Dilligence

I wore my teal shirt dress, stockings and dress shoes today. Why do I tell you this? Because when I pulled into the garage I saw that the mud, leaves and other debris had blocked the drain and the base of the driveway was flooded. So I got out of my car, got the push broom, and started clearing the drain.

At first I couldn't tell if it was working at all. I splashed my legs with mud and got my feet wet. There was so much junk blocking the grate that my sweeping didn't seem to do anything at all. After a few minutes it started getting awkward and hurting but I noticed the water seemed to be going down. That encouraged me and I kept sweeping the debris away. Finally most of the water was down and I was able to clear the drain so it wouldn't flood as bad as the rain continued to fall.

This escapade seemed to be the perfect illustration of how it feels in life sometimes.

There are many times when we have to deal with a problem or situation that will be messy, hard or just inconvenient. We always have a choice. We can just let it be. Ignore it and walk around. If we choose this route we risk the water and dirt flooding the rest of our life and damaging our property. Or we can choose to step up to the challenge, get our feet wet, and be diligent to be part of the solution. This path may get us dirty, sore and side tracked from what we were doing, but it will save much trouble for many others.

We might not see the progress right away either. It might take some serious effort and we might get discouraged in the process. One thing is sure however, being faithful in the menial tasks in life will always be the right thing to put our time to.

So, as you find yourself clearing the drain, be encouraged. You are making a difference and it is worth it.

Thoughts on safety, Aslan, motives and swing dance

Today I had a couple of revelations about my expectations of myself.

Today was week 4 of the 8 week program I am taking for real estate. It's called BOLD and it's all about goals and the way God created us to work. So we've been writing out a lot of goals these past 3 weeks. I realized today that there is a theme running through my goals - safety.

My goals, whether physical, spiritual, material or personal all had the adjective "safe" in front of them. A safe, stable job/income, a safe car, for my family to be safe and taken care of, a safe relationship... etc. I realized that I had no idea how much I long for safety, stability and assurance.

So I was thinking about this during the break today and feeling quite sorry for myself. I mean, I don't feel very safe, everything is always changing and there is not much that I truly rely on as stable.

But then I remembered a quote from C. S. Lewis' classic, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe where Lucy asks Mr. Beaver of Aslan, "is He safe?" "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

That brought a great deal of comfort to me. You know, we often trick ourselves into believing that things should be a certain way. No where (that I am aware of) did God ever say anything about life being safe. In fact, He said quite the opposite. But one thing He always tells us is that He is Good and will "Keep in perfect peace him who's mind is steadfast because he trusts in You". (Isaiah 26:3)

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This may seem unrelated but my mind also went to my other long term goal of being a accomplished swing dancer. Now, I was analyzing my motives because I am wary of wanting to do anything for the praise and recognition it might get me (whether it would or not). But I realized that I want to be a professional, instructor or just plain accomplished in swing dance for a few reasons.

First, I know that improving my own weaknesses in one area always spills over into other areas of my life. If I focus on disciplining myself to become well trained in the area of dance I know that will motivate me to get in shape, manage my time and push myself socially in ways that nothing else would. I also know that as soon as you think you have arrived in an area you are actually suffering in that area so I want to always be improving and learning.

Secondly, I know that the best way to improve ones self is to teach others. So I would like to learn the steps well enough to teach and also to lead as well as follow.

Lastly, and most importantly, I decided that I want to get very good in dance so that I can be a blessing to dance with. I would rather become good for the sake of being a pleasure to lead/dance with than for the benefit of being recognized as a good dancer. Does that make sense? In other words, I want to improve myself for others, not for my own gain.

This was quite a blessing to think about all this and come to these conclusions. *smile*

What have you been realizing this week?