Category Archives: what is MOST important

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Not a Spectator

me chicago1

I am a spectator when it comes to sports.

I have never been on a sports team in my life. One of my first “dates” with my husband was watching him play on a softball team.

I sat in the stands – he played.

We have four children, all of whom played sports in high school and college – some more than others.

Last weekend we watched two grandchildren play on their respective basketball teams.

I have watched a LOT of ball games in my life and with grandchildren rapidly growing up, I can safely assume there will be many more games in the future. I enjoy watching games if I know the people playing. I am not an individual who will watch ANY sport or ANY team. I need some connection to make it interesting for me.

I remember when our children were in high school and I used to talk to people at ball games. Once someone said – “Gayle, you just come to these games to socialize.” I replied,”This IS my social life.”

There are advantages to being a spectator:

  • you don’t get sweaty
  • you don’t get hurt (unless a stray ball, bat, puck, etc. leaves the field of play)
  • you don’t get called for fouls, get red cards, or ejected (well, unless you behave VERY badly)
  • you don’t get yelled at by the coach
  • you don’t get vilified by your teammates for messing up
  • you can wear your own clothes

Yet, there are other benefits of sports that spectators never receive:

  • no exercise
  • no glory
  • no camaraderie with teammates
  • no sense of accomplishment for a game well-played
  • no stories of personal athletic feats
  • no cool uniforms/warm ups

I don’t want to be a spectator when it comes to being a part of the Body of Christ.

In fact, God does not want any  spectators when it comes to being a Christian. It is very plain in the Bible that God has called us into His family to participate with Him in building the Body of Christ.

I Corinthians 12: 12-20 says –

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

I want to participate fully in all that God has called me to do. God does not hold try outs – no one is cut from the team and we all get “playing time.” No one warms the bench in the Body of Christ.

The one prerequisite is to be willing.

God promises that He will equip us to play the position He calls us to. The only problem comes when we try to play someone else’s position. (Just like on a sports team – if you are the receiver – don’t play center!)

Verses 27 -28 go on to say –

 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.

There are other lists of responsibilities in the body of Christ – but SPECTATOR is never listed.

As the BIG GAME is played this weekend, and the VAST majority of us are spectators, remember – this is NOT our role as Christians. As we watch the players in the game, let it remind us that we have a part to play in something much more significant.

 

 

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No New Year Resolutions.

Nana and Minions

I’ve been thinking lately about getting older. You have heard the phrase – “you are only as old as you feel”.

Not true.

When I got two Minion DVD’s for Christmas from grandsons, which by the way are really funny, I feel like one of the kids. Yet – I am still 63.

The reality is that I have been 63 for a week now and I ain’t no spring chicken.

  • I am the oldest (in age) faculty member at Smoky Mountain High School.
  • We opened presents starting with the oldest first – which was ME.
  • I got a senior discount when we went to see the Hobbit on Saturday night.
  • I fall asleep when I sit down and start to read in the evenings…and afternoon.
  • I was the last one up the hill on our family hike, but I enjoyed every minute.

The flip side of this aging coin is that I was also one of the younger individuals around when we visited my parents at their retirement community the week before Christmas. My father is 90 and my mother is 86, so 63 was inconsequential. It is a blessing to see these neighbors of my parents and hear about the activities they are involved in. My father has taught 7 people how to turn wooden bowls this year and both parents traveled to Brazil in September to promote an English language system with which my mother volunteers.

This thinking about age has led me to ask the question – “What next, Lord?”

It seems as though the previous stages of my life where relatively clearly laid out.

  • I went to school 13 years and graduated from high school.
  • I went to college and got a degree and teaching certification.
  • I got a job teaching.
  • I got married.
  • I had children.
  • I was able to stay home with our young children.
  • The children grew and I went to work part-time.
  • Our children became college age and I went to work full-time.
  • My active mothering role has ended – the children obtained jobs, some got married, some have their own children.

What next, Lord?

The above list leaves out the essential dynamic of the purpose of all those things I have done in my 63 years… I desire to live my life to bring glory to God.

In thinking about a New Year’s resolution, I realized that I did not need to think of something do to challenge myself to “improve”, “overcome something”, or “transform” my life.

I need to be faithful in the things that God has already given me to do.

Titus 2: 3-5 –

“3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Those of us who are older women  have a clear mandate. I am so thankful for the faithful, godly women that have taught me over the years including my grandmothers, my mother, Sally Fesperman, Sue Makinson, Elizabeth Elliot and others.

May we all be faithful to be an example to the younger women God brings into our lives in 2015. God Bless you!

 

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Easter Outfits

Adahlyn and Miriam

When I was little, one of the few times I received new clothes was right before Easter. (the other time was right before school started) Now sometimes these clothes were not brand new – just new to me, but I still was excited to get dressed up in special clothes.

It gave me a feeling of something special happening. It wasn’t just about the clothes – it was the fact that a celebration was going to happen and I was dressed for it!

Clothes do not make a celebration, but they do reflect an attitude.

I called one of our daughters Saturday and heard over the phone as she told her daughter, “No, put on PLAY clothes to play outside. Those are your good clothes for school.”

We wear certain clothes for working in the garden, and other clothes to a wedding. (I did both on Saturday and I did not wear the same to each event, thankfully.)

The following verses give glory to God our Father for what he has done for us, His children.

Isaiah 61:1-4

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

What a beautiful picture of what God plans for us, His children! We will be like great oaks, planted for his glory.

Verse 10 of the same chapter talks about how God clothes us –

10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
or a bride with her jewels.

How can we communicate to our children that Easter is not about dressing up? God knows if what we wear is simply to get attention, show off, or make a statement that I don’t “need” to dress up. Each of us should search our own hearts and dress in such a way that will honor the Lord, doing the same for our young children.

There is something so much more important than what I wear –

AM I CLOTHED IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS?

That is what Easter is all about, Jesus dying to pay the debt for my sin, and raising to new life again so that I might have life!

Hallelujah!

Whatever we choose to wear on Easter, may we all be clothed in salvation wearing the robe of his righteousness.