A Glimmer

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather we’re having. No, I didn’t write this last week when the weather was nice, but I’m writing this on the 21^st, during yet another snow storm. I mentioned last week for a reason though, as I wanted to point out what that was to everyone.

Last week was a glimmer of hope for everyone. God knew that winter had been rough on all of us and He gave us a few days to break up the storms to give us all some hope of what is to come again in the spring. He allowed us to get outside of the house a little and enjoy some decent weather. He got rid of all the snow piles that were on the roofs of our houses, along the side of the driveways, etc. He did all of that as a glimmer.

Have you had other glimmers in your life before? Have you ever coached a sports team and found that a player or two finally got what you’ve been trying to teach them? Are you a teacher, and finally at least one of the students understand the lesson you’ve been teaching? Is your family budget tight, and all of a sudden you had a little extra income to get those couple things you’ve been putting off, or gotten a bill paid you thought never would be paid, etc.?

In God we have hope in the darkness. These glimmers of what is to come help us get through the tough times. You can be physically in winter in Ohio, or in the winter of something else you are going through in your life, and God will give you the hope in for which you are searching. In Him you’ll be able to get through anything, and He’ll give you those glimmers from time to time to prove it to you.

I pray you enjoyed the glimmer last week and are staying safe through the rest of this winter we’re going through. Remember, He will get us all through the rest of the winter and give us spring soon.

The Cheap Seats

Lately I’ve spent a few nights watching some high school basketball. I really enjoy the game as it’s, at least to me, very pure at the HS level. The kids are taught to play the right way and they work together as a team. What I like about it best is you really get a good look from the stands at a team’s strengths and weaknesses, at least if you know what you are looking at.

That leads me to today’s point: Often a weakness can easily be seen from the cheap seats.

Let me explain. As I watch the game I often find players on a team that seem a tad weak at one kind of defense or another. What I really love is when the coach for one of the teams sees the same thing and starts to exploit that weakness. The coach will direct his/her team to do things that will take full advantage of that weakness. They’ll keep attacking it until the other team makes an adjustment. In fact, to me that is the true beauty of the game, the chess match the coaches play in trying to gain their team an advantage, causing a disadvantage to the other team.

I mention all of this because many of us have weaknesses that are continually being exploited in our Christian walk. The devil attacks us over and over again the same way, and we fail to make the adjustment. Then, when we finally do adjust, the devil looks for another weakness to exploit. This is part of the day-to-day battle that we must fight, continually adjusting our weaknesses in order to keep the devil out of our lives.

How is your ability at making adjustments? Do you allow a weakness to continually be attacked, or do you work to keep that from happening? Do you even know what your weaknesses are, or do you need someone else sitting in the cheap seats to help you see what you are missing? If you know the weaknesses and keep adjusting, good for you! If you need help seeing what is happening, then find a friend, prayer partner, spouse, and pray about it. Find the weaknesses and adjust. Your spiritual life will be stronger because of it.

Homework

When I finished college I thought that my days of doing homework and studying were over. Well, God seems to really like practical jokes, and one that He got me with was that with kids comes homework once again. On average every week my wife and I spend at least 2-3 hours per week helping the kids with homework by reviewing their answers, having them read things to us, helping to study for tests, etc. How funny our God can be, eh?

As I think about it more though, we all should be doing our own homework as well. There is saying that goes something to the effect that the minute you stop learning, the minute you start losing. It takes into the thought that others will continue to advance their knowledge, and that if you don’t do the same then you will eventually lose to others.

This thought process definitely works into our spiritual lives. If we as Christians aren’t always advancing by doing our homework then we give the devil a foothold. We must continually be reading the Bible, praying, etc.

Now, I think I write this to slap myself on the wrist as much as anyone else. I know that I don’t do as much as I should in these areas. Yes, I read spiritual sites, blogs, and devotionals sent to me every day. I also pray alone and with my wife on a regular basis. I am a part of a group that meets together on a semi-regular basis. Yet, is that enough? No. If I’m not regularly reading His word, I fail just like anyone else who doesn’t do the same thing.

So, this week I, along with many readers, am getting a bit of a wake-up call. It’s time to put the focus where it should be. I have to get back to doing homework. Instead of just settling for a C maybe I need to strive to get an A again. How about you?

Icicles

I don’t know about you, but I have quite a few icicles hanging from my house. The combo of the snow, rain, ice, etc. has pretty much filled my gutters and they’ve frozen. Although it slowly melts, the rest of the stuff from the roof is melting too, and it’s all trying to find somewhere to go.

I find icicles interesting. They start out as just a small drip, then they freeze a bit and continue to build and build and build. They get longer and longer, until at some point they break off and fall to the ground. We have one on the side of our house that we noticed last night that was almost as tall as the side of my house. I have no idea how it hasn’t broken yet, but I’ll be very interested to see if it’s there when I get home.

Icicles can be used as an example to represent stress and anger in our lives. They also start out small, and if not dealt with right away they can continue to build until at some point we just break. Do you have any icicles of stress or anger in your life right now?

The key to not getting to that breaking point is by taking care of them early. There are things you can do to relieve stress, decrease anger, and keep from getting more icicles as well. Just like with the gutters of the house where you can put heated coils or do other various things, you have to find ways to keep these things from becoming a giant problem. If we allow the icicles to keep growing we could have major problems with the house, as it could even drag down the gutter. What are you doing to keep that from happening with the icicles in your life?

My suggestion this week is to find ways to take care of the issues before they start. Prayer in my mind should be first and foremost. Then, have a good support system. Your spouse, friends, church body, etc. are there to help, so use them. Be willing to express your feelings to others to help you vent and get rid of some of the pressure. Also, be willing to take a time out. Get away from the issues even if it’s just 20 minutes sitting at McD’s in the morning one day a week, walk around the reservoir, etc. Find something that you like to do and do it.

Icicles are just a part of winter, and a part of your life. Finding ways to prevent and deal with them when they develop is the key. I pray that you’ll find ways that work for you, and that from this point forward you’ll be stronger in your walk with Him because of it. God bless.