Object Lessons - Taking the Next Step

When I was little on Sunday the kids would be dismissed from the adult service to go to Sunday school. They would call the kids up to the front of the church, we would sit in a circle around someone who gave us a 5 minute object lesson. Then we would all head down stairs for Sunday school. As a middle school student I can remember teaching a few of those object lessons. Those lesson were always my favorite. I still remember a lot of them. As an adult I love that God still gives me those little lessons, they are still my favorite.

As often happens my husband and I found ourselves with time to kill during the kid shuffle. You know that time that isn't really long enough to accomplish anything before you pick up or drop of one kid just so that you can do it again with another kid. We decided to explore a cave that we had driven by at least a dozen times. We did not have enough time to really explore, just long enough to make it to the back of what was easily accessible.

The first thing I realized. We were not prepared. I need to keep the camera with me at all times. Headlamps are much more useful in that situation the cellphone flashlights. Oh dear sweet Jesus I am so out of shape. Also, there is a confidence that I had as a child that I no longer have. There was a time that I had no fear of loose rocks or falling... I wonder where that confidence has gone. My guess is that I lost it about the time I became afraid of getting hurt. My husband says he doesn't think I am afraid of getting hurt as much as I am aware of the amount of pain just walking across the room can case. I think he is probably right.

As we had reached the back of the cave we climbed a few little rocks and then up onto a bolder so that we could see farther into the cave. Again, not prepared appropriately this is where we stopped. It was the step from the last two smaller rocks and onto the bolder that God would use as the object lesson I am about to share with you.

I stepped up onto one rock and took a step to the next. It shook beneath my foot and I became afraid to take the next step up onto the bolder. I had my cellphone in one hand for a light, but could not see anywhere to put my free hand to brace for the next step. I stood there frozen in fear. I was about to fall and brake something, probably me, but my fear was more for my phone. I tried to look around, but the more I moved, the harder it was to keep my balance. Stacy was just a couple of steps in front of me. He looked back and asked what was wrong. "I can't move!" I don't think I shouted it, but I was in a bit of a panic. He always seems calm when I am freaking out. He told me to just take a step. I tried to calmly explain why that wasn't possible. Again, I'm not sure that I expressed my self as calmly as I hoped. Just reach up, he said. The cave ceiling was so close that if I had stood strait up I would have hit my head on it. I didn't know that though. I did what he said, and was able to regain my footing and move forward.

We saw as far as we could see, looked in all the cool little crevices and then headed back to the front of the cave where we had parked. We got in the car and drove off to do the kid shuffle. I thanked him for handling that situation how he did, for not yelling at me for being afraid or treating me like I was dumb. That is not how he has ever handled any situation with me, but I may of some baggage. He simply thanked me for trusting him.

It was easy for me to trust him. Why wouldn't it be? He had gone farther into the cave than I had. He had made it past those two rocks. He could also see what I could not. I had a limited view of my situation. He could see it all.

...and that is where God gave me an object lesson.

For the last few weeks we have been talking about God making a way where there seems to be no way and we have watched Him make a way where there was not. We had been, and if I am honest, I still am struggling to see how some of our hearts desires are going to come to pass. In the natural there seems to be no way. Here is the thing though, God sees our situation, he knows it better than we do. He can see what I can not. My view is limited, His is not. I just have to trust Him, listen to Him, and take the next step. 

Memory Lane

 

The photo to the left was sent to me yesterday in a text message and it started a journey down memory lane. I dug out a box of photos and started sifting through them.

For most of these pictures I can remember the day they were taken. As I remembered who I was at that time in my life I was left wishing I could go back and tell that kid what I would know.

@ 7 It is called dyslexia. You will never be the best student but don't quit.Once you have lost momentum it is much harder to get it going again. Tell your mom that your teacher is abusive, she will have your back.

@ 9 Stop trying to fit in now, in the future this will only cause heartache. Be true to yourself, your likes, your dislikes, be confident in yourself. Kids are mean pay no attention to that, they truly are just trying to feel better about themselves. You don't have to justify who you are to anyone.

@ 12 Your struggle to fit in will now start to cost you relationships. Maybe these are relationships that you don't need anyway but when you are 32, you will wonder about it. You now have school friends and church friends. News flash, if you can't be friends in any setting you find yourself in, then you are not really friends. Your parents will get a divorce years from now anyway, don't spend a second worrying about any of that, just be a kid. "Blessed are the flexible, for they are not easily bent out of shape." You will learn this quote when you are 14 but if you could know it now, and realize that it applies in E-V-E-R-Y area of your life, you will be better for it. Don't be so judgmental. That one is easier said then done. It is your personality, however your judgement does not need to be on display for the world. On the flip side of that coin, people will judge you, that is there problem, not yours. Never listen to anyone who says " Just because you are strong enough to do something doesn't mean that you should." Again here it is about momentum, once you stop, it is much harder to get it going again. There are very few things that you can say that will change a person for the better, but what you show them... that is what will really make a difference. Talk less act more.

@ 14 Cherish your friendships. Some of them will last forever. You will go years without talking to or seeing some of these friends, but you will always be able to pick right back up where you left off with them. Some you will loose contact with and miss terribly. Again you will never be the best student, but take every class you can. Get all of the education you can while it is free. Take the ACT and SAT. You will make some memories that you will cherish always. You think that your are fat. You have no idea! It won't be long before your body is scared by car accidents and children, you really are perfect. You will meet the man you will marry, get to know this new kid, get to know all that you can about him because it will bite you in the butt after you marry him that you didn't. He will be your best friend, he will love you like no other and hurt you like no other, but he can probably say the same about you.

@ 19 You don't get do overs. Make things the way you want them to be. Nothing from this point on will be what you had imagined. How you have defined yourself to this point, well some of it is not nearly as important as you think so once again be true to yourself, your likes, and your dislikes.

This list could go on and on and on, but I can't go back. I can only carry what I have learned with me and hope that I can impart some of it to my own children. That maybe their list won't be so long.