If your household is like ours, February is one of those months that has you wondering a lot of things. Who is keeping track of the weather because we seem to be stuck on rain, freeze, snow, repeat? What does grass look like, and will we know it when we see it again? Can Lent please hurry up and get here so we can get to spring? Where are all these birds coming from and why on earth are they insisting on staying here despite the cold? How can the sun be shining, yet the skies still filled with snow? Why in the world am I out here running around in single digit temperatures when I could be doing something else? Why does the full moon look brighter above the snow covered fields? Is the sun shivering along with us as it rises to meet the day? These and many more questions and ponderings led us to the topic of this week’s post, and we thought we’d share some of our adventures that came along for the ride.
“A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the reward. Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all use it.” –Max Lucado
Theme of the Week: God is a Good Sport, Indeed!
Our theme of the week started with our Sunday readings, which were about finding answers, meaning, and strength in life. We also read about Jesus and his disciples fishing for men. As I set out on my run that morning, I contemplated the fishing analogy and what it meant. Shortly into my run, I started to pray to help pass the time and clear my mind, but found myself struggling with words. I remembered reading about praying with one’s heart and not one’s mind, and given success in the past doing so, decided to just look at what was before me and allow my heart to lead me.
Well, what came next was probably one of the most creative, heart-felt, honest, open, truthful conversations only the eight-year-old within me could have with God. And it was amazingly wonderful for the adult in me to experience it. So, though we have already shared this with some close friends and family members, we are going to share it again:
Winter Fishing
My child, My child, today I send you on a mission to spend some time winter fishing.
My Lord God, winter fishing? You have got to be kidding! The ice is thick upon the pond and the frost is high on the ground’s fronds.
My child, this is not fishing in the sea but rather within thee.
Oh, My Lord, I don’t know; I’m not sure I can go.
Well, My child, you can and you will. now I ask you to scan the hills. Do you see all the sparkles through the trees? Those are water caught up high waiting for the sun’s offer to fly and take the leap of faith to the ground where with the rain it will bring about nutrients to fortify many in and throughout this life. See too the light of the sun emanating through the skies above?
Yes, My Lord, I do.
Every day it is poured out to steer and guide and uplift the life it finds deep within. Like the water and the light, so, too, can you offer what you have inside.
My Lord, My Lord, someday soon can you take me winter fishing again with you?
My child, My child, I can and will do! It is not a sport with a certain season in time, you can do it twenty-four-seven-three-sixty-five! Winter fishing is just a name I made up so that you would pay attention. Now go and cast your line so that you can catch My grace divine and share the water and light of faith with anyone you find along the way.
To put this into perspective and connect the dots to our theme of the week, here are some additional details about that morning:
- It was COLD that morning, not very inviting, save for the hint of the sun coming up.
- Given the conditions, I did not plan to run more than 6 miles, but ended up running 11.2 miles.
- The week prior had been rough on many fronts, leaving us wondering what in the world we were doing wrong in life.
- We were on a time-crunched schedule that day with all our to-do lists, so the “luxury” of time appeared on the surface to be out of reach.
- We were in need of a game plan not only for the day, but the coming week, and very low on resources.
The strategy I had in mind to help conquer the challenges of the day had merit, but it blew up, and that is okay because the strategy God had to help us get through the day was far more superior with the added bonus of enlightenment. Therein lies one of the benefits of strategy—it can always be changed, improved, and grown into something larger if necessary, especially when the intention is to do good in life. It also unites us and invites us to be more than who we are individually.
“A person is a person through other persons.” –African idiom
Lesson of the Week: Always Remember Plan G
Our lesson of the week stemmed from this experience of “fishing” with God. When you fish or participate in any sport, it helps to have a strategy in mind, along with a backup plan or strategy when what is anticipated does not transpire. We have learned to call this backup plan Plan G (God’s plan) and that it should really be our Plan A and not a backup plan because it will prevail 100 percent of the time no matter how much effort we put forth into our own little strategy.
Perhaps that is what February is in nature and life—the manifestation of strategy by God to get us humans and other creatures here on earth through our days. You know, test our mental and physical strength dealing with snow and ice. Push us in a different direction with the change in the time of sunrise and sunset. Give us the moon and stars on cold, clear nights as hope for the light to come. Offer us a few moments of quiet listening to or watching the snow fall while wondering how we are going to accomplish whatever it is we have deemed necessary to accomplish. Let us run on what we think is our own strength then wake us up with a blast of cold morning air as the snow is sparkling all around us in the silence of the dawn. Maybe it appears too subtle on the surface to be a strategy for life, but there is a simplicity to it that makes it beautiful, profound, ever-encompassing, and successful.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” –Leonardo da Vinci
Song of the Week: Symbols Please
Our song of the week is a play of sorts on strategy. In sports, many strategies are mapped out as X’s and O’s with dotted or solid lines and arrows to define the play or plan. This week’s song is an old favorite from Trisha Yearwood that describes how a young girl made her strategy to live through life’s ups and downs.
X’s and O’s
Phone rings baby cries TV diet guru lies
Good morning honey
Go to work make up try to keep the balance up
Between love and money
She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X’s and O’s
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
She’s going to make it in her daddy’s world
She’s an American girl
An American girl
Slow dance second chance mama needs romance
And an live-in maid
Fix the sink mow the yard really isn’t all that hard
If you get paid
Well she’s got her God and she’s got good wine
Aretha Franklin and Patsy Cline
She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X’s and O’s
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
She’s going to make it in her daddy’s world
She’s an American girl
An American girl….
Treat of the Week: Familiar Sights to See
Our treat of the week came in seeing flocks of robins and blue birds; male and female cardinals; a large number of deer; a variety of squirrels including gray, red, and even black; and the full moon, also known as the Snow Moon. The full moon appeared very bright in the cold, clear sky on the 12th. Seeing these sights was a good reminder that nature and God are at work every day, behind the scenes working on strategies for learning and growth in all creatures.
There is also a bit of strategy in seeing a welcome sight after months of gray and sparse wildlife populations. The strategy is that of surviving the lonelier times of life, and in that strategy comes the realization we are never fully alone, but rather just not seeing what is before, behind, beside, or within us.
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” –Aristotle
Question of the Week: Why Not Challenge Thee?
In experiencing the inner angst of the week, we came up with some challenges for ourselves. Our life experiences tell us that challenge is a great growth mechanism (though it may be hard or downright daunting at times to feel as if one is making progress) and helps deepen one’s understanding of the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life’s many relationships.
It helps to have a strategy when facing challenge. The following is a strategy we have found to be most helpful in facing challenge, change, and adversity: Do five healthy things for five minutes or more for five days in a row. The healthy can be physical, mental, or spiritual in nature. Physical health options may include walking, running, biking, yoga, spinning, lifting weights, or any activity forcing oneself to move. Mental health choices may include things like doing a crossword puzzle, coloring a picture, reading, listening to music, petting the dog, or learning something new. Spiritual options can include prayer, meditation, singing a hymn, reading the Bible or devotional, thanking someone, or doing an act of kindness.
The strategy is to become fully engaged in life, not only to benefit oneself, but also others around us. The more we practice doing these healthy things, the more apt we are to incorporate them either consciously or subconsciously into our daily routines. This helps establish good habits, positivity, and even peace (albeit fleeting at times depending on circumstances). It also helps us learn how to deal better with things like stress, negativity, differences, conflict, and change.
“Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow. The challenge of life is to make you better, not bitter.” –Roy T. Bennett
Words of The Week: Plans For the Journey
Our words of the week from the Daily Word devotional included: dominion, prosperity, letting go, energetic, talents, and joy. Dominion does not necessarily imply being in control, but rather having the choice to control our thoughts. As we learn to deal with our thoughts, we find prosperity, which in turn gives us the confidence to let go a little and allow God into our inner beings. This in turn gives us an energy we cannot otherwise find, allowing us to dig deeper to find and share our talents, leading ultimately to the joy of the shared effort. These words and their outcomes are all part of God’s and nature’s strategy to lead us upon our journey.
“To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.” –Gail Sheehy
May we take pieces from all aspects of life in order to build our strategy for living life to its fullest. May we come to accept ourselves and others along the way for both our strengths and weaknesses, and may the ultimate end result be one of peace in time.
Strategy
Strategy
Take what you have, what you see,
Rearrange it so that what comes to be
Adds to the experience shown,
Teaching along the way
Enriching beneath the rain
Good seed sown rising up to be
Yet another gift of strategy.
Strategy
Test all that comes above and beneath
Reflecting growth,
Adding hope,
Taken toward the song and the light
Engaged in the long of the tide
Gyrating in the song of the sea
Yet abating along with the breeze.
-Lisa A. Wisniewski
A Note of Thanks
Our thanks this week goes out to the people who inspire us despite the challenges we face. These individuals offer us good examples of how to live and accept life for what it is—a gift.
-Lisa, Leo, and Lena
Natural Deltas 