I Don't "One Two"!

My daughter is almost 7 and I was just reminiscing about her young life this morning. When she was just a toddler one of her cute phrases was..."I don't one two". What she really meant was "I don't want to." Well, the phrase, "I don't one two" stuck and John and I laugh thinking about her sweet voice saying it to this day.  Funny how those cute phrases from childhood stick with you!

I was just telling the Lord this morning something...."I don't one two" do. I don't want to love a particular person.  I don't want to. I know I need to. I know I'm called to but the fact of the matter is...I don't want to. Sometimes we need, like I did this morning, to ask the Lord for the "want to" in things. Things that, I don't want to obey. I don't want to wait in. I don't want to...you fill in the blank. 

 It made me think of Maggie's "I don't one two" phrase.  One....I need to see the need to "want to" in the first place and Two...I need to acknowledge the fact that I can't just suck up the "want to". I need Him to give me the "want to" of this Christian life.  It's His work in me and you...do we have the "one two" He wants to impart to all of us? Are we in the pattern of asking Him to give us His "one two"?  

Is He Alive Today?

Well, we just celebrated the most important holiday on the Christian calendar yesterday...Easter. He is alive! Churches were packed, bells were ringing. So many acknowledging the fact that He is risen...Jesus is alive!

So, I've been thinking and I question; Is He alive today? Of course, He is, that's the obvious answer but what does my life really say? What does my life testify too today? Yesterday my mouth testified that He is alive...but how about my life today?

Fundamentally speaking, what we believe is what we act upon. Think about it...what we truly believe is what we do. Belief and actions are directly connected. If I think I won't get caught, I just might...you fill in the blank. If I think I can, I will. If I don't think I can, I won't. If I believe I'm going to go for a walk later....I'll eat those jelly beans now. Whatever. What we do is directly connected to what we believe about something.

So, we need to ask ourselves....what do we believe about the resurrection of Jesus, today? Is He alive? What we believe about who Jesus is and if He is alive, today is directly connected to how we will live out our lives. The resurrection is not about a holiday we celebrate once a year...it is a reality that is suppose to transform how we view the world and transform us 24/7 ....365 days a year. What does my life speak really speak about what I say I believe? Not what I know about. Is He alive today? Yes. The question is; what do our lives say that we truly believe?

Pea soup...

I hate pea soup...always have. It looks, how shall I say it, like baby poop and the smell of it? Well, let's just say, I've had my issues with pea soup. I know I sound childish but I'd rather eat practically anything other than pea soup.

Earlier this year, I was at a weekend retreat where all the women involved were to make a meal...you won't believe it, at lunch one day, it was pea soup. I had seen her making it, I had desperately hoped two choices would be available, but no. The lunch menu was pea soup. This was a small gathering of ladies, no flying under the radar here, so I did the only polite thing I could think of; I took as little of it as I could to still look like I was eating and grateful. The childhood memories of pea soup and the hope of pea soup escape over-took me as I sat down for lunch... no way of escape. We prayed, I prayed harder that I would not shame myself at the table. Taking my spoon and with a "MMMMM" smile took a bite.

What happened next totally floored me...I liked it. This pea soup tasted nothing like the pea soup I have had in the past. This was good, it wasn't only good...it tasted great. I actually enjoyed it. I went back for more. I asked for the recipe. I went home and bought split peas for the first time in my life. In my book, pea soup has been redeemed. Wow. Never, ever thought I would think that! Pea Soup.

So, what does this have to do with anything? It made me stop and consider, how many things in my life, in my circumstances, or even a few people, I can tend to look at and even treat like pea soup. Yuck. There are things in my life that make my stomach twist and turn, I dread...things and issues that I hate, just like pea soup. Things that I have conditioned with a response, just like my pea soup response.

But, what if the Lord is able to make things that we have issues about, preconceived opinions about...even unpleasant experiences we have had and change the "taste"? What if He could make them "taste" different? What if these people or circumstances could be transformed into something other than what they are...what if I am transformed? What if my "taste" for these things changed...and it was great? Or am I just so conditoned with my response of "Yuck" I don't even give them a try? Do I just asumme it's the same old, same old. Ummmmm....

Isaiah 43:18-19

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Our God is in the business of making and re-making. He makes things new....even a pea soup life. How am I viewing my pea soup?