Month: January 2016

What Do You Hold in Your Hand?

Prayer: Lord, keep me ever mindful that You have given us all gifts. Gifts and strengths that we can share with others. Please help me to remember that my weaknesses and places of need are also a gift, that when I reach out to others for help they are then able to give as I receive. In this way may we become ambassadors of Your Love. ~Stacey

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What do you hold in your hand?

Ken Medema has graced the Christian music arena for over forty years. I first heard his music the summer of 1979 as I attended a concert by Living Faith, a music travelling group from Central Christian College, McPherson, KS. The song was titled: Moses.

Simple, but in the hands of a master musician, impacting, so much so that at pivotal times in my life, times when inner discontent or a strong yearning to readjust is needed I am reminded of the ending lines of this powerful song.

As a masterful story teller Ken retells the story of the leader with a huge failure in his past falling from being a leader in the land of Egpyt, a son of Egpyt to tending sheep in the desert for forty years. One day he finds a bush that is burning and when he comes close to the bush it speaks to him, the Lord, His God Jehovah speaks and he is told to take off his sandals he’s on holy ground. At this point the song picks up the Biblical narrative and focuses on the only tool that Moses has in his hands: a staff, a shepherd’s staff. God asks Moses to throw it down.

Then a conversation begins as Moses explains why he can’t throw down the staff, in the end Moses throws down the staff and it becomes a snake and as Moses picks it up again the staff returns to its former state. It is at this point that God let’s Moses in on the ‘call’ on his life: set my people free… Moses fights him, argues how he cannot possibly do what God is asking. In the end we know the story, how Moses becomes the great leader as played by Charlton Heston on the big screen – a classic. (smile)

It is at the point where Moses ends the conversation with God that the master musician turns the same question towards the listeners. In the final stanzas of music he asks us to apply the lesson of Moses into our lives:

“What do you hold in your hand today? To what or to whom are you bound? Are you willing to give it to God right now? Give it up, let it go, throw it down.”

These are the lines I return to time and time again, what am I holding onto that is keeping me from going forward with God’s plan, where is He calling me to step forward in faith and obey? Am I clinging to things in my life that are not good, that get in the way of His voice In my life – whether that is through His word, others’ influence or when I am impressed by His presence in the life happens through the course of time?

What am I holding in my hand? Am I using those things to further the Kingdom, am I walking by faith not by the way the just ‘makes sense to me’ in my head? Am I willing to lay down my own will, my own way, my own comfort zone to embrace the ‘Pharaoh’s’ in the land, to free the oppressed, to lead the leaderless?

What am I holding in my hand?

These questions either bring peace and a ‘continue’ or ‘as you were’ or this still small voice begins to speak into my life re-directions, realignments, but mostly peace fills my heart and I continue on my way refreshed and ready for the next step.

I share this because sometimes this whole process takes weeks and sometimes a few moments. Sometimes I go through seasons of hearing and knowing that change needs to happen but not knowing exactly what to do, or how best to wait. It is a process, it takes time and attention and sometimes using a song helps me center on important questions that bring clarity and cut through the clutter in my mind.

What do you hold in your hand?

The story “Moses” discussed here is from Exodus chapters 2-4 in the Bible.
The song “Moses” by Ken Medema can be found on YouTube

Perspective

January 1, 2016 Perspective


Christmas Eve was rather unusual in our home this year. It was rather uncomfortable for me, but necessary conversations and needed words were exchanged in emotionally packed ways. As I said – necessary and healing.

I like ritual, mine of course, and ritual went out the window that evening, so as I said it was rather uncomfortable for me – I wasn’t in charge I’ll admit it, I’m a little bit of a control freak.

I saw them parade across my screen, the beautiful happy faces, perfect trees and lovely set tables. My holiday expectations. Perspective and expectations tend to go hand in hand. Therefore I was discouraged, I was focusing on the wrong things. I didn’t focus on the strength of character it took to confront and bring front and center those things that everyone knew about.

The elephant in the room was exposed, it only took about 15 minutes but it rattled me, we didn’t do my precious rituals, in exchange we showed our love towards each other through honesty – male version (I’m the only female besides the dog and she wasn’t saying much) I’ve lived around guys most of my life, brutal honesty, yup that is what it was. They ended the conversation, cool with it all, we passed around the packages and not much more was said because of my husbands expert handling a mess turned into a blessed lesson. Peace reigned victorious.

BUT…
IN MY HEAD I was freaking out, “We didn’t do, We didn’t say, we didn’t read, we didn’t do it MY WAY.” I was shocked into silence, except the shouting in my head, “MY Christmas Eve is ruined and my nerves are shot.” I smiled on the outside because I truly knew we needed to have the conversation, it was the timing I didn’t agree with and because of that judgement I have struggled with that ‘reality’ until tonight.

Tonight, when my perspective CHANGED…
As part of my prayer time, oh yes I am SO holy – I need to pray more because I need to change more (smile). Please don’t judge me too harshly, I digress. This thought came to me, Stacey write down ten things that you invested into your children. I began to cry, it was so easy to write ten wonderful qualities that I see in my children, ones they have because of my influence on their life. The influence that was in my life because of what had been given to me. I still cried, tears, snot, blowing my nose – it wasn’t pretty, my judgement wasn’t pretty, my perspective focused on the wrong things.

A gentle, but very persistent impression that my perspective needed to change, that instead of looking at the things that I wanted changed or wished were different, I needed to open my eyes to the very precious gift, the most important gifts: honesty, trust, reconciliation, clarity true love in action – my children and husband knew how to fight, make up and hand out packages all in the space of 30 minutes flat – cool!

I have so much to be thankful for, I am so grateful that my view of a few minutes in time changed forever the perspective I have of who I am as a mother, who my children are and who my family has become as one team.

All the mess and the muck came Christmas Eve and delivered to us Peace on Earth Good Will Towards Men – literally.

(PS I am not suggesting that we should wait until Christmas Eve to ‘get things straight…’ and my husband and I are a team, his input into the boy’s lives has been monumental)

http://bit.ly/1YWevAE elephant pic site