Laundry and Marathons

This would be a great holiday

There are some things in life that I hope to only do one time. 

Get tonsils removed, go to high school, have braces, and.... do laundry. 

When I was in college and the task of keeping my clothes decently wearable fell upon me I would stretch out time between cleaning as long as possible.  Practicing the old "sniff" test to verify that I indeed had a few more days to go.  And honestly it wasn't even that hard to do then.  I barely cared if it was wrinkled and we had a washer and dryer in the house I shared with my friends.  After the dryer would ding I could just throw it in a basket and grab clothes straight from there without even needing to put them away in "drawers".

Getting married and then having kids really changes a mans perspective on what constitutes "clean" clothes.  It's one thing to look like a slob as a 19 year old college student, but you can't send your children off to school with stains on their shirts.  And your wife won't go out with you in an embarassingly wrinkly smelly ensemble. 

And here is the terrible thing about laundry with a family.  It is NEVER FINISHED!!!!

As fast as I get it done there is still a pile of it ready to be started.  The washer and dryer could be on literally 24 hours a day and I don't think that it would be overkill. 

Whether it is an overwhelming task, or a simple part of the day, has been directly the result of my chosen consistency with it.  The amount of work laundry for 6 people takes is always going to be exactly what it is.  The way it impacts and controls me has nothing to do with the amount of it, but my approach.

If every day I take steps to keep it moving, it almost becomes a task that takes no thinking or effort.  There is no "all day" laundry day that everything else has to be put on hold to deal with.  When I put it off until "I have the time", the time that it piles up to needing to confiscate from my life is overwhelming. 

Laundry is not a sprint.  It is a marathon.  It requires a constant moving forward.  Not in a furious cacophony of limbs swinging wildly, but a deliberate daily discipline of one step in front of the other knowing that it will not be a task that is over anytime soon. 

All of our life.  Or, at least the things that matter.  Are like that.  We are so good at putting off that which we should be doing.  To save it for "some day".  When there is "enough time".  When that other stuff is "taken care of".  And drip by steady and reliable drip it piles up the little issues until we are overwhelmed and consumed by a mountain.

The Apostle Paul gets right to the root of our problem as he addresses our spiritual malaise,

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.- 1 Cor 9:24-27

We run our lives so aimlessly so often.  Then we are surprised when our relationship with God feels so distant and bleh.  All week long we put off who God is calling us to be, to do those simple steps with the hopes that we can save it all up for a marathon spiritual connection on Sunday mornings. 

And we get farther and farther behind. 

Are you living your life like you are after a prize.  No, there is no trophy for a caught up laundry room.  But a person who disciplines themselves to run hard after God every single day will not regret it.  But we will always regret letting it slip and fall farther and farther behind.

This plays into all areas of our life.  Think about the many important things that God has given you responsibility for.  How many of them have you avoided the daily work of working towards the goal that is set before you.  Instead we avoid and deflect always telling ourselves that later we can do that work when we are really ready for it.  And far too often there is never a later. 

Stop running FROM what God has for you and start running TOWARDS God.  One day your race will come to an end.  Don't be found never having even started. 

Testing Wet Paint by Touching, or, What is Good Grief?

Thomas did not practice social distancing

Obtuseness is a genetic condition that runs in my family and has lodged itself quite deeply into my DNA.  What I mean is that I have a preternatural gift for making things much harder on myself than they needed to be.  When I come upon a sign affixed to a wall labeled "Do Not Touch, Wet Paint", I will be soooo "careful" and touch it with just a little tap of a finger just to be sure it really is wet paint. 

I so do wish that I was able to hear the instruction the first time, to heed the warning at its first cry.  But there is something deeply woven into me that only trusts what I can see, touch and experience in a practical(and sometimes hurtful way).  Like the Disciple Thomas, who had spent 3 years of his life at the feet of Jesus.  He had seen the miracles, heard the words, experienced the power and majesty of the Son of God, yet even as everyone else was able to celebrate the resurrection he just had to touch it with a little tap of his own finger to just see for himself.

Perhaps in the years to come he thought back to that moment that Jesus didn't rebuke him for his doubting, but instead invited him to touch and see for himself.  Even though we call him "Doubting Thomas" today, Jesus was gracious and let Thomas do what he needed to do as he struggled in his own heart to grasp what was right in front of his face. 

I wonder if knowing Jesus loved him enough to let him "find out for himself" was what gave him the confidence to travel as a missionary to India where he would be killed for his faith.  A man who had to touch to believe, believed in that hope to the point of dying for others far from his home. 

Even though I am slow to learn, here is my good news, God is very patient with me.  And He loves me enough to do whatever it takes to help me grow.  This is good news for you as well.  God will let us go through what we need to for the sake of finding Him there at the end of our desperate attempts to try to be in control and figure it all out for ourselves. 

Often our obtuseness leads to heart ach, but the Apostle Paul presents it to us this way,

"Fod Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death"- 2 Corinthians 7:10

I think Thomas was grieved over feeling doubtful in the presence of Jesus, but it was a Godly grief.  It was a grief that drove Him TO Jesus for help.  And Jesus met him there in his struggle and doubt.  And it changed the trajectory of his life to live with boldness, and without regret. 

Worldly grief is a grief that drives us away from God.  Instead of a heart willing to cry out, "Help me God", it says, "I won't let that happen to me again". 

God lets us test and see and experience grief and heartache SO THAT we turn more fully to Him.  But far to often, we do not bring our grief to the cross, we hold it up as a wall and a shield to keep out more risks and possible pain.  And then our grief never meets its healer and will eventually consume us. 

The love God has for us is such that He will let us touch that wet paint, make that stupid choice, wade through the consequences of sin and pain.  He invites us to come to Him WITHOUT all those stupid detours, but He is patient with us when we jump into the mud.  He wades right in with us and carries us out.  And He lets that grief drive us closer to Him. 

Sometimes the grief is because of what we have done, and sometimes the grief is just because life is really hard.  But we choose if it is Godly and will lead to life, or, if it is a grief that will lead to death. 

One Factory Still Hard at Work: The Idol Factory

One good thing about the global pandemic is that we are forced to face the reality of what we count on for our sense of well-being.  And it has revealed how fickle all these things that we have counted on truly are. 

Here is what I mean. 

Take a hard working husband/father who deals with a lot of stress with their job.  Bosses, deadlines, obnoxious co-workers.  And then he gets home and there are needs he feels pressure to provide for, emotionally, financially, relationally, etc. 

Under normal circumstances he is pretty frazzled and just a few small pushes away from snapping at those around him.  One bad external event from entering a spiral of depression and anxiety. 

Until recently he counted on his weekly basketball games at the Y and an evening at the bar with his friends to open up the pressure valve a bit and decompress the building up stress.  They were so important to him, that any disruption of that pattern would always be directly tied to problems at home and work.  They were what he was counting on for balance and peace. 

But these were all just "things" without any real permanence.  Circumstances could always temporarily eliminate them from his calendar, and now they were completely taken away.  Look at your local police docket.  You shouldn't be surprised to see the growth of reported domestic violence over the last few months. 

Playing basketball at the Y, going out with friends, whatever it is you do to blow off steam, are not inherrently bad things.  But this pandemic does pull back the curtain and reveal our heart.  If something is "taken" from you and it causes your to become angry, bitter, engative, to have your personality deeply impacted, it reveals that you were not internally healthy or whole, but had become reliant on a crutch that had become your source of well-being and hope.

To put it more Biblically, what we are talking about is idolatry. 

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.- Romans 1:25

Everything in this world, even good things, like, family, friends, food, etc, are finite and imperfect.  When they become the essence of what keeps us content and at peace, they are an idol.  And idol that will only take from you and never give back the hope and peace you are truly in need of. 

John Calvin said this about our condition, "the human heart is a perpetual idol factory"  And I once heard that expanded to the concept by saying, "The human heart is a perpetual idol factory AND IT NEVER IDLES IN CREATING IDOLS"

Why are we perpetually making idols for ourselves.  Because we are desperate for hope.  And time after time we place our hope in things that can never truly satisfy.  But instead of saying, maybe I need to dig deeper, we just throw away with contempt that which we had hoped in and try to fill that void with a new fancy thing that surely won't let us down in the same way.

We throw away relationships, jobs, friendships, homes, gifts, etc in a constant turnover in a desperate attempt to finally find the thing that sticks.  And sometimes we do find something that lasts for a long time.  But we can never forget that in a moment, it is something that can be taken.  Even if we think we finally have found that "thing" that will make us feel peace and contentment, a snap of a finger it can be ripped from us. 

Paul points out to us in Romans the simple truth of our condition.  There is one thing that is eternal, perfect, complete and a source of lasting hope and peace.  God, the creator of the good things that bless us.  But we too often celebrate the gift and not the maker and giver of the gift.

If your child makes you a handmade card for mothers day this coming weekend.  Which do you prefer, the card, or your child?

Of course you prefer your child!

But everyday we say God my happiness is not in you, but only in this object, this person, this thing.  And if I don't have it, I will throw a fit.  Because it is the only thing holding it all together for me.

Until we can say like the author of Lamentations,

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."- Lamentations 3:24

Then we will never find perfect peace.  As long as we say God, I will be happy as long as you protect this, give me that, change these circumstances....as long as there is anything we count on to do for us what God made us to only perfectly experience through Him, then we have set ourselves up for pain and heartache.

And if we go to our graves with our hope in anything else, the idol you have put your hopes in will not save you.  It is a thing, it is not God. 

Only God saves, gives hope, grants peace, shows purpose.  And this He does for eternity. 

Are We There Yet? Or, the Pain of Waiting on God

Moses probably had it pretty rough

Do you know why dad's get mad driving their family to vacation?  Because hearing, "Are We there yet??" every 2 1/2  miles is enough to break the most hardened Navy Seal.  If you ever wanted to interrogate a terrorist to find where the dirty bomb was placed, don't waterboard, just have them drive my kids somewhere more than an hour away.  I give them 30 minutes before they help us permanently shut down ISIS. 

It is a part of our fallen nature that we struggle with the patience that a journey requires of us.  A significant part of that struggle is that;

1- We are so excited we want it RIGHT NOW, and, sometimes,

2- We are afraid that we will never get there to experience what we are hoping for. 

My kids sometimes are worried that if it takes too long the resort will be closed, the beach will be shut down, the vacation home will be unavailable. 

These two emotions, impatience and anxiety, are at war within us even as we try to joyfully anticipate where the journey is taking us.  And here is where it gets dicy for us.  Sometimes we can become so impatient and anxious in our behavior that we rob all joy from the journey and make arriving at our destination a less than joyful moment. 

Have you ever been so exhausted of your trip, and the constant heckling of some backseat drivers, that you feel you are going to need a few days to just recover from the journey before you can even enjoy where you have arrived??

This is an ongoing battle within our own hearts as we "try" to wait on God.  We can grasp the concept that there is a reason for the wait.  But we become frustrated and even fearful that what we are waiting for will never materialize.  We cry out, "But why not yet God??!!?"  And every time we give into that emotion and let it dominate us we are creating the environment that, instead of giving us peace and joy, gives us increasing anxiety and unhappiness. 

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.- 2 Peter 3:9

Why is God seemingly slow to fulfill those hopes, dreams and promises in our lives? 

Because he is PATIENT WITH YOU!!

There is something that YOU NEED.  That cannot be appropriately accomplished by rushing to the end of the journey.  God isn't asking you to please be patient with His apparent slowness.  He is gracefully extending the journey to give you what you need the most. 

What is actually at the heart of all your pleas and felt needs is this:  To be saved and to know God as Father, Savior and King.  And when that primary goal has been accomplished then He keeps the journey going so that you dive deeper and deeper into what it means to know and be known by the God who made you and bought you with the blood of His own Son.

The waiting can be painful, but God has never failed us yet. 

God is ever true to His promises- I Corinthians 1:9

If the journey from Ohio to the beach was only 30 minutes what would we find.  No sunshine and no beach.  To have that warm beach vacation in deep and dark February requires many long(and painful sometimes) hours.  But it is worth it.

As we wait on God, instead of asking are we there yet, be grateful that God loves you enough to keep your journey going for your own sake.  Because His destination is the only destination that is worth our patience.