MY BLOG POSTS

The “Busy” Myth

Aug 19, 2013 | , , | 2 Comments

I don’t have time to read my Bible everyday.  I’m so busy, I have to pray on the run, while I’m doing my make-up or driving to school. Life is just SO busy…

I’d like to say these are things other people say. But those excuses have all come out of my mouth at one time. Or a hundred. And they sound good. And I can back them up with stories, proof, statistics…I do have a husband, three kids, a full-time job, church ministry. And I write books. I AM busy!

But here’s the thing. I’m not so busy I can’t watch two seasons of Downton Abbey in less than a month. I’m not too busy to check Facebook twice a day,    three times a day,  a lot. I’m not too busy to read that new novel I just downloaded on my Kindle. I’m not too busy to check Amazon to see if today is the day one of my books cracks the Top 100 (it isn’t).

I make time for what is important. I use the “busy” excuse for what’s not: cleaning my baseboards, my frig, my garage; editing my husband’s dissertation.

It’s easy to use the “Busy” Myth to excuse ourselves from spending time with God. People around us sympathize with the excuse, and they totally buy it – because they’re using it, too!

But here’s the thing I have learned the hard way – I have been created to spend time with my Creator. I need to abide in Him, to learn from Him, to rest in Him. When I don’t, I am a miserable, cranky, ugly person who watches way too much TV and sits in front of my computer far more than I should.

So girls (and any guys who might happen upon this), I am calling you out – don’t you dare say you’re too busy to spend time with God. You’re not! Your priorities are just out of whack. So turn off the television, put down the book, click off the social media sites, and open your Bible. You’ll be amazed at what you see.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” `Matthew 11:28

My New Year’s Resolution

Aug 17, 2013 | , , , , | 0 Comments

Because I am a teacher, my New Year does not begin in January. It begins in August.

I have always enjoyed the start of a new school year, even as a student. I liked the smell of new school supplies, the feel of a new backpack. I wasn’t terribly academic, but I did enjoy school, my friends, extracurricular activities (anything to do with drama or music). And I walked into every new school year hopeful – “this will be the best year EVER.”

As a teacher, I feel much the same way. I want every new school year to be better than the one before. I want to be a better teacher, a better mentor, a better mom, a better wife.

In the last month, I have started exercising more regularly. I have read books that will stretch me, not just the books that I want to read. I have evaluated my lesson plans and looked for ways to improve them. I have evaluated my life, looked back over the past year, and tried to make changes that will enable this year to be a better one than last year. I have, in short, made New Year’s Resolutions.

In the past, I have mocked people who make actual New Year’s Resolutions. “We should make changes at any time during the year. Not just in January!” But I realized, as I’m resoluting (yes, I just made that word up. So??), that I laugh at folks in January because January is like their August to me. It is mid-year. The beginning is as far off as the end, and the last thing I want to think about then is change.

But I am thinking about it now. And I am resolving to make this year better. And I am convicted that, while reading good books, and getting off my rear, and improving my lesson plans are valuable, they are shallow goals. And they are resolutions that, come January, could be forgotten, lost under a pile of essays to be graded and soccer games to attend.

God has been revealing to me, as I make these outward changes, that the “inner me” is far more important. My relationship with him is what will give me the strength and grace and perseverance to achieve the goals I have set for myself; and, more importantly, to recognize the goals HE has for me. If I get to May and all I have to show for it is a smaller body and a bigger library, I have missed out. Big time. I have allowed myself to be focused on myself – never a good thing.

So more than anything this year, I resolve to be focused on my Savior. I want to follow him passionately, to seek him wholeheartedly, to make his goals my goals, to throw off anything that doesn’t bring him glory.

In short, I resolve to make this the best year EVER.