Tom's Message: Lookit!
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having a joy-filled, praise-filled day, peace-filled day of Friday fullness! I have a hint coming up about how I’m learning to do that but first…
I know this is a little unusual but I’d like to begin this Friday blog with a random fact I learned.
(“Tom, is including ...or even beginning this with...random facts REALLY all that unusual?”)
I learned it this morning and I wanted to share it with you just so that…uh…well…actually I don’t know why I wanted to share it…
But here goes!
What do the words “empathize”, “motivator”, “year-round”, “pet-peeve”, “cutie”, “jazz” (used as a verb as in, “to jazz something up”), “over-compensate”, “Keds” (as in the tennis shoes), and “fly swatter” have in common?
Give up?
They all came into the English language in 1917!!
“How do you know this?”
Well, I was looking up a word on a website I like that tells you where words come from and when they first appear in English. And the one I was looking up was first documented in 1917. And along with that, they had a list of all the other words that were first uttered and repeated that year!
“Wow. That really IS a super random fact! Just for giggles, why don’t you tell us the word you were originally interested in? Because I have a suspicion it’s what you’re really intending to talk about!”
Ok! I was looking for the origins of the word, “lookit!”
“Lookit??”
Yeah! Like when you were learning to ride a bike (remember?) and when you finally got really pedaling four or five turns, you yelled, “Lookit, Dad! Lookit! I’m doing it!!”
I remember once there was a Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown’s sister Sally was learning to jump rope and as she got it kinda going, she yelled, “Lookit, Charlie Brown! Lookit! I’m jump-roping! Lookit!…Lookit!…Lookit!”
“I’m lookiting!” Charlie hollered.
And Linus looks straight at the reader with an inquisitive expression and says, “Lookiting??”
So I looked it up. And as you mighta guessed, “lookit” (meaning, “look at me!”) was first verified as an English word in…
1917!
I like it a lot!
Especially during Lent!
Lots of times, folks live the Lenten season as a time for self-deprivation and practicing self-denial. And I really do think there’s something positive about having an honest time in the year when you ask yourself, “Has ______ gotten a stubborn place in my life and heart? Can I live without this for a time? Let’s find out.”
But even more than this, I’ve found that if I’m struggling with some stubborn state like anxiety or complaining…
and I KNOW it’s something that God doesn’t want for my heart…
because He’s totally said it!! *…
( * “Be anxious for NOTHING!”-Phil 4.6…”Get rid of ALL…complaining!!”-Phil 2.14)
…even if it feels intimidating to think about a complete and total life/heart transformation to the extent that I NEVER feel or do these two things again for as long as I live…
I might be able to try to not feel or do them for…say…40 days!
As a person who has perennially struggled with anxiety, I can testify that I’ve tried this and…it works!!
“During Lent, I’m taking a vacation from anxiety! I might go back to it when Easter’s done, but for now, I’m taking a break!”
And I did!
And it helps to know…even if just for 40 days…you can!!
In Alcoholic Anonymous, they often say, “You don’t have to quit drinking forever. Just for today!”
They know that there are some people who can really never drink again, but also that the idea of “never” can be intimidating. So, they break up “never and forever” into day-sized pieces!
“Let’s just take this one day at a time!”
In fact, the phrase “living one day at a time” was invented by them!
Two guys were talking to a friend in the Akron City Hospital (it was his eighth hospitalization for alcoholism) and they were trying to help him see that he had to quit for good and forever.
“Gulp! Forever??” he thought.
You can quit twenty-four hours, can’t you?”, they asked.
“Sure, yes, anybody can do that for twenty-four hours.”
“Well, that’s what we’re talking about. Just twenty-four hours at a time. Let’s just take this one day at a time!”
“That sure did take a load off of my mind”,he wrote. Instead of thinking about “the long years ahead…this idea of just taking it twenty-four hours at a time…was a lot of help!”
(Random fact: the phrase, “One day at a time” was born into our language on the day of that conversation…June 26, 1935!)
So, during this season of Lent…
maybe it’s intimidating to think…
“So, I should never ever complain again as long as we both shall live!”
Or…
“Anxiety, I’m done with you!! We’re through for good! I never want to see you again!! I promise I will never ever worry about anything again!!”
(Yikes!)
But, hey! What about committing to 40 days?
Just 40 days! Almost as an experiment!
For 40 days, I want to focus on not being anxious as my Lenten goal! Every time, an anxious thought knocks on my heart, I’m not answering! I’m going to please my Lord and my Heavenly Dad by (as Paul instructs) “letting my need and request be made known to Him!”
And letting the “peace of God that passes all understanding” come through the door instead!!
And to know the joy of having a time in the day…
every day of Lent…
when I say to Him…
“I’m doing it!! I’m doing it!! Lookit!! Lookit, Dad! Lookit!!”
And He will say to thee…
“I’m lookiting, My child! I’m lookiting!!”