The Sky is Falling.....

The Sky is Falling.... And What Jesus Has to Say About it! My kids love Disney’s adaptation of Chicken Little, a beloved children’s story. The movie follows the familar plot of Chicken Little. Chicken Little falsely rings the warning bell for the town after He is hit in the head with a mysterious piece of matter from the sky. As the story evolves Chicken Little and his friends attempt to save their town from aliens. Ok, it isn’t the traditional 19th century folklore but it resembles the story of Chicken Little being hit in the head with an acorn and his journey to tell the king. Some of the original stories end with Chicken Little and a group of feathery friends sharing the news with the king. Other versions end with a fox luring the group into his lair and eating them. Sometimes I feel like those who heard the news from Chicken Little as they question the validity of her claims. Everywhere we turn from politicians to news reporters someone is screaming: “The sky is falling.” There is little question as to whether or not the fears are true. The worldwide economic sky does appear to be falling. There are many predications as to how it will fall or when it will fall and who it will fall on; But the economic and political word on the street is that it is falling. I recently had lunch with a girlfriend who honestly shared that two years ago she questioned whether we were really in a recession. She would hear chatter about it but it just wasn’t truly effecting her. Today, she says: “I feel the recession.” This is not an economic or political expose - in fact I am neither an economist nor a politician. I am a committed Christ follower who has spent the past 15 years with other committed Christ followers preparing to share the Gospel by meeting human needs when “the sky falls.” History has shown that each economic downturn in the U.S. had been met with Spiritual revival until the year 1929 when the stock market crashed. That year, President Franklin E. Roosevelt enacted the New Deal. And the New Deal for all intents and purposes circumvented the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and put government in God’s place. It has taken 80 years to finally see the fall out of trusting an idol for manna rather than trusting God for provision. If history repeats itself the United States is in waiting for the Greatest Awakening of the past 100 years. Since 1996 Touched Twice United has been training churches, Christ-followers to touch their communities twice. The first touch is to meet the physical needs of community members with things like free medical exams, eye glasses, dental screenings, haircuts, groceries, legal services and more. The second touch is to share the reason for the first touch - Jesus’ love. Instead of looking at the “sky” as falling could this be the evangelism opportunity of a lifetime? After Christ’s resurrection He left instructions for his disciples to go into all the world preaching and teaching of His ways. The church was left as a physical expression of Love to a hurt and dying world. We, the church, are to bring Heaven to Earth. In that way the falling sky will look less like an alien attack and more like Jesus. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 20:3-4

Twinkle Lights for the Soul

Brene Brown paints a beautiful picture of stringing twinkle lights in the swamp land of your soul. In this way the path is lit so we can find your way back to our wound. In college my social work professor Sybil Coleman likened soul work to weeding a garden. We begin at one end of the strawberry patch and by the time we get to the other side the weeds are resurfacing where we started.

Over the past few weeks I have been "weeding my garden" and "hanging up twinkle lights" in my soul. The process has been scary, frustrating, bewildering, tiring and sad. And.. it has been freeing, exhilarating, clarifying and exciting. Every few days I have taken a hold of my string of lights, armed with a journal and my Bible, and followed the thread back down into the dark.

On Saturday I finally had the guts to speak the humiliating memory I had journal led about during the week. My friend looked at me and said: "You are afraid of being EXPOSED!" With her words hanging in the air - God said: "I am light, and there is no darkness in Him at all." I John 1:5b

In an instant the Holy Spirit became the "twinkle lights in my soul." God says He will never leave us nor forsake us, so by welcoming the Holy Spirit into the swamp land of my soul, I am not longer alone. I have the power of light casting out all darkness, fear and shame.

The Lone Wolf

This winter our family went tubing (As highlighted in "The Truth"). We were the first few people on the mountain when the tubing hill opened. The snow guards gave us lots of extra attention and allowed us to combine tubes. For the first few trips down the mountain we went in different combinations. Mom and the girls, Dad and the girls, Mom or Dad with each girl.... For the first hour we asked our son to join us as a group. He refused our invitation saying: "I'm a lone wolf."

This became our expression. The four of us were a wolf pack and pleaded to invite the lone wolf to join us. At the bottom of the hill when the snow guard would tether us to the tow rope we would ask and he replied: "No, I'm a lone wolf."

As the tubing experience continued we created quite a path on the snow. Our family of four became very competitive trying to position our tubes in such a way that we would fly down the hill and beat our last distance. It had become apparent that adding a fifth wolf to our pack would in deed help us achieve our goal. I can't remember what turned the tide but the lone wolf finally agreed to join the pack and that slide was indeed, the fastest, funnest and longest ride of the day. At the end our daughter looked at our son and said: "Isn't it great to be part of a pack."

I think this is a great analogy for life. It only takes a few emotionally wounding experiences to encourage us to break out of the pack and become of loner. Statistics show that loneliness leads to dissatisfaction at home and work, depression and even suicide. The lesson is... get connected. Take a risk! Join a wolf pack!

Ringing The Bell

Wisconsin has been gifted with an early spring. Yesterday my daughter had her first bike ride as a 5 year old in 2012. I walked while she rode and I observed a most interesting phenomena. When she would approach an on-coming biker or walker she would ring her bell incessantly. She would ring her bell right up onto the other person. The pedestrian would then need to veer out of her way. I ran to catch her and suggested that she needed to stay in her lane. Her response: "But Mom I rang my bell." This gave me an opportunity to bring a gentle lesson in proper bike riding etiquette.

This experience got me thinking. People sometimes run over others with their words. In Taledega Nights, Ricky Bobby prefaced his difficult conversations with "In all due respect." At one point there is a show down when the other character says: "You can't just start your sentence that way and say anything you want." In order to achieve intimacy with others, people need to feel safe. When we feel defensive we close up. Whether your goal is friendship, courting or sexual intimacy - safety and openness is the key.

Next time you ring your bell, don't run the other person over. Pay attention to body language, listen to your companion, and keep an open posture. Believe me, you will see success!

Tip: Watch where your hands are when you are talking to a friend, family member or spouse. When I am conscious of my hands, I then tip my palms up. This automatically puts me in a open posture. The results may amaze you!

The Truth

For years my husband has asked me to go skiing. I don't really know why I balked. Partly my rejection was financial... skiing is too expensive for our family. Partly for fear of injury... with limited insurance for broken bones. But ultimately I don't know why I hesitated.

When we started our family I had a vision. I was going to buy Gap and Gymborie clothes. We wouldn't leave home unless we looked like a postcard. Of course now I can't get my twelve year old son to wear a colored shirt if his life depended on it. And we don't have a Gymborie retailer within 3 hours of our home. I think skiing fit into that same vision. One day when we arrived (financially) we would have matching winter gear, so when we swooshed down the hill everyone would recognize our family as "having it all together."

So, last week I had an opportunity to look the skiing demon in the face. On Tuesday our family went skiing at Christmas Mountain Village in the Wisconsin Dells. The first plan was for the girls to ski with Dad while my son and I had some bonding time. At the base of the mountain after a million failed attempts to use the tow rope, our son decided he wanted to ski (to show the girls how it was done). So, I stood at the tow rope and picked up one kid after another and connected the kids with Dad or the rope to travel up and down the short bunny hill. There was very little swishing and no coordination - of outfits or body parts.

Later that evening while sitting in the outdoor hot tub, my husband shared that the day had not met his expectation. The one trip past the bunny hill was met with fear on the narrow icy paths of the hill. He explained that he had a vision of the snow falling, caressing the girls faces as they joyfully glided down the hill. Instead he was met by terrified expressions and frozen tears.

On Friday, our family spent the afternoon tubing. The weather was perfect. 38 degrees and light snow fall. The ski staff allowed folks to join their tubes together and go down the hill together. We got the "Polnaszek Glide-On" and found a rhythm as we slid down the mountain. Toward the end of our tubing adventure I was confronted with the truth. My tube led the way up the tow rope and looking down I saw mismatched, worn-out, wet and weathered snow gear. My youngest wearing a blaze orange ski mask, blue coat, red gloves and purple snow pants - we were a sight. The truth is our family is a tubing family. We laughed, joined hands, closed our eyes and sped down the hill. True joy on our faces and complete abandon as the snow surrounded our faces. The truth is that our family, dressed as vagabonds had fun and left our dream of ski bunny status on the hill! The truth is... we are REAL! We have unrealized expectations. We have dreams that don't come true. And we grow closer to each other as we travel through this messy journey called life together.

You were created to give your heart away!

I came across this wonderful excerpt today from one of my favorite authors, Henry Nouwen. Take a moment to meditate on the idea that we were designed to give our hearts away.... designed to have them filled by God.

Stop Being a Pleaser

You have to let your father and Father figures go. You must stop seeing yourself through their eyes and trying to make them proud of you. For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you identity.
You need not look at that only in a negative way. You wanted to give your heart to others and you did so quickly and easily.
But now you are being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. You must stop being a pleaser and recalim your identity as a free self.

The Inner Voice of Love
Henry Nouwen

The day after ....

Valentine was a dirty word in my past. I NEVER had a date and only received cards from my mother. The day epitomized the failure of my love life. During college a few of my single girlfriends made a pack to spend Valentine's eve together. We made it special, dressed up and enjoyed each others company. But I won't lie, I hated the reminder that I was dateless. For fifteen years I have had a Valentine. He is wonderful: unconditionally loving. He celebrated with me when I was skinny and when I wasn't. He talked to my belly when we were pregnant and celebrated my postpartum figure while enjoying our little gifts from God.

This year Valentine's Evening was spent in a unique way. We had a family dinner. We did our gift exchange with our kids. I gave him twizlers and he gave me a new desk chair (to help with my posture). The girl's did a Valentine's serenade complete with an umbrella and Perry's old hat. We later shared dinner with our friends and talked about our love languages and favorite memories.

Our evening wrapped up late. No time or energy for more romance. The next morning, after kids were at school and a few hours of work.. our creative sex life came alive. Post-romp, I laid wrapped up in our red sheets and found a satisfied smile. Who says love, romance, and Valentine's Day needs to fit a formula. It is the unexpected moments and unbridled passion that counts. NO matter what day it is shared on!