Tools

On the latest addition of learning from my preschooler: tools.

For whatever reason, my preschooler LOVES to play with our handheld vacuum cleaner. He loves toting around the house sweeping up stray crumbs and dirt and dog hair (which the dog doesn’t appreciate when the hair is still attached to him!). One morning, the sweeper turned toy suddenly stopped working. As much as my son slammed the button, it just won’t suck. No worries! My son knew just what to do! He ran to the basement and returned with his toy hammer. “I’ll fix it, momma!”, he declared and started pounding the pour machine!

It took a good amount of self-control not to laugh at his efforts. My adult brain could easily assess what the problem was; I knew a hammer wasn’t going to fix a dead battery. Yet in his childhood innocence, he was confident that this was the right tool for the job. He’d just learned how to use it to pound plastic nails into his tool bench and had seen daddy use a hammer to fix the panel in the bathroom, so of course it would fix this too!

I wonder how often we approach life’s problems with the tools of a child. Maybe we learned in childhood that the way to get our needs met was to be loud and demanding, so we struggle when our verbal pounding doesn’t get us what we hoped. Or maybe we learned to survive by not having needs at all; maybe the tool we were given is people please; always put others first and they’ll never be mad at us. Except maybe now we’re feeling unfulfilled or unmet because our needs have been ignored for so long. Or maybe we hold the tool of addiction: if we can just get that next fix or have one more drink or go on one more shopping spree, that whole in our heart will be filled. Or maybe it’s the tool of self-protection; if we can just flee from relationship, hurt or cut of them before they hurt us, we’ll be okay.

Today, I challenge you to take inventory of your emotional and spiritual toolbox. What tools in there no longer serve the purpose they once did? What’s no longer beneficial? What once useful hammer is now trying to fill the role of an electric cord? And what are the tools are missing? What are the things that you still need to be successful, happy, and satisfied with yourself, your relationships, your life?

Once you’ve assessed your resources, I encourage you to reach out to your community and share both the tools that you have and those that you’re lacking. Reach out to a trusted friend or family, a pastor, someone in your small group or club, or even to a counselor (I know of a few great ones! =)) and ask for the help that you need. Stop trying to fix a dead battery with a hammer; find someone who can teach you the tools that you need.

He Knows My Name

I recently gifted my preschooler with a Scout dog. For those unfamiliar with the toy, it’s a stuffed animal that you can program with your child’s name and a few of their favorite things. After setting it up, I presented it to my son and watched his eyes and grin widen as he heard the pup speak his name.

“Momma!”, he shouted excitedly. “Momma, the doggy knows my name! He knows it’s me!”

He was amazed that this toy KNEW him! Sure, he has other toys that can say generic phrases, but this one spoke his very NAME!

As I watched my son’s awe and wonder at being called by name, I was struck by the reality that Someone much more important knows his name, and my and your names too! Sweet friend, God sees you and calls you by name. On your loneliest days, you are not hidden from His sight. When you’re struggling with your worth, He calls you beloved, valued, seen. He saw you in your mother’s womb, sees you in your proudest moments, and sees you at your lowest of lows. And He doesn’t simply see you; you aren’t just another member lost in the crowd. He sees you and calls you by name. He sees your pain and heartache and calls you to His loving arms. He sees your confusion and disappointment and calls you to seek His wisdom and hope. He sees the lies that you’re believing and calls you walk in the truth of who He says you are. You are not hidden, not overlooked. God sees you. God calls you by name.

But now, this is what the Lords says- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summed you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay our hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:1-16

Gratitude

“Papa God, thank You for construction vehicles, how they dig and move dirt and build big roads! Thank You for boo boos, that You can heal them! Thank You for my sister and that she’ll be here soon to play with!”

This is a typical prayer of my son: thank you, thank you, thank you! In his young brain, he doesn’t feel the annoyance of road construction but only the wonder and power of big trucks and the joy that he gets to see their progress first hand. He doesn’t feel the fear that his latest injury will cause long term damage or pain; rather, he fully anticipates God’s care and healing of his hurt. And he doesn’t stress the endless hours of adoption paperwork and delay after delay of the process not progressing like it’s “supposed to”; instead, He fully trusts that God will bring his precious and already beloved sister home to him, and he is already dreaming of all the ways that they’ll play together.

Ah, the faith of a child, the peace of full assurance of God’s provision and promise, the joy of gratitude in the waiting. How would my life change if I viewed it through the eyes of my son? How much joy and peace and excitement would I find in letting go of what’s out of my control and simply basking in gratitude for how greatly God has blessed me. Studies have shown that by simply listing 3 things a day that you’re grateful for, you can greatly increase your happiness and decrease your stress. And with God’s abundant blessing on my life, surely I can come up with more than just 3 a day! With freshly paved roads that assure safety as I drive and scars (physical and emotional) that show how I’ve been healed and the opportunity to grow my family, surely I can think of more than 3 things to thank Him for! Rather than complaining about the laundry piling up or the house that constantly needs cleaning or stressing finding time to cook dinner, I can praise Him for close to wear and a warm house to live in with an abundance of toys for our family to enjoy and for always having a full belly. Rather than complain about early mornings with a sleepless toddler, discovering a pile of dog poop in the kitchen, or the forever falling snow, I can choose to praise Him for a few extra hours to snuggle with my little buddy, for a four legged companion who offers both loyalty and protection, and for the beauty of His creation in all seasons. What can you thank God for today? How will you choose gratitude over complaining?

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Mixed Play-doh

I don’t know about you, but I distinctly remember in my childhood being warned not to mix the colors of my Play-doh. “Keep the blue and red separate. Once they’re mixed, you won’t be able to undo them and the Play-doh will be ruined.”!

I wonder if, in life, we sometimes feel like mixed Play-doh. We feel like, because of certain circumstances or choices that we’ve made, our color isn’t as pure or bright or beautiful: “Because I was abused, I’m now damaged goods.” “Because I went too far with my girlfriend, I’m not as pure as I was.” Because my parents got divorced, or because I got divorced, people will view me as a failure.” “Because I’m not a size 2, no one will see me as valuable.” Because… well, you can fill in the blank. There are so many things out there than can cause us to feel less than, so many things that challenge our value or cause us to question our worth in the world or make us feel like an accident or passed over. So many circumstances and choices that make us feel like mixed Play-doh.

Here’s the thing about mixed Play-doh, though. As my own child swirls the colors together, I can’t help notice the beauty of his new creation. Sure, there’s no way that I’m separating those colors, no way that I can make it look like it once way. Yet there’s something mesmerizing about swirl of the colors coming together; there’s something attractive and eye catching about his new combined creation that the pure, fresh out of the container dough doesn’t possess.

I think that’s how God views our mixed Play-doh lives. Rather than condemn us for where we’ve fallen short, He calls us to come to Him: “Come here, My child. Bring Me your mistakes and shortcomings and blatant disobedience to me. Repent, and let Me redeem your brokenness.” When we’ve been cut down by the pains of a fallen world, He doesn’t see us as broken, useless vessels. Rather, He calls us to come to Him: “Come here, My child. Bring Me your hurts and heartaches, bring the injustices you’ve experienced. I too have been scarred by this fallen world. Come to me and trade your sorrows for My joy, your hurt for My love, your fear for My peace.”

Praise God that He does not leave us in our broken state! He promises to redeem and restore us. He doesn’t call us broken but beloved. Praise God that He’s powerful enough to transform the pains of our lives into a beautiful testimony of His character. Praise God that He’s big enough to transform the disappointments of our lives into a grandness greater than we could ever dream of! Praise God that He can take Play-doh discarded by the world’s standards and redeem it to intricate beauty.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:10

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 44:22

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe. Psalm 107:2

You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:57-58

And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14