Update:
After a good night’s sleep I woke up on Wednesday ready to get lots
accomplished. Before I left for work I
did my ironing so I am set for the week.
I had no problems getting my prosthesis on this morning. My leg slipped right in like it was supposed
to. No frustration. No difficulties. Very appreciative. It is amazing how a little thing like that
can set the tone of your whole day. I
really felt ready to go and that I could tackle any project before me.
I was at the office by 9:30 a.m. and found that our phone line is still
messed up so there was no internet service.
Unfortunately most of what I really needed to do on Wednesday involved
internet access. It was a frustrating
feeling being cut off—man, how I’ve grown accustomed to instant access! I ended up running home at lunch time and
transferred some emails onto a USB drive so I could take them back to my office
to work on them.
I’m doing a wedding on Friday afternoon and the rehearsal is Thursday
afternoon. I was able to get the wedding
service all planned out (including the message) so I am ready for the
rehearsal. On Thursday afternoon and
Friday morning I need to work on Sunday’s message and have everything ready for
the secretary.
Wednesday night I rode with a police office as a part of my chaplain
duties from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. I got home
and ready for bed about 3 a.m. so I decided I would sleep in on Thursday
morning. I am so grateful for those who
serve and protect us every night and every hour of the day. There are just not enough ways to demonstrate
my gratefulness for what law enforcement officers do. Every night that we lay down to sleep in
relative peace and safety, we should say a word of thanks for them and for
their safety.
Saturday there is a workday at the church to begin building stud walls
for the new handicapped bathroom addition.
I’ll work the morning there and then I have another wedding to attend on
Saturday afternoon. Busy days!
Thought for the Day:
Most of us don’t like change. We
are comfortable with the life we have created and we don’t want anything to
disturb it. People don’t want their
church to change (if they like it) or their hometown to change. The habits they are used to are like putting
on an old comfortable pair of pants and a favorite shirt—we don’t want to give
them up. We can become rather nostalgic
for the “good old days.”
On the other hand, some people seem to race after change and nothing is
ever the same in their lives. That level
of change might be more neurotic than healthy; but for most of us we need to
remember that change makes growth possible.
If everything remains exactly the same in your life, there is no need
for personal growth and change.
Imagine if your child got stuck and never aged past eight years
old. As much as we hate to see our kids
grow up sometimes; we would hate it even worse if they never grew or developed
and perpetually stayed the same. We
understand that isn’t healthy or desirable.
Change gives us an opportunity to grow and mature.
In Deuteronomy 32:11, Moses writes about an
interesting fact of nature. “He
describes the mother eagle forcing her young to leave the nest and fly. The eaglet wants to stay in the nest and be
fed, but if he remains there, he will never use his great wings or enjoy the
great heights for which he was created. So his mother has to knock him out of the
nest, catch him on her wings when he falls too far, and repeat the process
until he learns to fly on his own. You
and I enjoy our little nests, and we have worked hard to build them. This explains why we resent it when God
starts to “shake up” the nest. God wants
us to grow.” [John Maxwell, How High Will You Climb?]
Deuteronomy 32:11 “…like
an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that
spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.”
Change doesn’t ensure growth; it takes the right
attitude to grow and mature when you are placed in new circumstances. But doesn’t it make sense to take advantage
of the opportunities we have instead of developing a bitter attitude about
them?
One thing that I have learned is that you cannot
necessarily control your life and what you will face. All you can do is control how you will
respond to these events. I want my
attitude to help me soar above my difficulties and to not crash into an ugly
depression. Life never holds still. It seems like it is a moving target and I
constantly have to adjust my aim. I’m
not going to be allowed to just sit and enjoy the nest forever anyway. So I might as well choose to make the best of
being pushed out! It can be terrifying
but hopefully I’ll get the hang of flying and begin to enjoy the new heights
that I never knew I would reach.
So are you just going to snuggle deeper into the
nest hoping you can stay a bit longer or are you going to spread your wings and
fly on the winds of change?
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