Oops-A-Daisy

Beauty and the Beast lyrics continued.

Too long we've been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy!

Are you wasting your life? What about your time, are you wasting that? Your talents? Your energy? Are your skills growing rusty as they lie hidden behind heavy unopened doors?

What are you doing right now to sharpen your skills? What are you doing to shine up your character? How are you exercising your mind and getting your talents in shape?

How about taking your homework seriously in a way that develops perseverance, enhances your critical thinking and teaches you self-control? How about learning an instrument, or language or art or sport? What about looking for opportunities to improve your public speaking, your writing, your one-on-one people skills?

If "one day" you want to be a preacher, are you drafting preaches now, getting stuck in the Word, preaching to yourself in the mirror, asking for opportunities to preach at lifegroup, just generally speaking to groups of people without dying of nerves?

If "one day" you want to impact the people of outer Mongolia or Timbuktu, are you teaching yourself another language so as to awaken your brain in that regard? Are you interacting with diverse people and cultures to grow your global acumen?

If "one day" you want to be a powerful business leader, are you leading yourself well right now? Are you taking responsibility for the things and the people and pets in your care? Are you working on your time management and prioritisation and multitasking skills?

And I say "one day" as I do, because you never know when that day will be. It may well be much sooner than you think. And when that opportunity does present itself, I imagine you don't want to be found flabby, fat and lazy and crying "Oops-a-daisy!" Don't be caught napping like the virgins in Matthew 25.

Can I challenge you to think about your "one day"? What do you need to make that day a reality? And what are you doing about that in this moment?

Jesus backs you fully. His divine power has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), but it's up to you to keep it all in working condition. Shake off the dust and the rust. Ask God what it is He has for your right now. Improve your strengths; work on your weaknesses (Hebrews 12:12).

Dream big God dreams and then take all the little day-by-day steps to get you there.

A Firm No

Personally, I'm not a fan of alcohol. I have always really disliked the taste of alcohol in all forms: the sherry in trifle on Christmas Day, a friend's wine at a dinner, beer at the cricket, gin & tonic at a party. I have yet to drink alcohol in any shape or form that I've actually enjoyed and due to that I see it as a complete waste of both common sense and money. That, coupled with a firm conviction that getting drunk is against God's ways, has resulted in me being 100% sober for life.

Being a homeschool kid, I wasn't exposed too much to the pressures of drinking. My closest friends were from youth and for the most part they shared my convictions. Through the sport I played for a local school, club and provincial, there was a little more pressure to drink, but as I was not a so-called 'legal eagle' at this stage, no one overtly tried to force it on me.

Cut to varsity, where I was just the goody two shoes overachiever nerd that almost no one would have even invited to a party or place where there would be alcohol. I never reached out to anyone outside my core group, and even they were just 'varsity friends', someone to sit next to in lectures. So still, despite now being legally able to drink, I hadn't found myself in anything close to an alcohol-soaked rage or even just being offered a beer.

At the age of 21, I graduated and began work at an accounting/auditing firm. You've probably heard this before, but there is a huge misconception that all accountants are timid, quiet, introverts that wear baggy grey suits and sit in cubicles doing sums on their calculators. Boy, did my new work environment prove that whole idea wrong. I found myself working and interacting with some of the wildest, loudest, most outgoing people I've ever met.

For the first time in my life I consistently found myself in somewhat uncomfortable places and conversations. Have a drink, come to the club, have a cigarette, swear, oh come on have just one drink, why don't you have a boyfriend, hook up with that guy, here's a drink I bought for you- you have to drink it now. It was incessant. I genuinely worried that this is what the full 3 years of my articles would look like. I joked that I should get the words "NO THANKS" tattooed on my forehead, as it felt like all I ever said.

But thank the Lord, I stuck to my guns. Despite the threat of being unpopular and lonely, (by the grace of Jesus alone) I managed to root myself in my identity as a daughter of God. I developed a thick skin that allowed words like lame, prude, hectic religious, etc to roll off me like water off a duck's back. I held onto the bigger picture of life and eternity that caused the callous words to lose their potency. I learned that there is no shame in saying no and that people tend to respect a firm, convicted no way more than a wavering yes.

In the midst of the no's I did my best to love, to be consistent and kind and approachable. I continued to hang out with them even when we were on opposite ends of the sober scale. I actively tried to break the stereotype of judge-y, haughty Christianity. I showed up and I opened up.

To the shock of Day 1 at Work Kelsey, despite my thousand no's, these very same people grew to accept me and respect me and want me around. Possibly just for my sober driving skills at first, but with many, it grew into actual friendship. To the point where someone I now hold as one of my dearest friends said to me one year in, "I know you're hectic about what you believe, so I was waiting for you to judge me, but you haven't, you've just loved me." That pretty much sums up my life's goal!

So I've learnt that my convictions and unconditional love for those around me aren't mutually exclusive. I've learnt that I can say no whilst still being open to the very people who ask me these things. I pray that in doing this, people continue to see glimpses of Jesus in me. I pray that my no's give strength to the backbones of those around me.

Not Okay

Before Psalm 102 starts there is a little prologue that struck me:

"A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord."

God, in his infinite wisdom, when authoring the Bible, knew that there would be days when we feel weak; days when we feel afflicted and done. And I believe he put this Psalm in so that 1) we have a prayer to pour out to him in those darks days, but more than that, 2) so that we know that it's okay to not be okay.

God is not repelled by our weakness. He is not surprised by it. The world is a hard place. Jesus said that we would have troubles in this world, guaranteed. But he also said that we can take heart because he has overcome.

So it's okay to be not okay, but we don't have to stay that way. Bring your unokayness to Jesus. Ask him to remind you that he has overcome, that he is bigger, that he knows all and sees all yet still loves you perfectly, that he has a plan for you that is incredibly good. Pour out your heart to him. And as it says in the Psalm:

"He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea."

The struggle is real, but so is God. 

A Soul To Wait Upon

Beauty and the Beast lyrics unpacked some more:

Life is so unnerving

For a servant who's not serving

He's not whole without a soul to wait upon

We were made to serve. Just as a cheetah was made to run, and a shark to swim, there is something in our wiring as human beings that causes us to give our lives to something.

A 'non-religious' person may say, "That's not true, I serve no God, my life is my own..", but I challenge that. Maybe it's not a God that you're serving, but think about this: As you invest your time and effort into climbing the corporate ladder, are you not serving your career? As you love and teach and discipline your kids, are you not serving them? As you put money aside each month into your pension, are you not serving your future self? With each moment we live, Rand we spend, calorie we burn, we are serving something, someone, some dream of ours.

So now my question is, what do you choose to serve? Is it yourself, your wants and dreams and ego? Or, with your time and resources and talents, are you serving others?

The problem with serving ourselves and even with serving others, is the inevitable disappointment that comes with it. You will let yourself down. It will be thankless. The rewards will too often be fleeting and unfulfilling.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  - Matt 6:19-21

Serving Jesus, the only One who is guaranteed to never disappoint: that is where we find wholeness. And yes, serving Jesus will definitely involve serving others, developing our kids, building our careers, spending our money etc. But the motivation, the why we do what we do is rooted in something so much bigger, something eternal and unfading.

Jesus said that when we do something as simple as giving a cup of water in His name, we will certainly not lose our reward. Giving a cup of water is just meeting a basic human need of another person, but when it's driven from a place of the love and compassion of Jesus, it gives that simple action a whole new meaning and purpose.

So why do you serve? And what is your soul waiting upon?

You're Alone & You're Scared

Beauty and the Beast lyrics part III:

You're alone and you're scared

But the banquet's all prepared

No one's gloomy or complaining

While the flatware's entertaining

Am I a safe place for the lonely and the scared? Can people trust my confidentiality? Rely on my unconditional love and lack of judgement? Depend on my consistency and approachability?

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." - Psalm 34:18

If this is the attitude of my God, it's how I want to live as well.

I want my life to be a place where broken people (from which I do not exclude myself) can find healing and hope through the life of Jesus in me. I want to be a light in the midst of doom and gloom, light that brings clarity and joy through the wisdom and Spirit of God in me. I want to be a safe haven from the terrors and depression of the world through the peace of Jesus. I want to speak the truth with wisdom and love and grace and zero judgement.

I want to have His heart.

Never Second Best

Some more Beauty and the Beast lyrics that can be applied back to our lives:

A dinner here is never second best

Would it be so scandalous to say that I believe that Christians should be at the top of every field and discipline and role in life? And I believe that competence matters for Christians because the Christian life is a life of action, and our actions are intended to result in God being glorified.

Am I saying that every Christian should always be the best at everything? Nej, not at all. I'm saying that each of us should be doing our best at whatever it is we are gifted and called to do. And that when we all rise up to be our best, to live in the fullness of our God-given potential, we will see people across every different space of life succeeding and exceeding for the glory of God.

I'm also not saying that this success only equates to becoming CEO or an Olympic swimmer. Why do we limit ourselves to so little? Let us aim to succeed in friendship, in serving, in giving, in discipling, in teaching, in helping, in forgiving, in loving. Be your best in your role as a nurse, daughter, secretary, guard, coach, parent, driver, friend.

Martin Luther King Jr said:

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” 

Being the best also comes down to the little mundane things in our lives: homework, cooking dinner, driving to work, etc. Your life will require you to invest a lot of time and energy in things that aren't big and don't seem to make much of an impact. Habits like working hard, maintaining a positive attitude, living with self-discipline and intergrity bring benefits to our lives now and pay enormous dividends in the future.

Making an effort to be kind to a brother or sister now both shapes your relationship with your sibling and trains you to relate to your future colleagues. Applying your brain to that awful maths now affects your academic future and develops your brain to deal with complex situations later in life.

"Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people." - Col 3:23

If we can rewire our brains to see our every action and word as a chance to glorify Jesus, I believe we will rise up to be our best.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." - 1 Cor 10:31

We all want to do big and important things, but we tend to discount doing our best in the equally important small things that get us there, even the eating and the drinking. The desire to do your best - even when no one around you requires it - takes a special kind of character. Being faithful in the smallest things is the way to gain and maintain the strength needed to be the best.

Please note that we aren't called to be successful all the time. We're called to be faithful, to take those first difficult steps and leave the results up to God. Failure is a way to grow stronger, not to give up. All effort, even failed effort, builds muscle and stamina.

Let's do our best and trust God for the rest.

Ask The Dishes

There's a line in Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast that makes me think about how I live:

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious

Don't believe me, ask the dishes

What do the dishes, the hard circumstances, the people with me in the trenches say about my life? Am I more than just talk? I tell people about how wonderful Jesus is, but is He really such a reality in my life that, through friendship and random interactions with me, those people can actually "Taste and see that the Lord is good"?

I want to live my life in a way that my words and my actions represent something of the goodness, grace and truth of Jesus. I want to be salty. Not in the new way of being bitter and biting, but salty in the Matthew 5:13 way that enhances flavour, that brings a taste of Jesus to whatever place I find myself in this world.