So What Is #100HappyDays Anyway?

You may have noticed some of your social media friends posting pictures with the hashtag "100HappyDays" attached.  The picture was cool, the comment was interesting and so you "like" the posting and go about your day.  I've done it lots of times.  Oddly enough, I "liked" one girl's post almost every day through her 100 days without even looking up WHY she was doing it.  It wasn't until I noticed someone else posting under that hashtag before I decided to see what this was all about.

Here's the deal: it's simple.  Find one thing every day that makes you happy and post the picture.  We all post anyway, right?  Why not make it something worthwhile sharing?  Something that lets others know what makes you smile rather than what makes you mad?  The other amazing thing?  71% of people do not even finish the challenge.  Why?  They're too busy.  I get that.  Some weeks I don't have time to breathe.  But taking 35 seconds to post a random picture to uplift and enlighten a social media audience?  Eh - I should have the time to do that.  Here's to #100HappyDays!

www.100happydays.com

But I'm Meant For More Than This....

Do you ever feel like you have been called to some great life?  Or some achievement that will put you in the history books or cause some artist to cast your likeness in stone for posterity to admire?  Your hopes and dreams might not be this crazy, but let's be honest - we all secretly wish to do some great thing in our lives that rises above.  That singles us out.  Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with living and leaving a legacy.  I know people who have done so (see the Legacy of Grace blog about Mom Mom) and would love to be able to leave just a bit of that in my lifetime.

But here's the deal: we get so caught up in waiting around for that "big dream" or "awesome calling" that God has in store for us that we completely miss stepping out to begin the journey.  Instead of taking a small, single step to start, we want to leap across a chasm 100 feet wide.  We need something that is worthy.  That is big and awesome.  Why?  Why can't we see the small needs in front of us and start with them?  Usually we feel those things are too small or insignificant - that they won't make a difference anyway.  So why mess with the small stuff?

I remember walking home from school one day with my brother and discussing what I wanted to be when I grew up.  It didn't really matter what industry I was going to be in, I was going to have the corner office with a view.  I was gonna be be important.  I was a little lofty in my aspirations, but when it came down to it, my desire was to make a difference somehow in the business world.  Guess what I learned?  You don't need a corner office to do that.  You can influence anyone, anywhere, in any position by just being a team player.  By helping them out or just speaking to them everyday.  I don't need to be in the C-suite to be important or influential, you just need to respect others and treat them as you would like to be treated.

But I digress....

Then the summer of 2005 came around and (I still am amazed it happened) God called me to Ireland for a short-term missions trip.  Ten days in Ireland on that mission and I just knew it.  I was done.  I had found my great calling.  Ireland was it - I came home from that trip and was trying to figure out how to move there, freight my car over, and just start a completely new life.  I was just going to up and go and the rest would figure itself out.  God did definitely call me and I still have a heart for that beautiful country but guess what?  I'm still living in Pennsylvania.  I'm still pursuing my career.  In ministry?  Nope.  The forklift industry.  (Whaaaattttt???? yep) There is still involvement with the church in Ireland and I have not given up on my dreams, but God is still teaching me that He works on His time.  Not mine.  And He is slowing teaching me to be okay with that.  I have been blessed beyond compare in my life and career here, so I am where He wants me to be.

This is the thing - when God calls us or gives us a vision for another country, we seem to think He is just going to hand us a care package and a plane ticket and send us there without any effort or care on our own part.  A book I was reading said "God doesn't plant grand visions within us for our own entertainment.  He does it to provoke us to grow up."  As I look over the past few years, He has been showing me a lot about growing up.  Three years ago I was moving forward with Ireland, I was researching work visas when He flipped the switch on me yet again.  I was offered a promotion at work and I wasn't going to take it - I was going to go serve Jesus in Ireland and that was that.  But He said no.  Stay here.  I have something else.  And boy did He ever.  I am still learning and working through just what He wants me to do here, but I do not regret the decision at all.

The moral of the story?  Pay attention to the small things you are lead to do.  The grand vision for your future is not as important as being obedient in the here and now.  You just never know what other paths you will be lead down - because most of the time they reveal a vision greater than we could even have imagine.  We just have to take the first steps to get there.  

Experience Is The Best Teacher

A book I was reading recently had this little nugget inside - " Wisdom and learning come not from experience, but from our reactions to it".  "Wow", I thought.  "That's a great quote!"  I'm a quote person, so naturally, I was a fan.  There's a funny thing about quotes, though.  Sometimes we repeat so many witty lines that we lose the brilliance of the quote in the first place.  (Anyone who has had to live through my "bad joke of week" knows this is entirely possible.)  In this case, quality, not quantity, makes a big difference.  This is one of those quotes I actually read and then thought about.  

As we get older, we tend to "treasure" our experiences more.  Whether they were pleasant to live through or not, experience can be our best teacher.  Key words?  Can be.  Do you know what the most amazing part of this is?  We have a choice.  A choice. To learn from the experience, or to merely survive it.  To apply it to future circumstance, or to lose the lesson entirely.  The pure elements of the experience become irrelevant in time.  It is actually the attitude of our hearts that determines how our lives are impacted by our experiences.  Are we too proud to admit we were wrong?  Ashamed of how we handled our situation?  Or do we chalk it up to experience and find a way to implement differently and do it better?  Much better.  

So, the next time after life throws you for a loop, remember the experience.  Remember how you reacted, how you felt and more importantly, how you made others feel.  Then decide if you handled it well and how you would like to handle it in the future.  If you are not sure of the answers to these questions, ask someone who shared the experience with you.  They are usually more than happy to share.  

But the most important part?  Live.  Live your life.  Gain experiences.  Learn from them.  You will screw up sometimes.  Newsflash - that's part of life.  But kick life in the pants by taking what she throws at you and hit that curve ball out of the park next time.  How?  Because you saw that pitch before.  You experienced it.  

Me, Impress You?

Doesn't it always seem that we wait until something is bothering us that we tend to write about it?  I often wondered why I didn't write in my journal when something good happens.  Then I read an interview on Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20, where the interviewer asked him why all of his songs were about heartache and misery.  He laughed and said, when good things are happening he was out enjoying life, not writing it down.  I have always related to the depth of emotion in his writing, so that was something that always stuck with me.  And it makes total sense, like right now.

I have been going through an interesting season of my life for the past year where I have literally and mentally have felt like I am growing up all over again.  Or maybe just coming into my own.  Whatever.  The fact of the matter is, it is often painful to grow and to learn things about yourself that are not necessarily pretty or what you yourself were even aware existed.  I do not regret the things I have learned, because they are molding me into a better person, but they can be painful just the same.

The past few weeks have been interesting in themselves and I seemed to be constantly trying to prove myself to others.  I recently heard someone say they were treating their job like they were running for office instead of actually doing the job they already won.  Unbelievably, I heard that story about six times before I had the grand epiphany that I was doing the exact same thing.  I have been trying to prove to people I can do my job when I already am.  I just need to go about doing it to the best of my ability and let them think what they will think.

This morning, I turned on the TV to watch the closing ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics and couldn't seem to find them anywhere.  What I did find was Charles Stanley so I watched him for a few minutes.  What happened was an open-heart surgery on me that I did not see coming.  He was speaking about how we often act in ways that try and gain the approval of others.  Whether it is how we dress, speak, act, or talk, we are always trying to make others like us.  He pointed out that many people often are in our lives for short periods of time and we waste valuable time trying to please those who will not even be around in a few years.  Most times they are the ones who really don't even care who we are or how we act.  As he was speaking, I realized most of what I have been worrying about and beating myself up about (in regards to work drama) is mainly to gain approval or respect of those who really do not even care about me anyway.  Why?  What would it change in the grand scheme of things?

As Dr. Stanley then went on to say, we already have the approval of God.  Not only does He love me, but He likes me.  He delights in me.  Especially when I am not ignoring Him (as I too often do) and actually aiming to spend time with Him.  So, if I already have the approval and the eye of the Creator of the Universe, who am I to dwell in the fear of non-approval of those around me?  Why shouldn't I go about my business as if I belong there?  Because, the fact is, I do.  I have worked my butt off to get where I am and to continue my education in my job to become better at it.  If someone is trying to slander me and bring me down, who am I to fear them when I have the Protector of the ages on my side?

I have definitely grown up a lot and become a much more secure person in the last few years, but these past few months have shown that I have some more refining in store.  Does it hurt?  Sure.  Is it mentally draining? You bet.  But just think about what is in store - God always has a purpose for putting us through the paces.  I am looking forward to seeing what is around the bend and not as scared to think what it is going to take to get there.  Because I know I don't need to gain the approval of every last person to do so.  I already have the one I need - and that is the only one that really matters anyway.

And I thought I had a clue...

Yep.  Just like life.  When you think you have something figured out and think you are in somewhat of a good place, Chicken Little comes streaming through your happy dance and the whole friggin world starts throwing clouds at you.  And not the big fluffy ones either - the not-so-dark ones that happen to hide a bazillion gallons of rain in them.

A few weeks ago I came back from a conference with an idea of what I wanted to move towards and somewhat of a plan of how to accomplish it.  That dream is by no means dead, but it sure turned from sliding down a golden rainbow to the typical wake-up-screaming scenario.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit here (those who know me well will say "really!" and throw an eye-roll in there somewhere.  My life is not over so I'll cut the drama now.  It's just that sometimes you didn't know how big of a hole you were waltzing towards in your euphoric state and now you need to construct a plan to climb out.

Step one of recovery is recognizing you have a problem so i guess that's where I'm at right now.  I have some challenges to overcome in my professional life but they are manageable.  The goals are still attainable.  If nothing else, I will have a massive growing/learning period where I will glean the knowledge that only experience can teach you.  So, not all is lost by any sense of the means.

This whole situation/tirade can be turned around with a simple line....

It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. Psalm 18:32

I tend to go through spurts where I think that I am the only one who needs to carry me and that I make these rock-awesome decisions and therefore my life is awesome as it is and I don't need any help.  And then weeks like these happen and my mortality is thrown at me like a ton of bricks - I'm just a little girl in a big scary world and who the heck am i kidding?  I can barely make good time-management decisions at home, let alone at work.

Life has an uncanny way of reminding us how much we really do need to depend on Jesus and how if, when we do surrender to Him, He gives us peace and clarity and shows us where He wants us to go.  God is not a get-out-of jail-free card to problems and struggles in life and should never be treated as such.

Then there are times like these when I am realize I need to humble myself, ask for forgiveness, die to self, let go of the wheel and throw myself into the arms of the One who wants to, is able to, and will direct my life.  You'd think I would have learned this lesson by now, but its amazing what happens when we let ourselves in and push God out.

I'm done and I'm His.  It's so simple.

Someone recently told me to ask God one question every morning.  "What would you have me do today?"  Today.  Simple.  Just one day at a time. Walking in the way He leads....one never knows just where they'll end up. But there is one thing we can be sure of - we won't be there alone.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do
not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

Another Twist In The Journey

You know how it is when you think you've sort of figured out what you're supposed to do in life, make some decisions to move forward, and then the script is just flipped on you?  That what you thought was next is placed on the back burner and something else takes its place?

I have been in this uncanny position a few times in the past two years.  More so than I had envisioned for myself but I have come to learn that this is just how life works.  And the amazing thing is - as scary as some of these events are, they are in themselves, very exciting.

Why are these things scary?  Well for one, we don't always know what is going to happen or how successful we may be in this venture.  Another nuance comes with destiny - is this what God wants me to do?  Is this what I was meant for?  What if I do this and miss my chance at something else?

Inevitably, we come to some sort of decision we usually feel is the right one and move forward with it, embracing whatever life throws in along with it.  In the weeks and months that follow, we may waver back and forth between whether it was a good or bad decision, but years later we usually figure out it worked toward our advantage.

A few years ago I was well on my way to an exciting journey of faith and though a bit scared, I was excited to embark on this new path and was making plans to move forward with it.  Then, out of left field, another opportunity presented itself and although it was something I had been waiting for, I was was entirely unprepared for it to happen at that time.  It threw me into a week of uncertainty, but I came out of it with the complete certainty of what decision to make.  I can definitely tell you that had I not had the complete confidence of what God wanted me to do, the next 12 months would have been even more challenging than they were.  Situations arose where I simply had to cling to the fact that I was in the right place and God would bring me through it.  And, of course, He did.  In ways I could not even imagine.

Now, there seems to be another type of shift on the horizon.  I am starting to realize just why God wanted me to stay here now.  I do not really have specifics yet, but I have the overwhelming feeling I am in the right place at the right time.  At least for now - and I'm starting to get a vision of what is coming.  It's still uncertain but it's definitely scary.  Scary because it's exciting.  Scary because it could just be something that I'm really going to love.

This is all to say that God is still trying to teach me that His timing is perfect.  And that He really does want to bless me exceedingly abundantly above.  No matter how many times I tend to forget.  Right now I really don't know just how things are going to turn out, but I have every confidence that God is not going to lead me somewhere where He is not going to bring me through.  He has proved himself true on this account too many times for me to doubt Him now.  No matter how hard things may seem in a few weeks.

So for those of you who are in a holding pattern - or not sure what is coming next - hold out, ask for guidance, and wait to see what He does.  If He brought you there, He will get you through.  If He did not, He will show you a way out.  I for one am very excited to see what He is going to do in our lives.

But my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  ~ Phillip 4:19

Just When I Forget Who He Is....

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
(Psalm 16:5-6 ESV)

I read this verse a few weeks ago and thought "this is really cool - I should remember this one".  Would that I had over the past week or so!  It is simply amazing the ways God leads us and what He has for us sometimes.  And mostly when we don't even realize it.

What does it mean that the Lord is my chosen portion and cup?  Really?  I am claiming Jesus here and thanking God that He has given me Christ.  That my cup is full and it will be to overflowing.

But this week the "you hold my lot" part means the most.  It is in the times of uncertainty and trial that we go running back to God jumping up and down saying "remember me? remember me?"  Well, that may be a bit extreme but you get the point.  When there is something going on or something we are trying to accomplish and things aren't going the way we want, it is more than reassuring to know that the God of the universe "holds my lot".  In Philly words, He's got my back.

So, then begs the question - why the heck do I worry so much?  I'm going its because I'm wired that way but there is a little more to it.  Life throws us some pretty big decisions and a curve ball or two.  It is then and there when we have to decide if we're going to step up to the plate or just let it go by us.  I'm horrible at baseball but I will tell you I'd rather be the one swinging than the one too scared to move my bat.  It's all too often I am the latter (not to be confused with batter LOL) but God is working on me.

Ask my family - I used to be scared to buy milk.  It's a weird long story but just take it from me that I've come a long way in the scaredy-cat department.

Anyway, back to the verse.  I am going to rest in the belief that the lines HAVE fell for me in pleasant places and am looking forward to the beautiful inheritance   Sometimes we need to get our worried eyes off the two feet in front of us and take a look up to the One who not only sees the entire path, but who is actually drawing it for us.  When we let Him do that, the lines really do fall in pleasant places.

Now, if I could just remember to do this....