Tag Archives: jesus

Repost from Anvil of Grace

I Wish I liked the Easy Button

Leave a comment

REPOSTED from Anvil of Grace 2012 

Have you ever seen the Staples EASY Button?  I think it quite hilarious that they actually sell them…and a fantastic marketing technique.  I mean, isn’t that what we all want?  Things to be easy?   Press that Easy Button (SMACK!) and whatever you need accomplished is ready and waiting.  Wouldn’t it be fabulous if that actually worked in areas of life other than copy machines.  (Actually, I’ve been an administrative assistant and teacher for too long to believe even making copies is always easy!) 

I was thinking about that in the car the other day – the desire for things to be easy.  How many of us want things to be perfect right off the bat, or follow a script we have in our heads (that we invariably never tell the other main actors about…hence many dropped lines), or achieve greatness without hard work and effort?  I’m guilty.  I have.  Why do we do it?  Laziness?  Yep, sometimes.  This would be why get rich quick schemes are so tempting to many people.   Sense of Entitlement?  Maybe.  Lack of Character?  Sometimes. 

I started thinking about why I want to hit the easy button.  Many times, it is because of pain, frustration, and (for me) often because of fear.  Fear is sneaky that way.  What do I mean by that?  If I don’t work hard for something, if I just SMACK the easy button, the pressure is off:  Failure isn’t an issue.   I waited to write that paper or study for that test until the last minute so, if I don’t do well, it’s no big deal.  If I had actually worked hard and flunked, then I would feel terrible.  I think fear sometimes urges us to only play games we can win, only try to do things we think we can be successful at and not take chances.  I wonder how many auditions I didn’t go on, jobs I didn’t apply for and relationships I didn’t pursue because I was afraid…and they weren’t easy.   

Another sneaky reason for smacking the easy button?  I think many Christians fall into the trap of thinking, “If it’s easy, it’s God’s will and open door.  If I’m having to work at it, it wasn’t meant to be and is not God’s will.” Um…Really?  Matthew 7:13 seems to squelch that idea in general (and about Salvation specifically), “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.”    

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, we were not promised everything would be easy.  In fact, taking the easy way can lead to lack of depth, value and understanding.  What fabulous things in life come in a completely easy way?  

I’ve been watching the Olympics.  I am amazed by the amount of time and dedication these athletes have put into becoming competitors.  Even though many may be naturally talented, that wasn’t easy.   

My grandparents are getting ready to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary!  In a world full of unfaithfulness and easy divorces, they stuck together and stuck to the Lord.  Even though they love each other, living with someone for 60 years isn’t always easy!   

Some of my best relationships haven’t been easy to begin or maintain.  One of my best friends yelled at me the first time we met (which is a funny story now).  Good relationships take communication, understanding and forgiveness, which can be difficult.  Taking the easy way in any relationship just ends with shallowness.   

Even salvation isn’t easy.  Sometimes, I sit in awe of how fabulous my God is and how much He has done to allow me the opportunity to accept Him as my Savior and be His child.  I couldn’t do that if He hadn’t paid a great price for me.  Salvation comes from payment on a cross.  It was never about easy. 

And then what are Christians called to do?  Take up our cross and follow Him. We aren’t talking about a gold chain with a plus sign on it….we are talking the real deal.  We were even warned.  John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”  

It is therefore my conclusion that easy isn’t really valuable.  Choosing the easy way is like looking for fool’s gold instead of the real thing.  It seems like you’ve got something glittery and cool, but you didn’t do the work to get the thing of real value.   Real gold doesn’t glitter at you, it shines; and it’s harder to find!   When I think of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control), none of them look like they come without effort.  So much so that people often refuse to even pray for the fourth on the list!   

I see value in the greatness of God and His revelation through scripture and nature.  How intricate and detailed that is!  I see value in friendships and marriages that stand up to pressure and time.  I see value in working for an education, for job opportunities, and in ministry.  I see value in pursuing righteousness.  I find value in a work of art.   

I guess I just don’t think the easy button is as fabulous as it’s designed to be.  It reminded me of a C.S. Lewis quote.  “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”   

The imagery makes me laugh, which is part of why I love it.  However, I think there are areas in everyone’s life where they are called to “hatch.”  The easy thing would be to say no…it’s too hard…but those eggs get rotten.   The easy thing would be to remind myself of the reasons and people that make it difficult to “hatch” in that area (maybe I shouldn’t just for spite!).  But….Hello rotten!  Nope…the value comes in pushing through the shell.  Whatever shell is for this moment.   

My flesh says SMACK that EASY BUTTON!  But I know it doesn’t work.  It isn’t of value. Nothing of value is completely easy….and the things that look like they are…are paid for at some time by someone.   

Repost from Anvil of Grace, Writing

The Mist

Leave a comment

As the last vestiges of the morning fade away and the sun comes out to warm things up again, I wonder if I have enjoyed the respite from heat this glorious weather has given enough.  Is there such a thing as enjoying something enough?  Does anyone go through life without wondering if the beautiful things are passing them by?  We are told to stop and smell the roses.  We notice when we don’t stop at all.  But, do we notice (should we notice) when we fail to observe the undertones of fragrance and the nuances of color in said roses?   

The other evening, I couldn’t resist the overcast mist that hung in the air.  I know many people find days like that depressing or just time to sleep, but I love them.  The cool air allowed me to walk about a mile without the showers of sweat that usually come from a Texas walk in September.  Scratch that….the glistening (apparently girls do that instead).   

So, I walked to the end of the road.  At the top of the hill, you can see what passes for rolling hills in this area of the world.  They surround the lake, a calming blue at their base.    Someone was taking the wet as an opportunity to do some burning, so there was a cloud of smoke making a column to the sky in the distance.   

I paused there, feeling the breeze and enjoying the moment.  Nothing else mattered.  God was giving me a gift…a moment of rest in the mist…the feeling that the sky had closed in and His grace breathed upon my skin and framed His creation before my eyes.  The lesson plans, grading and life struggles that everyone goes through all faded away.  It was a fabulous moment.  

The mist was rejuvenating and healing.  

  • Genesis 2:6 ~ “and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—“ 

It spoke to me of my fabulous Lord. 

  • Job 36:26-39 ~ “Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.  For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.  Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? 
  • Jeremiah 10:13 ~ “When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” 

I’m reminded of a song from Into the Woods….”Oh, if life were made of moments/ even now and then a bad one!/ but if life were only moments/ then you’d never know you had one.”  This week, the Lord has used many small things to show me that He is there, that He is listening, and that He will answer me in the manner that I need…whether I know what I need or not.  He has brought me to a place of peace.  I see humor in things…I’m singing… 

I get such comfort in knowing I can be still and know that He is Lord…that He is not always in the whirlwind or the storm….or the laughter or the perkiness….He can be found in the quiet…in the mist…in the hum of the bugs that swarm…hopefully not with West Nile!   

Inspired by my moment of rest, I sang Lindsay McCaul’s, “Come Rest” last Sunday morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkTuQsL16A8 (This isn’t me singing her song, by the way….it’s her!)  I love the lyrics.  They are all about how we try to do so much on our own, including win God’s favor.  We never can.  It’s His work that completes, it’s His effort that inspires, it’s not about us…and He wants us to find rest.   

As always, He even set the example to follow. 

  • Genesis 2:2-3 ~ “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” 
  • Mark 6:31 ~ “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”  

The day is warming up and things need to be done…the moment of quiet and cool is at an end.  I know there will be more and that God will speak in work or a crowd, too.  I feel incredibly blessed that I was given the opportunity to stop and appreciate the “roses” in the mist to the best of my ability. Maybe, if I grow in Him, if I’m quiet enough, if I rest on His promises…He will increase my ability to recognize and experience the “roses” in my life.   

  • Psalm 116:7-9 ~ “Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” 
Repost from Anvil of Grace, Writing

Picture in the Cloud

Leave a comment

Reposted from Anvil of Grace

For a decent portion of my life, I lived in West Texas. If you have never been there, it is … well … can the word “flat” actually be called an understatement? Most people look at that area of the world and see brown, dirty and ugly. I don’t. That may make me weird, but I’m good with that. As a child, I would stare down the rows of crops, loving the way they rhythmically passed the car. My favorite pastime, however, was looking at the sky. I’d find pictures in it, like tiny presents from God to me. That’s what west Texas is to me…sky…from one end of the world to the other and…it is beautiful!


It moves
Tells a story
Paints pictures
Morphs into new ones
Speaking of God’s creation
His majesty
His love
His humor!


I’m older now and still fascinated with watching the sky. I tend to take pictures of it (much to the amusement of people around me)…the sky hovering around the mountains, the storm in the air, the sunset on the sea. I can’t look at a sky without thinking of God’s gifts, blessings, and magnificence. Neither can I hear beautiful music or see fabulous art without thinking of the true Master.

Psalm 19:1,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.”

Finding God’s gifts in our daily lives is not always easy. There are those days where I am going through difficulties and days when I’m just plain ole’ tired! This week has been a fabulous week. I’ve made new friends and talked with great ones I’ve known since college. I’ve been blessed to help with a VBS week that ended in little ones coming to the Lord. Fabulous! But, tiring.
Of course, we all know what happens when we get tired. I, personally, have a sleep and pain disorder, so I know what happens with extraordinary exhaustion. People get cranky. (Yes, by people I mean me).
Small problems can become big. Big problems can seem overwhelming. Personalities can conflict and negativity can flourish. Strangely enough, it could even be a negative from years past that comes to haunt you specifically during the tired moments! These are the times when it is hard to learn, let God have your bad baggage and focus on His gifts. Yet, Matthew 11:28 tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”


On the days when life is overwhelming or just exhausting, how can focus be turned to what is good and positive about the day? What if I’m too tired to work at it? I look up. I watch the sky and listen to the music. I do the things that I know connect my heart to the glory and grace of God. And the more I look to those things, the more things there are that do the same thing….rain, trees, water, grass, birds….quiet. God’s gifts are waiting for us to notice them, like pictures in the clouds.