Mario and Jesus

As most of you know who faithfully read my blog, there is no small life-detail that goes unnoticed when it comes to the Lord teaching me a share-worthy lesson. Today's lesson: Mario.

I nanny 4 children, 2 of whom are boys ages 10 and 6. The 6 year old loves to play Mario, and more than that, he loves for me to watch him. One day, while I was upstairs staring at the giant tv screen and listening to the all too familiar Mario music, the Lord sent me a sweet vision relating Mario, and life.

In the game, there are courses, and each course represents different levels. Throughout each course there are things that try to eat you, freeze you, catch you on fire, shrink you, and kill you. (Sounds like life already, huh?) But in these obstacle courses, are also Mystery Boxes--you know the ones. You press the correct button combo for jumping, hit your head on a box, and something useful pops out.

When I was younger and would play this very same game, I remember speeding through the course to get to the end. I would never hit boxes, collect coins, or anything useful. I would also rarely die or encounter any problems either. Until, that is, when I would get to the end or a section in the course where something in those boxes would have proven useful. Like hitting a box and blowing up really BIG! Then you get to the end to face the giant and are killed instantly--because you didn't take the time to hit that mystery box.

Those who speed through life, often find that when they reach the end of a season they are not prepared or have not learned what they needed in order to get out of it and move on to the next "level" if you will. God gives us Mystery Boxes (or Blessing Boxes if you will), in order to prepare us for what is next. Sometimes these boxes are filled with tools, useful knowledge, a new group of people to support and love on you. Sometimes, these boxes are filled with things that are not that fun either. Things that hurt, and challenge us, and ultimately and painfully shape us so that we are ready for the next round with the giant. ((These boxes are my least favorite, because let's face it, who likes being repeatedly hurt or let down? Or always feeling like you are always the one forced to be the bigger person or be the one growing or learning something hard?))

Nevertheless, our Blessing Boxes give us power and strengthen our spirit to defeat what's at the end of the course. But if we don't stop, or slow down, and take the time to hit our head on the box....we will find we come to the end of a season, unable to defeat what lies ahead.

Even though learning is painful and growing is often times not fun, it is a BLESSING to become more and more like our Lord and closer and closer to Him with each level we pass.

My reminder to you, as well as myself daily, is to slow down. Hit your head on the box. Learn the lesson that pops out. And grab onto that tool, so that you can bring it with you to the end. Remember, the hard times are life shapers. Maybe you feel like your life is being beaten to a pulp but certainly not shaped...well, nobody said it would ever be easy. But we ARE promised, that it's WORTH it.

In Him,
Meg

Big Auto Body Shop in the Sky

First of all, I have been without internet for a while--so excuse my absence in blogging, you 30 regular readers I have. I know you missed me (Catherine) :) 

The other day, I was pulling out of City Water and Light after paying a bill, and across the street, also pulling out, was a mini van with a badly dented (assuming non-working) side door. It was not only dented, but covered in tape and barely looked held together at all. I found myself judgmental at first wondering why he would drive around town that way and never get it fixed. Then, as quickly as I started to judge, the Lord hit me over the head with this notion in my own life.

For those of you who know me and have ever ridden with me, you might recall the inability to roll the passenger side window down. Or wonder why I drive with my brights on down the backroads home when there is plenty of light. Well, the answer--my window, once rolled down, does not roll back up. And my headlight has been out most of the year, so driving with my brights on ensures that I am not "cock-eyed". 

All in a matter of minutes, while waiting to pull out onto the street, I start pondering why it was that I never got these problems fixed. The reasonable answer was that after a while, they seemed barely noticeable and quite easy to live with. However, just like the guy with the broken van door, I am certain that the problems were QUITE noticeable to others. 

For instance, if you were riding with me on a long roadtrip and started getting car sick and asked me to put the window down...I would not be able to. And in that moment, my small problem becomes a big hindrance to someone else. Think about the man with the broken side door--I wonder how much of a hindrance it is to his children when it is raining very hard and they have to maneuver inside their source of shelter in a way quite difficult to a small child. So, why don't we fix these problems?

Most of the time the reasoning is true enough--we don't have the time, we don't have the money, we don't have the support. But really, those are just what they are--excuses. In actuality, the enemy tricks us into believing that these 'problems' these, ISSUES of ours, are a security blanket that we are unable to let go of. So after a while, we don't fix them out of fear or out of pure complacency and our lack of vision to there being any problem at all anymore.

In this scenario God painted for me, He showed me Himself as a giant mechanic. All too often He waits in His shop all day for those who never come. For those who simply stopped recognizing that there is a problem to be fixed, and are living a destructive lifestyle or in a matter that is a hindrance to those around them. While in the mean time, the problems not only get bigger but they multiply. If you have ever had car trouble you know this part to be true. If you don't get A fixed then it will start to do something to B that in the end will ruin your C and require you to buy a D and an E just to attempt to make it function again. 

Satan in this scenario, is the salvage man. Making bank off of your spare parts and what's left of your car (heart). He is the manipulative factor convincing you that you are no longer worthy or useful or whole so you might as well start trading all of your stuff in for what he can offer you in return. He tells you that your problems are too big and too many to be fixed now, so let him take them "off your shoulders"--when really, he trades them in for even bigger issues than when you started. 

God is waiting. And He is no idiot. He knows we are flawed, broken people. But He has the answers. The solution. The healing lies in Him. And not in the emotional Sunday morning "my life was changed by a sermon but I am going to turn around and continue living in this toxic way" kind of "healing"....but true, healing. Where we are made whole. Our CRAP is brought to light, where there is no running or hiding behind false images where the Father is concerned. And right there in his Big Auto Body Shop in the Sky--we are HEALED. The van door is fixed, the window rolls down, and people once again, feel comfortable riding with us.

If people are scared or too uncomfortable to get into our cars, then how in the world are we supposed to show them the love of Christ.

Word of advice: FIX YOUR CAR! Because soon you will stop having any passengers at all.

((And remember, that once a year tuneup or that 3 month oil change, or that 3000 mile tire rotation---those are set in place as reminders of the healing we constantly need. Not a one time fix and then we never go in again. This is a lifelong process maintaining a car, and a lifelong process of healing our broken hearts.))

In Him,

Meg