Of course the children laugh their heads off when I repeat this line to them while doing many a task, production, or lesson! I am positive that they really do not know the history of this phrasing! (Heck, some of the teaching staff I work wouldn’t either!- showing my age.) It is an old McDonald ‘s ad from the late 1970s warning folks to keep eyeing their delicious McDonalds French fries, lest someone sneaks them while you aren’t looking!
The reality is that this phrase was modified from the even older expression, “Keep you eyes on the prize”, that is actually more of what the children understand – However the latter sounds so much more kid friendly and funny to me!
Regardless, both expressions lend themselves to many of this month’s messages in regard to Jesus. Stories of His walk in faith with the Father. One in particular, is walking on water! (A metaphor we all seem to use with frequency in order to explain in a positive or negative way the strengths, or misconceptions, one has about one self, or another!)
We hear this expression used often. “He walks on water!” or, “He THINKS He walks on water!” However, it is used, none of us… including the sainted, “walks on water” without Christ! Through, and with Him, we are invited to do such feats! BUT only while in His Spirit, not on our own merit! I have begun explaining to the children in the last month all of this.
Once the “MAGI” left, we begin the real meat of what we are to learn about in Christ. The children had their eyes so firmly fixed on the “Star” that it was actually work to get them focused on what Jesus’ ministry would entail. But again, their eyes were on their fries! Right?? But now, we are fixed upon WHY he was sent.
I love when I can mess around with Jesus’ days leading up to and including his ministerial work. Or really, Ordinary Time! We focus so much on holidays and the bigger feasts, I truly love when we just embrace ordinary life. Although, I beg to differ that Jesus’ life was ANYTHING but ordinary on any day!
The kids are so engrossed on Jesus’ infancy for so long, they ask me about how it is Jesus becomes who He is… or born to be what He does…. Where are Mary and Joseph? Did he go to school? What kind of childhood did he have? And of course they worry ever so much of the whereabouts of the dreaded King Herod! (Wait ‘til I start dropping words like Sadducees and Pharisees on them in the months to come! Better yet, Pilot!) What I LOVE to tell them is the 2x he was, (as I say), “A little bit fresh to His Mother!” There eyes look like moons when I say this! “What Miss Dawn?? Jesus was fresh to His Mother?? TELL US!” They love it, (and although it comes across that way...and has deeper meaning- even to Mary), I love to impart to them.... that Jesus was, “a little bit like them!” It humanizes Jesus to where THEY are on THEIR journeys.
And that to me is okay.
Jesus taking off on His parents for 3days to preach at 12 years of age without notifying them is enough to frighten any child to never leave their parent’s side again. And Jesus then delivers the retort to a worried-sick Mary, “Did you not know I’d be in my Father’s House?” I am surprised she doesn’t wallop him in front of all the big shots there! In Jesus’ “arrogance” or “freshness” are still a mother and son, going through a moment each and every child experiences, life without the other and how sickening that must feel! Mary has “almost” seemed to forget in those first 12 years of mother and son, what Jesus was sent here to do. But, HE HASN’T! His eyes are firmly on his fries! It’s a big nudge to her that Jesus will be sacrificed as told to her. He will leave her for 3 days “someday” in the future, and that she needs to be there for Him when he returns. AS ALL children are “lent” to us. Again, Jesus will confront Mary at His 1st Miracle… Changing Water into Wine at the Wedding. Yet this time it will be Mary pushing Him forward into His destiny. Her eyes completely focused on what she promised God when she said, “Yes”, to God 30 years prior.
As Jesus calls the 12… numbers of events and everyday stories occur. The children are intrigued. They are so absorbed they want to know about each disciple as an individual and how they felt about not fishing for fish anymore, but fishing for people! Their eyes became focused on Jesus when they cast their nets for something very different. Doing what it was they were called to do. The children are intrigued by stories of healing, loss of loved ones, (only to be brought back to life on occasion), and the constant foretelling of what will become of Jesus.
But it is when I deliver the Walking on Water story, do the heads turn. If only we could walk on water as Jesus did. Well, Peter does it. He does it despite his own temperament, and his inability to conceive that he actually can. When the 12 are caught in a storm… and Peter sees Jesus cascading like an ice skater across the top, he alarms the others that he believes they are seeing an apparition, a ghost. (Perhaps another premonition of what is to come). Upon Peter’s request to be able to do such a thing, Jesus invites Peter to walk! To do the impossible with God. Isn’t this the point??
Peter is not shy... he hops out immediately, (Like any of my 5year olds would!) And he does it truly because he has his eyes firmly planted on Jesus. He does not understand the act, but the only thought is that he wants to be with Jesus… That is enough to make it happen! You can only imagine the fervor on the boat…with the Disciples. I can only hear this… “Peter, Peter, Peter…” as they all cheer him on. His eyes are on his fries. He is doing the impossible with God! Bang... right there is the only message one needs to understand the Christian concept! The kids’ eyes are now focused on this concept. Anything is possible with God.
The storm becomes louder, or the disciples… and we are distracted… our focus is behind us. Peter turns to it… takes his eyes off … AND into the drink we go! Jesus tells Peter that his faith wasn’t strong enough. That in fact if he just did the impossible with Him he wouldn’t have lost his balance and begun to drown.
I feel for Peter, at least HE was WILLLING to jump out and try it… walk with God doing something that seemed unimaginable. And I’m positive God, knew that too despite how frightened and distracted he became.
Don’t take your eyes off your fries… you may miss the moment God invites you to walk with Him! No matter how scary it looks, God will be right there because His eyes are always on us! He has far more planned for us than we are ready to embrace at times. By looking away we rule out yet another chance to walk the impossible with Him.
Peace, MD
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
That's My Plan!
A New Year's Quote... An Epiphany, if you will!!
"You have done what you could — some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Emerson
Not only, is this appropriate for a new year, it is more the philosophy I use with my students each day… and should be how we all view our blunders and absurdities in life.. As well as the new challenges and new ways of being ourselves! I love the part about your spirit being far higher than the old nonsense.
I love the Epiphany, (and not so much the New Year, at times.). It is funny. I am one of these people who are hit with it all at one time. As I write this I am embarking on the eve of my 46th revolution around the sun. (Yes. my birthday). One gets a little contemplative when Christmas, New Year, Birthday, and yes. Epiphany occurs all within 12 days of each other! Makes for some interesting couch time during the holidays! One can spend a great deal of time sitting in a blunder from 6 months ago or last week. One can find the most scrupulous ways to bring oneself down. Tell themselves, “Hey guess what?? You did it again didn’t you??” Or better yet, “ You did it more than once this year...” And sit within the “old nonsense” of uncertainty and judgment. Self-doubt, impatience and fear. And ultimately, in the end the reason we miss the moment of anything we set out to do is simply out of fear.
Do you know that I’ll bet the Magi felt this way plenty of times in their 2-year journey toward the Savior. Think about not having GPS, a media-packaged mobile device, or even a map maybe?? They studied the stars, (Its all they had!)They had faith, though, more importantly. They had faith that they were about to witness a miracle. The manifestation of God in human form. They were willing to step out and journey toward something they’ve only heard about. Perhaps read about. And certainly had no idea about. Most Gentiles (non-Jews) were not awaiting a Divine King to come down and save the world from itself. There’s some absurdity for ya!
They stopped to converse with King Herod about the whereabouts of “This Child” … Herod, knew they meant business. Why do 3 learned men travel so far to bestow gifts upon a poor infant if not for all the right reasons??! And yet Herod, in all his human weakness could still only think about how the Infant King was somehow sent here to depose him! And there is how limited our humanness ventures!
Herod begged them to return to Jerusalem after paying homage, so that Herod might do so as well… Again, talk about absurdity. Melchior, Balthazaar and Gaspar were fortunate “wise men” who paid attention to dreams and signs… listened to their internal GPS... their gut, and got the message LOUD and CLEAR one evening before leaving Bethlehem. “Go home another way.” How on earth would they have known otherwise? Stupid? Absurd? Perhaps the biggest blunder in history could have been in the works, until the signs came. They serenely climbed back onto their camels, spirits held high, and certainly unencumbered to go back home and preach about the coming of God’s Son to the other corners of the world.
Were they scared? Probably. But not half as scary as it would’ve been if they did what they thought to be “right”. No, instead God always has a larger plan for us if we are willing to shed are earthly encumbered junk and just, well... “Follow His Star.” Make God the pilot! So, put your GPS’ away, Power down your Mobile Devices, roll up your man-made maps and IPADS and do what I do every Epiphany for my children and myself, crack open a V8… Hit myself upside the head... and say...”I could’ve had a V8!” to explain what exactly an Epiphany is! A delicious, nutritious drink that fills us, gives us energy, and makes us healthy, rather than the empty Diet Coke that seems easy to drink, falsely sweetened, and full of empty calories. “Ah... what a difference.”
Epiphany is really your new start. Not 2012. It is a start that doesn’t happen at the Winter Solstice or just beyond each and every year… it is always present to us as long as we choose to see God in all of our works, actions and encounters…. And let Him to plot our course, take the wheel and drive!
“Let Him plot our course, take the wheel and drive!” That’s my resolution for the New Year. That , my brothers and sisters in Christ, is my plan!
"You have done what you could — some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Emerson
Not only, is this appropriate for a new year, it is more the philosophy I use with my students each day… and should be how we all view our blunders and absurdities in life.. As well as the new challenges and new ways of being ourselves! I love the part about your spirit being far higher than the old nonsense.
I love the Epiphany, (and not so much the New Year, at times.). It is funny. I am one of these people who are hit with it all at one time. As I write this I am embarking on the eve of my 46th revolution around the sun. (Yes. my birthday). One gets a little contemplative when Christmas, New Year, Birthday, and yes. Epiphany occurs all within 12 days of each other! Makes for some interesting couch time during the holidays! One can spend a great deal of time sitting in a blunder from 6 months ago or last week. One can find the most scrupulous ways to bring oneself down. Tell themselves, “Hey guess what?? You did it again didn’t you??” Or better yet, “ You did it more than once this year...” And sit within the “old nonsense” of uncertainty and judgment. Self-doubt, impatience and fear. And ultimately, in the end the reason we miss the moment of anything we set out to do is simply out of fear.
Do you know that I’ll bet the Magi felt this way plenty of times in their 2-year journey toward the Savior. Think about not having GPS, a media-packaged mobile device, or even a map maybe?? They studied the stars, (Its all they had!)They had faith, though, more importantly. They had faith that they were about to witness a miracle. The manifestation of God in human form. They were willing to step out and journey toward something they’ve only heard about. Perhaps read about. And certainly had no idea about. Most Gentiles (non-Jews) were not awaiting a Divine King to come down and save the world from itself. There’s some absurdity for ya!
They stopped to converse with King Herod about the whereabouts of “This Child” … Herod, knew they meant business. Why do 3 learned men travel so far to bestow gifts upon a poor infant if not for all the right reasons??! And yet Herod, in all his human weakness could still only think about how the Infant King was somehow sent here to depose him! And there is how limited our humanness ventures!
Herod begged them to return to Jerusalem after paying homage, so that Herod might do so as well… Again, talk about absurdity. Melchior, Balthazaar and Gaspar were fortunate “wise men” who paid attention to dreams and signs… listened to their internal GPS... their gut, and got the message LOUD and CLEAR one evening before leaving Bethlehem. “Go home another way.” How on earth would they have known otherwise? Stupid? Absurd? Perhaps the biggest blunder in history could have been in the works, until the signs came. They serenely climbed back onto their camels, spirits held high, and certainly unencumbered to go back home and preach about the coming of God’s Son to the other corners of the world.
Were they scared? Probably. But not half as scary as it would’ve been if they did what they thought to be “right”. No, instead God always has a larger plan for us if we are willing to shed are earthly encumbered junk and just, well... “Follow His Star.” Make God the pilot! So, put your GPS’ away, Power down your Mobile Devices, roll up your man-made maps and IPADS and do what I do every Epiphany for my children and myself, crack open a V8… Hit myself upside the head... and say...”I could’ve had a V8!” to explain what exactly an Epiphany is! A delicious, nutritious drink that fills us, gives us energy, and makes us healthy, rather than the empty Diet Coke that seems easy to drink, falsely sweetened, and full of empty calories. “Ah... what a difference.”
Epiphany is really your new start. Not 2012. It is a start that doesn’t happen at the Winter Solstice or just beyond each and every year… it is always present to us as long as we choose to see God in all of our works, actions and encounters…. And let Him to plot our course, take the wheel and drive!
“Let Him plot our course, take the wheel and drive!” That’s my resolution for the New Year. That , my brothers and sisters in Christ, is my plan!
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