NOPE! DON’T simply “Build up your self-esteem”, friend!

A long time ago, someone said something funny.

I won’t say WHO because I’ve learned (the hard way!) that if I say embarrassing things about my friends or family online, they’re mad at me for a while, which is annoying. Also, none of us (always!) have enough tricks up our sleeves to restore the power balance. (For example, by being nice to them so you can be mean to them later, etc.)

Join people in sixty-seven countries who read this! (Look! I don’t know why people read this stuff, either! It must be because they’re cool, too!) Let’s journey together!

So anyway, this family member and/or friend and/or relative and/or stranger once looked at the clock before leaving in the morning.

“Great! I have time to poo today!” the person said, before leaving the house. I thought, but I DIDN’T say (See how wise I’ve become?), “Maybe you should wake up 2 minutes and 30 seconds earlier each day?” But I didn’t say that, because sometimes we get stuck in a rut or an unhelpful habit.

For example, I forgot to learn from my husband for 25 years in an area that would have really helped me.

There are other unhelpful patterns that I’ve been noticing – for example, a friend who has been stuck in the same relational problems for 30 years – different people over the years, but the same essential problem. “MAYBE your (potential) emotional wounds have something to do with these broken relationships?” I want to suggest, gently. She is not open to suggestions in this area. Luckily I AM! (See the mountain biking example above or HERE!)

So how do we get out of these unhelpful life patterns that all of us have, if we’re honest?

What have I learned? Oh! I’m glad you asked!

Well, unfortunately (for you), I still have (a FEW!) bad habits I need to recover from, including desperately striving each day to extract enough love from every passerby to fill my unending tank by seeking love everywhere I go. Still, I have been growing in this area! This is what I’ve learned:

1. When I remember that I am (Me! Little ol’ me!) NOT perfect; ironically, this is when I can finally put down my busy work and rest awhile. So, the surprise is that it’s NOT in building up our fragile self-esteem where the healing comes. Instead, it’s in honestly (Hey! We know this stuff if we’re honest!) admitting we messed up again that the sigh of honest relief can be let out (finally!) along with our stomach fat.
2. I come in this state, this NOT PERFECT state, and hold up my glass to Jesus. Can You please give me a drink?
3. Then I swim in the deeper water of His love.

And the irony is that the more broken I am, the more healing is His love.

If only I could remember stuff like that, because USUALLY, I’m pretty awesome! (Not gonna lie). As the song below sings, consider asking Holy Spirit, “If I had time to rest, where would You want me to sit with nothing else going on, and take 5 minutes to receive a glass of Your comforting love and water from the deepest well?”

(What do you sense in the depths of your soul?)

And may you be transformed, friend.

Receiving a few more drops of the love of God MAY not solve all your problems (like setting your alarm a bit earlier, now that I think of it), but you would be surprised how much transformation happens this way! And hey – maybe you can even become a little more awesome! Like me! (just sayin’)

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Let’s journey together.

Photo Credit: May The Light Light Your Path, Friend by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

By your words I can see where I’m going;
they throw a beam of light on my dark path.

The Message

Try this new way of meeting people!

The stranger said she would buy me a coffee.

What? I had heard of people- mysterious people- somewhere ELSE, who would purchase a coffee for the next person behind them at a drive-through. After I heard that, I went through drive-through after drive-through, crossing my fingers that THIS time it would be me who got a free coffee!

Life is short. Why not laugh a bit more? (Wait! WITH me or AT me? Whatever!) Let’s journey together.

Nope.

Nada.

Nothing.

Until today.

I was sitting alone1 at the coffee shop at a table that could seat up to four people. So when a smaller table opened up, I thrust my coffee and other stuff over the barrier between the tables to quickly claim the table. To walk to the new table, I would have to walk AROUND the barrier, but what if someone else claimed my space?

Even if I AM thinking of others, to help ensure there is more space available for those who wanted to sit at the busy coffee shop, I wanted that table for ME before anyone ELSE got it – THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

But in my haste, my large coffee fell over, covering half the table and a similarly sized spot on the floor in my delicious beverage.

And I felt a bit dumb about that, as people around the table jumped to avoid the splash, and then made eye contact with me. I (obviously) was henceforth known to all as “The Spiller” of the beverage. But while I was trying to pick up my pride and self-respect (who CARES about the coffee on the floor when I have bigger things to think about!):

• He had already (!) asked an employee to help clean up the mess.
• She had already (!) walked over to me to tell me she was going to buy me a new coffee.
• She was already (!) looking at me with love and compassionate understanding.2

And oh – the “he”, “she” and “she” above were all strangers. Did I mention that part? That was also kind of cool.

I chatted with the lady whose eyes showed compassion for me (Who wouldn’t like a person like that?) and before long she asked me to pull up a chair at her table. Why not? She then shared some of the pain in her life.

Why not?

We all have pain every day. We might as well share it! And that’s what happened just before Rhianna (the 3rd stranger in the bullet list above) and I clasped both hands together and prayed together, tears flowing.

“It’s about energy flowing,” she offered. I agreed with her that God is love, and His power is carried on the wings of His love.

. . . let us continue to love each other since love comes from God

The Message

So we prayed together for another person she loves, and I do not doubt that God heard our prayer, whatever His answer may be. But while we wait, He is growing our hearts in love for a fellow stranger.

And that’s even cooler than a free coffee!

And so that “stuff” that only seems to happen “elsewhere,” like free coffee (!) and God on the move, and God knitting strangers’ hearts together in a coffee shop?

Maybe that kind of stuff can happen HERE too, where I am, because God’s Spirit lives in me (Oh! And you, too, if you love Jesus!)

Here is a prayer to help begin your journey with Jesus, if you haven’t already. Oh, and she also, this stranger, prayed a shorter version of the prayer above with me, as tears flowed, and we held onto each other’s hands for dear life, as the love we both needed to breathe pulsated between our clasped hands.

Maybe God’s power and free coffee DOES happen right HERE where I am (and by logical deduction – where you are!), too!

So, spill your coffee, friend! Do this on purpose! As people feel sorry for you, clean up after you, serve you, and buy you stuff, it turns out this is a great way to make new friends!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Life is short. Why not laugh a bit more? (Wait! WITH me or AT me? Whatever!) Let’s journey together.

Photo Credit – by GRAV® on Unsplash