Environmental Awareness

(There are 3 kids in this picture- can you find them?)

Around our house, when someone falls down or bumps into something, we laugh. I am not the mom who rushes to her child's side filled with concern and worry. I usually get a good chuckle out of the situation once I make a brief assessment whether or not there is blood or bones sticking out. If I know it will not require a trip to the hospital, I guffaw and tease and make the person feel like a schmo (is that a word?) I know its not right, but what good is an accident if you can't laugh about it? They aren't called accidents for nothing. Otherwise they'd be called 'on purposes.'

The comment I make most often is simply..."environmental awareness!" This means that we need to pay attention to what is going on around us and how it might affect us. If it is icy- you need to walk more cautiously. If there is a low doorway, you need to duck. I've often told my tall lanky husband that its a good thing he wears a cap with a bill on it so it keeps his forehead from becoming damaged. He constantly runs into doorways and low hanging object in our home with 7 foot ceilings. Smacking your head on the counter as you reach over to pick something off the floor simply means you didn't accurately do the math.

Our Christian walk demands a fair amount of environmental awareness also. When I finally stepped into the light a few years ago, I could no longer justify my trips to the local tavern to see my best friend of 26 years who bartended there. I loved her and wished to visit with her, but realized that much of the downfall of my youth was linked to the bar and that I needed to remove myself from situations that were tempting to my old lifestyle. I needed to see that the conditions were ripe for a fall. If an occasion arises now where it is necessary for me to be in a bar (and those occasions become less and less with each passing year), I know I must walk cautiously or duck in order to keep from injuring myself spiritually.

I find that I am most successful in my dieting when I make conscious decisions to stay out of eating establishments. I'm less tempted to eat if I choose to meet my friends at the park, not over lunch. If I remove food from my immediate surroundings, its so much easier to keep it out of my mouth, and therefore off of my hips!

When I married my first husband (who was in prison), I knew that he wouldn't be allowed to drink or party when he was released as a condition of his parole. Many of my friends at the time were young and still in the habit of having worldly fun. Knowing that it would be hard for my husband to resist those temptations, I started seeking friendships that would be more conducive to his success in the "world". Even though I appeared single, I chose married friends. I stayed out of the bars (mostly!). I tried to create a healthy environment for us as a couple. Upon his release, we did not always make wise choices about who we hung out with, or where we went, and ultimately, it led to the demise of our marriage.

If we choose to surround ourselves with Godly people, and make conscious decisions to spend our time in the presence of the Lord, it is much easier to stay on track with our walk. When we carefully choose our environment, we are less likely to stray. We must take preventative measures to insure our choices are good ones.

So, the next time you see a big snowstorm coming, put on your snow boots, hang onto the handrail and take baby steps. Don't go running willy-nilly across the ice in high heels! Your butt will thank you, but if you fall, I will laugh....as long as there is no blood or bones sticking out!

Santa and Jesus

With the Christmas season upon us, and a 10 year old in the house, I had somewhat prepared myself for the age old statement, "I don't believe in Santa any more." I don't think we can ever fully prepare ourselves for the loss of innocence of our oldest child. There is something disheartening about knowing they have moved on to another stage of belief. As much as I had pondered how I would respond, I was quite impressed with myself when I was finally confronted with the issue.

I don't believe in lying. Its all too messy of an affair and with my feeble memory- too hard to keep track of which story has been told to which person. Truth is always best, but there are occasions when the truth sometimes seems too harsh, or when it seems just a tad inappropriate for the situation. The loss of Santa in a child's world is one of those occasions.

Many have great issues with the fat man in the red suit and his commercialization in the Christmas season. I choose to focus on the essence of Santa. His concept is good. He gave toys to children who had nothing. He was selfless. He worked hard to make others happy. When we speak of Santa in our house, it is not to detract from the celebration of Jesus' birth, but to enhance the celebration of giving and the spirit of love.

Lily declared to me, "Santa isn't real." I asked her why she felt that way. Her response was, "I know YOU put the packages under the tree. I know YOU wrote the note he left last year. I know YOU put the stuff in our stockings. I know YOU did all the things you let us believe that Santa did." ( I also eat the cookies every year. Why should they go to waste?)

So I said to her, "Does that mean God isn't real?" She would never dream of questioning that reality, and I knew it. Indignantly, she said, "Of course God is real!" So I told her that I do God's work. I help out at church. I perform tasks that many attribute to Godly work. I said that her argument against Santa meant that God didn't exist either. I left it at that. I was hoping to invoke in her some thinking. I did (yeah!)

Time went by and I went about my business. Shortly she came to me and said, "Mom, I was thinking about what you said, and I think Santa IS real." Chalk one up to Fat Old Mom ingenuity! It's not what we see that makes something real....its how we perceive it and how it makes us feel. I know it won't last forever, and someday she will know that the bearded man doesn't come down our chimney (if we had one!) on Christmas Eve, but I have held back her innocence for one more year and now she understands the reason for the season just a little better.

God's Herd

I was privileged to attend an event the other night. The purpose for this event was to unite Christians by crossing interdenominational lines. Our one common factor was that we declared Christ as our Savior. All else was inconsequential. In one auditorium, pastors and church leaders from 35 different venues (churches, ministries and organizations) prayed prayers for our community, our nation and our world. It was amazing.

As I was wrapped up in the power of this event, I started thinking about running horses. As far as I'm concerned, there is no image more beautiful than a band of wild horses racing across the land with a cloud of dust trailing behind them. When I see that, I lose my breath and can't believe the awesome wonder of their movement. Their hooves stir up the dust and make a tremendous sound. A large enough herd can be viewed from miles away. You can't help but notice.

Individually, those horses are beautiful also. If we pen them up in a seperate corral, they can serve their purpose as a servant animal. We can contain them to ride, pull, and tote. They do what they should....but they are contained. You will notice that any horse that is put in a stall will long to be out with others of its kind. It will pace in its enclosure and test the strength of its boundaries.

When we release them with other horses, they might fight a little. There will be skirmishes as they find their rank within the new group. They might kick and bite a little, but the joy of their freedom cannot be kept secret for long. They run. They go. They join the others. They are social and want to buck and stretch and feel the wind in their manes. They want to celebrate life.

The most beautiful herds have a great variety of individuals. There are the stallions who are showy and grand. They are bold and courageous. They are the leaders and the protectors. You will have a certain amount of foals who lend a youthful exhuberance to the herd. They give it life. The mares keep the herd in line. They are the leaders BEHIND the leaders. They are the brain of the group. I'd like to think of myself as a fat old pony. Every herd has to have that one weird one that adds the comic relief!

The point of this illustration is that we need all kinds of churches and all kinds of Christians to make the picture the most beautiful it can be. Those of us who are truly filled with Christ can't wait to be released into the wild, kicking up our heels and frolicking with the sheer joy of being part of God's herd. We can effectively serve Christ if we are penned individually, but OH, the impact we can make if we all run together.