“Nah, I don’t need to use the GPS today,” I told myself as I motored through the chilly November morning on my way to work.  For background, I had changed jobs 6 months before, and my new place of employment was a 30+ minute commute, most of which took place on a 4-lane interstate highway.  I knew the way well by now, but sometimes the smartphone map feature is helpful for traffic alerts, including the word to the wise – “speed check ahead.”  These thoughts slipped briefly through my consciousness, overturned by “I don’t want to be so dependent on electronics that I can’t do things on my own.”  So I left my phone on the passenger seat and moved on to other thoughts as I moved in and out of lanes in a kind of awkward dance with the vehicles around me. 

As I neared the office, running a few minutes behind schedule, the “Road Closed Ahead” sign made me groan.  I didn’t even bother trying to figure out my own detour – I picked up my phone, entered the destination, and let the electronic voice tell me which way to go, all the time thinking that I might have avoided the delay had I been using the map from the start.

No big deal.  My arrival time was adequate, and the inability to follow my normal route to work was inconsequential. 

As I waited at a stop sign on that last leg of my drive and thought about the pros and cons of relying on GPS, a verse of Scripture came to mind: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” I John 4:16a.

God loves me (and all of humanity – see John 3:16), and he provides direction for me, through his word, the Bible, and through his Spirit. 

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:14

Don’t get me wrong – God has not provided some cosmic system to get me where I want to go.  God leads me to the destination he has chosen, a destination and a route that are both way beyond my understanding.  Unlike driving to work, which I can accomplish without the help of the smart phone, I can’t successfully navigate life on my own.  But how many moments, hours, days, do I follow my own sense of direction?  Why don’t I make it my routine to stay connected to God, reading his word and listening to his Spirit?  Why don’t I rely on his love?  That would surely cut down on my frustration and help me avoid unnecessary roadblocks.  I could travel in peace, knowing that my paths are in his hands.  And guess what!  I could even let him drive!  (Jesus, take the wheel!)

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalm 25:4-5

“Come play with me!”  You can imagine the delight I felt at the invitation from my sweet little niece, Mia.  4 years old and quite engaging, she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the immense collection of toys beside the dining room table.  “You be the kitty, and I’ll be the lion,” she instructed, handing me a cat figurine that was about the size of a miniature candy bar.  We played for a bit – the lion ambushed the kitty, the kitty hid from the lion, the kitty and the lion went to the grocery together – the fun seemed limitless. 

OK, that is somewhat exaggerated.  While Mia was content to use her active imagination to invent kitty and lion scenarios, my mind wandered.  I have found that, as an adult, it is difficult for me to play.  I spend my days with a plan and an agenda, carefully trying to match the to-do list to the available moments, and when it comes to sitting still and pretending, I am ashamed to say that I struggle to quiet my thoughts and be present.  But, I strongly desired to spend the time with little Mia, building connection and enjoying her smiles and her precocious comments.  To combat that restlessness I felt, I looked for something to occupy me while I continued to play.  There was a set of cloth bins arranged in a stand, a storage place for the myriad of playthings.  There were Legos and Paw Patrol figures and toy cupcakes, letter magnets and doll accessories and tools for shaping Play-doh.  Having three sons myself, I am aware of how impossible it seems to keep the little sets of toys together and organized.  As the kitty had more adventures, I emptied the bins and set to sorting all the items.  I put Legos in one bin, animal figures in another, and little people in a third.  I even had a bin just for items that didn’t belong in my categories but that I knew belonged with a toy that wasn’t present in that part of the room.  By the time Mia was ready to move on to something else, I felt quite accomplished. 

Later, picking up toys before my sister came home (I was babysitting), I found a puzzle piece.  I placed it on the top of the shelf that held the bins.  I even remember wondering to myself why I didn’t just put it in with the things that belonged elsewhere – it would’ve taken only a second – but I left it alone, sitting beside a stack of papers.

The next day, I was back at my own home when my sister called, excited.  “Can I tell you something cool?”

“Please do!” I answered, smiling. 

“It’s kind of long,” she qualified.  “I was to teach Sunday school this morning, and I had planned to explain how God makes things work together, how He takes the many details of our lives and puts them into order to make something good.  Like a puzzle – He puts the pieces in place and forms a picture.  I had the puzzle picked out, but it was missing a piece.  I knew the object lesson would not work very well without all the puzzle pieces, and I had planned to hunt for it before we left for church.  Well, you know Sunday mornings, right?  It was a typical rushing-around, getting-kids-ready, feeling-frustrated countdown until the time we needed to be in the car to go.  As I grabbed the Sunday school bag, I remembered that I hadn’t found that piece.  It made me grouchy.  I felt like a failure, to be honest.  Why were the toys so unorganized?  Why didn’t I have things running more smoothly?  I have good intentions, but, well, you get it.  You won’t believe this!  I looked over and that puzzle piece was sitting on the shelf with the bins in it!!  I almost cried.  Amazing!  God gave me the missing puzzle piece, and what’s more, the children seemed to understand when I showed them what God does, how He puts us together the way He made us to fit!”

I had been nodding and answering “yes” and “uh-huh” as she spoke, waiting to get a word in.  “That is priceless!  He knew what you needed, and He supplied.  He is awesome!”  I shared with her the back story of how the piece had come to be there, stunned at how the circumstances had worked out, themselves an example of God’s design. 

God cares.  He is involved.  He cares that children hear and understand how He loves them and that He is active in the world and in their lives.  He cares that mothers know that He sees them, that He loves them, that they are not failures, and that He will help them with the holy work of raising children. 

Friend, God cares about you and me.  He gave us this story and so many more, so we would grow in our vision of Him.  When the pieces of your life seem scrambled up, when some of them seem to be missing, when you feel rushed and frustrated and worried, stop.  Take a breath.  Remember the story of the puzzle piece.  He’s got you.  You aren’t required to do this thing called life all by yourself.  Trust Him. 

God, You never cease to amaze me.  Thank You for being a God that is involved in the big and the small parts of our lives.  Open our eyes to see You at work.  Teach us to trust Your love and Your power.  We give all our pieces to You – please put us together and make a picture that reflects Your beauty.

-Leah

“People before projects.”

I first remember hearing Pastor Jim use this phrase after he returned from a trip to France.  The purpose of the trip was to assist and encourage the local church, and that involved performing several jobs, but Pastor Jim did not want the team to put getting work done ahead of building relationships. He frequently reminded his fellow travelers, “People before projects.” You should know that Pastor Jim is a highly motivated individual.  He has the nickname, “Train,” which originated during his own high school football days, stuck during his days coaching high school football, and persisted as he worked with teenagers through Youth for Christ.  That moniker followed him when he was pastoring. He was and is known for pushing through like a freight train!  I also remember him preaching about enthusiasm– “Enthusiasm is the engine that powers the train called ‘effort.’”  Pastor Jim is far from lazy; his “people before projects” philosophy surely isn’t an attempt to get out of carrying his part of any workload.

I am a very goal-focused, task-oriented individual.  I like to know what needs to be done, and I am quick to work on a plan for completing the jobs at hand.  Once the plan is made, I do not want to be distracted from reaching the finish line!  This drivenness has surely been a positive factor in completing medical school and working as a family physician, but like any good thing, it can be carried too far.   

Although I truly care about people, and although the things I get busy doing are intended to be helpful to others, sometimes they limit my ability to connect with the folks I am working with or working for.  People matter.  Relationships matter more than accomplishments.  

The priority of connecting and community is woven all through the Bible.  Take, for example, all the “one anothers” – advice, instructions about how to treat the people in your home and work and church and sphere of influence.  There are 59-ish such phrases.  Here is a sample:

^“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

“…serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13

“ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” I Thessalonians 5:11

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” Philippians 2:3

If repetition implies importance, then the “one another” above all the others is “Love one another.”  This phrase is used directly at least 11 times in the Bible, and loving others is spoken of in other terms many more times than that.  Jesus Himself told us to “love one another” 5 times.

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:17 “These things I command you, that you love one another.

Loving one another is active and involved.  “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” I John 3:18.

I do not want to be the person who misses the needs of others because I am so busy completing my “to do” list and too focused on my own agenda.  I want to be approachable and willing to listen; not distracted, but present, hearing with my mind and heart and not just with my ears.  I want to be hospitable; that is “friendly and welcoming to strangers or guests.”  As my mother used to say, I want to be “warm and accepting.”  

As important as this is with strangers and guests, it is vital with the people living right in my home.  I have a particular responsibility to love them, forgive them, serve them, pray for them, encourage them, and follow all the “one another” instructions with them as my object.  

As I shared earlier, this does not come naturally for me.  I need to remind myself, and I need others to remind me.  Let’s remind one another!  People before projects.

God, You give the ultimate example of loving people.  Thank You for loving me and for nudging me when I get so tied up in “doing” that I miss the chances to connect with the people You have placed in my life. Forgive me for the times I put projects ahead of people, and transform my heart so that I value others above myself and my agenda.  

-Leah

We are deep in football season in my family!  Middle son, Marco, is a senior in high school, which makes me a “senior football mom.”  Youngest son, Jack, is trying football for the first time as a 7^th grader, and oldest son, Ben, is playing saxophone in the Ohio Northern University marching band (which plays at football games 😊). 

Marco plays defensive line, so I have learned to watch for tackles.  This is what I wrote last fall and never published…

9/2022

Lots of tackles going on in my world lately!  It has been fun and exciting to watch Marco coming into his own in high school football this season. I was reflecting on tackling this afternoon, and found some analogies/inspiration for living life. Up front, let me say that I am not an expert, and all this is just my barely-football-literate perspective. (And please don’t tell Marco about this!)

A quick internet search gives the definition of tackle as “make determined efforts to deal with (a problem or difficult task).”

I definitely saw Marco making determined efforts to deal with the Ada football players last night, and I definitely see problems or difficult tasks that need tackling in my own life. Here are a few thoughts:

Tackling takes preparation

Those football players don’t just wake up on a Friday morning in September and decide to try their luck at pushing down some opposing linemen that evening. They have been preparing for months and really – years. They have been getting up at 6am during the summer to go lift weights and get their bodies in shape for the game. They have been focusing and practicing, learning plays and getting sweaty. They have endured some constructive criticism and allowed it to help them improve.

When there is an obstacle in front of me, I’d better have been preparing. I need to be consistent about growing in ways that will help me knock it down and keep it down and allow me to move forward. For me, that is all about my faith. Faith is what keeps me pushing and gives me the strength to overcome things like temptation, sluggishness, selfishness, apathy and many other opponents that want to stop my progress. I have to put in the time in prayer and in meditation and in reading God’s Word. It probably will cost me some sleep and require discipline. I will have to work with others and be willing to accept direction.

“It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back til they were destroyed. I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.” 2 Samuel 22:33-40

Those are words of David, describing how his connection to God (i.e.faith) helped him tackle the foes in his life.

That passage leads to another observation –

Tackling requires endurance

It takes more than physical conditioning and knowledge of the game to be a good football player. There is a kind of mental toughness that is necessary. You have to keep going, keep lining up, keep trying play after play after play. When you get knocked down, you get up and get back at it. When you mess up, you try again. When it hurts, you push through. You keep playing until the game is over, giving it all you have and not letting the score steal your energy. There is more to it than winning – you are growing and improving and building on each success as well as each failure.

How I need that kind of endurance in my life! Keep on keeping on! Get knocked down, but get up again. Don’t let failure stop me. Be willing to push into pain for the goal of overcoming the roadblocks that prevent forward movement. Realize that there is a bigger picture than this moment; what seems like disaster can actually lead to strength.

“…we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

I love the idea of a “great cloud of witnesses!” Like the audience, cheering us on! Even more pumped than the fans at a football game, their applause encourages us. And that is a reminder that…

Tackling takes a team

I learned last night that in football stats there are solo tackles and shared tackles. Sometimes it takes more than one player to get the job done. Our athletic director/game announcer likes to say that a tackle was made by a “whole ship full of pirates.” No question that football is a team sport. And no question that life is a team sport too. It is such a comfort to know that I am not “playing” alone, that my teammates are nearby to jump in when I can’t tackle an issue all by myself. It is important to remember that what I do affects the people on my team – it’s not all about me.

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. …Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12

The preparation, the endurance, the teamwork, all of it – in life, the tackling is a result of a connection to God.

“By your power we will drive back our enemies; by your strength we will trample down our foes!” Psalm 44:5 NET

“With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.” Psalm 60:12

God, You are strong and You are strength. I need You energize me to keep on engaging – to keep on sitting at Your feet in preparation and to keep on tackling the things that try to keep me from living life the way You intend for me to live. Thank You that I am not alone.

-Leah

February 5.  Today she would have turned 76 years old – my beautiful-inside-and-out mother-in-law, Mary Eiden.  I miss her.  She loved me and many, many others well.  She modeled a positive attitude and lived her faith, even when fighting cancer. 

The last several weeks of her life, in December, 2016, were some of the most difficult weeks of my life.  I remember that during those weeks, and especially the last one, all I could pray was that God would give us what we needed, when we needed it.  Over and over again as we walked through the valley of her death, He did just that.  As I reflected on it later, it was truly amazing.

Since then, I have prayed the same prayer for others going through devastating or troubling times.  “God, please give them what they need, when they need it.”

It’s a prayer rooted in the promises of Scripture.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”  Phillippians 4:19

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  2 Corinthians 9:8

When God gives us what we need (which we do not deserve, by the way), that is grace.  His grace is available, enough for each moment.

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16

About 20 years ago, I was preparing to go back to work after maternity leave for my son, Benjamin.  I had never been a working mom before.  I was lying in bed, rehearsing in my mind all the responsibilities I would have and trying to figure out how I would take care of them all.  How was I going to get meals ready?  When would I go to the grocery?  And, did I have any clothes for work that would fit my 6 weeks post-partum body?  All at once, some Bible verses popped into my mind. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”  Matthew 6:25

Talk about what I needed to remember at that very moment!  Read the rest of the passage:

Don’t worry about food or clothes.  “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field gorw.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is sthrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:25-34

Don’t worry about tomorrow.  Trust God to provide what you need when you need it.  Grace for this moment.

I had occasion to remember all of this recently.  I made a difficult decision – a good one, but one that would affect lots of other people.  I knew there would be people who would be disappointed and worried.  I decided to change jobs, to leave my practice in Bluffton to work training family medicine residents.  As a result, I would have to see my own patients 25 miles away from my current location for 18 months before I could return to the community.   I prayed about that a lot, and I felt clear direction that this was where God was leading.

As I drove to work two weeks ago, the day I would be sharing this news with my co-workers and others, I was praying that I would know what to say.  I drove my usual route and saw the church sign that I had seen lots of times.  I read it with new eyes, and it was what I needed, when I needed it.

“We look back and thank God.  We look forward and trust Him.” 

That was what I needed to say – to myself and to my co-workers and to my patients.  When we look back, we can see that God has provided.  He has been faithful and good.  Because of that, we know we can trust Him with this moment and with all the moments yet to come. 

Good Father, thank You for Your endless supply of grace.  I pray for every person reading this, that You will provide what they need right now.  Grace for this moment.  And I pray, that You will fill them with the ability to trust that You will not fail them in the future.  Give us grateful hearts that remember Your goodness and trusting hearts that anticipate Your continued care.

-Leah