That Ol' Tortoise

The tortoise and the hare keep making an appearance in my life!  God must be telling me something.  Heath is currently intrigued daily by a Mother Goose version of the story with a tortoise named Leonard and a hare named Skip.  For the moment, he is less fond of the LeapFrog version (It is so odd!  They fit the entire alphabet in… there’s a zebra, an umbrella, a city, and all kinds of other out of place things!)

I recently heard the quote, “We overestimate what we can accomplish in 5 weeks and underestimate what we can accomplish in 5 years.”  Isn’t that so true! 

Ol' Leonard understood that idea. He just kept going one slow step at a time.  One next right step after another.  It had to feel so defeating to watch others zoom right by.  And, when the wind was cold and the hills were steep, it had to be really hard for him to take that next right step. 

Last week I started to get overwhelmed.  I let my mind race and run with all the things that need to get done.  I dreamed of Pinterest things to do to our house.  I felt defeated after reading blogs of creative things moms did with their kids during the snow days.  I diagnosed half the world’s problems after reading journal articles for my class.  And when one of those “out of nowhere” problems popped up, I was a mess. 

Friday night, I laid my head down whispering to God.  “I feel like I’m drowning.”  I knew that none of this was crisis level stuff.  I was just off and my focus was wrong.  I closed my eyes and couldn’t see my way back.  I whispered it again.  Drowning. 

Saturday morning I opened up my little quiet time book.  On that very day the words were so perfect, “When you feel yourself sinking in the circumstances…”  The Scripture with it was the story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus. 

Peter stepped out of the boat in faith during a storm to be closer to Jesus.  I could relate.  When Peter looked away from Jesus, he saw the waves and he began to sink.  He cried out to Jesus to save him.   I got it.  I had been looking at the waves.  My focus was not where it should have been.  I was drowning.  Without His perspective, I only sink.  Trusting Him as I take one step after the other is the only way to truly go through the storm.    

That night, I got out my lesson for GoKids the next morning.  You’re not going to believe me, but it was the story of Peter walking on water.  It was all about trusting God. 

So, that ol’ tortoise has got it right.  One diligent, purposeful step after another.  Who knows where he’ll be in five years!   

Warm Pipes

It was 10:00 pm on the night we moved into our sweet new home.  It was the grand finale of a 30-day total house repair/remodel.  Brent and I were functioning on less-than-adequate amounts of sleep at that point.  Yes, we did pull all-nighters to hang new drywall and sand all the wood floors.  I went to brush my teeth in the brand spanking new vanity.  I turned the hot water on.  It sputtered and gasped.  I turned the cold water on.  It trickled.

It was a wopping 2 degrees outside.  I tried the tub.  Then the kitchen sink.  No luck.  I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe knowing I had to tell my worn out husband. 

Like a pro (or, rather an amazing man of faith and determination) he bundled up, got the blow dryer and headed to the crawl space.  He had plans of blow drying the pipes to unfreeze them.  I had the faucets on and ready for the water to gush.

10:30… 11:15…

I laid in bed recounting the past blur of a month.  The stories of God’s goodness and incredible blessings through this process were overwhelming.  

We set out with the mindset of viewing this house repair and remodel as an intense time of spiritual growth -- A mission trip of sorts.  We knew that there were much more important things going on in the world than the remodel of our new home.  We knew that people were starving and losing their jobs and facing illness and death.  

We didn’t, for one second, want to get so self-absorbed that we lost sight of what real problems are in life.  God had blessed us with this house and we wanted to see each hurdle as an opportunity not a problem.  We hoped this house would be a journey for us to hear God’s voice and obey Him in the small things.  We hoped to grow closer as a couple and as a family.  To be more grateful and to trust God with all things.

11:45… 12:15...

A little panic started to settle in.  Or was it fear and anger?  I wondered what would happen if the pipes burst.  And, I hated for Brent to have to keep working so hard on such little energy.  Would we have the money to fix this one?  Why was God allowing such a big problem like this now once we’ve moved in?  And, could anything just go smoothly?

Then, He whispered to me deep in my spirit.  Trust. I remembered.  He always provided.  All the days of my life, He has never left and never failed.  All hard things have only led me closer to Him and to understanding how He works in the world.  And, yes at that moment the rest of the world’s problems were still raging.  And God is a God of relationship and restoration and redemption.  Yes, this water problem was meant to draw us to Him.  Not to fret or control.  But to Trust.

I figured Brent was having his own “moment” under the house.

12:39…

The water came bursting in the tub and sink.  Relief washed over me and I went to meet Brent in the kitchen.  He'd been under there with the blow dryer for two and half hours.  He was bundled.  I was thankful.

Slow and calmly Brent said, “The water was turned off.  The valve was off."

Nope, the pipes weren’t frozen at all.  At some point in all of our repairs and leak fixes here and there, the main valve was still shut off.  But we sure did have a heart to heart with God and some warm pipes that night.