Fear Not!

 

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Are you afraid?  

I think the initial answer for most people would be a laughing "No, of course not!" or some might share somewhat irrational fears of spiders, shots, airplanes, etc... But most of us would probably not admit to struggling with fear on a daily basis.  However, if we dig a little deeper and are honest with ourselves, I think we all deal with fear on different levels - oh, we may call it anxiety or worry, but fear is the very essence - the root cause - of those things.

Some people struggle with worries about their health.  Others fear financial instability.  Some fear the unknown - new places, people, or even routines.  All parents worry about our children at times.  

Perhaps, like me, you are sometimes afraid of the future.  It's human nature - pride - to want to be in control, and when we release control to God, we may have no idea what's around the next bend - We simply must trust Him to hold our future in His hands and direct us one step at a time.  And for people like me who like to plan out just about everything, that can be a teeny bit scary! 

Within the next six months, I'll be finishing a terminal degree in education, and my husband and I will be faced with some major decisions about my career and our family's future.  I waffle back and forth on what seems like a daily basis between trust and fear about this.  

I have no reason not to trust God fully, as He has poured His providence upon my life in too many ways to count, especially over the past few years.  It was a leap of faith to pursue this degree, and now it will be another major leap to follow God's calling to whatever is next.  And just as soon as I remind myself of that, Satan is whispering in my ear with all kinds of doubts.  But, praise the Lord, God gave us His Word which reminds us over and over again not to fear... because He's got it!  

This passage, from the Christmas story in Luke 2, was part of my morning devotion today:

 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not! for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.   

¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, 

 which is Christ the Lord. 

Now, I've grown up in church for as long as I can remember, so I've heard and read this verse too many times to count.  But, just as God promises, His Word is truly "living and active," and it took on a whole new meaning when I read it this morning in light of my present situation.

Over 2,000 years ago, a tiny, helpless baby was born to save the world from our sins - Jesus Christ.

He grew up into a man who was tempted in every way, so He could relate fully with us.

I'm sure Satan tempted Him with fear as well.  But because of His great faith, 

He overcame.

And today, because of His great love for us, through His great sacrifice of His very life and dignity,

He will take on our fear and replace it with His peace which passes all understanding.

So, just like the shepherds, we can choose to believe and claim the angel's message of Good News...   as we live out the command to "Fear not!" 

Focus.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs, as quoted in The Wall Street Journal (1993)

Upon Steve Jobs’ passing this week, I have been thinking a lot about things like 

innovation, drive, goals, achievement.  

What did Steve Jobs have that many people do not?  

What contributed to his ability achieve creative productivity  
at an extraordinary level?  

A main theme within my dissertation is creative productivity, so I spend lots of time reading, writing, and thinking about the concept lately. Basically, creative productivity is an individual’s creation of a product which somehow solves a problem or makes a positive impact.  In gifted ed, we talk lots about this concept, because it’s exactly what we want our students to do with their advanced abilities and talents - develop their potential to the fullest in order to become productive members of society by learning and applying real world skills to solve real world problems.  

Within my thoughts, I’ve also pondered Steve Jobs’ faith and eternity.  I do not presuppose anything about his personal faith, nor will I make a judgement on his eternity, simply because I don’t believe that’s the job of any human - I’ll leave that up to God.  Having not known Steve personally, I know very little of his faith and religious beliefs.  I did hear a portion of a graduation address he gave a few years back at Stanford, and while he talked a lot about death and its motivating influences on his life, drive, and achievement, I was disappointed that God nor eternity was mentioned.  I am not faulting him in any way, just stating my view of one snippet of some words he spoke during one point in his life.  My husband and I are both planning to read his biography when it's released, and as my husband said, "I'm hoping to find something in there that surprises me."

Just this week, I was reminded that due to my Myers-Briggs personality style of INFP, I filter everything through my personal value system - so I can't help but think very deeply and strongly about the values and beliefs of others - and how those things drive them. I also have to wonder... Was the Truth ever shared with him?  Did he have a chance to hear about Jesus Christ?  That is another post all in itself, but it really frustrates me when Christians become super judgemental about other people's faith or lack thereof, while being very blase about sharing their own faith on a daily basis.  Perhaps the world would have more Christians if the current ones were not quite so lazy/distracted/hypocritical... but I digress.  

These ponderings have led me to the following question:  Should/can Christians look up nonbelievers as inspiring influences in their own lives?  I believe the answer is yes.  Steve Jobs, like many others before him, attained extraordinary success in his earthly life - in his thinking, relationships, and leadership.  We would be well served to observe the positive traits in his personality and apply them to our own lives, in order to better ourselves in many different ways - including our faith and witness.  

This week, I have thought long and hard about what exactly it is that sets extraordinary people apart.  It is very tough to pinpoint one specific quality, but  

FOCUS is definitely in the top 3.  

Across the board, successful people have clear focus.  They have delineated a set of goals, or even a singular goal, which has become their life’s directional compass.  Everything they do somehow relates back to that goal.  Steve Jobs had clear focus, as did many, many others who have made lasting impacts upon our world, both large and small.  One news reporter commented that he achieved every goal he set for himself.  Now, I find this a little hard to believe, but based upon his achievements, I’m sure he did achieve the majority and came very close on the rest.  

What stops the rest of us from achieving our goal(s)?  

Distractions!  We live in such a fast-paced world, with abounding opportunities, activities, and technologies pulling us in so many directions.  Some distractions are necessary and even good for us - i.e. An unexpected illness may serve to redirect your focus to what really matters - but the majority of our distractions are simply good things that are not the best for us but that we keep around for a variety of reasons - usually because we have always done things a certain way and are unwilling to change, or because we overcommit ourselves too often.  Things that are not helping us to achieve our goals, not making us better people, but things that are not necessarily harming us either.  Things that are just facilitating our maintenance of “ordinary,” “status quo.”  

This week, Steve Jobs has inspired me:  To reevaluate and redefine my goals.  And to examine and filter out the unnecessary distractions in my life which are keeping from attaining those goals.


Many people have had goals - worthy, creative, lofty, and practical goals.  Few have achieved them.  Even fewer have truly achieved what we academics like to refer to as “creative productivity.”  I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be included in that camp.  Like Steve, I’d like to be remembered as “thinking different” and being extraordinary - in my faith, as a wife and mother, and in my teaching and research.  Last New Year's Day, I reevaluated and reset goals for myself through a challenge from one of my favorite bloggers, Kat, an amazing Christian lady with admirable focus who inspires women and mothers daily through her writing at Inspired to Action.  If you've never set goals for yourself or haven't revisited them in awhile, I strongly encourage you to get on it today!

Here’s to renewed focus.   
To new and redefined goals.   
To thinking differently.  

And to living today fully and without regret.  

Because none of us are promised tomorrow.

Springtime Online Window Shopping

The sun is out here for the first time in awhile, signaling that spring is hopefully right around the corner! We are a little stir crazy after the past two weeks of sickness and cold, dreary weather, and needless to say, more than ready for spring to arrive.  Here are a few spring-worthy finds from a little online browsing during Kate's morning nap on my beloved "off day" (when I should have been cleaning!):

Would love these for my couch… from this shop on Etsy

Seersucker blouse from a cool online store I recently found, Ruche

And a similar shirt from Old Navy, for a few $$ less

6 Words to Simplify Your Life

"Do fewer things.

Do them better." 

~Megan Francis

Routines = Productivity

I recently read a blog post entitled "Get a chef, a maid, and a nanny by creating effective routines." Now doesn’t that sound appealing?!  This is a post about the importance of routines by one of my fav mom bloggers, Kat, of Inspired to Action.

I especially like the idea about the collaborative meal planning, where 6-8 friends get together, make up a week's worth of meal plans, with coordinating recipes and grocery list, and then swap.  Who's in for an online meal plan swap?  All it would involve is planning 4-5 meals and including the recipe (or a link to an online recipe) and the grocery list of ingredients.  We could email them back and forth or either create/share Google Docs.  For real, let me know if you're interested! 

I've also been toying with a cleaning schedule for the past few months, but I haven't really figured out the perfect setup for me, as of yet.  I have found that one key to keeping a "clean enough, organized enough" home is to go with cleaning/organizing strategies that work with, not against, your personal style and preferences.  For example, I'm a stacker - that is how I naturally organize things.  So, I've found it helpful to put organizational tools in the areas I tend to make my messy stacks.  Right now, I have a ceramic tray on the corner of our kitchen counter to catch keys (my husband refuses to use my cute key rack by the door), phones, and miscellaneous junk that ends up on the counter.  I also have a wooden tray that holds my cards, stamps, envelopes, and other writing materials, and a old iron dish rack that holds folders where my bills and other important paperwork can be filed as soon as the mail is open.  My prob is that I tend to misuse/abuse these so-called organizational baskets by cramming them full of stuff that doesn't belong and then "forgetting" to ever clean them out.  But I am working on it, and this post has inspired me not to give up on finding routines that work for me!