ps from ps… Remember when you were a kid and you played with blocks? Or maybe you do now with your kids or grandkids? (Or maybe you do now on your own when no one is looking?) I was always a big fan of plain wooden blocks. Made forts with them. Made roads. Houses. And sometimes towers, just to see how high I could get them. (This was all pre-Jenga’s existence).
But I think my favorite part was knocking them down. It was so easy. A gentle swipe. A quick pope. A block pulled from the bottom. And down they went, sprayed all over the floor.
But then the harder part began….building them back up. Knocking them down was easy. Rebuilding and building up a new tower took much more work. But when I did it, there was a deeper satisfaction with the tower back in place.
We’re not too much different than towers of blocks. A lot easier to knock down than to build up. In all phases of our lives: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Everyday life and people and stuff and junk can more easily knock us down than build us up.
I went for a run yesterday morning. 2.8 miles. It was my first run in almost a month. (Which is why my legs felt like I ran a marathon yesterday when I walked downstairs this morning). Between illness, surgery and loss of a family member, I got knocked down. And it was very easy to get out of any physical (and for me running is also spiritual) routine. I did a guided run with my coach called the: “I don’t wanna run Run.” The run helped me name some frustrations, realize how out of routine I was and give space for the frustrations of how slow I was going. But at the halfway point of this 25 minute run, he helped me realize that I was already halfway through. That I already battled through the toughest part and that I was back on the “road” to being successful, whether I realized it or not. No matter how much slower my pace, how ugly my form, my success came from just starting.
He said: “Congratulations. You could have not run at all today. But you did! It’s way easier to knock yourself down than it is to build yourself up. But when you make that effort, you will have already succeeded.”
Jesus was telling his disciples that time after time in Scripture. He doesn’t ask them to be perfect. He invites them to start the journey, and then restart after they messed up. After the tower of blocks got knocked down. Their success came from beginning that journey each and every day with Jesus by their side. One time they came back from being sent out to the towns and villages around them and when they returned they told Jesus that they saw “Satan fall before their eyes.”
The success comes every time we restart. Every time we begin to rebuild the tower.
Take time this week to assess where you are on the road. In your routine or needing to create a new one? Thriving and tall or feeling knocked over?
There is no right place to be. There only is where you are right now. And that place is just right. But when you find the blocks knocked over (and don’t worry…they will be at some point), we are invited by God to begin the run again. To replace block by block and create a new tower.
It may not be as easy, but it’s in that beginning where we fill find success.
ps from ps… Outtakes – “a portion of the film product that is removed in the editing process and doesn’t make the final cut.”
Yesterday was filming day for WNY Church Unleashed. We’ve been leading this digital worship project for about 18 months now. Each week, it’s a different worship service but filled with the same components of confession, lessons, sermons, creeds and prayers. You would think we would have it down by now right?
But you would be amazed how many times we say the wrong words, mispronounce names, start cracking up, drop something we were holding, knock over worship implements and sometimes a combination of all of the above. I mean, we are professional pastors that lead worship for a living. Live even! And yet sometimes, we really mess it up while we are recording. Our goal is always “one take.” But that rarely happens.
Thankfully, our producers do an excellent job of cutting out our “outtakes.” They take out the messes that we make, clean it up, trim the fat and put out a great product for worship online and on TV.
Reminded me that it’s important to have our faith in God to play that same role in our daily lives: to “adjust” our outtakes.
Let me invite you to give some thought to your life’s current outtakes:
1. What are the moments that didn’t go so well and you just started cracking up? The times you could poke fun at yourself and your good friends around? The moments you don’t need to take yourself so seriously? What can those moments teach you?
2. What lines have you missed? What things that should have been said to loved ones or friends got skipped? Is there a moment this week you can go back and re-run that dialog?
3. Have you knocked anything over on set? Any one? Is there something/someone that needs to be picked up, dusted off, needs an apology?
4. If you could do a “second take,” what would you concentrate on? What action/area needs to be rewound?
Outtakes. The best part about having them is getting to learn from them. We are all blessed that we have such an incredible God in our lives that deals gently and forgivingly with ours. Gives us ways to trim them up. And offers us a more polished second take.
This week, may we laugh at the mess ups, fix the ones we can and noticed the opportunities for better second takes!
Lord, thanks for being an incredible director and producer. Amen
That’s a “tithe of our time.” Our focus in worship this past weekend was Reaching Beyond Ourselves with our Time. As we reflected on the Biblical idea of tithing (giving the first 10% of our blessings to the Lord – Malachi 3 for details), we expanded the concept into our time.
What if we tithed our time? 10% of our time to live out our faith. 10% of our time to bless those around us. 10% of our time to reconnect with God all around us. I started calculating: what would this look ike? 36.5 days/year. That over a month. 2.4 hours/day. A solid chunk of time. But the one that struck me the most: 6 minutes of every hour. 6 minutes.
So I challenged the folks in worship last week: do #6minutesofeveryhour once this week. (Only on your waking hours of course). Try to do this for one day this week. I started mine on Monday. Here’s what I discovered: IT’S HARD! But it’s good. One hour I prayed. One hour a texted some old friends. One hour I called someone. One hour I wrote some notes to people. It’s a challenge to add those things to the routine, but at the end of the day, I found myself blessed by some greater conversations and experiences. And, I felt more connected to God than usual.
Can you take the challenge? 6 minutes of every hour. Tithing your time. Send me feedback of how you did, highs, lows and etc.
May your efforts, partial or whole day, be a blessing to you and the world around you.
Lord, help me to refocus and recommit my time to you. Amen
ps from ps… Grace changes everything! We say it. Most times, we believe it. But what tangible difference does it make in our day-to-day lifestyle. Enjoy some reflections from Ryan, one of our new missionaries at St. Paul’s, as he reflects on the grace he has received and how it’s shaping his days. You can see his video HERE.
Lord, help me to let the grace you give me impact the dailyness of my life. Amen
ps from ps… So this week’s text in church is from Mark 10 and it involves Jesus speaking about divorce. It’s a tough text to preach on.
Then I got home from my run this morning and found last week’s “Refresh” section of the Buffalo News opened to this article laying on the counter. “Uh-oh!” I thought. The article is titled “Unhappy During Uncertain Times”. “Is Michelle subtly trying to tell me something??”
Turns out she was going to share it with a client of hers and she’ll allow me to keep living in the house. So it’s all going to work out.
But between Jesus bringing it up and me seeing this article on the counter, it was a clear reminder to me that marriage take a lot of work! And sometimes the gift that marriage is can be put on the back burner and that’s just one way that this gift can start to go south.
Michelle and I have told one another multiple times that we have been guilty of letting that happen. Kids. Jobs. Health. Other fun stuff. Other hard stuff. Other people. All of those things and more can get in the way.
I believe it’s why Jesus is speaking about it. Not to condemn but to remind and redirect. Not to quote rules and laws for the sake of guilting, but instead for the opportunity to inspire change, renewal and grace.
I know I needed this reminder again today. Maybe you did too.
May we hear Jesus speaking about marriage as a gift: one to invest into, a promise to nourish, a pair of imperfect people to be graceful with and a place for forgiveness and grace to become tangible.
Lord, help all of us to invest into our relationships of love, especially our marriages. Amen
ps from ps… Happy Fall! It’s a season. It’s a situation. It’s an opportunity. It’s a change.
For our devotional space today, I give you a couple options for reflection. You may click on the video of Devo’s on the Go to watch the devotions. Or you may take some time of reflection on fall and faith.
Fall the Season – What do you enjoy most about his transition we make today? How is God blessing you right here and now? How does your schedule change and shift to help you see, feel and experience those blessings?
Fall the Situation. The Fall. The Original One. In the Garden of Eden. Two naked people, a snake and an apple didn’t work out so good. Left us open to pain, imperfection and loss instead of the utopia we were originally designed for. What’s going on in your broken situation right now? What is God calling you away from? What is God encouraging you not to “eat.” What pivot do you need to make for a more faithful, life-full future?
Fall the Opportunity – We trip. And we fall. And it hurts. Unless someone catches us! Who is tripping around you right now? Who’s hurt that you can reach out to? Who/what needs you to catch them? And how can you do that?
Fall the Change – Leaves and colors change every moment now. Even in the death of the leaves, beauty is revealed. Their change is a moment of blessing for us. How can you take some time to enjoy that change in creation and in life? What changes that you are in the midst of might also be releasing blessings?
Let us enter into fall today: the season, the situation, the opportunity and the change. And feel God’s blessing the whole way.
Recent Comments