Art Gallery and Blog

Thursday, May 17, 2012

In Your Hand

My friends have been having babies lately.

It's been a weird, recurring thought of mine that over the next short span of years I could be watching my grandchildren become best friends with the children of my best friends.

Shudder.

But these new parents and the language they use with their sons and daughters has been reminding me of some things it would be easy to forget here in the land of "can I borrow the car?" and "I can't find any socks!" and "who ate all the cheese?"

They've been reminding me of the limitless possibilities planted in our children. Planted in us all. Possibilities that need to be fostered and nurtured and celebrated.

This week, I heard a new dad say, "You are the EXPERT at rolling over!"

Now, I know the reality is that most of us learn this one. Rolling over, in the scope of all things possible, may not rank very high on the skills scale. But it wasn't the act of rolling over that this dad was praising. He was praising his son. He was valuing what Wyatt had to give at that moment. And praising and valuing, lifting up and celebrating are habits that foster and build on the possible. Our children need to be nurtured in this way. And so do we. Are we nurturing ourselves and our own possibilities? Or are we focused on what we don't have, our children's shortcomings, our own weaknesses?

Back at the  beginning of this incredible year, Pastor Donald reminded me to look at what I have in my hand to use. He talked of the great Israelite leader, Moses, when he first encountered God and was told that he was going to lead his people out of oppression. Moses, shepherd's staff in hand was protesting and whining that he had nothing to give, to offer, to equip him for such a task. And God asked him what he had in his hand.


Do we see what we have in our hands?

Do I?

If I take 30 seconds and list all the amazing skills and abilities to be found just in the 6 people living here in this house, I'm astounded at the range of capabilities. If I list the blessings of circumstances, people we know and have known, where and when we are in history and geography, the things we've learned and know how to do, why it could bring you to your knees!

We've been gifted to sing, speak, write words, to prepare food, to create art, to play instruments, to set a table, arrange flowers, decorate a room, make a bed, plant a garden, mow or rake a lawn, build a fire, cut and style hair, apply makeup, make balloon animals, do magic tricks, build things, plan a budget, fix a computer, swim and dive and run and dance...

And we find ourselves standing here, staff in hand, protesting and whining that we have nothing to give, nothing to add.

And God bluntly asks us, "What's that in your hand?"

And we reply, unthinking and un-thankful, "a stick."

When it's really all that God's gifted us with; it's really everything we need to accomplish the great plans he has for us. He asks us to throw it down, as he asked Moses, thousands of years ago.

And if, after a struggle, we do throw it down, it is transformed and comes to life and becomes a miracle of creation.

But then, when he asks us to pick it up again, to have the courage and faith that it really is more than it seems, we're afraid to take it up again. Moses' staff had turned into a snake, and I can certainly appreciate his hesitation to reach out his hand and grab that snake by the tail.

I'd have wet my pants if he asked me to pick up a snake.

Think about it.

And so I'm afraid to take the snake by the tail. I'm afraid to do the great things he asks of me. And if I am afraid, so must my children be. And it's here, at this moment, that the years of what I've been saying to myself and to them will make it's impact. Have I been saying, "You're the EXPERT of...you're AMAZING at....look at the ABILITIES you have to..." Or have I been saying other things, things that don't feed possibilities, things that erode them and tear them down.

This weekend, at the LIFE leadership seminar at Mount Saint Vincent University, Jean talked about changing the things we say to ourselves, changing the things we listen to and watch and say to others, and Tammy even admonished us to change the way we THINK about each other.

In the busy-ness of the moments that whip by our eyes and ears and minds, are we seeing what we have in our hands as a stick, or as an instrument to change the world?

So I suddenly see that my friends aren't just having babies. And I don't just have teenagers. We are raising the next generation of leaders who will move and shake and change this world in ways we can't even imagine.

And it all starts with what we see when we look at them, and what we say to feed their possibilities.

What's that in your hand?





Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!~ Mark 9:24



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