Thursday, October 25, 2018

The Ride of Your Life



You know the thrill of going down a roller coaster?


You’re incredibly terrified, gripping the sides, white knuckles and all. You can’t even seem to breathe.

You’re dizzy, and everything is a blur. It’s so loud you can’t hear a thing. You just know you’re about to be sick.

Your hair is in your face and your stomach is in your throat.


"What am I going to do?" you ask.

You feel completely out of control. 

Wherever this things takes me, that’s where I’m going.

You just have to believe you’ll get there in one piece.

And for a split second, you’re wishing you hadn’t gotten on. Everybody else makes it look so fun, so easy. 


On this ride, one minute you want to laugh, and one minute you want to cry. You're not so sure how you should feel. 

Your emotions are all over the place. 

You feel rattled, exhausted, jarred from screaming...inwardly, outwardly...it all starts to mesh together.

Each second lasts an hour.

But then you let go and let God. You turn a corner, peel open your eyes, and raise up your hands.

You follow the course until you finally come to a stop. You get off and look back at your seat and say, "Did I really just do that?" You look at the person who rode beside you. "Did we really just do that?"

And you laugh...you catch your breath. You check all your limbs and realize you’re alive.

You had truly lived. You had let go, reinquished control, and had the time of your life.

Then you come to the conclusion that sometimes being vulnerable is okay. Sometimes losing control and screaming at the top of your lungs is okay. Sometimes losing your senses is okay. Sometimes getting out of your cushy comfort zone is okay. Sometimes asking someone to ride with you and hold your hand is okay.

Sometimes you just to have faith and trust that you’re going to make it to the other side. 

And before you know it, you realize life is one big paradox. You feel brave in your vulnerability and strong in your weakness. 

Before you know it, you're not so scared anymore. 

Before you know it, you want to ride again.

That’s what being your mama is like, little boy.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Play Me a Tune

My maw maw has lost parents, nine siblings, her one and only husband, her first son and daughter, and two grandsons. 

She weathered the Great Depression, although she claims they were too poor to feel the effects of it; World War Two, when she had her first child who lived while Paw Paw was away; the feminist movement, although she claims what caused her to wear pants for the first time was working in the chicken houses; Kennedy’s assassination, the civil rights movement, the Hippies, Ronald Reagan, the Trade Towers, and so forth and so on. 

Loud and a spitfire, devoted wife and mama, extremely cautious (You had better put some socks on that baby’s feet.) and musically gifted, Maw Maw often tells me the story of how she learned to play the piano without taking lessons. "I had one lesson," she remembers. "It was bad." 

She also tells the story of standing beside me singing at church. "I didn’t know you could sing alto," she whispered. 

"What’s alto?" I replied, confused. 

Try to explain that to a little kid. I still laugh about this story.

This woman has been a lighthouse in our family and in our community. She has been a fortress of strength and part of the foundation of my spiritual life. Had Paw Paw died in the war, my mom wouldn’t be here, thus I wouldn’t be. Had they not raised my mama in church, Mom wouldn’t have taken us to church all those years before Dad started going. 

It seems like so many things had to happen to get me where I am today. 

Just ask my students: I talk about my Maw Maw and Paw Paw a lot. They’re the only tie I have to another life, a culture completely different than our own, an age where things were of value and life was slower, when people would pop in to fellowship, drink a cup of coffee, break beans, break bread, and share stories of old.

Yesterday, before we went back home after swimming at Mom’s, the kids and I stopped at Maw Maw’s to see her for a while. She gets to the door a lot slower these days. 

"Play me a tune, Mal." 

"Okay, what do you want me to play?"

"I don’t care."

What a Day That Will Be

I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before

Amazing Grace

He Paid a Debt 

Once Upon a Hill

And as the twanging of an old piano cascaded through the house, a loud little voice could be heard from a little girl singing on her makeshift stage, the coffee table, and her maw maw didn’t mind at all, because music. All in the name of music. 

"I think I heard someone else singing, Mal."

"Yes ma’am." 

"You’re raising them right." 

And I thought where is a camera? I want to remember this forever. A two-year-old and her ninety-three-year-old maw maw, singing the same songs together. If I could only stop time. 

Unfortunately, I’ll have to remember that moment in my heart, and I’m okay with that. 

Notice that there were no conversations on organic food, antibiotics, vaccines, homeschool, screen time, cosleeping, etc. 

Mamas, I hope you have a "Maw Maw Powell" in your life to clear things up for you and keep you straight. When life is feeding you lies, telling you that you’re not a good mom, just remember how simply Maw Maw put it.

Like Paul, aggravated at the Galatians for falling back into the Law to justify them, we attach ourselves to our own idolatrous "mom laws." We sometimes quantify our worth based on how well we abide in our own expectations as opposed to how we abide with Him and each other. We often covet each other and question how we mother our children. We base our reasoning on the world and the current trends. We live in fear to counteract our fear.

To fear everything is essentially claiming we have more control over our lives than God does. It doesn’t add up. 

Here’s the truth, though: We can’t come up with our own philosophy, our own gospel, of what being a good mom or a good Christian is. The truth is, we won’t EVER be good enough, and God knows this. 

Oh, what a Savior.

He knows! Continuing to feed our idolatry through our own expectations and rules will only breed discontent and dissatisfaction, furthering the gap between God and true freedom. 

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galatians 5:13-15

It’s so easy, but we make it so hard.  

Maw Maw, thanks for clearing that up for me and reminding me what matters. 

I will always play the old songs for you, Maw, and I will remember how you broke your own "mom rules"...how you let two little girls bang on your piano and stand on your coffee table...thirty years apart...because you saw something in me. 

I wonder if you see something in her. 




Monday, October 1, 2018

Guest Post with Alia Hood Newell: Get Off the Bus

All of us get on board the struggle bus at some point in our lives. Some days it feels like the bus never stops to let us off at our destination. It’s a constant "the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, all through the town."
The struggle bus can come to our door in many different forms: failure, career, marital problems, discontent, bitterness, homemaking, depression, and I could keep going! We are a fallen people!
Despite our struggles, God has called us above these issues in our lives. If we are His, we are able to overcome. I’ve been listening to livestreams by Edie Wadsworth on Facebook. For the month of September, she has been doing a challenge called "Your Best Beautiful Life." One of the livestreams was on reclaiming love in your relationships. You may be thinking, "Well, what does this have to do with my struggle bus?" Hear me out–it has everything to do with it.
In that video, Edie challenges you to CHANGE.YOUR.MINDSET.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8
How often do we dwell on things that aren’t lovely? We tend to think we are failures. We are drowning in a list of to-dos. We aren’t good enough. We blame others for our mistakes. We question our worth. We believe no one appreciates us. We desire more material possessions.  We replay conversations in our head. And, before you know it, bitterness, discontent, and irritability grow in our hearts because our mind dwells on the circumstance rather than the ONE who controls the circumstance.
What if instead of thinking you are a failure, you think God has called you and chosen you to do a special work in someone’s life? Instead of drowning in a list of to-dos, be thankful! Instead of thinking you aren’t good enough, believe you are loved by God! Instead of blaming others, repent and walk in God’s grace. Instead of questioning your worth, believe God formed you in your mother’s womb with a special purpose. Instead of believing no one appreciates you, love them with a servant’s heart regardless of how you feel. Instead of desiring more material possessions, desire a fire in your heart for your walk with the Lord. Instead of replaying conversations in your head, approach the situation with forgiveness. And, before you know it, love, joy, peace, and contentment grow in our hearts.
Our minds can be an evil place if we allow it. We must dwell on Christ and His mighty work! Our hearts should be pointed heavenward daily. This is a choice we have to make every.single.day our feet hit the floor.
Does changing your mindset change the circumstance? Absolutely not. But, instead of gassing up the bus day in and day out with a negative outlook, you can choose to drive your Ferrari instead. ðŸ˜‰God extends mercy and love and grace to us every moment in the day. Accept the gifts He gives us and make a point to keep your thoughts centered on Him.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39