Spiritual

Are You A Spiritual Loser? How To Get An “A” On Your Spiritual Report Card!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

a statue of a man standing on top of stacks of money

Photo Credit – Loser and Winner by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash – Notice that the “Winner” here has less money than the “Loser,” so it’s not about more money, but you already know that! For additional proof, however, consider this quote from one of the wisest people I know:

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.

Jim Carrey

While training for a triathlon, I was pretty fit.

I swam to my friend’s home two bays down at the lake where we were staying as a regular training exercise.

Then I suddenly got a bit older, and I wasn’t QUITE as fit anymore, at least as I thought I was. “Could I swim to her home again?” I asked myself. A few quick years had passed, of sitting on the couch and eating donuts at every meal, but otherwise, I still felt pretty fit. That summer day, I swam and swam. I did it! Wow!

I sat on her wharf in my solo victory party, my pride rising around me like a great cloud, buoying up my low self-esteem until the cloud tried to suffocate me with the sudden unwelcome thought, “But CAN I swim back home?

No walking trails existed along the shore of these “boat access only” cottages, and of course, cell phone reception was an impossibility in that remote area, even if I did have a phone with me (I didn’t, of course).

My stomach quavered.

How would I get home?

And The Point of this Newsletter is that sometimes, as graciously illustrated HERE and HERE, we aren’t QUITE as amazing as we imagine ourselves to be.

What if that’s true spiritually, too?

Now, before you hold up your hands and caution me against speaking further, responding with the most common objection, like: “Well, at LEAST I’m not Ted Bundy or someone super bad like that! Therefore, I’m sure God will open the Great Golden gates to me!”

Again, I ask, what if being a bit “nicer” than a serial killer like Ted Bundy is STILL not an “A” on your spiritual report card according to Jesus?

(Just asking the question).

And so, how did I get home that day that I swam WAY too far and exhausted myself with my pride? A person I knew saved me. As I swam, when I saw someone I knew, I would crawl up their ladder onto their wharf to sit awhile, resting (and pretending to visit while I caught my breath), until I had enough strength to continue my journey.

And luckily for you, that’s how you can find the way to your true home, too – Just drag your tired butt out of wherever you are struggling just to get by, and rest awhile with Jesus.

He’ll give you some food for your journey, a blanket to warm your soul with increasingly authentic relationships, and a map to guide your unique life adventure to begin soaring like a bird in the sky with Him.

A white bird flying through a cloudy blue sky

He energizes those who get tired . . . but those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar . . .

The Message

And the best part? God will swing open those Golden Gates to anyone who is friends with His son. What have you got to lose except a bit of suffocating pride that you don’t REALLY want anyway?

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Seeking Spiritual Profundity? Hack: One Important Truth From Immature People (And Me!)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
a young boy sitting on top of a wooden bench

The most crucial spiritual stuff we are struggling to understand is already well understood by children.

Of course, it’s understood by children and ME, too! So that’s how you know I have great spiritual depths – sometimes I am immature! (Reread the first sentence if you are confused.)

I prove that I have had a few (VERY!) brief moments of immaturity HERE.

But reflecting on the first sentence in this newsletter, this immaturity may be the source of my extraordinary spiritual wisdom!

Now, what was I saying?

Ahem.

As I was saying, since children understand the most significant spiritual truths well, I will deduce essential insights from the children’s story I shared at the front of our church last Sunday for you to enjoy!

In that riveting and insightful children’s story, I was trying to make The Point that God is NOT (notice the NOT!) a gumball machine in the sky! What I mean is that more often than we care to admit, we adults think of God’s love as transactional:

  1. We put in a quarter and out pops a gumball from the gumball machine, or
  2. We put in a prayer, and out pops the stuff we want – i.e., a healing, the OTHER person to change (This is an excellent prayer by the way!1), or to hear His voice more clearly.

When we don’t get what we want, when the gumball doesn’t pop out of the machine after we insert our quarter of prayer, we get frustrated and shake the machine a bit, before we kick it and put it in the corner where only spiders building webs will visit it for a while.

We put God into a box and then realize that there is something wrong with the box.

There is.

The thing that is wrong with the box is us.

“And what is your point?” you ask, looking at your watch, with one hand on your laptop, ready to slam it closed.

Children don’t have as many boxes they are trying to shove God inside.

And so, this is one of the essential things we can learn from children and other immature people.

If God didn’t whisper between the “Amen” and the passing round of the Thanksgiving fixings, we think something is wrong with us or assume He is mute. It turns out that our box is way too small for God to fit inside. Would you consider being open to the possibility of Holy Spirit right next to you, whispering and trying to wake you up in ways you could never imagine.

For example, God spoke quietly and inaudibly to me as I watched some fish once.

I will let this riveting example blow your mind next time so as not to overwhelm you with spiritual profundity. The Point is that God is way more creative than we give Him credit for, in how He is reaching out to us and trying to get our attention. He is EVEN MORE creative (AND smart!) than we are, for example!

He answers our prayers, even our prayers to be able to perceive Him, in more unusual ways than we imagine.

As the song below plays, consider asking Holy Spirit how He longs to poke you, to wake you up, and in what ways you can’t seem to feel His nudge. Consider doing a 180-degree turn from how you knowingly run in the opposite direction. May more of the scales on your eyes fall off so that you can more clearly see the creative ways He is dancing in the corner of your field of vision, waiting for you to look His way, if only the blind eyes are healed.

Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped

The Message

Got time to be awakened?

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit: Bucket Head (Cool Hat!) by 1Click on Unsplash

1 For other helpful marriage advice, click HERE and HERE! You’re welcome! Good luck!

Terrified By The Eye-Opening Truth Of Who You Really Are? Do This Valuable Thing

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

a woman holding a wrapped present in front of a christmas tree

Sometimes I write Newsletters and then forget to tell you the point of what I wrote. It happens! For example, HERE.

Also, HERE I said I would tell you the point of this Newsletter LATER, but then I got busy swimming at the lake and laughing with friends, and I forgot I’d ever written anything!

It happens!

However, I recently startled us all (Myself included – I forgot this stuff!) with the realization in this Newsletter that we are all only a couple of steps from walking off the cliff edge of privilege into destitution if we’re honest.

I wrote that I was shocked how quickly I transformed from polite, smiling tourist to a filthy street kid desirously plotting to murder a destitute child.

It happens!

You’re also only a few steps from falling off the cliff of polite, civilized person to a mauling, violent being, too, I challenge HERE.

But the fact that our kindness is a façade produced by our privilege is also a good thing, it turns out.

What if the fact that you generally show the quality of being “nice” is simply due to the reality of having enough food to eat, a place to sleep tonight and relationships to help you out in a pinch?

Who would you become, too, if these luxuries were suddenly removed?

What do we do when we face the reality that our civilized pedantic behavior is only skin deep?

Who do we turn to when we realize who we really are?

And therein lies our hope.

“The prayer preceding all prayers is ‘May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.'”

C.S. Lewis

When we come to God holding up layers of masquerade masks in front of our faces, or as a house with several façades shoddily built in front of us, and we ask to meet with Him, we have trouble drawing close. The lies we tell ourselves, and even lies we think are the truth, are like an electromagnetic force, pushing us away from Jesus. However, He is drawn like an object towards a black hole wherever there is truth.

“ . . . we must consider in depth who we are, and we will find ourselves worthy of all scorn . . .”

Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God

Reflecting on moments like who I became when I was stripped of the privilege I routinely take for granted, and wondering if you would feel the same (You would), is the beginning of this tearing down of the self to find who we really are.

And so, in summary, the point of this Newsletter is to gently point out that you’re a jerk! It happens! But that’s good news, friend!

Why is this good news?

And what do we do when we are faced with the terrifying reality of who we really are, deep down?

We open our eyes.

Jesus is sitting next to you, drinking coffee, and waiting for you to wake up so you can finally see Him sitting next to you, patiently waiting.

Got some time?

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Ancient Text

As the song below plays, consider taking deep breaths, quieting yourself and then asking God, “How do you see me? How is that picture different from how I see myself? What is one step I can make to align my thinking with who You say I am?”

And may you blossom into His most incredible vision of who you truly are, by the power of His transforming love, friend.

Photo Credit: A Gift! by Ionela Mat on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Eye-Opening – God Actually Encourages Us To Complete The Triathlon?

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

While my back still felt like an old lady’s, when I had to yell at people so they could hear me as I spoke to their waist, hunched over, I announced I would do a triathlon.

“Well . . . if I can walk, I will do a triathlon,” I clarified.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

The One Person You Can’t Live A Successful Life Without! (Me!?)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
a little girl sitting on the steps of a building

The more astute of you1 will have noticed that my post-publishing frequency has decreased lately from a profusion of three times per week to a paltry two times per week!

I hope you will be comforted by the following reason for this significant decline.2

I need to do lots and lots of “Research” this summer so I can write my book!3

To update you on my book writing progress, I am currently in the process of choosing a perfect title. How, you ask?

Good question.

With my astute perception that easily grasps current cultural trends and fads, as definitely proven HERE, HERE, and HERE, I have noticed that many of the best-selling books in the bookstores have the *F* word and other terrible words in them that would never be uttered by me or by my homeschooled children.

For example, check out this book I recently purchased.4

Disclaimer: This book has a bad word in its subtitle!

OUTRAGEOUS!

And yet, since shocking words in the titles, subtitles, and text is currently the magic formula that ensures a book’s success5, I plan to spend the summer (in addition to lazing at a nearby lake, of course) writing a list all the bad words I know and combining them with less inflammatory words (to moderate the shock) and therefore, to write the perfect book tittle!

I recommend the same approach for other would-be writers! As I always say, follow the crowd! There will undoubtedly be success somewhere in a big group!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

I am only slightly dumbfounded about what to write on all the pages of the book itself, but one step at a time!

To finish today’s writing, which is meant to encourage and refresh you, I must inform you that given the sudden decrease of my writing frequency, I herewith remove myself of all liabilities of the consequences of your life decisions due to the impact of my sudden relative absence in my writing, which of course, impacts how and what decisions you make in life.6

Don’t worry. I’ll return to writing with increased frequency soon to show you the correct paths for abundant living!

And if you need help and I’m not immediately available – Why not try God, friend?7

God said, “My presence will go with you . . .”

The Message

Photo Credit: Child Looking Up To Someone by Cardia Gong on Unsplash

1 Those who hang off of every word I write and, thus clearly the most intelligent of readers

2 Yes! The weather has suddenly gotten much lovelier, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it!

3 The only trouble is that I’ve used the excuse of writing a book the last two summers, and I’ve looked all around for the book that I wrote, but I can’t find it!

4 I meant to say- this is an example of a terrible book that I would NEVER purchase myself!

5 Visit your local bookstore for many examples in the “Recent Bestsellers” section of books with bad words in them. DISCLAIMER – These books have bad words in them!

6 Now, what should I make for dinner and do for the rest of my evening and the rest of my life, I wonder? My life is so much more complicated when I don’t have people to guide every moment! I feel almost lost!

7 You never know! He may even have something valuable to say that could help you or be able to guide you like a Shepherd leading a lamb to living water to satisfy your unquenchable thirst or to encourage you to follow Him into a new adventure if you find you don’t have anything better to do this summer and figure you might as well spend a few minutes learning to quiet yourself and have some of the greatest moments of your life encountering the God who loves you and is waiting for you. And may your soul find the Source of peace, friend.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

We Need To Open Eyes To The Terrors Foreigners Are Exposed To For One Powerful Reason

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
close-up photo of persons eye

So I seized the homeless kid by the neck and violently shook him because he tried to grab my dime when I wasn’t looking at it for a moment.

Well, not exactly.

As proven HERE, you can’t trust EVERYTHING you read online!

The true story is HERE.

The summary of this event is:

  • We were on the other side of having relational connections that could help us (we were travelling)
  • We didn’t have a place to stay or some food either (we were robbed)
  • We were in a hostile situation (teen females travelling in a country that believed women brought trouble on ourselves for having the nerve to travel alone)
  • We were below being helped (the police wouldn’t let us use their phone to call our embassy!)
  • We were up the creek without a paddle (as the saying goes).

After the local police pushed us out of their office and told us to solve our problems ourselves, we looked around, stunned.

What do we do next?

“I know!” I announced energetically, my Ned Flanders optimism in high gear, even back then, more than twenty-five years ago. “Let’s return to our lodge and read what to do in our “Let’s Go, Europe!” guide!

“This is the worst thing that could have happened to us!” my friend yelled. “Nothing in that book tells us what to do next!” The truth of our situation was dawning on me, like a light bulb on a dimmer, slowly illuminating.

We sat on the curb, watching the street kids, whose faces had more grime than ours, though all our faces were marked with tear stains. They had bare feet, but otherwise, our hearts entwined as one as we experienced the beginnings of the emotions any other human would have felt in a similar situation – despair, alienation from “the rest” of culture, and fear. A few short hours had erased much of the divide between “us” and “them”.

“What now?” my friend and I asked each other silently. We were sitting curbside outside our motel. Despite our protests, the motel owner told us to get our stuff and ourselves out onto the streets where we belonged.

And then she came.

A local woman arrived bringing a tray of fruit and local bread to share.

She had heard about our “misfortune” from her daughter.

The one hiccup in this story of rescue is that her daughter was the one who immediately told us NOT to chase after the guy who robbed us. Was she an accomplice? Was her mother? Were they all working together as one terrifying mob? We didn’t have many choices, and so after inhaling the food, our eyes still wide with fear, we begged this stranger to let us stay at her home that night.

And she opened her home to us.

And she shared the Gospel with us.

In the years that followed, I had often wondered, did Jesus prompt her compassion so she would want to show up and check on us?

Maybe.

But opening her home to two teenage strangers until the embassy representative could arrive after Spain’s long weekend holiday altered the trajectory of my life.

What would my life have been like had I been tossed out onto the violent streets of the city for a week instead, I have often wondered.

This woman, obeying the inner voice of God, or perhaps the outer voice of a Pastor, or the words of a Sacred Text, saved my life from physical, emotional and/or spiritual trauma.

Oh, and so, why do we choose to open our eyes to dangers foreigners are susceptible to being exposed to?

But for the grace of God, that foreigner could be you or one of YOUR loved ones.

When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. . . Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. . . . Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

The Message

And so now I can put myself in more dangerous and stupid situations because I KNOW that you will help me!

Thank you!

And you’re welcome for the advice!

Good luck!

Seriously though – Who is God asking you to remember in prayer, or what is He asking you to do this morning as you open your eyes to another? Who can you share your measly lunch with? Who could use a heart of compassion and an “I see you” smile?

And I wonder at the joy unveiled, like the opening of a present, when we meet the people in Heaven who credit us as those who were the hands and feet of Jesus through listening and obeying and changing the trajectory of their lives for the better.

How much future joy are you stockpiling? Got your heart open to the promptings of Holy Spirit? Oh, and thanks from those of us who appreciate your open eyes.

a row of gold bars sitting on top of a shelf

Photo Credits: Eyes Open by Amanda Dalbjörn on Unsplash, Gold Stockpiled by Yana Hurska on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

The Truth About Your What Happens To Your Heart In This Situation – You’d Never Believe It

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
white arrow through red heart road signage

I realized with terror when I stepped back and surveyed my heart weeks after the event that I would have strangled that kid if he stole my quarter.

He was a homeless kid trying to survive.

So was I.

In one moment, I dropped precipitously off the other side of the cliff of privilege.

low-angle photography of rock formation under cloudy sky

The day before, I was swinging my handbag, contemplating digging out a quarter to give to the poor homeless child with his hand out toward me.

The next day, I was on the same side of the divide of privilege as him.

This is what happened.

And more importantly, this is what I learned.

I was a teenager, traveling in Spain with a friend the same age. This was the 1990s, when our “Let’s Go!” travelers information book read that “Women travelling alone in Spain are assumed to be seeking sexual adventure.”

We weren’t.

We were high school students on a Rotary exchange, testing our wings a bit by stepping out on a one-week travelling adventure without the Rotary families responsible for keeping us alive as the fledgling birds that we were.

After the guy slowly extracted our backpack from within my astonished arms and strolled away, I yelled, “There he is! I’m going after him!”

A nearby stranger put her arm on my shoulder and quickly consoled me, “Don’t chase after him. He has a knife.” Was she an accomplice? Was she right? My brain raced, and my body tensed in a flight, fight, or freeze stance. What should I do? I searched my friend’s eyes, wondering her thoughts, and her eyes were already downcast.

And in that millisecond, the decision of what we should do was made for us because he had already disappeared into the crowd, enclosing around him.

That bag contained all of our “Traveler’s cheques” (which is how we did money back then before those nice little ATMs spit out bills in the local currency), our passports and everything else we needed to survive and travel in a foreign country. We had to wait until after the long weekend and “Spain’s national boat day” holiday before we could expect help from our local embassy representatives.

We were up the creek without a paddle, as the saying goes.

Where would the river take us?

The rest of this story is for next time, but fast forward to a few days later when I shakily put the remaining quarters into the “Take your photo!” machine to make emergency passports. I was shaking so much that I dropped the quarter. Thoughts like, “Where would we sleep tonight?” were churning like waves of a violent sea inside my mind. We hadn’t eaten anything except wormy cabbage in three days.

“What are you DOING!?” my friend angrily admonished at my failed attempt to put a coin into the little slot. “That’s all the money we have!” she yelled angrily.

Grabbing the remaining coin from my hands, she glared at me before attempting to deposit it.

Drop, roll . . .

She was also shaking so severely that her fingers wouldn’t cooperate with her brain. Another coin rolled down the street as we both frantically lunged for it. At the same time, the homeless child ran with outstretched, desperate fingers towards the money.

“My kind, gentle demeanor is only a façade,” I realized with horror as I sipped an ice tea poolside months later and contemplated this event from the comfortable distance opulence and security affords.

I seriously thought I might strangle that street kid if he stole my quarter, an amount of money I would have gladly given a dozen times over the day before, as I looked down my nose at this “other” and prided myself arrogantly for this generous act of “Goodwill.”

“I am an animal with bared fangs, drooling and ready to rip another to shreds from one breath and the next,” I realized with terror in the weeks, months and years following this event.

And your civility may be a façade too, covered with a freezer full of excess food, keys to a warm house to sleep in tonight, and relationships in your town that will open the doors for you when you need help.

But what if you look into your bag one day and find it empty of these advantages?

Welcome to who you really are.

Stay tuned next time to discover why this truth, though terrifying, has the power to set us free.

Photo Credits – Heart Arrow by Nick Fewings on Unsplash, The Other Side Of The Cliff by Daniel Lincoln on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Surprise! A Little Extra Joy Is The Thing That Can Be Extracted After Porcupines Quill Us!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
a hedgehog on the ground

Today’s newsletter consists of two parts:

Part 1 – A story (about ME!!!) – Written by my daughter, Esther!

Part 2 – An explanation (also by ME!) of why I randomly thought of porcupines after reading this!

Additional profound extrapolations of the text (by ME! – Of course!) are in the footnotes!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Part 1: Story by Esther

Sparse and invisible rain floats gently from the sky, sometimes merging on the skin or the pavement as several droplets.

The speckled street gives way to the cars that cruise amiably down it.

There is no rush in this town; there is a sense of welcome and leisure despite busy schedules and people filled with excitement for the day. Everyone knows everyone else by name, and even if one wanted to stay anonymous, one could not. The small businesses are like people; each one has their personality.

Or perhaps it is due to the lack of stores that each of them stands out all the more brightly.

One couple meanders down the street, hand in hand.

He is tall and strong, but his face radiates gentleness, and his laughter shows not only on his face but also in his eyes. The woman1 mirrors many of the same features, but her eyes gleam with a fire of intensity not commonly found. Despite this, her kindness (See Footnote 1) is evident in the smile lines around her mouth and her loving (See Footnote 1) eyes.

Woe unto the person who stumbles across the man’s path while he is hungry.

And woe unto the person who stumbles across the woman’s path when the woman is tired.2 Yet, they grow together. They challenge each other. They fight the battles of life together, side by side. They complement each other (See Footnote 1) with a bond made one of the strongest in the world.

The couple passes by the library, a place steeped in magic.

It is a chest that holds the secrets of life and beauty, and its key is given generously, though not many take it. Those who deem it ridiculous are those who refuse the key, but to the one who graciously takes it, wonders are in store. The couple’s two children are currently there, for the couple sees their melancholy dog sitting patiently outside, waiting for someone to pet him. He gets up and furiously wags his tail, assured that this means he is finally going home. After reassuring the dog that they would be back soon and trying to ignore the forsaken and betrayed look in his eyes, the couple wanders up the steps and into the library.

There they find a friend and exchange greetings. The man is asked about his work. His hands, though gentle and unassuming, have ministered to and helped thousands, but by his humble3 nature, he never boasts.

His wife, who stands beside him, is just as accomplished (See Footnote 1), with a heart for the betterment of people’s lives (See Footnote 1) and a passion for the preservation of the planet (See Footnote 1).

She sacrificed her career (See Footnote 1) for her children’s careers, homeschooling and helping them find what interests and motivates them. Sometimes, they drive her crazy. Well, maybe it’s a lot of the time. And sometimes she drives them crazy, too (See Footnote 2). Perhaps it is God growing everyone’s patience4.

The couple breaks away from the conversation and finds their children immersed in their books and hesitant to leave.

The family checks out their stacks of literature and heads to the car, picking up the relieved5 dog on the way. The car slowly pulls out and heads leisurely home. There’s no rush. Or, maybe there is because now the man is hungry.

Part 2: Random Thoughts Including: Porcupine Quills Can Eventually Bring Joy! by Me

I think of porcupines who quill each other when I think of this story. For example, I am mad at my daughter for writing things that are BLATANT lies about me and that don’t make me look as stupendous as I know I am deep down! Anyway, we (for example – HER) each come with our own set of quills, like porcupines, and we accidentally and purposefully (sometimes) quill each other and even ourselves. I.e., Remember when “the man” in the story above gets hungry? Watch out!

However, being quilled by porcupines (ironically) promotes our healing.

Why?

Because in our inevitable relational pain (that THEY cause), we finally draw near to God, who has been calling out and wooing us our entire lives.

And so, as we bring our faces full of another’s (and our own?) quills, God can use this situation to heal US, as He lovingly tends to each quill, sometimes removing it immediately and sometimes giving us healing oil and the strength to persevere.

And we can rest in the confidence of knowing that we are loved by each other (They HAVE TO love you!) and by God.

And this is where we find joy.

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy

Ancient Text

Photo Credit – Porcupine by Derek Otway on Unsplash

Footnotes

1 Author of this blog’s note – This is ME! She is talking about ME in this story! That’s how you know I’m famous and important, by the way!!!

2 WAIT – WHA…? I thought she only said NICE stuff about me in public! I’m going to ground her to her room for a month! But wait – she’s flying back to her job and University tomorrow!

3 WHY didn’t she call ME humble? Now I’m even madder! I thought she knew me SO well! (See Footnote 1). Obviously, I see now that she understands NOTHING about me!

4 AMEN!

5 Does she mean “about to pee?”

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!