So there was this time, a few years ago that our nephew was graduating from high school so we went to Georgia for his graduation. His cousin, our niece also came to the graduation. Anyway, we were at my brother and sister in law's beautiful split level house. After the graduation, when we got back to the house, we were walking around the corner of the house to go in the lower level door. My niece was walking along in front of me, all dressed up and was calmly talking. Suddenly, as she passed a tree, she started doing this crazy spaz dance-like Elaine from Seinfeld -but on steroids. It was the dreaded encounter with a spider web. You know, the kind we all dread because a) we don't know if the resident of that web has now been forcibly removed from the web on your person and is perhaps angry about it and b) we know we are going to look ridiculous because there is no "cool, calm and collected" in the middle of that kind of freak out. Just.not.possible. Anyway, she began flailing her arms around and was looking down to see if the spider was on her but instead of stopping to do the self check, she continued on. And then, you guessed it, she ran face first, into the glass door. Maybe it's a testimony to my sister in law's cleaning skills as to why she didn't see the door, maybe it's because it was dark but I think it was because she was looking down. And I don't blame her-I would have been on the spider search too. And of course, we laughed. Hard. Belly laugh. Like, the "almost wet my pants" laugh, tears running out of our eyes laugh. I can't remember if she got mad at us for laughing but we just couldn't help it. It would have gotten at least second place on Funniest Home Videos. It was great! To this day, I still get super tickled at that memory.
Then there was this other time that I was reading in Ephesians and I came across this section of scripture that I camped out on for a couple of days. The passage I was chewing was in chapter 1, verses 17-19. Paul is telling the Ephesians how their faith has spurred him on to give thanks for them and pray for them. And then he says specifically what he prayed for them. I like the way the Message reads,
"I ask the God our Master , Jesus Christ, the God of glory-to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for for His followers, oh, the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him-endless energy, boundless strength."
I don't know which part I love more-the part about being intelligent and discerning to know Him more; the clear eyes, full hearts (can't lose) (excuse my Friday Night Lights reference) or the part about the immensity of what He has in store for us. It's just rich.
So, I think it is clear what my times above have in common right? (What, you can't read my mind? Welcome to Norris' world.) Here's my take...so often I am like my niece in the spider web encounter. I am walking along, doing my thing, and yes, usually talking and then life happens. Not always something big and tragic like death, illness, natural disaster but sometimes just the stresses of life-the weariness that comes with raising kids, the strain of unmet expectations, financial issues, insensitive words from someone we trust or just crazy drivers on the road, and suddenly, I'm doing the spaz dance, I'm reeling and confused and sometimes afraid and if we don't stop, I run into things. Hard. Can you relate? But, thank you Bro. Pablo for your encouraging words! We can pray for our eyes to be focused and clear-to be intelligent and discerning in knowing Him more. And in the process, we'll know what He has called us to do, we can understand more about this glorious life He has for us which is SO much more than we can achieve on our own. And this might be my favorite part-know the "utter extravagance of His work IN us. Note it doesn't say "through" us, but rather 'in" us. So even when I hit the doors, it's not the end. The buck doesn't stop with me. He will show us what He wants for us and make it happen in us. *deep sigh* Yes, Lord.
So to my niece, thank you for the picture of myself that I can see through your encounter with Charlotte and her web and especially thanks for the belly laugh. I heart ya so much.
Then there was this other time that I was reading in Ephesians and I came across this section of scripture that I camped out on for a couple of days. The passage I was chewing was in chapter 1, verses 17-19. Paul is telling the Ephesians how their faith has spurred him on to give thanks for them and pray for them. And then he says specifically what he prayed for them. I like the way the Message reads,
"I ask the God our Master , Jesus Christ, the God of glory-to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for for His followers, oh, the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him-endless energy, boundless strength."
I don't know which part I love more-the part about being intelligent and discerning to know Him more; the clear eyes, full hearts (can't lose) (excuse my Friday Night Lights reference) or the part about the immensity of what He has in store for us. It's just rich.
So, I think it is clear what my times above have in common right? (What, you can't read my mind? Welcome to Norris' world.) Here's my take...so often I am like my niece in the spider web encounter. I am walking along, doing my thing, and yes, usually talking and then life happens. Not always something big and tragic like death, illness, natural disaster but sometimes just the stresses of life-the weariness that comes with raising kids, the strain of unmet expectations, financial issues, insensitive words from someone we trust or just crazy drivers on the road, and suddenly, I'm doing the spaz dance, I'm reeling and confused and sometimes afraid and if we don't stop, I run into things. Hard. Can you relate? But, thank you Bro. Pablo for your encouraging words! We can pray for our eyes to be focused and clear-to be intelligent and discerning in knowing Him more. And in the process, we'll know what He has called us to do, we can understand more about this glorious life He has for us which is SO much more than we can achieve on our own. And this might be my favorite part-know the "utter extravagance of His work IN us. Note it doesn't say "through" us, but rather 'in" us. So even when I hit the doors, it's not the end. The buck doesn't stop with me. He will show us what He wants for us and make it happen in us. *deep sigh* Yes, Lord.
So to my niece, thank you for the picture of myself that I can see through your encounter with Charlotte and her web and especially thanks for the belly laugh. I heart ya so much.