Practicing (part 3)

He started slowly at first, because God is sneaky like that. (Ha!) Please don’t be offended by that! God and I are plenty good enough friends for us to pick on each other. He is absolutely certain that I meant no disrespect. Because He’s omniscient, He is well aware of my personal aversion to “that p-word,” but always true to His own character, He remains exceedingly persistent. Once He decides I have more to learn about something, God sets a course and gets busy. God has apparently decided that I need to revisit my aversion to the word “practice.”

People around me started using the word “practice” in our conversations. Then it started showing up in IG posts because God is funny like that and isn’t limited by social media. That meant MULTIPLE accounts I follow for inspiration, from YoYo Ma to paint/paper/print artists began to post or create stories about their practice sessions, practicing their art or crafts, etc. I read it in devotionals and books about everything from recipes to breathing. Practice, practice, practice! It was a word that was suddenly everywhere I looked.

I’ve learned to take notice when that happens. Because of my own prejuduce toward this word and what I believe to be the true heart of a God who loves me enough to laugh WITH me, God “practiced” getting my attention by using it over and over and over until I started laughing with Him.

I have to tell you that wasn’t my 1st response.

Once it sunk into my consciousness that God was behind the “overuse” of this word, my 1st reaction was one of dismay. “Practice” had always been a forced activity…a have-to and not a get-to thing. Because God is also interested in expanding our horizons, He let me sit and stew with the discomfort for several days. What was I going to have to practice now?! Would it be my faith in another difficult time? Patience, of which I am woefully short? Forgiveness, for which I am always grateful, but sometimes struggle to extend? Would I once again have to choose obedience over comfort or personal desire? Oh, Father! I didn’t like the idea of practicing, at all.

About a week later, I was responding to a friend’s message and, hopefully, encouraging her to do what she already knew to be the right thing…and that’s when God stepped in with a very wry smile…and the rest of his instruction to me about the P-word: “Practice…what you know to be true of Me.”

Even now, that simple phrase makes.my eyes fill! My God is living and loving. He is kind and caring. He is not in a rush even though He has a goal and a timeline. He is personal, not distant. He is able and capable without being an arrogant know-it-all. He delights in us.

ALL these things are important and God is SO much more than the characteristics I have listed, but it was the “delight” part that rocked me hardest. It straight up stopped me in my tracks. I had mentally steeled myself for another difficult assignment, and the 1st step He was asking me to take was to BE DELIGHTED!

Because I am so visual, I immediately went to my kitchen and the antique slate hanging there. I erased the Christmas drawing, grabbed the chalk and quickly sketched myself a new reminder.

The sketch isn’t fancy, but it IS direct–and the bird singing on the limb with the cat reminds me that I am to practice delight even when I am in situations where I may not be completely comfortable.

What is God asking YOU to practice? Is it an easy thing or one with a more steely edge? Whatever it is, you can trust Him in it, because He is right there in it with you.

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

Grace and Peace!

Freedom

“My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet Freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King.

Our glorious Land to-day,
‘Neath Education’s sway,
Soars upward still.
Its hills of learning fair,
Whose bounties all may share,
Behold them everywhere
On vale and hill!

Thy safeguard, Liberty,
The school shall ever be,
Our Nation’s pride!
No tyrant hand shall smite,
While with encircling might
All here are taught the Right
With Truth allied.

Beneath Heaven’s gracious will
The stars of progress still
Our course do sway;
In unity sublime
To broader heights we climb,
Triumphant over Time,
God speeds our way!

Grand birthright of our sires,
Our altars and our fires
Keep we still pure!
Our starry flag unfurled,
The hope of all the world,
In peace and light impearled,
God hold secure!

Rev. Samuel F. Smith (1832), “America”

The song is longer than I remembered. The concept is greater than most of us recognize, practice, or appreciate.

Grace and Peace!

Practice what you preach

Today’s blog title is brought to you by LIFE! With the very best of intentions, I have gradually cleared the pathway through my calendar and made room for more Margin this year. It has been both instructive and constructive for me.

At God’s own urging, I’ve been creating room to breathe, to think, to pray, to study, to bless, to prepare, and, occasionally (meaning: still not as much as I would really like!), to be more creative. In my effort to be more in the moment and not be so busy that I end up missing my own life, I’ve begun to focus more on what I GET to do and less on what I HAVE to do…just like I’ve told others to do for years! Oddly enough, it appears that I was right all along and just not smart enough to apply it as liberally as I needed to in my own life!  The biggest “Margin” change for me appears to be much more of an internal one–and that’s something I wasn’t really expecting.

It seems that deliberately making space for trying out new designs in the shop, clearing my way through the overgrown underbrush in our yard, and keeping our hummingbirds supplied with fresh sugar-water has made me more aware of the power of finding joy in the simple things…and I have to tell you this: it’s a little bit addicting.

The power of an hour has become more real to me lately. Choosing to fully concentrate on a specific activity for even just a single hour has shown me marvelous results in several different areas of my life. I’ve challenged myself on several occasions to do as much as I could within that time span and then allowed myself the freedom to continue, to stop, to change tasks, or to rest. It sounds funny when I say it/write it out loud like that…almost as if I had previously been laboring under a heavy taskmaster…and I was: ME.

Learning to cut myself some slack has been life-changing–and, dare I say, life-affirming for me. I’ve always had the ability to focus on a task. I just rarely gave myself the luxury of focusing on the power of rest, as well.

I went into this search for more Margin with the idea that changes in my calendar would probably be the biggest adjustment tool. Right, and wrong, again! While being able to finish some duties and free up the time that had been devoted to them was helpful in the beginning stages, I’ve found that isn’t the only solution.

There is also a great need to curate the events that DO take up the space in the calendar. Saying “this will only take an hour or two” doesn’t always mean it needs to make the cut and be allowed into my life. Some activities that won’t take all that long to complete actually require incredible prep-time and, occasionally, recovery time, as well. Knowing this and thinking it through is a life-skill! It doesn’t mean those things shouldn’t be allowed in, just that prayer time ought to be a prerequisite gateway for EVERYTHING…and prayer can AlSO take time!

God may actually ask you do the hard thing–and He has that right! It’s when our yesses to things we CAN do have overwhelmed us to the point that we’re no longer available to do the things we are CALLED to do that it becomes a significant issue. Just as it is possible to “stand in someone else’s blessing” it is also possible to “step out of our own blessing” by being unavailable because we’ve allowed no room for Margin and the impromptu leading of the Holy Spirit. You simply can’t be in two places at the same time…and there are times when you shouldn’t be in either.

Every Yes is also a No. Every No also makes room for the Yes.

I have taught this and shared it many times before–even as recently as yesterday afternoon!—and, today, I find myself looking at my calendar…with all of this knowledge…and needing to be reminded again.

Practice what you preach, Becky, practice what you preach.

Grace and peace!