Quiet Acceptance

For about the past year, I've been hearing God tell me to spend more time and energy on this blog and my writing and speaking. But, you know what? I've been comfortable and busy with paying freelance work. I tossed a few things off my plate with the intent of writing more. I've picked up a few speaking engagements at local churches. I even asked God to clear my plate a bit, but I was pretty happy with my life.

Well, in the past month one of my major freelance clients hasn't had much work. It's been frustrating and a little concerning. I've been hunting for new clients, but so far not much has turned up. I know God has a plan, but I really liked my life the way it was. On the plus side, I've been able to put more time into the Everyday Truth blog, I've published Everyday Christmas and I'm working on a new website and some exciting plans for next year. They're all great things, but I can't measure them monetarily.

In studying Mary for this week's blogs, I find I wish I had her spirit. Here's a young girl, probably 15 or so, who is just going about her business one day when an angel shows up. He doesn't just want to tell Mary she's doing a great job. He wants to tell her she's about to become the mother of God's Son. Mary's engaged to Joseph, and she has to know that he's not going to take the news that she's pregnant very well. This was actually a crime punishable by stoning.

Now, I don't know about you, but I probably would have been having a major freak-out session. I would have been scared and worried. I mean, how was she going to tell her parents? No one else saw the angel. But not Mary. She doesn't even ask the angel very many questions. She simply says "I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).

That's some pretty calm acceptance from someone whose life has just been radically changed. Mary didn't appear worried about the future. She accepted God's will and the blessings that came with it.

Change inevitably comes to our lives. Our children get older and we go from diapers and rattles to soccer balls and hockey sticks to dating and choosing a college. Our professional careers change as well. We may find ourselves jobless for a time or changing direction in our careers. And sometimes we fight that change with all we have. We don't trust God. We get mad because He's taken our comfort zone away.

Yet God has a plan. He has great things for you and me and our kids to do. When we spend our energy fighting His plan, we make it difficult for Him to work through us. It takes us twice as long to get where God wants us to go.

Mary's life probably ended up looking a lot different than what she had planned. Yet, more than 2,000 years later, she is remembered by the world. Her quiet acceptance of God's will earned her a precious place in God's plan.

When God wants to change things up in your life or in your kids' lives, remember that He has a plan. His plan is so much better than what we can do our own. We can reach more people and be more effective when we follow His plan than when we try to walk our own path.

A little of Mary's quiet acceptance goes a long way toward putting us on the path to the amazing things God has in store for us. What is God asking you or your kids to accept today?

Memory Monday: "You Are a Toy!" (Psalm 139:15-16)

We watched "Toy Story 2" last night. The funny thing is the girls had to go to bed in the middle of it, but my husband and I kept watching it. There's just something about that movie that keeps even the adults engaged. From Tour Guide Barbie to the evil emperor Zorg, the characters are engaging, the pop culture references funny and the underlying message applies to everyone, no matter what their age.

The main plot of Toy Story 2 revolves around Woody discovering that he is a valuable collector's item. He becomes convinced that living in a museum would be a better life than being loved by Andy, then being discarded when Andy grows up. It takes his friends to remind him that being loved is worth more than any fame and fortune.

We're all kind of like Woody. Too often, we see someone else's life or some lifestyle that's just beyond our reach, and we yearn for it. We're willing to forget our primary purpose to run after that thing that has suddenly become important. It's that "the grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome.

Yet, God has made each of us to fulfill a purpose in His plan. When we let things distract us and pull us away from that purpose, we step outside of the plan God has for us.

Woody forgot that his primary purpose was to make a child happy. He got caught up in dreams of fame and lasting forever. Buzz Lightyear tries to make Woody see the light in my favorite line of the movie, "You. Are. A. Toy!" -- the same words Woody said to Buzz in the first movie.

It's easy to get caught up in the trappings of what the world has to offer and miss filling our role in God's plan. Sometimes it's hard to see how our role even matters. We feel insignificant and unloved.

When it comes to our kids, who are just now becoming who God made them to be, it can be even more difficult. In those awkward moments of becoming, it's hard for them to even know who they want to be, much less be confident in who God made them to be.

In those moments, we need to keep the words of Psalm 139:15-16 close to our hearts. "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

God knows you, and he knows what he designed you to do. His statement to you would be "You. Are. Mine." No matter the temptation to chase after things that we think will make us happy, like Woody, the thing that will truly make us happy is doing the things we were designed to do.