Have a "Random" New Year?

It may sound odd, but this post really began several months ago when I was in the bathroom at work. Don't get scared! It's safe to keep reading, I promise! =)

As I was washing my hands I looked down through the floor-to-ceiling window to the parking lot 6 floors below. In doing so, I just happened to notice that there was a small 3" by 3" wooden tile with the word "Grapefruit" written on it. It was just laying there on the floor by the window. For the next several months I noticed it every time I went into that bathroom. Every time I saw it, I thought about how random it was. I wondered how it got there, why "Grapefruit," and did anybody else EVER notice it? Then one day last week I noticed it was gone.

That silly little wooden tile made me stop and think. Practically every day I saw it and thought about how random it was, that life itself is random. So eventually I actually looked up some definitions of the word "random." Some are complicated and relate to mathematical probabilities and statistics; some are theological and delve into the deep world of chance, fate, free will, and choice. But the one that fit for me was "something unknown, unidentified, or out of place" and "odd and unpredictable in an amusing way."

I think that sometimes we get busy and don't take time to notice the random little things in our lives, but I think we should. We should see them, treasure them, watch for them. They are what make each day special and unique from the others. They can keep life from being hum-drum, same ol' same ol' boring. The unusual, crazy, unpredictable, out-of-place things are what add spice to life.

Need a few more examples than just a "Grapefruit" tile? Here are a few other things that broke through and caught my attention forcing me to notice the random.

• How within days of moving into my apartment, I got home from work and parked the car. I looked up just in time to see a heron in the pond by my apartment catch and eat a fish. Living in the middle of a city, that was totally random, but utterly cool.
• How I recently spent half the night awake with my sister when I should have been sleeping because an injured beaver was in our parking lot when she got home from work and we were trying to get someone to come help it.
• How of all the NFL teams out there, my little brother has become a fan of the same football team that I have liked since I was 13, the Green Bay Packers. Oddly enough, it's because his school starts with "G" and their font and colors look the same as Green Bay's. My dad believes the Dallas Cowboys should be the family's only team and is, needless to say a little horrified, but I am thrilled.
• How I discovered a cool new TV show from co-workers and checked it out while my sister was in Texas for Thanksgiving. I thought she would like it and planned to tell her about it when she returned only to find that she was introduced to the same show by our family during the same week and she planned on sharing it with me!
• How the very day I watched "Facing the Giants" again, I found myself crying out to God that I would still love Him, just as they did when faced with God saying "No" to their dreams.
• How I managed to lock my keys and my cell phone into my car two times exactly a year apart - both on my way to OKC on Memorial Day weekend, both at Shell gas stations while filling up my gas tank, both the same time of day down to the hour.
• How my best friend moved away from OKC on June 1st this year, a year to the day that I moved back to OKC from Nashville.
• How I got pooped on by a bird while walking in Bricktown last spring.
• How my experience while buying my first car came in handy when my sister had oddly similar things happen while buying her first car.
• How things can look like a tragedy and still turn out for the best.
• How I will feel sad or down and see a message on my phone from someone saying they are praying for me.
• How I accidentally threw my work keys into the dumpster and had to go dumpster diving to get them.
• How I will think about someone or something and get my phone out to text them only to get a text from them about the same exact thing right as I pick up the phone.
• How God will be working on something in my heart and someone else will mention that God is working on the same thing in their life.

Another definition of random is "without definite aim, purpose, or method; in a haphazard way; without any rhyme or reason." I also read about how something could appear to be random and lacking pattern or order to one person but not appear random to another because they can see the pattern.

A couple days ago, I watched "Signs" (one of my favorite movies) again. The central theme is about faith and whether or not there are coincidences or if everything happens for a reason, as signs pointing us to God and His presence in our lives. It's plain to me that the randomness in my life is certainly odd, unusual, and unpredictable often in a comical way, but it's not aimless, purposeless, or haphazard at all.

So at the end of this my 40th post, my prayer for myself and all of you this New Years would be this - that our lives be wonderfully, marvelously, comically random. Let one of your New Year's Resolutions be to watch for those random things throughout your day, your week, your life. Embrace them! Enjoy them! Allow them to bring a smile to your face. After all, they might just be God giving you a little "sign" that He's still there and that your life isn't really so random after all.

What's the Reason Again?

Anyone who has been here in OKC during the month of December probably knows that it brings a few distinct changes. For one, the weather starts to get colder and wetter, not typically snowy, just rainy and occasionally icy. The wind is the one weather constant year round since it's the one thing that never EVER stops here. During winter it merely picks up speed and makes people who thought they knew what cold was rethink the very definition of "chilled to the bone." There's something about winter here that makes 32 degrees feel so much colder than other places.

In addition to the weather changes you feel, other changes occur for you to hear. Magic 104.1 starts to play Christmas music beginning Thanksgiving (or maybe the day after) and continuing non-stop to New Years Day. And you know it's not truly the Christmas season here until you start to hear the B.C. Clark's jingle. (You know the one that gets stuck in your head and somehow becomes part of the very fabric of the Christmas season in Oklahoma... "Jewelry is the gift to give, 'cause it's the gift that lives and lives. So give the gift you know can't fail, from B.C. Clark's anniversary sale. Most sales are after Christmas, but Clark's is just before. Most everything is marked way down with savings you can't ignore at Oklahoma's oldest jeweler, since 1892. So give the gift you know can't fail, from B.C. Clark's anniversary sale.")

The change in music plays a role in the changing moods of the people around you. Some become stressed and irritable. Others seem to be just bursting with the Christmas spirit and scamper around sharing their glee like little elves who run to and fro tossing the glitter of Christmas cheer on everyone they meet. And, if you work anywhere like I do, work suddenly involves random food snacks showing up in the break room, decorating contests, vacation days, white elephant gift exchanges, Christmas cards, and possibly even little envelopes containing Christmas bonuses.

But is this what Christmas is all about? If you listen to the messages in song on the radio you might glean that Christmas is about Santa; getting presents, a boyfriend, hippos, or front teeth; family and love; Santa; hearts given away last Christmas, loneliness, being homesick, and being blue; snow or how cold it is outside; sleigh rides; silver bells; Santa; reindeer running over Grandma; what 12 things your true love gave you; Christmas trees, holly, and mistletoe; how a little boy guilt-tripped a stranger into giving him money to get his mom a pair of red shoes; Rudolph; and of course how you'd better be good 'cause (who else?) Santa Claus is coming to town.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the traditional Christmas music, the bright, cheerful decorations, and the old school Christmas movies (like It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas). But none of those things are why I celebrate Christmas. The most beautiful and meaningful songs just don't hardly show up on the radio, but rather appear in the old hymn books. They tell the true story of Christmas and of the best gift EVER given - Jesus Christ. Let's not let Santa steal the show! After all, we give gifts to each other in celebration (and imitation) of how God gave us Jesus

It's about how Mary gave her body, her reputation, and even risked trading her upcoming marriage for being stoned, all to have a baby that was impossible for her to have. It's how Joseph gave his reputation, the chance to have his own son be his firstborn and heir, and the chance to start out married life with just him and his new wife. It's how they both endured shame and humiliation that they didn't earn. It's how the very Creator God of the universe humbled Himself to become one of His creation, being born as a helpless, defenseless, average little baby, born in a barn with animals as an unmarried woman's son with a hardworking but poor step-father, to spend 30 years on this Earth without truly being recognized, to endure all the trials of every day ordinary life, to be betrayed by a beloved friend, to be hated by those who should have recognized and worshiped him, to sacrifice Himself in a cruel and painful death, to be raised back to life but be held initially in disbelief by some of His closest followers. All this He endured to save us from our sins that should have condemned us to Hell and an eternity without Him.

When it comes to Christmas you often hear that He is the "reason for the season." But I say He is so much more even than that. He is the reason. Period. Jesus is the very reason for anything, for our very existence. Let's remember that. Hold onto that. I pray that we all remember "the reason" both this Christmas and all year round.

Just Please Don't Look at Me Like That!

Growing up I was a generally good kid. I didn't cause a whole lot of trouble or really try to rebel more than one time (and of all the silly things, it was over not getting to pick up my new glasses from the store). But to my own shame, especially in my early teen years, I did have enough of my father the lawyer in me to argue quite a bit. I would get caught up in the argument and whether in the right or wrong would not hardly back down. Anger I could handle. A raised voice I could take unfazed; if anything it spurred me to continue on. Even if I inwardly acknowledged the truth of the other person's side, I would continue. As long as I had opposition I could keep it up.

There was only one thing that could break through to me and end my stubbornness - my parent's disappointment. The minute my mom or dad stopped fighting, looked me in the eye, and told me, "I am disappointed in you," all fight would drain out of me. Nothing could bring me to tears and repentance faster than those five words. They stung deep and hurt worse than any other punishment that my parents could dole out (although taking reading of any kind away for a couple days was also typically effective).

Tonight at church the visiting preacher took a different view of the Judgement Seat of Christ than I had ever heard before. He supposed that instead of the angry, scowling judge that we often picture our Lord being as He reviews our lives and judges all our failings and sins, that perhaps He would instead be a deeply sad, disappointed Father with hurt showing in His tear-filled eyes. Perhaps He will look at me as my parents did.

The very idea of eliciting my Lord and Heavenly Father's deep disappointment in my life's behavior is truly a sobering thought. The thought grieves me so that I can only express my thoughts in a portion of a song  -"I Just Want to Please the Lord." Above all else...

"I just want to please the Lord; 

be in His will in every way. 

Just to be lost in His presence, 

found in His likeness, 

to hear Him say, 'Well done,' 

someday."

It's a Gift... No, Really It Is!

The radio is usually playing at work and I heard a song the other day. It said, "God gave me you for the ups and downs. God gave me you for the days of doubt." Regardless of differing opinions on secular music, I think those lines express very eloquently what a marriage could and should be. To me, it's beautiful.

Being a single girl whose greatest dream was to get married and be a wife and mom, when I hear things that express the beauty in relationships, it can make me just a little jealous... OK a LOT jealous... that God hasn't given me any such person yet. I would imagine that I am NOT even close to being alone in that.

So when I faced my Lord with jealousy in my heart about the state of my singleness, He reminded me of something. "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." ~ James 1:17. He reminded me that singleness is a GIFT!

We sometimes look at it like we would a gift opened at Christmas from some obscure relative that doesn't know us very well who gave us something we KNOW we will never use. But God intends it to be received better than that. For most people, the single parts of our lives are temporary; most people do get married at some point. Until that happens, God wants us to enjoy and use the gift of singleness. We shouldn't secretly grimace, say a very fake "thanks" and rush back to the store to try to exchange it for a better gift. It's the gift that God Himself has chosen to give to us for right now.

Whenever something happens to make me jealous, like hearing a song that makes me lonely, seeing another couple form in my circle of friends, or watching another young married couple years younger than me have a precious little baby, I have to apologize to my Lord. I have to ask forgiveness for not appreciating the gift He has given ME. Then I try to count the ways that His gift to me is wonderful in my own life. And believe me there are many when you start to look for them!

Many of the reasons to be thankful for this gift are too personal to share or they wouldn't mean anything to anyone else, but I know and thank the Lord for them. I can share a few though. For example...

• I am thankful that my finances are not complicated by another person. I know what I make and what I spend. It's easy.
• I have complete freedom in setting my own schedule. I don't have to check with someone or consider someone else's feelings or schedule if something unexpected comes up.
• I only have my family to consider around the holidays. I don't have to worry about another person's family wanting to see them but living in different places than my family.

These are just a few and honestly, they are not anything that I wouldn't find worth giving up someday. But for now, I can enjoy them as being a part of God's gift to me for this season in my life.

What about all of you? If you are single, can you think of a way that God's gift is a blessing? If you are married, can you think of a way that you took that gift for granted while you had it? Please share them with me!