Life is hard, but it's through the valleys that we learn the most about life and grow more mature. Speaking of valleys...some of our landscaping projects in process have had me thinking about mountaintops and valleys.
This area wrapped in rock is part of ongoing projects to control run-off problems in our yard. We now have two french drains carrying water around our house, a massive dry creek, and a catch basin hidden under all those rocks attached to an impressive 150' underground drainage system. We keep building up our soil and replanting sod, and we're planting like crazy to soak up some of the run-off, but it will probably never be enough to give us the lawn we want because we live on a hill, and water will always flow down, taking rich minerals and costly sod with it.
Our yard situation reminds me of how we too often approach life. We
love the view from the top. We go to great effort and expense to cling
to the mountaintops in life as if we were meant to stay there. But we
can't really appreciate the high points in life until we've walked
through the low points. We can't grow in knowledge, wisdom, compassion,
generosity, or faith if we're always clinging to the top and looking
down at others. Instead of cursing the rain and trying to resist the
downward pull into the valley, maybe we should instead hop on a raft and
make the most of the ride down, gleaning every life lesson we can until
the sun comes out and the hill is dry enough to climb back up again. #MommyMetaphors
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Hillary Scott, a country singer who is the frontwoman for the band, Lady Antebellum (a band I had never listened to before as I don't prefer country music, and this band's secular music has themes I don't find edifying at all) recently produced a very personal solo project rooted in Biblical faith. The song, Thy Will, from the album especially touched me as a sincere prayer to God as she wrestles with pain and suffering while acknowledging and trusting in His goodness and sovereignty even when His plans don't make sense at the time, for she knows she can't see the big picture as He can. The melody is beautiful in and of itself, but the lyrics blow me away with their raw honesty and simple faith. The church needs more realness in worship, fellowship, and presentation, not to make each other feel better about their shortcomings, but rather, to illustrate the truth. Life is hard. Life doesn't make sense. Yes, the church is filled with fallen people who make mistakes, but God doesn't leave us in the ditch. He restores and renews us and gives us hope. We can trust in that which we can't see because He reveals just enough of Himself to prove that He is always good and always faithful without providing so much evidence that faith is not required at all. Given some of the music videos Hillary has produced, I will admit that the judge in me is surprised at the depth of faith and Biblical truth revealed in this song. God's truths really aren't that complex, and there is great beauty in the simplicity, yet trust can be so difficult at times. To read the lyrics or listen, click here: http://tasteofcountry.com/hillary-scott-thy-will/.
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But worse than
taking that beating was learning that the opposing team (the host team)
was comprised of 7th and 8th graders who were pretending to be 5th &
6th graders so they could play against younger teams with an unfair
advantage. That explains why they didn't check birth certificates at the
door as is customary. Not only did this coach allow his players to put
girls half their size at risk of great physical harm, but he also taught
them that the only way to win is by cheating.
When my daughter was younger, she hated to lose, throwing fits if she lost something even as insignificant as a board game against her brother. But today, she assured me that she would rather lose honestly any day and every day than win by deceit. She's maturing and learning a lot about life. I sure do feel sorry for the opposing team & that dishonest coach, though.
Tender Moments
Yesterday I received a tender & tangible reminder of how much the Almighty God of the universe cares about the tiniest concerns of the least of these.
When I teach a new STEM, Stats, Math, etc. lesson, I try to incorporate a related Biblical theme or metaphor for life application because no matter what subject we study, if we don't see God's hand in it or if we can't see how that bit of knowledge fits into the bigger picture of His sovereign plan, then our learning seems woefully incomplete.
Way back when I was a kid, we didn't have baby gender reveal parties or graduation ceremonies for every single grade in school. We didn't have digital or high resolution photography (much less portable camera phones) so we only took a few pictures. We didn't celebrate every minor developmental milestone or the 100th day of school. We also did not celebrate Gotcha Day or even know what that term meant. Perhaps, starting today, I should begin making up for lost time because I need another excuse to eat cake and ice cream and remember that I am blessed. They tell me my Gotcha Day was May 3. The only picture I have from that day is this one of my brother ignoring me. Classic! Thank you, Lord, for opening this family's arms and hearts enough to say, "Don't worry, little one, we gotcha. We will love you unconditionally, provide for you extravagantly, and support you sacrificially all our days."
As
for my brother, he already had a dog, so he didn't need one. What he
needed as a sister to teach him to share and to be patient when annoying
kids were around. :-)
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My MIL is a wildlife rescue/rehab specialist, and we all think the work she does is really cool. I thought some of my FB friends' kids would enjoy these pics of some owls she rescued before they hatched. She writes, "I had two barred owl eggs brought to me in Feb. I put them in my incubator, and 27 days later these two little guys hatched. They are a month old today and I moved them out to my aviary for the next step in their life. Feather out, learn to fly, and finally learn how to catch their own food...then release!" Here are some pics she shared to close this post with some cuteness.
When my daughter was younger, she hated to lose, throwing fits if she lost something even as insignificant as a board game against her brother. But today, she assured me that she would rather lose honestly any day and every day than win by deceit. She's maturing and learning a lot about life. I sure do feel sorry for the opposing team & that dishonest coach, though.
Tender Moments
Yesterday I received a tender & tangible reminder of how much the Almighty God of the universe cares about the tiniest concerns of the least of these.
When I teach a new STEM, Stats, Math, etc. lesson, I try to incorporate a related Biblical theme or metaphor for life application because no matter what subject we study, if we don't see God's hand in it or if we can't see how that bit of knowledge fits into the bigger picture of His sovereign plan, then our learning seems woefully incomplete.
For the first time in two years, the related Biblical context for my
next two lessons on free fall and rebounding just weren't coming to me.
Any scriptures I tried to apply seemed forced, so I prayed the Lord
would give me something related to complete the lesson by teaching my
students about life and pointing it all back to Him for His glory.
The following morning, I had to drive my daughter a long way to see a sports injury specialist, and my book-on-tape finished right as I picked her up. So, without looking, I loaded a random sermon CD my mom had given me from my childhood home church. It was the start of new series on "Rebounding". The message was a perfect application for my physics lesson on rebounding. It was a great series, so as I was preparing to drive back home, I loaded part 2 in the series, but the van screen read, "Bad Disc." Frustrated, I tried loading part 3, and again it read, "Bad Disc". I cleaned both discs (neither were scratched or dirty), but neither would play. So I dug through the sack and pulled another one out at random without looking at the title. The pastor immediately opened by saying the message will address those times when life throws us into free fall. I knew at that moment God had just given me the answer to my prayer the night before. These two sermons would help me tie my two academic lessons to practical Biblical truth.
Y'all...God planted those CDs in my van months ago. There is no way I could have randomly pulled out those two discs right before my classes on those subjects. It was all a direct answer to my prayer last night. Had those perfectly clean discs for parts 2 and 3 not given me "bad disc" errors, I never would have stumbled upon the lesson on free fall. God cares about our little requests, and He wants whatever we teach to point students back to Him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The following morning, I had to drive my daughter a long way to see a sports injury specialist, and my book-on-tape finished right as I picked her up. So, without looking, I loaded a random sermon CD my mom had given me from my childhood home church. It was the start of new series on "Rebounding". The message was a perfect application for my physics lesson on rebounding. It was a great series, so as I was preparing to drive back home, I loaded part 2 in the series, but the van screen read, "Bad Disc." Frustrated, I tried loading part 3, and again it read, "Bad Disc". I cleaned both discs (neither were scratched or dirty), but neither would play. So I dug through the sack and pulled another one out at random without looking at the title. The pastor immediately opened by saying the message will address those times when life throws us into free fall. I knew at that moment God had just given me the answer to my prayer the night before. These two sermons would help me tie my two academic lessons to practical Biblical truth.
Y'all...God planted those CDs in my van months ago. There is no way I could have randomly pulled out those two discs right before my classes on those subjects. It was all a direct answer to my prayer last night. Had those perfectly clean discs for parts 2 and 3 not given me "bad disc" errors, I never would have stumbled upon the lesson on free fall. God cares about our little requests, and He wants whatever we teach to point students back to Him.
Way back when I was a kid, we didn't have baby gender reveal parties or graduation ceremonies for every single grade in school. We didn't have digital or high resolution photography (much less portable camera phones) so we only took a few pictures. We didn't celebrate every minor developmental milestone or the 100th day of school. We also did not celebrate Gotcha Day or even know what that term meant. Perhaps, starting today, I should begin making up for lost time because I need another excuse to eat cake and ice cream and remember that I am blessed. They tell me my Gotcha Day was May 3. The only picture I have from that day is this one of my brother ignoring me. Classic! Thank you, Lord, for opening this family's arms and hearts enough to say, "Don't worry, little one, we gotcha. We will love you unconditionally, provide for you extravagantly, and support you sacrificially all our days."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My MIL is a wildlife rescue/rehab specialist, and we all think the work she does is really cool. I thought some of my FB friends' kids would enjoy these pics of some owls she rescued before they hatched. She writes, "I had two barred owl eggs brought to me in Feb. I put them in my incubator, and 27 days later these two little guys hatched. They are a month old today and I moved them out to my aviary for the next step in their life. Feather out, learn to fly, and finally learn how to catch their own food...then release!" Here are some pics she shared to close this post with some cuteness.
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