Tom's Message - June 23
Hey, everyone!
Yikes! Sorry I’m so late with this!!
I forgot I hadn’t remembered to do it!
Not the only thing I’ve forgotten to remember lately, tho’…
Last week, I was having a little bit(!) of a “sloggy” kind of time, trying to think what I was going to do to solve a clump of problems staring at me like I had the answers and/or the ability to implement them if I did. I was feeling a little bit weighed down and weary by it all…
And then I remembered!
I forgot something!
I have a few “sayings”, “slogans” (or I guess you’d just call ‘em sentences) I try to remember if not daily, almost daily. Ready?
#1 “My time is today”…Today is the only day I’m thinking about.
#2 “My job is to serve”. I’m just here to serve people!
#3 “My goal is to please God”…I can’t please everyone, but His is the smile I live for!
#4 “My fight is for joy”…If I’m gonna have it, I know I have to fight for it!
#5 “My strength is weakness”…When my strength is gone, that’s when I call out for His!
I’d forgotten the last one!
I couldn’t solve those problems!!
#5??? How’d I’d forget you?? In all those problems I shoulda remembered from the first one, I don’t have what it takes to handle ANY of them!!”
Most of the time when I have complicated problems it’s usually because I’ve forgotten something simple I shoulda easily remembered!
And I had just read in the first chapter of 2nd Peter where he had just reminded them of some very simple things…
“even though you know them!” (2 Peter 1:12)
“…I will always remind you of these things! In fact, I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body…!”
I’m always going to be reminding you of the things you already know!
Because most of the time, we have complicated problems…
and we look for complicated answers…
because we’ve forgotten simple things!
I’ve been reading again those amazingly sweet and rich books C S Lewis wrote for kids (and me!) about Narnia and right now I’m in “The Silver Chair”.
A school girl who had never been to Narnia found herself outside of her school yard but not quite in Narnia… in a place kind of in-between…
talking to Aslan! The Lion Himself!
He was sending her and her classmate Eustace on a mission to find a lost prince …“until either you have found him…or died in the attempt”.
He then gave Jill four signs “by which I will guide you in your quest”.
The first was that when they got to Narnia, the boy Eustace would meet an old friend; he must greet him at once.
The second was that they were to journey north until they came to the ruined city of the ancient giants.
And there were two others.
“Child,” said Aslan, in a gentler voice than he had yet used, “The first step is to remember. Repeat to me, in order, the four signs.” “
Jill tried, and didn’t get them quite right. So the Lion corrected her, and made her repeat them again and again till she could say them perfectly. He was very patient over this…”
When Jill wondered how she should get to Narnia, Aslan assured her that she would be blown there on wind of his breath.
“Stand still,” he said. “But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by hear. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”
My time is today!
My fight is for joy!
Let us not forget to remember simple things!
(#5? How’d I forget THAT one?! Dang!)