Trick or Treat! ohhh...I'm a little late on this one, aren't I?
Over the last couple of days, this phrase has been said many, many times by young and old alike. We encouraged our youngsters to don masks and costumes, soliciting treats from the neighborhood. Children were excited to dress up as their favorite super hero or maybe even a witch or a ghost. At the end of the night, they returned with a bounty of chocolate, gummies and other various sugar filled treats. Many people have gone to costume parties with their friends, anticipating who would be the most creative, scariest or funniest character in attendance. The end of October comes and goes every year with the same fanfare of masquerade.
It is the rest of the year that has been on my heart recently. I had originally thought about the masks that adults wear every day, but it occurred to me that there are many children wearing masks also. They come in about as many varieties as one can find at a Halloween store. Some examples are: "I've got it all together", "things are great at home", "class (or office) clown", "victim", "air headed", "tough guy", "bully", "obnoxious", and "helpless". These are the social masks we may wear daily. These masks are the ones that hide our insecurities with hopes of being accepted, even if it's not really ourselves who are being received. They hide our pains, our shame, our fears, our sadness and our vulnerabilities. They hide things that we naively believe nobody else has ever experienced. Often times, we lack the confidence to allow people to know us for who we really are or what we've been through. After all, nobody could ever welcome us...if they really knew...
I want to encourage you today to take off your social mask(s). Take the first steps to uncover the person who lives deep within. Dig down to your core and think about what masks you wear and why you wear them. If you're not really sure, take some time in prayer and ask God to uncover the truth for you. Remove the layers of your facade, and begin to enjoy your life being you, being who you were created to be!
Monday, November 3, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
the Protector Detector
BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!
What's that?!? The sound of our carbon monoxide detector going off at 4 a.m.! We were awakened from a deep sleep....thankfully! That happened on an early Saturday morning a while back. We got out of the house and waited as the firemen came, checked out the house and confirmed that there was, in deed, a problem with the air quality inside of the house. They turned the gas off to the furnace and told us to have it serviced before turning it back on. A repairman come to the house a few hours later and after turning the furnace back on, he couldn't find anything wrong with it or get a CO reading. He proceeded to allow us into the house and told us it would be ok. BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! 2:15 p.m. and our detector went off again! The Repairman got a return call and confirmed this time that he was getting a CO reading. He determined that he would not be able to return until Monday with parts, so we went to a hotel for a few nights... Monday came along and the repairman returned, replaced a seal, and gave us the ok to move back into the house. Finally, we could move back home and get back to normal....or not. BEEEEP!!! BEEEEP!!! BEEEEP!!! 7 p.m and the CO detector could be heard from the outside! ....wait, this wasn't supposed to happen again! It was fixed, wasn't it?! *sigh* ...at least it's not 4 a.m.! ...back to the hotel where they were beginning to think of us as family ;-)
The next day, we had new repairmen...yes, more than one...come to check our furnace. They were both determined to get to the bottom of the problem. Unfortunately, after spending the day in our basement and tearing the furnace apart and cleaning it, they came to the conclusion (after getting a CO reading of 15,000!) that the furnace needed replaced.
5 days of being displaced, and as we reflected on it, we were thankful...very thankful! Our Carbon monoxide detectors saved our lives at least 3 times between Saturday morning and Monday night. We were inconvenienced with having to be out of our house, but that's nothing compared to what it could have been!
It was easy to be thankful for the CO detectors and for the job that they did...they protected us from the danger that we had no idea was there.
I wonder if we had an alarm go off every time our Heavenly Father protected us or helped us, how much more grateful we would be...or how insane we might be if we actually had that alarm going off. We rush around to get to an important event on time and end up delayed and frustrated... BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!! Turns out if we were on time, we would have been in the accident that is now being cleaned up. We apply for a job that we think would be perfect for us but we get turned down and get upset for losing the opportunity...BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! we don't know that business is going to close down 6 months later. We may sustain an injury that needs medical attention. We are hurt and it cramps our style...BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! We find out that there is another, more serious ailment that may have been fatal if we had waited any longer to have it treated.
We don't have the luxury of always knowing when our Heavenly Father is shielding us of danger, as there isn't an alarm that goes off....there isn't a "Protector Detector". We can rest assured though: we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 ESV
Be blessed!
What's that?!? The sound of our carbon monoxide detector going off at 4 a.m.! We were awakened from a deep sleep....thankfully! That happened on an early Saturday morning a while back. We got out of the house and waited as the firemen came, checked out the house and confirmed that there was, in deed, a problem with the air quality inside of the house. They turned the gas off to the furnace and told us to have it serviced before turning it back on. A repairman come to the house a few hours later and after turning the furnace back on, he couldn't find anything wrong with it or get a CO reading. He proceeded to allow us into the house and told us it would be ok. BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! 2:15 p.m. and our detector went off again! The Repairman got a return call and confirmed this time that he was getting a CO reading. He determined that he would not be able to return until Monday with parts, so we went to a hotel for a few nights... Monday came along and the repairman returned, replaced a seal, and gave us the ok to move back into the house. Finally, we could move back home and get back to normal....or not. BEEEEP!!! BEEEEP!!! BEEEEP!!! 7 p.m and the CO detector could be heard from the outside! ....wait, this wasn't supposed to happen again! It was fixed, wasn't it?! *sigh* ...at least it's not 4 a.m.! ...back to the hotel where they were beginning to think of us as family ;-)
The next day, we had new repairmen...yes, more than one...come to check our furnace. They were both determined to get to the bottom of the problem. Unfortunately, after spending the day in our basement and tearing the furnace apart and cleaning it, they came to the conclusion (after getting a CO reading of 15,000!) that the furnace needed replaced.
5 days of being displaced, and as we reflected on it, we were thankful...very thankful! Our Carbon monoxide detectors saved our lives at least 3 times between Saturday morning and Monday night. We were inconvenienced with having to be out of our house, but that's nothing compared to what it could have been!
It was easy to be thankful for the CO detectors and for the job that they did...they protected us from the danger that we had no idea was there.
I wonder if we had an alarm go off every time our Heavenly Father protected us or helped us, how much more grateful we would be...or how insane we might be if we actually had that alarm going off. We rush around to get to an important event on time and end up delayed and frustrated... BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!! Turns out if we were on time, we would have been in the accident that is now being cleaned up. We apply for a job that we think would be perfect for us but we get turned down and get upset for losing the opportunity...BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! we don't know that business is going to close down 6 months later. We may sustain an injury that needs medical attention. We are hurt and it cramps our style...BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! We find out that there is another, more serious ailment that may have been fatal if we had waited any longer to have it treated.
We don't have the luxury of always knowing when our Heavenly Father is shielding us of danger, as there isn't an alarm that goes off....there isn't a "Protector Detector". We can rest assured though: we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 ESV
Be blessed!
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