Determining to ‘Choose Your Hard’ With Wisdom

Have you noticed that life isn’t easy? When we’re children, our parents ask us to do tough stuff like, “Eat your peas,” “Pick up your toys,” and “Don’t jump in the mud puddle.” Who knew being a kid could be so demanding?

 

We transition to adolescence and our teen years, and things are still hard. We’re required to do homework, clean up our rooms, get our first job, learn how to drive, and be home by curfew. None of those is easy.

 

Even as we get older and more mature, life doesn’t ease up. Getting a college education or technical training to begin a career; seeking full-time employment and then doing the work; finding a place to live, paying bills, and trying to live as a responsible adult. None of which is the proverbial walk in the park.

 

Listening to the radio while driving to another state, I heard a different perspective on the hard things in life. A poem attributed to Devon Brough made the following observations:

“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.

Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.

Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.

Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.

Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”

 

At the very least, this prompts us to stop and think, doesn’t it? Take the first point: When we choose to get married, that’s the easy part. Choosing to stay married, when the ‘richer or poorer,’ ‘sickness and health’ parts start kicking in, is a very different matter. Just within the past week I’ve talked with two friends whose adult daughters are choosing to get divorces. They’ve discovered marriage is hard. Divorce, they’ll soon learn, is hard too. Moving forward they will have to ‘choose their hard.’

 

The hardness of being in debt is something I can relate to easily. Struggling in debt was very hard – the easy part is never forgetting how hard it was. It took a lot of time, discipline, sacrifice and the grace of God to get out of debt. Choosing that ‘hard’ was well worth it.

Researching on the poem above, I saw that some pushed back against its message, noting sometimes the hard things in life are thrust upon us through no fault of our own. While that’s true, we still have the option of choosing how to respond to adverse circumstances, whatever they are.

 

I just finished reading Though He Fall, a biography by Scott Mitchell. In it he recounts an evening outing with some college friends when he slipped and fell off a cliff, dropping of more than 70 feet. He suffered severe injuries to his spine and legs, leaving him a paraplegic. While he didn’t use the phrase ‘choose your hard,’ Mitchell had to do just that. 

 

He could have chosen to wallow in self-pity and resign to defeat because of his disability. Instead, he endured the agonies of rehabilitation, physical therapy and numerous setbacks, determining to maintain a positive attitude anchored in his faith in Jesus Christ. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Mitchell learned to drive a car using hand controls, graduated from college with a ministerial degree, got married, had a fruitful itinerant preaching ministry, and even pastored two churches for nearly 20 years.

 

The Scriptures are replete with teachings that support the “choose your hard” approach to life, including the all-important decision of whether to follow Christ. After leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, Joshua acknowledged they had an important choice to make, being surrounded by peoples worshiping pagan gods. He declared, “…if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

 

We each face a similar choice today. The world around us presents a variety of ‘gods’ and idols we can worship, including materialism, prestige, popularity, self-gratification, and various ideologies. But no matter which we choose to follow, we’ll find the way is hard, frustrating, and offers rewards that are temporary at best.

 

The alternative is to commit our lives to following the Lord, even though that path is hard as well. It’s our faith that enables us to face, accept and even revel in adversity. We can trust in promises like the one God gave the Israelites during their exile in Babylon: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

We also have assurances like Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” And Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

 

God never promised that following and serving Him in this life would be easy. There are no promises of rose gardens in the Bible. In fact, Psalm 34:19 tells us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

The ultimate ‘choose your hard’ is whether to live with the Lord and live for Him – or to live without Him. As Joshua said, we must choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve. Choose wisely. 

All the Best-Laid Plans and Goals – Tempered by Trust

Happy New Year! So, here we are in unfamiliar, uncharted territory affectionately (at least so far) called 2024. We all know what 2023 gave us, its many ups and downs, twists and turns, joys and frustrations. But what this new year will present, even the sharpest prognosticators can only guess.

 

On a “macro” sense we have little control over decisions made and actions taken globally, nationally, and even at the state and local levels. That, as they say, is “above our pay grade.” However, what we can control is the way we approach the new year, our individual “micro” strategy. 

 

Experience has taught me one of the best ways of doing this is by planning and goal-setting. Just days from now many of our new year’s resolutions will have been broken, but plans we make and goals we establish can still be earnestly pursued.

 

Goals, as I’ve said before, are far superior to resolutions in my opinion. We make resolutions with good intentions, but then we break them and poof! That’s that. Oh well, maybe next year. Goals, on the other hand, are things we can work toward all year long. 

 

Is our goal to lose weight? If we miss an exercise session or eat more than we should, there’s always tomorrow. Want to get out of debt? It can’t be done overnight, but we can whack away at that mountain of “I owe’s” and make steady progress. The important thing to remember about goals is they should be quantifiable, measurable, and attainable. Deciding you want to lose 30 pounds by next week, or get freed up from $30,000 in debt by next month is merely wishful thinking.

 

You might ask yourself questions like: Where am I going (or hoping to go)? How am I going to get there? And how will I know when I’ve arrived?

 

This also applies to the planning process. If we want to change jobs or careers; finally take that long-awaited vacation; or gain more practical understanding of the Bible, it would help to establish a timeline, identify some specific steps to take, and clarify for ourselves what we intend to do. As some old sage once said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

 

At the same time, one critical step in goal-setting or planning many of us often overlook is to pray about it in advance. As another wise guy has observed, “Man plans – and God laughs.” Because the Lord’s plans are always better than the ones we can come up with apart from His guidance and direction.

 

In Jeremiah 29:11, He declares, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not for harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Through the wonderful hindsight that a lifetime of experience can provide, God typically has never consulted with me about what He intended to do in my life, but again and again I’ve discovered, “Father knows best.”

 

This doesn’t mean those who desire to follow Jesus Christ as called to sit idly on stumps and watch the Lord do all the work. In one of my favorite psalms we find this admonition from King David: “Trust in the Lord and do good… Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do it. He will bring out your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday” (Psalm 37:3-6).

 

In the very next verse, however, we read words we don’t necessarily want to hear. It says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” God’s plans are perfect – as is His timing. Even if His timing doesn’t align with the timeframe we desire.

 

The book of Proverbs has much to tell us about planning and goal-setting. For instance, Proverbs 16:3 urges, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” The key is to commit our plans to the Lord – and be willing to accept His course corrections. Because as Proverbs 16:9 notes, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

 

We could cite many other passages from the Scriptures, but this one offers a good overview: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

 

Starting this new year filled with hope and potential, I wish you happy setting of goals and formulating of plans. Committing them to the Lord and trusting in Him as you do so.

Maintaining Positivity in a World of Negativity

Some people have observed that the best way to wreck a new day is to consult the news first thing in the morning. Hearing or reading about acts of violence and mayhem, traffic fatalities, wars, the troubled economy, and natural disasters before or during breakfast can easily turn even the sunniest day into gloom and doom. 

 

Having cut my journalistic teeth as a newspaper editor, I feel almost obligated to watch the evening news and read the daily newspapers – now online mostly, rather than the paper versions I loved so much. It’s important to be informed about the world around us. But it’s become increasingly difficult with the media’s predominantly negative tone.

 

We can choose to totally ignore the news, as some people have done. After all, isn’t ignorance bliss? But as citizens of our communities, our nation and the world, we should have some idea about what’s happening. The key is to avoid letting bad news shape our moods and attitudes. As an old friend used to say, “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head – but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”

 

Some experts would advise us to cultivate a positive attitude, developing a Pollyanna perspective that sees even the worst of things in an uplifting manner. Some folks can succeed at that, but most of us can’t. As another friend of mine is wont to say, “I’m a very positive person. I’m positive things are going to get worse.”

 

What I’ve found works best is not to expect people and circumstances to put me into a brighter, more optimistic frame of mind. Instead, I turn to the Bible to find refuge from the cloud of negativity we confront every day. Reading and trusting in the principles and promises from the Scriptures have a way of turning one’s thinking from, “Good lord, morning!” to “Good morning, Lord!”

 

For instance, in Philippians 4:8 the apostle Paul offers this advice: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

 

That passage – a single verse – gives us a lot to contemplate. Focusing on the truth, what’s noble and right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy; that’s more than enough to pull us out of our daily doldrums. How often does our culture encourage us to do that?

 

The Old Testament book of Jeremiah offers two verses in particular that many times have helped point my mind in the right direction. The promise God gave the Israelites in Jeremiah 29:11 I believe applies to all of His children, even those of us living thousands of years later: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plants to give you hope and a future.’” For me, it’s like Him saying, “I know things don’t look all that great right now. But no worries. I’ve got this.”

 

Then there’s Jeremiah 33:3 in which God declares, “Call on Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” I’ve experienced this numerous times during my lifetime and I’m looking forward to even more, both in this life and the life to come.

 

When we see or encounter negative behavior over the course of our everyday activities, we’re assured it’s not from the Lord. Because Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law.” Through God’s Holy Spirit, which the Bible says indwells every believer, we can learn to live, think and speak in ways that separate us from the negative environment surrounding us.

 

There are countless other biblical examples I could cite, but perhaps the greatest reason for hoping and thinking positively in a predominantly negative world is Jesus’ promise in John 16:33. He told His followers, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

At times that might not seem to be the case. But as the old preacher often repeated, “God said it. I believe it. And that’s that!” Let me challenge you: When everything seems to be getting darker and darker, as if the sky is falling, dig into the Scriptures. You’ll find more than enough reasons for hope that endures in a seemingly hopeless world. 

The Vanishing Virtues of Patience and Perseverance

Once in a while, it seems, a typo can be more accurate than the word spelled correctly. Case in point: The sign standing alongside a hospital parking lot read, “Impatient Parking Only.” Apparently, someone was too impatient to proofread the sign! But in reality, most people parking there were probably as much “impatients” as they were in-patients. 

How many times have you arrived at a doctor’s office as a patient and as time ticked away in the waiting room, you turned into an frustrated “impatient”? 

 

More and more, impatience is becoming a dominant factor in many areas of life. A popular adage told us, “A watched pot never boils,” but these days it’s more like, “A watched microwave never beeps.” We used to be willing to wait days for correspondence to arrive via postal mail; now we become anxious when an email doesn’t arrive within a few minutes after it was promised. And when we send a text, we expect an immediate response.

“Impatient parking only.” Maybe we all should post this sign by our driveways, our workplaces – and even our recliners. It’s an appropriate sign of our times. 

 

I’m old enough to remember the days when it took at least a couple of minutes for the TV to “warm up” before we could watch our favorite show. Now we become annoyed if the screen doesn’t illuminate the instant we press the remote. Waiting for the red light to turn to green? Or for the driver in front to start moving once it does? Don’t get me started.

 

Our entire existence is littered with time-saving devices, ones that have succeeded in making us ever-less tolerant of anything that delays our intended objectives. Even larger-scope matters, such as attending college or advancing in a career, are afflicted with IV – the Impatience Virus. 

 

Virtues like perseverance seem old-fashioned. Because it requires patience and determination, a resolve to persist even when obstacles and delays emerge. We want what we want – but we must have it now – not tomorrow! 

 

Those of us who’ve had to grind it out in life, however, understand the two steps forward one step back path that progress often takes. Were it not for applying patience and perseverance to the tasks at hand, we’d still be wallowing in the world of “woulda, shoulda, coulda.” 

 

The apostle Paul certainly recognized that. Writing to his protégé Timothy, he said, “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance” (2 Timothy 3:10), going on to recount the persecutions and suffering he endured during his ministry. 

 

How could Paul do this? He relied on the power of Christ at work in him – “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13) – and kept his eyes, mind and heart set on the overarching goal of advancing the Gospel.

 

We don’t have to be apostles or “super-Christians,” however, to manifest these traits. We’re repeatedly reminded that patience and perseverance are intrinsic to the victorious life of faith. The book of James opens with the admonition, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

 

Like it or not, having our faith tested by challenges and adversity is one of the primary ways it grows strong, one day hopefully resulting in our becoming “mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

 

Writing to believers in Rome, Paul expressed a similar view: “…And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us…” (Romans 5:2-4).

 

I’d hate to admit the many times I’ve grown impatient as I prayed to God, asking Him to do a certain thing in a certain way. But what I perceived as His delay actually proved to be one of His means for developing in me the patience and perseverance I desperately needed – qualities I’d need even more later on. The best way to cultivate patience, I learned, is by having no recourse other than to be patient.

 

In retrospect, I also realized that for the Lord to answer specific prayer requests, often a series of other things had to occur first. Kind of like dominoes toppling in succession, one following the other. What I saw as delay was actually His flawless timing. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

As Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time,” even if His time is not the same as our time.

Would You Have Chosen the Life You Have?

When we’re young, anything seems possible. Options are many and the future seems filled with unlimited opportunities. As we advance well into our adult years, however, we discover some of the doors that seemed wide open have closed – if they were ever really open in the first place. Some dreams will never be realized, and the future looks different than what it once did.

 

We don’t have the luxury (at least yet) of entering a time machine and going back into the past to make changes and course corrections for our lives. Most of us can still make some adjustments for the future, but guardrails have been established that limit the path we’ll be able to take.

 

So, perhaps in a reflective moment or two, we might ask ourselves: “Would I have chosen this life, the life I have now?”

 

Some people might respond with an enthusiastic, “I wouldn’t change a thing!” Others wish they could make a few changes but are relatively satisfied with how things are turning out. Still others are less positive, with thoughts filled with “woulda, shoulda, coulda” types of regrets. 

 

Looking back over the course of our lives, we recognize some things were out of our control. Other things, however, resulted from choices and decisions we made, and we’ve had to deal with the consequences, good and bad. Since we can’t change the past, how do we handle the present – and the future?

 

Joni and her husband, Ken Tada,
on the cover of her 1986 book,
"Choices & Changes."

Years ago, when I was a magazine editor, I had the privilege of interviewing Joni Eareckson Tada, an internationally known and greatly admired quadriplegic. She became paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident as a teenager, yet became an accomplished author of many books, artist, speaker, and even singer. Joni has achieved more, despite her disabilities, than most able-bodied people could dream of doing.

I’ve not talked to Joni since then, but from her subsequent writings and interviews I’ve learned she has experienced ups and downs in life similar to what we all have. What if Joni hadn’t chosen to dive head-first into that shallow lake? If she could, would she have chosen a different life?

 

Thinking back to that interview, I feel confident she would not choose a different life. Joni told me, as she has said many times in various settings, “I shudder to think what my life would have been like if I had not become paralyzed.”

 

What an amazing statement! I recall her explaining that the trajectory to her life prior to the accident had not been good; her relationship with God had not been growing. After her injury, the process of adjusting to her life and limitations was extremely difficult, but she gradually began drawing closer to the Lord. Joni started tapping into the creative gifts and abilities He had given to her, and she discovered a very special calling.

 

Over the years, her books, artwork and spoken messages have touched millions of lives and inspired many to accept and overcome whatever their earthly limitations might be. She founded a wonderful ministry, Joni and Friends, dedicated to serving children and adults with disabilities. It’s unlikely she could have accomplished anything approaching these things had she not become disabled and forced to trust and rely on God every moment of every day.

 

One day she will shed the shackles of her earthly body and enter the presence of God, being able to jump, run and dance. But if given the chance to press “Rewind” to prevent her life-changing dive into that lake, I doubt if Joni would, given the course her life has followed since.

 

My own life certainly hasn’t followed the track I anticipated, even though it can’t compare to what people like Joni have experienced. If I had been able to plan things out, I couldn’t have guessed what opportunities God had in store for me. My marriage, family, career, relationships and travels all have far exceeded my greatest hopes.

 

This is why two of my favorite Bible verses speak of how God delights in doing the unexpected and unimaginable. In Jeremiah 33:3, for example, He declares, “Call on Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” 

 

And Ephesians 3:20 assures us that the Lord is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” I have seen this to be true not only in Joni’s life and my own, but in the lives of countless other people I have gotten to know through the years.

 

Ultimately, it comes down to having faith that God knows exactly what He’s doing and is never surprised or caught off guard by what we do or fail to do. A promise He gave to the Israelites thousands of years ago still applies today for everyone who is a member of His eternal family, His chosen people. He said, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 33:3).

 

If at times we’re prone to wonder if the life we have is the one we would have chosen, it might be reassuring to know that from the Lord’s point of view, it’s exactly what He had in mind for us.

Life’s Inevitable and Unexpected Twists and Turns

Probably no one who's lived for any length of time can say life has turned out exactly as they expected, at least to this point. Even the best-planned life will encounter unforeseen twists and turns along the way. 

 

Sometimes they’re merely brief detours. Like taking a highway exit to get gas or buy some fast food, then quickly getting back on the highway. Other times, however, life’s course goes in completely unexpected directions. Kind of like leaving New York to go to Florida, and suddenly discovering you’re rerouted to Colorado. 

 

Try mentally transporting yourself back in time 10 years, 20 years, even 30 years. Can you remember what you were anticipating about your life? Your dreams? Your plans? Your aspirations? Now consider how those goals, hopes and expectations compare with how your life has unfolded to date.

 

If you could have done so then, would you have chosen the life you have now? Some of us might have, but for probably the majority of us, our lives look very different from what we had envisioned. 

 

In my case, when I enrolled in college, I had no idea my educational and career paths would take me from New Jersey to Texas to Ohio to Pennsylvania, back to Ohio and Texas, and now, to Tennessee. It’s almost as if God were saying, “I know where I want you to be, but you can’t get there from here. You have to go somewhere else first.” Actually, lots of “somewhere elses.”

 

Over the course of one’s life, we experience joys and tragedies, successes and setbacks, delights and discouragements we could not have imagined. In some cases, we wish we could have a do-over, a “mulligan.” Other times we think, “Wow! I never would have thought of that!” The question is, how do we deal with our disappointments and sorrows, as well as surprising opportunities and challenges?

 

For those of us who trust in and follow Jesus Christ, it helps to believe that He is in control, even when life seems spiraling out of it. As the Lord says in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Whenever we’re tempted to wallow in self-pity or despair, this offers the assurance that bumps in the road, the obstacles we face, are part of God’s plan for taking us to where He ultimately wants us to be.

 

As I started my journalism career, I envisioned a long career in the newspaper business. I did enjoy the opportunity to work on suburban newspapers for 10 years, but the Lord had other plans for me and my career. In fact, over the decade I spent as a newspaper editor, God was also using the path He took me on for working in my life in other ways. Who I am today, not only professionally but also personally and spiritually, is a result of how He guided me and my family from place to place, job to job.

 

This is one reason that more than 40 years ago, I adopted Proverbs 3:5-6 as my “life verse.” It says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

 

There have been many times along the way that my paths seemed more crooked than straight, but in retrospect I can see God knew exactly what He was doing, every step along the way. I love the promise He gave to the ancient Israelites – one we can also claim as believers today: 

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

 

Perhaps you’re at a point in life when you feel like you’re “in exile.” You might be wondering, “God, what is going on? Are You there? How did I get here? Are You aware of what’s happening?” If so, the Scripture passages above assure us that He is there – and knows quite well, better than we do, what’s going on. 

Sometimes He wants us to move into action, to step through doors He opens. Other times, however, the Lord asks us simply to slow down and trust Him. As He says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

If Only We Could Have a Helicopter’s View of Life

Have you ever ridden in a helicopter? How about the Goodyear blimp, or a hot air balloon? I’ve done none of the three, but I think it would be fun to ride in one of those and get a view of one’s surroundings from a reasonable distance. I’ve flown in airplanes many times, even a twin-engine Cessna, but typically the view they provide is far off. A helicopter, for example, would provide a better perspective, I suspect.

I raise this subject because of a talk I recall from years ago by a fellow named Bill Gillham. This downhome, folksy fellow had a disarming way about him – his countrified speech belied the fact that he was one smart guy. He passed away in 2011, but Gillham and his wife, Anabel, touched countless lives with their very practical, and often humorous, approach to teaching biblical truth.

 

One of the things I remember Bill talking about was God’s perspective on life. We earthlings are limited by time and space, meaning we’re captives of this moment and the specific spot where we happen to be at any given time. By contrast, God has no such limitations. He has what Bill called a “helicopter view” of our lives, able to see the past, present and future all at once.

 

Over the years, I’ve found that image comforting. Very much so. Because often, when caught up various crises, all we can see is the “Now,” the present moment with its trials and travails. We can’t see, maybe can’t even conceive of, how it could fit into the Lord’s eternal plan. But with His lofty perspective from “Heaven Force One,” God knows the important events and circumstances in our lives aren’t random at all. 

 

This is one reason God could make promises in the Scriptures like Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” From our point of view, grim developments – whether an unpleasant health diagnosis, an unexpected financial dilemma, a crisis at work, a family challenge that seems beyond resolution, or more pervasive national or international strife – are catalysts for high anxiety, even panic. “Lord, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a big problem down here!”

 

If we could join the Lord in His outside-of-time-and-space “helicopter,” however, we’d realize there’s no reason for fear, handwringing, or gnashing of teeth. (My dentist, by the way, strongly discourages teeth gnashing.) We’d probably see that like individual dominoes lined up, one falling into another, the current conundrum is a necessary part of God’s plan to accomplish His purpose in our lives – and through our lives – for His glory and praise.

 

Among the many benefits of parenting is being able to experience, in the most miniscule of ways, what this must be like. As little Johnny or Joanie is growing up, mom or dad must make tough decisions. They introduce their youngsters to the concept of “No!”, whether it’s not to touch the stove, run into the street after a ball, or talk to strangers. 

 

We also practice discipline, insisting that they clean their rooms or do their homework before going to play or forbid them to venture into places that could endanger them in some way. Why? Because in a sense, we too have a helicopter-type view of things, understanding our guidance is not just for the present but also to ensure a safe and happy future – in light of what we’ve experienced ourselves in the past.

 

So, as we’re fretting over our circumstances, or praying to God, suggesting what we’d like for Him to do, recognition that He operates from a broader, timeless perspective indeed can give us the assurance that our Father knows best.

 

Watching too much of the news can put us in a perpetual state of alert. Chicken Little loves to scream, “The sky is falling!” because it really makes people nervous. Based on what we can see, who knows what bad stuff will happen? However, if we associate God with “helicopter,” we can feel secure entrusting Him with the uncertain and unknown future.

 

Speaking to His chosen people through the prophet Jeremiah on another occasion, God said, “So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel…. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. I am with you and will save you…” (Jeremiah 30:10-11).

 

In the writings of another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, we read equally promising words from the Lord: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). The only way He could promise this is if He knew the end from the beginning, observing from high above the fray. 

 

Letting us know nothing had changed over the centuries that followed, we find a similar promise in the last words Jesus spoke following His resurrection, just before His ascension back to heaven. He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Someone once told me that in the Bible, when God says “always,” what He really means is…always.

Next time you find yourself looking around, feeling dismayed or disheartened by what you see, turn your thoughts to the Lord. And think…HELICOPTER. 

But God Intended It for Good

In less than two months, regardless of the quality of our eyesight, we’ll all be seeing 2020 – on our calendars. In one respect, I can’t wait to see what the new year holds. However, if the crazy current year is any indication, maybe waiting wouldn’t be a bad idea. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking about a different kind of 20:20. Not the kind revealed by an eye chart, but the perfect vision afforded to us through the benefits of hindsight.

Have you ever experienced a time of extreme disappointment, when at that moment it seemed as if all of your hopes and dreams were crashing down? Then, days or weeks or months, or even years later, you realized that setback wasn’t so bad after all? 

One man who attested to that was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who courageously exposed many of the evils of Communism under Joseph Stalin. For his efforts, he was sentenced to years of imprisonment in a Soviet gulag in the 1950s. Deprivation he experienced in the “corrective labor camp” provided unique insights into human suffering and the meaning of life. Most important, it became an integral part of his spiritual journey, leading him to conclude, “Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!”

Bless prison? How could anyone regard cruel confinement as a “blessing”? And yet, that was how Solzhenitsyn came to regard it as he wrote a series of books called The Gulag Archipelago.I know of other individuals who could look back on their time in prison as a spiritual turning point. Among them was the late Charles Colson, a former chief aide to President Richard Nixon, whose own prison experience led him to start the Prison Fellowship ministry that continues to touch many thousands of inmates nationwide.

For individuals like this, flawless hindsight revealed to them God could use a devastating experience as part of His process for shaping them into the people He intended for them to become.

Thankfully, I’ve not experienced anything remotely close to that. But numerous times, circumstances caused me to wonder, “Where did I go wrong?” or, “What in the world’s going on?” Only later did I learn how God had allowed the distressing circumstances to take place so that He could guide me to something much better than I could have imagined.

The Scriptures provide numerous examples of individuals whose lives seemed to reach a dead end, only to realize God was preparing them for future use. One who comes to mind is Joseph, the young man whose own brothers sold him into slavery out of resentment for his father’s favoritism. Taking that lemon and turning it into lemonade, Joseph became a valued servant in the household of Potiphar, a prominent Egyptian official. 

But that was hardly the end of his story. Joseph’s faithful service was unjustly “rewarded” by Potiphar’s wife when he spurned her lustful advances. “No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Joseph protested (Genesis 39:9). Rather than admiring his virtue, the scorned wife falsely accused him of sexual assault and Potiphar had him imprisoned. 

“What did I do?!” might have been Joseph’s lament. Sitting in prison, he had ample opportunity to wonder about being wronged for doing right. Ultimately, it became evident God wasn’t at all surprised by the turn of events. The Lord used them to place Joseph into a strategic role as the chief assistant to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. This set the stage for fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham when He said, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17). 

Many years later Joseph’s brothers unknowingly came to him looking for help in the face of a growing famine. Rather than seeking vengeance for their betrayal, he embraced them and was able to declare, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

A familiar New Testament verse relates to this. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Unfortunately, it’s sometimes dispensed as a simplistic platitude to comfort people going through times of serious struggle. Nevertheless, as Joseph learned in Egypt – and as many of us have discovered through our own adversities – it's true.

Do some of your hopes and dreams seem shipwrecked? Have dark times descended that defy explanation? When we encounter such moments in life, we can take heart in knowing the Lord is indeed in control. As He said through the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

For all of us who love God and are called according to His purpose, we can trust that even our hard experiences are intended for good. Sometimes we just need 20:20 hindsight to see how.

What’s the Use, Anyway? What’s OUR Use?

Looking into our silverware drawer the other day, I noticed something: The spoons, forks and knives weren’t laying in their respective sections asking, “What is my purpose?” “Am I of any use?” “What’s the meaning of being a utensil?” 

There are two reasons for that. First, of course, they’re inanimate; inanimate things don’t talk – or think. (Unless they’re performing in a “Beauty and the Beast” movie where the cups, saucers and candlesticks all prance around and talk with abandon.) Secondly, it’s because the person who picks them up is the one who determines their purpose, use, and meaning.

For example, someone decides the immediate use of a spoon is for eating a bowl of cereal or ice cream, or for stirring creamer into a cup of coffee. The user determines the purpose, not the spoon. The same could be said about forks, knives, spatulas, ladles, etc.

It seems we spend an inordinate amount of time wondering such things of ourselves. We tend to ponder imponderables like: Why am I here? What’s the meaning of life? Or the penetrating question a cinematic theme song of decades ago asked, “What’s it all about, Alfie?”

Not that there’s anything wrong with thinking about these deep matters. We’d all like to believe we’re here for a good reason, that we’re not cosmic accidents lacking purpose or plan. But if our trust is in God, His wisdom and sovereignty, maybe it’s not healthy getting into a mental tangle over this.

Reading recently from my favorite devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, author Oswald Chambers suggested, “We should quit asking ourselves, ‘Am I of any use?’ and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to [God]. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.”

When we first read this, it can sound somewhat demeaning. What does Chambers mean, “we really are not of much use to God”? But the Lord’s work proceeded quite well for countless years before we arrived on the scene, and His work will continue long after we’re gone. So as much as it pains us to admit, we’re not indispensable.

At the same time, we are privileged to know that God can and will use us. In Jeremiah 29:11, He declares, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Earlier in the same book God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). It’s amazing to consider that even before he became a gleam in his mother’s eyes, the prophet Jeremiah had been chosen by God for a very special work.

Most of us haven’t been selected to serve as prophets, or preachers, or foreign missionaries, but as followers of Jesus Christ we can have the assurance that He does have a very special role for us – a calling we each have been created uniquely to fulfill.  

As the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians asserts, “But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it…. Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed [people with different gifts]….” (1 Corinthians 12:24-28). 

Just as each fork, spoon and knife in our kitchen drawer can provide very useful service according to our wishes, each of us can rejoice that when and as needed, God “will work through us all the time,” as Chambers wrote. So with joy, as Paul exhorted believers in ancient Rome, we can “offer [ourselves] to God…and offer the parts of [our] body to him as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:11-13).

Cure for a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Whenever I want to get my day off to a bad start, I have a fool-proof strategy. I turn on the morning news and hear about all the awful things that happened yesterday, or while I was sleeping. It’s kind of like the guy who said, “My day was going just great. Really well. Then I got out of bed, and it spiraled down from there!”

Like Alexander in the book, we
all have terrible, horrible days.

Reminds me of the classic children’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. If you’re not familiar with this award-winning story, poor little Alexander finds that from the moment he wakes up, things seem determined not to go his way. Things get so bad, Alexander wishes he could move to Australia, where he feels certain things would go much better for him. (In an Australian version of the book, Alexander expresses a yearning to move to Timbuktu.)

You might not face the same set of setbacks that Alexander does, but we’ve all had our own version of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, haven’t we?

Sometimes circumstances we encounter are beyond our control: Someone backing into our car in the shopping mall parking lot; dropping an egg or bottle of milk on the floor while preparing to make breakfast; not noticing that icy spot on the sidewalk; or having one of the kids get sick just before we’re heading out for a special evening with our spouse.

But what we can control is our attitude. As my friend used to say, “We can’t keep the birds from flying overhead, but we can keep them from building a nest in our hair.”

It’s not about becoming a Pollyanna, or insisting on wearing rose-colored glasses – or drinking out of only half-full ones, for that matter. It’s about understanding what we can rely on even when a day serves us with its worst.

The Scriptures talk about maintaining a right perspective even in the midst of negative news and circumstances: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). It’s hard to remain pessimistic when we surround ourselves with reasons for optimism.

We also can escape negativity when we concentrate on God’s assurances. For instances, in Jeremiah 29:11, He promises, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Several chapters later the Lord instructs us to “Call on me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). In the midst of difficulties, big or small, it can be extremely hard to see or understand the big picture. Sometimes we need to drive through mud to reach the paved road.

Then there’s one of my all-time favorite promises, that we can release whatever burdens us to God’s attention: “Cast all your anxiety of him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Take heart – it will pass sooner than you think. And trust in the Lord who’s expert at turning terrible, horrible, no good, very bad stuff into something really good!

Perceiving Through Paradigms

"Made in Japan" doesn't mean today what it once meant.

Some years ago, I viewed a powerful video by futurist Joel Arthur Barker, and later read his book, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future. There are many ways to define “paradigm,” but Barker explained we regularly use paradigms to form our unique, individualized ways of processing information and how we interpret it.

Case in point: the phrase, “made in Japan,” which has changed meanings over the years. In the 1950s, it typically referred to substandard quality material and workmanship. However, by the 1980s, aided by W. Edwards Deming and other manufacturing consultants, “made in Japan” came to mean superior quality, cutting edge, even “the best” we could buy. Suddenly automobiles and all things technological became highly prized if “made in Japan.”

How that changed isn’t the focus of this post, since what I know about manufacturing I could write on a single fingernail. What struck me is how, as with the example from Japan, paradigms shape our thinking and conclusions about virtually everything, ranging from people’s education and status to individuals of various ethnicities to brand-name products, and even to matters of faith.

What brought this to mind was a statement by C.S. Lewis I reread recently. The Oxford scholar and one-time atheist is best known as the author of Mere Christianity, a revered, well-reasoned exposition of the how’s and why’s of the Christian faith, and The Chronicles of Narnia collection of faith-based children’s stories. He also happened to die on Nov. 22, 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Lewis’s quotation didn’t use the term “paradigm,” but easily could have, since he was explaining how moving from disbelief to faith and commitment to Jesus Christ had shifted his perceptions of himself, the world around him, and even the universe. He wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

I’ve referred to this quote before, but cite it again because it concisely and accurately distills what saving faith in Jesus should mean for each of us who profess to follow Him. Being “born again” spiritually, as Jesus described in John 3:3, means becoming inhabited by the presence of Christ, and this new life provides a kind of filter – as Barker termed it, a paradigm – by which we “see everything else.”

If a person’s an agnostic or atheist, denying or rejecting the existence of God and a belief in a divine creation and order for “nature,” that individual’s paradigm must require some other explanation for the beginnings and continuance of a relatively orderly universe that supposedly commenced through chaos.

Followers of Jesus, however, can accept the opening premise from the Bible, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1), along with the biblical creation account, and the narratives and teachings that come after it. Do we fully understand everything we read in the Bible, including how God did certain things – and why? No. But that doesn’t delegitimize our beliefs. As the Scriptures point out, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). When the journey takes us where we can’t see, we proceed by using the eyes of faith.

As Lewis observed, faith in Jesus means that we seek to understand the truths of Christianity as they are presented, we experience many of them at work in our lives, and by them we come to see everything else. The Christian faith indeed is a paradigm of sorts. But then, so is belief in any form, so there’s no reason for apology.

When the trials and struggles of life occur, as they inevitably will, we can attempt to fix them on our own. When we can’t, we can descend into frustration, even despair. Or as Lewis said, we can see everything, good and bad, through faith in Christ and what God has revealed about Himself – and us – in the Scriptures.

We can trust in His promise, “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). And we can embrace another promise the Lord offers just a few chapters later: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

We may not always know or understand what God is doing, or why He’s doing it. But we can know Him, and that’s enough.