Faith, Family, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

Taco Bell, I Didn’t Expect This Gift From You! {Linkup}

Remember in May when I gave a shout-out to Denver’s Botanic Gardens and the Chihuly blown glass exhibit? Just to feed your soul a bit, here are a few pictures:

I know right? How does he do it? How many injuries are there with blown glass? So many questions.

Thank you to my friend Gloria for this picture. She has also lived in China so didn’t mind I was pushing the rules a bit by leaning in. Wait, it might have been her idea in the first place.

It really is a stunning exhibit. It’s also open at night and lit up. Wow. Just wow. Here’s one:

Saturday was one of those near ideal evenings (other than the crowds). The weather was lovely, everyone was in a good mood, and then we added to the mix what that man and his team can do with glass. There comes a point where “stunning” and “Wow” and “Oh I LOVE this one” lose their power and wordlessness speaks more profoundly.

On the way home Mom and I had peeled off from my sister and her family. We were sitting at the final stop light before we were home when Mom said, “Oh look … never mind.” It’s amazing how quickly our souls got used to looking for beauty in the dark. Out of the corner of her eye she had seen the pink and purple of a Taco Bell and for a moment her soul fluttered.

That is the power of tuning in. You start to expect and see things you might otherwise have missed. And suddenly a Taco Bell can be a reminder of an evening spent with beauty and loved ones and nature.

I felt a turn in my soul this past month when it came to my word for the year: Trust. Months of intentionally noticing have paid off with a settling in my being. It’s like after spending time intentionally looking at blown glass in the dark, you now seewhispers of it outside the walls of the garden. No, I don’t have trust all figured out (and this is part of the joy of the adventure.).

But if you haven’t chosen a word for the year, how about choosing one for the season. There is power in focusing on one aspect or word. And there is paradox. For I no longer see “trust” in the expected places, I’m starting to see them in the so-called Taco Bells of the world.

What might your word for this season be? Do you love Taco Bell as much as I do? Have you seen an art exhibit at night? So many questions, I know :).

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on October 21st and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=449115 mode=1]

China, Community, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

A fool, a word, and The Giver {link-up}

Sometimes we are spared from our own ignorance.

When I first taught in China I was assigned a class called Selected Reading. To keep me on my toes, there was no textbook and in the pre-internet era I had to find short stories in our small English library and weekly make copies; cutting and taping and learning the difference between what fit on paper that was sized A-4 (bigger) or B-5. It was fun, yes, but also exhausting for this non-English major who doesn’t really enjoy short stories.

(Hey, we can’t all like everything.)

In the spring I decided to choose a Newberry awarding winning book as my “selected reading” and chose The Giver.

If you just gasped recalling WHERE I was teaching and WHEN I was teaching and WHO I was teaching and WHAT the themes of the book are, you are ahead of the game. Unfortunately I didn’t connect the dots until several weeks into teaching it. I longed to teach something of content that built on itself and lead to deeper conversations, not push buttons. Buttons I didn’t know a hoot about at that time. (Here’s a summary of the book)

Amy, do you think this book is anything like here?

Oh. My. Word.

The memories flooded last week as I watched the recently released movie The Giver based on the book by Lois Lowry. I recommend it (and truthfully cannot figure out why it’s rated PG-13).

The Giver refers to a person whose job it is to keep all of the memories for their community and when the next “Receiver” is chosen, the Giver shares things like color, emotions, even sledding. Ultimately the Receiver uses the memories to help the leaders as they make decisions.

Why would an entire community be wiling choose sameness?

The leader of the community explained, “When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong.”

To protect from people choosing wrong, the community was willing to forgo all that is good and fun and right. It made me appreciate afresh the risk God take by trusting us with choice. And for trust to truly require trust, it must have risk. If you know the outcome, if there is no choice, it’s not trust.

Those students I taught are now in their late 30s and 40s. Much has changed in the ensuing years. I wonder how many of them will see The Giver title in DVD stores or on-line movie places. I wonder if they will remember the English class and reading a book that we probably had no business touching. But when trust is present, all kinds of foolish and naive mistakes of an earnest foreign teacher can be overlooked.

Trust is risky. The Giver gave back to me afresh last week, and I am grateful.

When have you been spared from your own ignorance? Have you read the Giver? Did you like it?

Here is the preview:

Photo credit ttarasiuk via flickr

********

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on September 16th and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=436845 mode=1]

Learning lessons, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

When your desires are a bit unseemly {Oneword365 Linkup}

You know I love books, so when my friend Kim posted on Facebook at the beginning of the year the best book she’d read in 2013 was Consider the Birds by Debbie Blue I sought it out. Almost immediately. I respect Kim’s opinion and the book looked intriguing.

A provocative guide to Birds of the Bible.

This will go on my fav books of 2014. The biggest gift this book offered me was the reminder to slow down and pay attention. Are there really enough birds mentioned in the Bible to warrant a book? A book that isn’t tedious and trying too hard? Do birds mentioned in the Bible have that much to offer us? ~~Even~~ especially those of us who are non-birders?

Yes, yes, yes. Though a book about birds, it’s really about the life of faith.

As a brief sample, the first chapter is about the pigeon — purity and impurity. Chapter three (one of my favorites) is about the quail –desire and slavery. And the last chapter, chapter 10, on the raven — failure and trust.

It turns out humans are more like ravens than other types of birds. I loved the way she ended the chapter and the book:

“It’s one thing to believe God feeds the little pretty birds of the air. They have small appetites. They need a few seeds. Everybody loves them. It’s not that much to feed. They do not seem needy. But what if you’re ravenous?

“Is the hope that God will feed you as long as you’re not that hungry, as long as you don’t need that much? God will feed you sure — if you have the appetite of a little dove, as long as all you need is seeds, dry little seeds? The hope is not so proscribed.

“God feeds the ravens, the ravenous, the mixed-up greedy glutton carrion eater. That’s saying a lot more, somehow — something more shocking, maybe than God’s willing to give bird food to light eaters. And how much more will God feed us? We need a lot. A lot of food and attention and love and healing. The world needs a lot. And I don’t think I usually believe that God will feed us all. Jesus seems crazy here to me, unreliable, like, how can we even listen to him here? How can we model ourselves on the raven, like the lilies — it’s lunacy to ask us to believe we will be fed.

” What if we could trust that we will be fed?”

She nails it, doesn’t she? I think most of us believe that if we have nice, dainty, reasonable appetites when it comes to purpose, relationships, our physical bodies, even provisions we want, if we keep them small and non-imposing enough we can expect to be “fed”/ heard.

We have been formed by the messages we receive from the world about how to make friends and influence people, how to put our best food forward. But being in relationship with God isn’t like going on a first date, we don’t have to monitor how much is on our plates, how generous we are with the tip, how interesting we may appear.

Sure, God likes the those parts of us too, but part of trust is that he can handle and respond in love to ALL the parts of us. The shiny parts that clean up well and the parts that we are too exhausted or worn down or depressed to care. What if we could trust that we will be fed?

I read this chapter earlier in the year and it was only recently in telling someone about the book and flipping through it I thought about ravens in light of my word for the year, trust.

This month, the lesson trust has offered me is the raven. Mathew says “consider the birds,” Luke says “consider the ravens.” This month I have been.

How hard is it for you to trust you will be fed?

P.S. Thanks Kim for the recommendation! And for those who love a good forward, this one is written by Lauren Winner!

********

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on July 24th and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

Photo credit by Douglas Brown via Flickr

[inlinkz_linkup id=427522 mode=1]

Learning lessons, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Trust influencers

First of all, hi! Second, WOW I love your responses to the survey. Thank you thank you thank you! You are a fascinating people. I’ll share more later. But I am honored and encouraged by your answers.

You know how we all have parts of ourselves that ~~might~~ get blown out of proportion? Well, this blog is one of mine :)

In an effort to “be a responsible blogger” and “handle your trust well” I’ve been afraid to take a break. And not completely without reason. The reality is numbers have been down this week a bit.

But we believe in things that can’t always be seen or measured or weighed. Right? Right! And so in terms intentionally inviting Trust to be in the driver’s seat and telling Fear to “shut-up and stop your back seat driving,” I think responsible blogging can involve breaks. I don’t think fear will ever move completely out of the car — and that is OK. I’m getting better about recognizing her whining voice from the back seat, “Are we almost there?” and to let her know that she’s welcome in the car, but not to drive it.

While gone, I read most of Brennan Manning’s Ruthless Trust. Let me come clean and say, I may be the only person who deeply appreciates the person and contribution Manning has made to living a life of faith, but The Ragamuffin Gospel is one of the few books I only read half. Then on his blog Shawn Smucker’s said “Manning’s examination of ‘trust’ in this book changed the way I live my life. I cannot recommend it enough.”

Trust + live changing book = must order from the library.

And I’m thankful I did! Like Shawn, I recommend it. In terms of this year’s journey with Trust, there is an equation (and my mind can remember equations).

“Faith arising from the personal experience of Jesus as Lord.

“Hope is reliance on the promise of Jesus, accompanied by the expectation of fulfillment.

“Trust is the winsome wedding of faith and hope.

“In Luke’s Gospel, the centurion professes his faith in Jesus with the words, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have your under my roof,’ and hope in his promise, ‘but give the word and let my servant be healed’ (7:7). Then, ‘taken aback, Jesus address[es] the accompanying crowd: “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel.”‘ (7:9, The Message)

“Faith + hope = trust.”

Trust can’t be reduced to a simplistic formula, but as I’ve taken this one out to test drive it in reality, I can the ways in which it’s simple enough to help me get at the root of what may be going on.

Am I having troubles with faith? With hope?

Later in the chapter Manning says, “Like faith and hope, trust cannot be self-generated. I cannot simply will myself to trust. What outragious irony: the one thing that I am responsible for throughout my life I cannot generate. The one thing I need to do I cannot do. …. What does lie within my power is paying attention to the faithfulness of Jesus. That’s what I’m asked to do: pay attention to Jesus throughout my journey, remembering his kindnesses (Ps. 103:2).”

What a gentle relief that trust isn’t related to willing or my actions. Instead, it’s related to a whole-hearted, broader approach to life. To paying attention to what Jesus is doing. To look for kindnesses. To taste and see that the Lord is good even though life is hard.

The above photo was taken when a niece called out, “Aunt Amy, take a photo of this ladybug! Hurry!” And then I took this one just to be sure I had captured her vision. “Did you get it? Did you?”

Yes dear one, I did. More than a photo, Jesus is using girls and joys in bugs. He is extending kindness to me in a stead stream of moments.

Where have you seen faith and hope help build your trust recently?

********

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on July 24th and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=417512 mode=1]

Faith, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Is trust like a roller coaster ride?

For those of you new around here, on the Third Tuesday of the month I host a link-up for Oneword365 (people who have chosen a word for the year. Mine is trust and you can read about the year so far: January, February, March, April). If you want to pick a word, it’s never too late. Link-up or comment — any way works!

Congrats to Jennifer who was notified as the winner of one of Emily’s canvases!

****

I had seen this street sign pulling into town. When I left town, I was ready with my camera (and even did a U-turn on the empty street to get this photo).

At first I thought, yes, this is the life of trust, is it not?! How perfect to even have a picture for it. The idea of up’s and downs, twists and turns, being scared and exhilarated resonated with trust. And all of that IS true about trust.

Here’s where the metaphor fell short. Roller coasters come with known beginnings, endings, and time frames. And the real kicker – you end just feet from where you started. The main unknown is how long you’re going to have to stand in line to ride, but even that can be gauged when you get to the roller coaster.

This month, with this picture in mind, I’ve been thinking about how much I wish I could tame and control trust and have a few more built-in guarantees and knowns. But that’s not life, that’s an amusement park ride.

Trust is being willing to leave the confines of the amusement park and go rafting down the Grand Canyon of life.

I just removed two paragraphs about an upcoming opportunity that is no longer an opportunity.Talk about seeing why God led me to the word and intentional life of “trust”. Hi God, again, I would have preferred “fun” or “movies” :). But trust it is.

That’s what I love about out small community here at The Messy Middle, you too are drawn to living this life of following rivers, going to new territory, and not just getting on the same ride over and over, ending up where you started.

What’s going on with you and trust? What amusement park rides do you like?

****

The year with trust … thus far:

January whispered trust uses both hands. She holds the present in one hand and the long view in the other.

February joined in with trust can build a bridge others walk on.

March offered a legal life lesson. Trust doesn’t happen in a vacuum; ultimately trust is about relationships, valuables, and legacy.

April (with taxes) reminded me we all have trust triggers and mine is money.

May showed me trust is more like rafting than riding a roller coaster.

****

JUST TO KEEP YOU ON YOUR TOES

The next linkup will be on the third THURSDAY of June (I’ll be out of town on Tuesday) — I trust you’ll be able to roll with this :)

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on June 19th and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=406976 mode=1]

Faith, Learning lessons, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Know your triggers

In September I attended a conference called Debriefing and Renewal (DAR) for people who served overseas and are either leaving the field or going on Home Assignment/Furlough.

It was a rich and worthwhile time, in part because DAR helped to clarify my thinking and confirm some of the Lord’s leading. As much as I’d like a clear plan and direction, this year is being used to create space between “China Amy” and “What’s next Amy.” For the sake of not looking foolish, I’d rather hurry along through this phase; but that doesn’t seem to be the plan.

Triggers

On the first day of DAR we had to draw a picture representing where we were. I drew a road ending in a forest and I was standing at the end of it, smiling. It symbolized I had come off of a clearly defined life path that wound here and there, but as long as I stayed on the path it kept moving along. I am now in this lesser defined part of life (I am smiling in the picture, it’s not horrible, but it is not clear) and here I am in the forest of life. In the picture, amongst the trees are dollar signs.

I can monitor my stress level during transition by how concerned I am about money. While the deep foundation that God has the cattle on a thousand hills IS my foundation, there I days I wonder how many cattle will be on my hill.

Turns out, “money worries” can be a pretty good barometer when it comes to how I’m doing with trusting God about the future. They are not often, but there are nights I wake in the middle with my stomach hurting and churning and I know the root isn’t physical.

I am learning to lean into those moments and trying to receive them as a gift from my body. A gift that says, right now, even subconsciously, something less than Eden-esque is going on in you. Don’t feel bad that you still have these moments, instead see them as ways to let know of certainty and move towards the unknown.

I have a feeling money is going to be a trust trigger in some fashion throughout my life.

And you know what, if it wasn’t money, it’s would be something else. Right? Right. We each have them. Mine is money. What’s yours?

****

The year with trust … thus far:

January whispered trust uses both hands. She holds the present in one hand and the long view in the other.

February joined in with trust can build a bridge others walk on.

March offered a legal life lesson. Trust doesn’t happen in a vacuum; ultimately trust is about relationships, valuables, and legacy.

April (with taxes) reminded me we all have trust triggers and mine is money.

******

The subscription drive continues!

To enter either sign up or pass on the word about the subscription drive (you can enter up to five times) — next drawing April 25th! And a chance to win 0ne of these beautiful canvases by Emily

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on May 20^th and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=392670 mode=1]

Feature photo: Jenny Downing via flickr

Faith, Family, Learning lessons, Oneword, Trusting Tuesdays

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365}:The five stages of tasks of grief and TASKS

You’re probably familiar with the five stages of loss and grief. You might be less familiar with the five stages of tasks and grief.

Plan the funeral/memorial service
Attend/host/participate in said service
Write thank you’s
Make 57,000 calls and hunt through paperwork related to legal and billing matters
Sort, purge, give, save paperwork and material possessions.

We have completed tasks one, two and three, made a significant dent in task four, and will spend the rest of our lives on task five. Just kidding. Sort of. Love you Dad, you paper lover you!

*****

trust March 2014

Last week I intentionally thought about trust in regards to this post. Trust, trust, trust. Hmmmm. What have you been teaching me? Nothing was coming to the surface.

Trust, trust, where are you trust?

And then like a whack-a-mole at the carnival, up she popped. Trust me (see how she can sneak into conversations!), when I say it never occurred to me during the fall and into January when trust was stalking me, to think of trust in the legal sense. As in, “a trust.”

Per stage four of the tasks of grief, the language of family trust, individual trust, and trustee have entered our vocabulary. Isn’t it interesting how the brain works? Though we’ve been using these words, because it was in a legal context, I never thought of them in terms of, you know, real trust.

I truly don’t understand much about trusts, but looking at the basics, a trust protects the assets of a person and guarantees the assets will go to the person(s) designated in the trust.

So, in summary:

There are relationships
There are valuables, and
There is a legacy

In our case, there is the relationship between a man and his family (dare I say “beloved” family without sounding too cheesy?). The valuables are not the focus so much as the legacy. The valuables allow for my father to continue to provide for his wife of nearly 50 years, even though he has died.

Really, isn’t that what trust is about? Trust doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

*****

Sunday morning I woke up with the strongest need for a liturgical service. So instead of turning left, my car went right and I attended a local church I’d visited once before, sitting in the back row on the left side. At one point we introduced ourselves so I knew I was sitting next to Art and behind Marilyn and her husband whose name has left me. They had a time a prayer where people wrote prayers, added to a prayer mural, and or participated in other forms of individual prayer. Near the end of the prayer time we were asked to hold hands for corporate prayer.

I held hands with Art and the man I can’t remember his name. As I stood there, a part of the body of Christ, praying, I started to tear up thinking of the last older man’s hand I’d held.

My dad.

In the hospital and hospice as he prepared to die. Art’s hand was warm, the other gentleman’s cooler, both lovely living hands. I miss my dad’s hand. I cannot put into words why or how holding those hands ministered to me in a deep way. That is part of the mystery and the majesty of the gospel.

We sang Precious Lord, Take My Hand just before we were dismissed. I know, right?!

After we were dismissed I turned to Art and said, “I might cry” –warning him –“but I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed holding your hand. My dad recently died and as I held your hand I was reminded of holding his hand.” Art went from looking a bit suspicious to smiling that smile you get when you’ve been used by God, but you didn’t know it.

He hugged me. And his hearing aid squeaked just like my dad’s used to when I hugged him.

*****

The journey with trust continues. A trust is needed because death is still part of our story. But someday, someday, we will not need trusts. No, on that day, trust will be enough.

January whispered trust uses both hands. She holds the present in one hand and the long view in the other.

February joined in with trust can build a bridge others walk on. Our parents built a bridge out of their lives for our family and others to walk on; so though this is an unpleasant path, we are together in the decision and traveling in a pack, albeit a weepy one!

March offered a legal life lesson. Trust doesn’t happen in a vacuum; ultimately trust is about relationships, valuables, and legacy.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think God would bring trust to life in such variety and I get a bit nervous the lessons will wane. But that seems the opposite of trust, doesn’t it! Apparently I’ve still got a ways to go.

Here’s the deal for the link-up:

Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on April 15^th(Tax day in the US!) and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

[inlinkz_linkup id=383694 mode=1]

China, Faith, Family, Oneword, Personality, Trusting Tuesdays

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365}: Can fleeces be used to check the future?

I knew I’d move to China. The question was one of timing. When? When was the time to pull the plug on teaching math to junior highers? Tell my most-fun-on-the-planet roommate the fun was over? Pack up my stuff and get on a big plane?

It was all so exciting! And overwhelming. When? When? When? God and I chatted. Fleeces worked for Gideon, so I thought I’d try my own. Since animal skins weren’t big in my life, I offered two signs that it would be impossible for me to miss. Impossible. Once they happened, I’d know it was time to go.

Amy circa 1993: OK, God, when the Broncos win the Superbowl (American football) and the Kansas Jayhawks win the National Champion (college basketball), I will know it’s time to go to China.

God circa two minutes later: Oh my precious foolish child, guess again.

trust january 2

As history would have it, after four losses in the Superbowl during my childhood and early adulthood, the Broncos did indeed win two Superbowls back to back in the late 90’s while I watched them from a Thai hotel room, complete with Thai, not super cool Superbowl, commercials. And the Jayhawks won a National Championship as I huddled over a computer in Beijing, frantically calling my friend in the States when the internet went out with five minutes left in the game. {To this day Kim, thank you thank you thank you! Best color commentary ever.}

Over the years, whenever I have been in the U.S., both the Jayhawks and the Broncos have been pitiful.

Pitiful.

I have never watched a Broncos Superbowl game with my dad. As much as I hate it, time is running out for us. He’s aging, Do you know how much I hate facing some realities?

As I have thought about this “trust” post, I have tossed around ideas, but none that came together. I put pressure on myself for this to be out of the ballpark and so impressive you forward it and can’t wait to see how the idea of trust develops, starring your calendars for the third Tuesday in February. And therein lies one of two lessons I’m learning about trust.

Trust cannot be forced. The Greek word for “trust” is the same word we use for “faith,” pisteuo and appears in about 30 passages in the New Testament. While I find this poetic, it raises questions and creates ambiguity. Maybe for you too. Faith and trust can be invited and fostered. They can even be squelched, but they can’t be forced. So I sat and prayed and waited. What came was football.

Just as trust can’t be forced, she also doesn’t focus on the immediate. How many in the Bible needed to hold the long view as they lived in the day-to-day?

I see Joseph abandoned in a jail.

Esther hosting a banquet, knowing she may die.

Ruth risking by exposing Boaz’s feet.

Paul willing to spend several years earning the trust of the disciples and apostles after his conversion.

Name one prophet who didn’t have the long view in mind. I can’t.

We do not live in biblical stories. But that doesn’t mean we can’t live in God infused stories that often need the long view too.

My family is still waiting for medical test results. I’m continue to wait to hear on a potential job. I haven’t yet caught the eye of a writing agent.

Football wasn’t the profound illustration I was hoping for when it comes to trust. How about a near death experience? A miraculous healing?

Instead, God has kept the lessons this month rooted in reality. My reality, my story, and my interests. As I prepare to watch the Broncos with my dad on February 2nd, it is still not a given we will get to be in the same country and space for a Superbowl victory. But there is hope.

January has whispered another truth. Trust uses both hands. She holds the present in one hand and the long view in the other.

Question for reflection: Where are you being asked to have the long view on trust? What have you been learning this month about your oneword?

Welcome to the Trusting Tuesday {Oneword365 monthly} linkup, a place for a small dose of accountability and a big dose of cheerleading on your Oneword365 journey. If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information.

Please include the Trusting Tuesday button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Please also try to visit and leave some friendly encouragement in the comment box of at least one other #TrustingTuesday participant. And if you want to tweet about the community, please use the #TrustingTuesday hashtag.

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here! And see you the third Tuesday of February.

[inlinkz_linkup id=360894]

Taco Bell, I Didn’t Expect This Gift From You! {Linkup}

A fool, a word, and The Giver {link-up}

When your desires are a bit unseemly {Oneword365 Linkup}

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Trust influencers

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Is trust like a roller coaster ride?

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365 Linkup}: Know your triggers

The subscription drive continues!

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365}:The five stages of tasks of grief and TASKS

Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365}: Can fleeces be used to check the future?

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