Blessings and curses are choices

Most of my life I've heard that my attitude affects everything I do, but suddenly within the last few weeks this has made sense. Deep, real meaning has come from my experiences.

I've struggled this year with respecting my administrators mostly because we've had major changes that have been theoretically in our best interests, but in application are sucking the joy out of teaching. Discouragement is wide-spread and I have a co-worker so negative that people are avoiding her as much as possible. I know I walk in the opposite direction whenever I see her.

Anyway, it's evaluation time and people are on edge anyway, but the process is so beleagured this year, it's almost comical. Almost. I had some choices to make. I could put on the sour face, complain endlessly about the paperwork, and make my administrator as miserable as possible. But then I remembered two things:
1) John Waller's song The Blessing reminded me that I had a choice to either be a blessing for life or a curse for death and
2) in John Eldridge's book Waking the Dead he talks about how Satan plants suggestions in our minds and if we agree with them, it allows him to gain a foothold.

So as the thought of saying things like, "This took me forever and now you want me to do more!" ran through my mind, I banished it, knowing that it would not bring blessing and it was not from God. Due to the extra work required for my evaluation, the post conference took 3 separate sessions to cover everything and each time it was a battle for my attitude: blessings or curses. Everytime I chose blessing and it made a world of difference. Has my situation changed? No. Has my administrator changed? No. But I have. I've grown and mature in a very tangible way.

Pet peeves

So as a former PK, one of my biggest pet peeves are people who just don't understand what it takes to lead, grow and maintain a ministry. At times, my dad was executive pastor, worship leader, visitation pastor, men's pastor, youth pastor, Sunday School coordinator and office manager at the same time. It's tiring and you work hard to follow your calling.

When other people start criticizing their church leaders, I get very wary. First of all, is this complaint valid? Is it a moral failing? Something that doesn't please God? 99% of the time, it ends up being something stupid and that really bothers me.

The most common complaint (besides what the pastor and/or pastor's spouse wears) is the music. I'm sorry, but this is not an Ipod. This is church. The worship leader has been hired because she or he has felt God's calling on their life and had that calling confirmed by the church leadership. Are they perfect? No, of course not. But for goodness' sake, have you forgotten that you are supposed to be worshiping your Creator not satisfying your need for good song?

Yes, it's wonderful to get carried away by the music, but God asks for a worshipfilled heart and life, not a catchy tune. You can get that anywhere. What would happen if someone near you was totally out of tune? Would you still be able to worship or would you be resentful that the person was "ruining" worship time for you?

Worship isn't a feeling, it's a habit. You do it constantly, through everything you do. Music is just a fraction of the worship we give to God. Our everyday actions, words, and thoughts should consist of the majority of our worship. I have no formula, no ratio of how often you should read the Bible to how often you should pray. But if you're only "worshiping" on a Sunday with music you like that isn't really worship. It's singing along to a song. It might as well be the radio unless your heart and life reflect what is being sung.

Top Twenty Worst Theological Pick-up Lines

Found these on Parchment and Pen's blog and they are hilarious! Here are some of the highlights:
16. “You may not have chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
15. “I could not help but notice you were exegeting me instead of the text during the sermon.”
14. ”Your name must be grace, because you are irresistible.”
12. “Until this moment, I thought I had the gift of singleness.”
11. During communion say, “Can I get you another drink.”
9. “The Good Book said that I might be visited by angels unaware, but something must be wrong with my interpretation, because I am perfectly aware of you.”
8. “I noticed you crying during alter call, can I help?”
7. While giving her a TULIP say, ”This Totally depraved person has been Unconditionally drawn to you, Limiting himself to your Irresistible beauty that is Persevering beyond all others.”
6. “God may be the bread of life, but you are the butter.”
4. “Well, gouge out my eyes and cut off my hands. If I hang around you much longer, I won’t have any limbs left.”
3. “You must have missed The Fall line, because you are lookin’ righteous.”

Have to say #6 is my favorite!

Friday night fun

Last night, a bunch of us girls from home team got together and had a guess what most would call a "night of fellowship". Each of us brought something to eat and we spent several hours playing Mexican trains(a domino game), munching on "puppy chow" and pizza and musing on our favorite euphemisms for medical problems. Deb, being the only registered nurse of our group, then told us some hilarious stories about medical terminology. It was a great time. I love these gals!