Happy 2017!!

Good morning!  Today is January 1, 2017.  As always, I like starting new, starting fresh, and starting with a blank slate.  I’m excited about what this year holds for me and have been considering my resolutions, if you will, and about how to achieve what I need to complete so that I may be better this year than ever before.

On those lines, I must confess:  I’m really good at starting new things, making plans, and initiating projects and the like.  However, my weak spot is in the completion of such endeavors.  I cannot tell you how many ideas I have that started off strong and ended up...well, that’s just it.  They haven’t ended.  They’ve not been concluded.  Whether they are files that didn’t get organized, pictures that weren’t properly labeled, Bible Studies that weren’t completed, blogs that were only half-written, cards not sent, scrapbooks that--ooh, let’s not even go there!  👀

Therefore, I have chosen my life verses this year to be from The Message, where often the Word of God is translated into plain, blunt, and what-I-need-to-hear language.  Here they are, from 2 Corinthians 8, verses 10-12:

"The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you
started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale.
Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what
it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is
clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart
regulates the hands."

Do you love them?  Ahh, I certainly do and am pricked in my heart that’s “in the right place” and I purpose to “regulate the hands” on this ol’ body of mine!  This passage tells me what the best thing for me to do is:  to finish what I started.  Yes, it says “last year” and there is certainly enough to keep me busy with all those great ideas.  I don’t need my good intentions to grow stale.  I do have what it takes and it’s time to implement it.  And I also love the part that tells me to do what I can, not what I can’t.  I know my limitations so this is vital yet it’s often a challenge of sorts.  I cannot do some things because of my lack of willpower.  I sometimes fail to complete projects because of laziness.  Often I put off until tomorrow what needs done today and before I know it, tomorrow has become the next week, month, or...or today, January 1, 2017.

My life verse last year (John 5:7) dealt with the fact that I had no man to help me.  For much of the year, I finally learned--accepted, rather--that help was not coming from an earthly friend.  I had to suck it up and decide just how important the things in my heart were.  I lost four loved ones in 2016 and that helped to emphasize that regardless of how much love there is from others, in the end it’s all on me what I am going to allow Christ to do in me.  Ahh, you were wondering, weren’t you, when His name would show up?  Lest you think this blog is all about me, let’s get down to the heart of the matter and put the truth out there:  it’s not about me.  It’s all about Christ.  

All, Stef?  Really?

Yes.  Really.  Without Him in my life, I am useless.  My attempts will all fall short.  I will remain impotent.  As I told my Uncle Horace last night before he passed, I just knew Christ would be waiting for him, arms opened wide, smiling broadly, and telling him “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”  Horace completed his tasks on earth and now gets to go on to his reward.  My hope is that I too will receive that reception from Jesus, as He looks at me with love in His sweet eyes, and welcomes me to where I truly belong.  But first I have to let Him complete what He started in me.  He has some works in me yet to perform and my intent is to help Him out by doing my part.  

Let’s pray together now that our Great God will bless our resolutions, lining them up to His will in our lives, and that we will finish our races, complete our courses, and please Him with our purposes.  Ready?

Dear Lord God, another year has been granted to us because of Your unfailing mercies.  So many times last year You could have said “Enough!”  You could have come and had many of us bowing our heads in shame and regrets for what we didn’t do that we promised You we would.  Not that we can boast of anything we’ve done, Lord, but...but You know what I mean, Father.  As Your children, we seek to please You.  Knowing we can never pay You back for what Christ did on the cross for us, our earthly vessels still try.  We try to do things to glorify You, which is our reasonable service.  

But God?  We failed in parts.  We didn’t measure up to the love Your Son taught us.  We didn’t seek peaceably to live with all men, didn’t turn the other cheek often enough, and didn’t mend what was broken.  Instead, we sought our own desires, refusing to humble ourselves, and refusing to submit so that You could prevail and prove Yourself mighty.

So this day, this first day of this new year, we come before You, asking again for Your blessings, Your leadership, and for Your love to shine through us.  Will You help us, Lord, to be better?  Will You remind us to seek You out in all of the plans we make?  Will You guide us what to participate in and what we should stay away from?  Mostly Father, will You continue having mercy on us, patience with us, and supplying the grace we so desperately need to survive down here until You come and get us?  We need You!

Lord, as I close, I want to commit 2017 to You.  I want this year to stand out as the one where I chose love, where I chose obedience to You and Your commands, where I chose to humble myself in areas that are unchartered, and the year Lord that I consider Your will above my own.  Help me to lose this flesh that weighs me down and prevents me from being who You designed me to be all those years ago.  I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour.  Amen!

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

Is it right that old times be forgotten?  That’s what the interpretation of the song “Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?” would mean in today’s language.

The lyrics were penned way back in the day by Robert Burns.  He was commiserating over an old friendship and wondering if the past and the memories made would be forgotten as people went their separate ways.  Later, parts of the song were used in what is traditionally a song that many sing at the stroke of the midnight hour as the old year ends and a new one begins.  "For auld lang syne" could even be loosely translated as "for (the sake of) old times."

During the late hours of the night and in between the wee hours of the morning, I often find myself wide awake.  Last night was one of those times.  Without going into a lot of detail, suffice it so say that Facebook was my companion and I spent several hours perusing its records of old friends, classmates, and folks I have known for a while.  I checked out so many pictures that I hadn’t taken time earlier to enjoy, read some of Greg’s funny statuses, learned about grandkids, trips, and weather events.  And then I noticed some things that I wasn’t seeing:  pictures and recollections of certain couples.  Where were the comments and notes, the Christmas Card to the world?  

Earlier I had been reading of a woman in my county who had lost her husband recently through the carelessness of a drunk driver and her words pierced my heart as she shared her grief over the loss of this man who was so vital to so many.  It reminded me of a once-great friend who too has lost her husband much earlier than expected--for come on, who of us really thinks that “happily-ever-after” has such a short time limit imposed on it?  

As I read the widow’s (wow:  what an ugly word for one so young!) words about dealing with the day in and day out occurrences that she was facing, my heart just ached.  For you see, not only was she left behind:  her kids--their kids!!--and their family and their neighbors and their church also had to deal with this grief.  He was a pastor and she was his wife.  She posed the question what was she to do with herself because her role in life had unexpectedly ended, for how does one be a pastor’s wife when the pastor is no longer in the picture?  Why this additional loss?  What about her missions, her dreams, her calling to be by his side and fulfill these obligations of today when she took those vows to stand by her man all those years ago?  Who was she now that he was not there to partner with her?

Ironically, as I soon discovered in my Facebook readings, another friend, an old acquaintance, a woman whom I once loved and admired and just about idolized during my teen years was facing the same challenge, although not due to death.  The details were and are sketchy but from what I saw, she is handling the situation with grace, with dignity, and with the much-necessary comfort of our Great God.  “Should I reach out to her” I asked myself.  “What would I want should the position be reversed:  someone I barely knew anymore to be sticking her nose in my business or an old acquaintance, an old buddy and sometimes pal to remind me that those friendships from long long ago that were based on simplicity, honesty, and innocence could still have an effect to touch a soul?”  

I bit the bullet and sent her a note.  I was so scared that it would be taken the wrong way because so many times when I reach out to someone that’s what happens.  My efforts fall short or my motives are misinterpreted.  Did I mention how much I once loved this girl?  That was the final push, the lead in my gasoline.  Even though during my times of heartbreak and loss she didn’t once reach out to me, is that what really mattered?  No.  Love-- friendship-- isn’t a 50/50 proposition.  It doesn’t keep score.  It doesn’t rely on constant communication to be there.  It is ready to help when the need of the other may be a silent cry that many have ignored.  It is the jump-in-blindly-with-an-attempt-to-deflect some of that hurt that has been thrust on someone I used to would have fought anyone who messed with her over.

Old acquaintances.  Forgotten friends.  Let’s not neglect them, let’s not pretend that we don’t see, don’t hear, don’t know of the pain they are suffering.  I could reach out to the woman in my town who lost her best friend, lover, and father to her children but...but there’s no connection there.  Yes, I hurt for her but this old friend from my hometown?  I hurt with her.  Her pain is mine.  We once shared similar dreams, sang songs together, fretted over tests, boys, and wondered if our athletic prowess would be enough to bring victory to our schools.  We rode busses together, drank Dr. Peppers, and squeezed each other’s hands as we waited to see if we would be in the top ten ranking in class so that we could represent our school as marshals for the last Eighth Grade Class of Clearmont Elementary School.

Is it right that old times be forgotten?  Sometimes.  Often, because truthfully, some trips down Memory Lane are best left untraveled.  But this time?  No.  I reached out and she responded.  It was worth the risk.  

While none of us know what tomorrow holds nor who will be by our sides as we explore it, I do know that love never fails.  This day my hope is that you too will do it afraid, that you will love without reserve, and that that old friend (and the new ones as well) who once held a bigger piece of your heart than she might now--well, my hope is that your heart still has some room for her.  For auld lang syne, my dears.  For auld lang syne.

How Many Times Do You Have To Be Told To Do Something?!

Check out the fella on the left of this threesome.  Handsome guy, isn’t he?  His name is Kevin and he is one of my fondest memories of my first year’s teaching experience.  I had started off this journey later in life, trying to fulfill my dream of being an educator, and to say it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done would be an understatement!  But this blog isn’t about that so read on.  I promise to keep it brief!

My class of Juniors was a lively bunch and I was often reprimanded by the principal as having one of the loudest classrooms on the hall.  There weren’t doors and the walls didn’t go all the way to the top so there was no way of keeping anything sacred, if you know what I mean.  One day, after trying so many ways to keep this group focused, I made the statement that I was only going to tell them one time to do something.  Kevin, in his disarmingly charming way, came up to me, laid his hand on my shoulder, and sincerely looked me in the eye.  Then he stated, “Ms. Hutcheson.”  Gleeful look in his eye, he continued.  “You know we have to be told at least twicet!”

Fast-forward with me to today’s early morning Bible reading in Acts 10.  Remember the disciple Peter?  Yeah, the one who denied Christ.  That Peter.  Well, once again we find him arguing with Jesus about something he was clearly told to do.  How clearly?  Three times!  Three!  Just as when he was questioned in John 21:15-22, Peter had to be told three times to do something.

So, in conclusion, I wonder:  how many times does it take for you to mind Christ?  One? Two? More? Are you trying to argue with Him about something(s), some point that He has already made clear to you?  Don’t be a Peter.  Or a Kevin.  Or a me.  Do it the first time.  You just might be surprised at the results!

Let’s pray!

Dear Lord, please forgive us when we question Your commands.  Oh sure:  we know we can talk to You about anything and it’s okay for us to have questions for You.  However, Lord, when we know--and let’s face it, God:  we usually know what it is You are telling us to do--but don’t want to obey, then please, Father, be gentle with us as You were with Peter.  Use us to further Your kingdom and help us to be more obedient about the tasks You ask us to complete.  

Thanks Lord!  We love You and appreciate Your guidance in our lives.  And should we not get it by the third time, again Father I pray, don’t lose patience with us.  But should You have to get the paddle out, have mercy I pray!  In the name of Christ Jesus, amen!