It is funny how God can explain things through nature... life is like the tide.

There is a constant wave.. ebb and flow... a constant up and down... a monotonous soothing pattern....
Then there is also the high tide and the low tide.... being aware of what point of the "tide" we are in... changes our response...

You don't look for shells at high tide... and you don't waste your time building castles at low tide.

Confidence

Recently I walked into a group of teachers and began very timidly to express my ideas for revamping the entire department's instructional strategies. It was a feeble attempt at confidence if I ever saw one. Later that week I walk into a meeting with a much larger group of teachers and began very confidently directing a meeting in which I communicated my expectations and required deadlines for them to adhere to.

The difference????
In the first meeting, I was sharing my ideas with nothing behind me but my opinion. In the second meeting, I was communicating by the request of the principal the directives she wished. Why was I confident? Because if they didn't like it, it wasn't on me. It was backed up by a bigger authority.

If I could just remember that I was acting by the will and pleasure of God, then maybe I would be as confident as I was communicating for my principal.
Sociologists tell us that our self-esteem is based on what we believe the most important person in our life thinks about us.

Confidence is only as good as the one in whom you place your confidence.
Am I confident b/c I am pretty? What if get in a car wreck? Am I confident b/c I am smart? What if I am in a room of PhDs? Am I confident b/c people like me? What about when they stop?
People who are truly confident consistently even when "out matched" are not self-confident but God-confident.

I want to be an Educator

According to a news report, a certain private charter school in SanAntonio was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on inthe bathroom.That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.Every night the maintenance man, an old retired Army Master Sergeant,would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal, who also was a former Army Chief Warrant Officer, decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for theold sergeant whohad to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult ithad been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers... and then there are educators.

Many of you know... I applied to a Principal Master's Degree program. I will find out if I am selected for the next round of interviews in a couple weeks. I hope I am like this principal!!!

ME and the BOYS

Seemingly a Good Idea

I read this passage today and I can't stop thinking about this.....

In 1Sam 15, God tells Saul to go and totally destroy Saul goes and does this EXCEPT he captures the king and keeps “the best of the sheep and oxen and the fattest of the lambs – everything, in fact that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.”

This seems like a pretty good idea. I mean God usually let them keep the bounty. They killed the people, what harm could an animal bring. God doesn't advocate waste. Slaughtering animals to rot isn't good stewardship. Oxen shouldn't muzzled while plowing, neither a soldier who is putting their life on the line for God and country.

Why can we talk ourselves out of what we know God has said so easily?

Interestingly, verse 20 shows that when Saul is confronted about his PARTIAL obedience he says, “But I have obeyed the Lord, Saul insisted. I did what he told me to; and I brought the King Agag, but killed everyone else. And it was only when my troops demanded it that I let them keep the best of the sheep, the oxen and the loot to sacrifice to the lord.”

What is it that convinces us to compromise? Is it the fear of angry people?

The CRAZIEST part of this whole thing is that Saul INSISTED that he had obeyed. He had rationalized his situation to the point that he had convinced himself he had obeyed well enough.... close enough... the heart not the law.... the original intent.....

Where have I rationalized so far that I think it is good stewardship to be disobedient? When do I choose to mask fear by labeling it “wisdom”?

Yes there would have been a backlash, if Saul hadn't rewarded his troops. But what did the PARTIAL obedience cost him? “The the Lord said to Samuel, I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has again refused to obey me.”

Pretty harsh considering he had killed lot of people – just not the animals. Pretty harsh considering I tithe, love my neighbor, lead a small group, read my bible – just not .............. Where am I blind to my rationalization? Where I think pride is acceptable? When I deserve to be impatient.....?

“Not that I have done all of this.... but I press forward.....”

"the Impact of Perception"

"The Impact of Perception"
Lindsay and I were at the Dallas Museum of Art last night. We had some time to kill, so I started taking silly pictures. I love these!

The plaque on the wall: "Is this the creator and his monster?... Or the creator and his figurine?" 
Then in closing the artist writes, "It is important not to think that playful thinking isn't important thinking."

So here is my playful yet "important" thinking....


None of our perceptions...our reality... is truth.
They may be part of the truth or pieces of the truth, but our reality isn't truth. The reality of picture #1 is a small Linsday where picture #2 clearly shows an enormous Lindsay. While both are the true reality of the photo, niether is the truth.

This got me thinking. What areas of my life do I respond based on my perception of reality? ALL of them. What words do I toss around as fact? What choices do I feel obligated to make? What would I do, say, be differently if I had another's perspective.

At 27 I can already say that my perspective is different than it was at 17. As a mom my perspective is different, than when I slept happily until noon on Sat. mornings. Co-workers constantly insinuate that my perspective is different as a 'white girl' So, here I am making all of my life choices based on something that changes with age, season, gender and race.

So now I am wrestling with that whole Jesus, truth, setting you free, the way.. the truth.. the life thing. How do I gain unbias perspective.. gain His truth? Maybe I will just go take more cool pics.

Choose My Own Adventure

Recently I sat talking to a friend about a marital spat narrowly avoided with two simple words. Those words were not unusual or magical, but they were defining. "Hey baby" was the pivotal crossroad between an evening of strife and an evening of marital bliss.

For 2008, I am developing four qualities in my life. Self-control is the first of four, so I am studying connected verses. My new favorite is Proverbs 13:3 which states, "Self-control means controlling the tongue! A quick retort can ruin everything."

I had just sat meditating on that verse and all of the ridiculous events that have happened to me as a direct result of my quick retorts. I thought of the hurt feelings, the miscommunication, the drama all because I spewed out a "quick retort". Determined to begin the process of self-control, I chose to just say "Hey baby" to Buddy the other night when I would have normally mounted an air attack. SIMPLY by not jumping into the conversation guns blazing, it changed the course of the entire conversation and consequentially the evening.

See I had a moment of opportunity... a fork in the road... a page turning decision. I could chose page 42 where the heroine exposes the misdeed of her tardy counterpart. Or I could choose page 21 where the hero explains his heroic deed that happened to take all day and thereby make him late returning to the heroine's house.

Each decision we make is just like a choose your own adventure book. This decision takes us to page 51 while that decision goes to page 95. From there your story is never the same. How much different could our lives be if we chose different pages?

Since unlike the books we can't read the chapter and then go back and choose the other route to see if it is better, I want to make my adventure the best I can. So I guess the first step is self-control. And for me in 2008 that looks like shutting up. Who knows what adventures I may find on the next page.