Let me share a
few lists with you today. After all, don’t we all keep lists? So
here goes (it’s a short list, I promise):
In the past
year I
1. relocated to
Troy, IL, from Toledo, OH,
2. started a new
job at a wonderful local university
3. became
pregnant and gave birth to my 3rd, lovely child.
I share this list
because each item you see there has been both a blessing and a
challenge for me. I really didn’t want to leave my husband’s and
my childhood hometown, but in order to accept the teaching position,
I was compelled to leave home. While starting something new can be
exhilarating, meeting new colleagues and branching out in a new work
environment can be equally terrifying (for someone like me, at least,
who wants to control every aspect of her life!). But here I am,
enjoying my new teaching position. And I don’t even need to qualify
this, but there just isn’t anything like having a baby. For me, it
is the ultimate human experience, but it sure is a draining and
thankless job at times.
Lists are
powerful. They help us remember what we need to pick up at the
grocery store. Lists remind us what we need to accomplish during the
day (even if it is that millionth load of laundry). More importantly,
lists can highlight what is most important in our lives. Taking stock
of my short list above, I recently realized how God has blessed me.
And I am humbled by it.
I don’t try to
hide it – I’ve been a lukewarm Christian for a long time. I just
couldn’t make the connection or the commitment to put my faith in
action. The person I saw in the mirror just didn’t measure up with
what I mistakenly believed an “ideal” Christian “had to be."
I had a fairly long list running in my head dictating to me what an
ideal Christian was, and not one of my attributes could be found on
that list (sad but true – I really didn’t believe I could be of
any use to God). I had come to accept that I was outside God’s full
grace.
But I want to
share a shorter list than the one above – it is something I
recently [re]discovered, accepted and now live by (having children
has really revealed new and old insights!). This list is the
not-so-secret “set of requirements” to receive God’s blessing,
to be the “ideal” Christian:
If I, or
anyone, want to be and live as a Christian, all I need is:
1. Faith
That’s it. As
Po discovers in Kung Fu Panda, there is no secret ingredient
in his father’s soup. (Yes, I just linked my spiritual “aha”
moment to a computer-animated film. I have young children, remember?)
Po learns that the soup is delicious because everyone believes it is.
The soup is special because people believe it to be true. Likewise, I
am special because God has blessed me – even if I see myself as
just an ordinary cup of Christian soup. All I need to do is believe.
All I need is faith the size of a mustard seed.
So today I am
posting a new list on my bathroom mirror. It is the ordinary
Christian list, and there are just two items on it:
What I need to
be an ordinary Christian:
1. Faith
The most
special ordinary Christian:
1. Me
Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1, KJV)
Amen to that!
Looking for more
on faith and the challenges you will encounter throughout life?
Check out 1 Peter 6-7By Stephanie Quinn/@QuinnWordWoman
I am thrilled you moved here. I needed a prego lady to score seconds for me at the Women's Christmas Brunch. :)
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