there with us, helping us through it all but our terror is so great and we can't open our eyes to see.