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Thoughts about play dough

I have a love/hate relationship with play dough. Well actually there's not a lot of love for it. I stopped buying it for my kids because they would leave it out after play, and it would become dried out and hard. After trying to explain to my kids the importance of putting it away properly, to no avail, I just chose not to have that battle anymore; I don't buy play dough.

I began thinking about the concept of play dough, and what you can do with it as long as you keep working the dough. It's funny how the more you manipulate it, the more you can use it, but the more stagnant it stays, the harder the dough is to work. Then, I began to think about my life and how true this concept is in it. The more I work at something, the easier it is to remain faithful to it. The moment I stop, it's harder to get back on board with it. For example, working out and eating healthy. I actually enjoy taking care of myself and leading a healthy lifestyle. At some point, toward the end of last year, my schedule got hectic which means both eating right and exercising became less of a priority. What was once an easy discipline, now seems like torture to get back on track. Now, every day, I'm choosing not to settle for just enough but thinking about what decisions I need to make to get back where I want to be. It's neither fun nor easy; but I know that I've done it before, so I can do it again.

Taking this concept a little deeper, I begin to think about being moldable and teachable. The whole point of play dough is to be able to shape it into whatever you, the creator, plan for it to be. However, once it's out of the creator's hand, and left stagnant exposed to the air, it becomes less pliable. It's easy to become so self-sufficient that I feel that I can take over the planning for my life and try to create my own destiny. When I do, I can become hard around the edges and find myself stagnant, in a place that I don't want to be; the whole time, wondering how I got to this place. The good thing is that with Jesus, my creator, it's not a major work to get back into His grace. His grace is there all along. His grace is more than sufficient to smooth all the rough edges and make me pliable again. 1 Cor 12:9 states, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (NKJV)

The best way I know how to remain pliable, humble and teachable is to surround myself with people who believe in me enough to push me towards being the best me. But they also love me enough to be honest with me in my weaknesses and not allow me to stay stagnant.

What are some ways you remain "pliable"?

A Puzzle, My Daughter, Jesus & Me.

This is a post from my journal: 

This week has not panned out like I had planned. Trinity came down with the flu on Monday, and Israel was sick by Thursday. What I planned to be a fun-filled, adventurous holiday week turned into a quiet week at home watching movies and giving the kids their meds. Last night, I promised BBelle that tomorrow she and I would put together her Tinkerbell puzzle, that she got for Christmas. After a series of events took place today, I finally said to Belle, lets put together your puzzle. Isabelle loves puzzles. She is particular fond of a puzzle that has the picture of the puzzle as the backdrop on the hard cardboard mat that she puts the puzzle together on. She really enjoys it because it helps her to cheat and match the puzzle pieces to where they go. This puzzle doesn’t work that way. Its very traditional in the fact that all we had to go by was the box top with the picture of the how the puzzle should look.

To start, I started pulling all of the border pieces out and encouraged Belle to do the same. She kept wanting to pull pieces and try to put them together. I kept on track while Belle soon started getting disinterested in the puzzle. She would get her necklace and ask me to put it on. She started to pull out another puzzle to play with. I kept encouraging her to help me. I said, “BBelle, I thought we were doing the puzzle together. Don’t you want to help me?” She replied, “No, I don’t want to do it anymore.” I said “Ok but I really want you to do the puzzle with me.” To no avail, I continued on with the puzzle. Every once in awhile, my daughter would peek at my progress. She would pick up a piece try to match it and lose interest again. I would continue to ask her “BBelle, don’t you want to help me put your puzzle together?” She would say no.

Steadily the puzzle was coming together to the point where we could see the picture aligning with the picture on the box. There were only a few holes and gaps in the puzzle. At this point, Belle picked up interest again in the puzzle. She would pick up a piece and say, “Where does this go?” or “Does this piece go here?” I would then help guide her to the place where the piece would go. She progressively picked up speed and excitement about finishing the puzzle because we were so close. The puzzle was to the point where I let her finish it as I guided her when she needed help.

During this journey, it could have been easy for me to put the puzzle away or to force Isabelle sit down and finish it with me. Instead, I diligently worked on the puzzle because it turned from something to occupy belle, to something I was really enjoying doing. In these moments, of Belle’s excitement of the completing of the puzzle, the Lord showed me a picture of myself. This time though, I was in Belle’s place and the Lord was patiently and diligently working on the puzzle. I realized that the puzzle was the work of the Lord in my life in this season. I was the one getting bored and impatient. Because, I don’t have the foresight to see how the jumbled pieces could come together to make a masterpiece, I quickly lost interest in being apart of the process. I know the plan and the dreams that the Lord has placed in my heart just like, Belle knew what the puzzle was supposed to look like by looking at the box cover. Unfortunately, I’ve become discouraged by the process or unsure of the outcome. I’ve lost heart and lost interest. I’ve wanted to turn the towel in and focus on something else and let other distractions take place instead of working on the puzzle with my Maker.

At this point, I was fighting the tears back while completing the puzzle with Belle. How could I be so childish? How could I be so quick to be distracted and grow bored with the plans that the Lord has for my life? As I sit and questioned in my heart these things, I knew I need to quiet my thoughts because the Lord wasn’t done teaching me the lesson.

He showed my just as I was diligently working on Belle’s Tinkerbell puzzle and never stopped, He hasn’t stop working out everything in my life. The beauty of Jesus’ Grace is that I could jump back in and be a participant at any time. Just like I continuously encourage Belle to join me, so the Lord encourages me to join Him in His work. It doesn’t matter how many times that I get distracted, the Lord is still willing for me to jump in and join the game. Obviously, His perfect way would be for me to start the ‘puzzle’ with Him from start to finished, but He would not hold it against me. Just like I let Belle jump back in when she began to see the big picture of the completed puzzle, and I didn’t deny her access or reprimand her for stopping. I lovingly let her come in and take over to completing the task that I originally designed for her to do. In this same way, my Heavenly Father doesn’t reprimand me for being distracted or condemn me or block me from helping complete the work that He started and is faithful to finish.

Isabelle and I completed the puzzle! She was so proud and started to destroy it so that we could do it over again. Jesus, help me not to destroy your perfect work and help to learn from the experiences in my life.

Dream Like a Child

Do you remember, as a child, how everything seemed big? Your house? Your neighborhood? Your school? Your church? Your playground? Do you remember having big dreams? Whether it was being a teacher, a doctor, an astronaut, a scientist, a movie star or an athlete, those dreams seemed so big and so far away. The excitement was in the adventure of conquering the dreams.

A few years ago, my husband and I took our kids down to Florida for Thanksgiving. It was the first time that I had been back to my old stomping grounds. My husband was driving, and I was trying to direct him to my old neighborhood. So much had changed; we almost missed the subdivision because I no longer recognized it. As we drove into the neighborhood, I stared, with bewilderment, at my childhood home; the home that held some of my fondest memories. There stood my home that was smaller than I remembered, in a tiny yard. A yard that once had beautiful gardens, where my parents planted with exotic plants and flowers, sat bare. I sat in my car, in amazement, at how small my house was in comparison to my memory of it. Isn’t it amazing at the things that seemed so big to us as a child doesn’t seem as big anymore? Or how the “impossible” dreams we dreamt as a child, are now our reality? That’s the beauty of growing up, we get to live out our dreams and walk in the things we always dreamt of. The sad reality is that as we grow and mature, many times we fail to dream big dreams. Or we claim that we are “dreaming big” but what we really are doing is “dreaming realistically.” As I look into the eyes of my children, as they tell me their dreams, there isn’t the slightest hint of doubt. They believe that all of their dreams will become a reality.

With the disappointments that life brings, our faith tends to dwindle. There are so many people walking around dreamless because they have settled for the ordinary, dull and mundane. They never really experience the passion that comes from walking in the fullness of their purpose because they let their dream die. Many times, fear of failure or fear of man stops us dead in our tracks. The only “fear” that matters is the fear of the Lord.  Knowing that God has a plan and a purpose for me to fulfill propels me to take small steps of faith that lead me further down the path of my destiny. This morning, I was reading Numbers 13-14. Prompted by God, Moses sent twelve men to scout out the land that God had promised the Israelites. Of the twelve men, only two came back believing the dream that God had placed in front of them. The other ten said it was impossible; they saw giant people, and felt there was no way the Israelites could defeat them to take ownership of the land that God promised them. In the message version, Numbers 14:11 states, “‘God said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat me like dirt? How long refuse to trust me? And with all these signs I’ve done among them!’” God knows our dreams and our desires because he handcrafted us intricately to have those specific dreams and desires. What is your dream? The dream that is tucked away in the depths of your heart that you dare not share with anyone let alone allow yourself to ponder? The dream that tugs at you…

God desires for His children to trust him. As children, we need to stand in the “bigness” of our dream and be ready to conquer it. It is time to dream again! It is time to have the childlike faith that believes the impossible will happen. It is time to trust in God to know that His Word is true and that He’s faithful to do what He promised. It’s time to follow the prompting of the Lord and take the steps of faith to fulfill the purposes and passions He placed within you. It’s time to be in the position that everything looks BIG but have the surety to know that with God it’s accomplishable! It’s time to stand in the reality of a fulfilled dream. It’s time to walk in our dreams, and dream newer and even bigger dreams!