Patterns

Have you noticed how negative patterns in our lives are so hard to break?  For me, it works a lot like my food habits: I can eat the occasional fatty meal here and there with very little consequence.  I can even eat terribly for a day or two without gaining a pound.  If I splurge into day three, however, it’s like my body is making up for lost time.  Wham!  I’ll put on 5 pounds seemingly overnight.  And losing that weight? Ugh!  It always seems to take twice as long to take it off as it took to put it on.

So I’m learning the importance of patterns, both negative and positive.  With food, if I focus on making healthy choices and eliminating “trigger” foods from my reach—those are the foods I have no self-control over so I don’t even try keeping them around!—I gradually, permanently lose weight.  So it sounds easy, right?  It’s not!  It’s a constant effort to be intentional about what I put in my mouth.  It requires awareness of my surroundings, preparation for how I’ll approach that dinner party or eating at a particular restaurant.  In other words, I can’t just wing it!  I have to be conscientious, knowing I won’t be perfect but also knowing if the large majority of my choices are healthy ones, the positive pattern will keep my weight in check.

I have found our emotional patterns work much the same way.  If I focus on all my failures, if my mental pattern is one of negativity and defeat, I receive more failure and negative emotion in return.  If I begin replacing those ugly thoughts with God’s truths about me, acknowledging I’m His amazing, justified, incredible daughter whom He loves with an everlasting love, how I feel about myself begins to change.  It takes work; it takes time; it takes intentional focus, but I begin to experience blessing and healing.  Positive emotions and experiences begin to fill up my life.  I may still have lapses, but my overall life is filled with God’s love for me. 

The Bible puts it this way in Luke 6:31 (MSG): “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!”  A practical use of this would be if you want a friend, be a friend.  In time, you’ll find yourself with some deep friendships.  I think that’s why this scripture is sometimes called “the golden rule.”  The results are rich with blessing!

Philippians 4:4-9 says, “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies and walk with you.” (MSG, VOICE)  Nuff said ;-)

For further thought:  What negative pattern in your life needs an extreme makeover?  What needs to change in your thinking in order for you to begin to achieve it?  How can you implement this mental change each and every day?

No Limits

We’ve all heard sayings like, “Reach for the moon; even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.”  It sounds good.  It sounds inspiring.  But what does it really mean? How does it actually apply?

I am continually amazed at how much I limit myself.  I should preface that by saying I have achieved quite a bit in life.  Yet I find my natural mindset is to shoot for what I can visualize, what I can see myself doing.  Even if what I envision is big, I usually have no idea how I’m going to get there, how I should go about making my vision a reality.  So I do nothing.  I don’t even really try!  I simply stop and go back to what I can picture and do what I know how to do.

If I’m bound by what I can envision, I am seriously limited! I can only grow to what I can see.  This is where faith comes in.  I serve a universally large God, a god who created things so big we still are struggling to figure it all out on both a macro and micro level!  Isaiah put it this way, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?  Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?  To whom, then, will you compare God?” (40:12,18a)

I serve a limitless God, one who is bound by nothing.  When I lean on myself, I’m limited by my own understanding; when I lean on God, I am limited by nothing.  Jesus told his disciples, “If you have faith and do not doubt … you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  (Mt. 21:21-22)  Now my faith may never grow to that level, but if I never reach for it I’ll never know.  And if by reaching for such a great faith in what God can do I fall short, I will still grow and achieve far more with God than if I’d never tried.  So I’m challenged to think so much bigger than I do on my own—universally big!  Exponentially large!  Because the God I serve is all of those things. 

For further thought: “Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” –Isaiah 40:27-31

Control

I admit it!  I'm a control freak by nature.  Not only do I want to know the outcome before I start, I tend to try to plan everything in my life to guarantee the outcome I desire.  But the truth is life doesn't work that way.  It rarely cooperates!  All my nicely laid plans tend to fall like dominoes and I'm left staring at the mess.

God keeps reminding me I don't need to carry the outcome in my hands.  All my striving doesn't guarantee anything anyway.  This is true in relationships, in business, and in life.  I don't need to have every answer ahead of time.  I don't need to constantly run through every scenario in my head in preparation.  I just need to do what I'm called to do and give it my best.  The rest is up to God. 

I Corinthians 3:7 puts it this way: "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."  When I hold onto this scripture and place my focus on God, He leads me down a calm path.  I'm not worried about the outcome anymore; it's in His hands.  I can simply focus on doing what He's calling me to do.  Then, even if all the dominoes still fall, I can see the pattern they make and find meaning in the process.  I stay centered, at peace. 

For further thought: Psalm 23:1-4 "The Eternal is my shepherd, He cares for me always^.   He provides me rest in rich, green fields beside streams of refreshing water.  He soothes my fears; He makes me whole again, steering me off worn, hard paths to roads where truth and righteousness echo His name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness, I am not overcome by fear.  Because You are with me in those dark moments, near with Your protection and guidance, I am comforted."