MY BLOG POSTS

As a high school teacher, I see students in all manner of emotions – the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Yesterday, I came across a student in the throes of misery. It was painful to look at her – her mouth was stiff, her eyes squinted in anger, waves of disgust fairly rolled off her little body. What was so awful, what did this to her, you ask?

She was asked to do something she didn’t want to do.

The horror!

I tried to joke with her, to get her to smile, to lighten up, to realize that life really isn’t that bad. But to no avail. The scowl stayed, deepened, in fact, and she left school with a chip on her shoulder and a frown on her face.

I’d like to say that I never have “misery” issues, that attitudes like that didn’t follow me from high school into my adult life. But that’s not true. I can sulk with the best of them. Especially when I have to do something I don’t like.

But here’s what I have learned – being miserable doesn’t actually accomplish anything beneficial. Not one thing. Sometimes we think we’re punishing others with our misery, but we’re not. At best, we just drag our friends into our misery. At worst, we lose friends over it. Misery and its sidekick, Anger, make us sick – literally – eating way at us, a little bit at a time.

What God has taught me is that when I feel these emotions, when the “I hate this!” thoughts seep into my brain, I need to change the way I am thinking. I need to replace those negative thoughts with biblical ones. I need to remember that I have the Holy Spirit living inside me, and I need to let Him help me control my emotions rather than allowing my emotions to control me.

The campus pastor at the Bible college I attended told a story that I have never forgotten:

He and his wife were visiting a church and ended up sitting behind an older couple. After the first song, the elderly woman turned around and said, “What beautiful voices you both have. I feel like I am being serenaded by an angelic choir.” My campus pastor was embarrassed and shook his head, saying, “Oh, we don’t sing all that well. But it’s nice of you to say that.” To which the elderly woman replied,

“False humility makes me want to vomit.” And promptly turned around.

He used that story to challenge us to learn to say “thank you” – without a qualification after it (“We don’t sing all that well…”). He also used that story to challenge us to acknowledge the gifts that God has given each of us. Because God has given gifts to each of us.

Now stop right there. I know some of you reading this just thought. “Nuh-uh. Not me. I can’t do ANYTHING.”

Do I need to bring the old lady back?

Here’s the problem — I think we can all acknowledge there are things we like to do. We like to sing, we like to play sports, we like to draw. But we know we aren’t the best at any of those. And we figure since there are so many others who are better, we are being arrogant to say that we are any good at all.

But our abilities are gifts – given to us by God. If we are praised for our abilities, we thank the person who was kind enough to complement us, and we acknowledge that those gifts are from our Savior. It’s not arrogant to accept a complement, nor is it arrogant to recognize that we are gifted in certain areas. Taking credit for our gifts – that’s arrogant. Making fun of those who aren’t as talented? That’s just plain mean. But saying “Thank you”? That is not just polite, it is affirming – to both you and the person complementing you.

Moral of the story: A ‘thank you’ is better than a barf bag.

My oldest daughter, Emma, played Tinkerbell in the musical “Peter Pan” a few years ago. It was a fantastic production, and Emma was the cutest Tinkerbell ever!

If you’ve seen that play, you know an important scene is when Tinkerbell’s “light” goes out. Peter Pan, almost in tears, looks out at the audience and tells them they have to clap, to show Tink they believe. And when enough people clap long enough and loud enough, Tinkerbell’s “light” returns and she goes on to help Pan defeat the evil Captain Hook.

This is perfect…for a story. In a theater.

But I’ve known too many people whose prayers look a whole lot like Peter Pan’s. The “power” is in the belief. Believe hard enough, and you get what you want. If you really, really want it, then you’ll get it. Just have faith!

That sounds good to us. We’re Americans, after all! We like positive, we believe in belief. We can do anything we set our minds to.

But those thoughts, no matter how deeply woven into the American psyche they are, are just not true.

Jesus, not Peter Pan, tells us how we should pray. He says, in Matthew 6:9-13

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from the evil one.

Jesus teaches us to focus our prayers on God – His name, his kingdom, his will, his forgiveness, his deliverance. He teaches us to focus on being in right relationship with him and with others. The only “selfish” requests in this? “Give us today our daily bread” – give us what we need. Not what we want, what we believe, what we think positively about. What we need. And let’s not forget – “Lead us not into temptation.” Temptation like believing Tinkerbell prayers are biblical.

Prayer is powerful. And prayer is biblical. Let’s just be careful to pray biblical prayers.

Today at lunch, I ate the nastiest frozen meal ever. The picture on the box showed  mouth-watering barbecue with creamy mashed potatoes and crisp corn.