More than a few issues

A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (Matthew 7:17-20)

We all have a purpose in life. According to scripture, our lives are supposed to bear fruit - something is to be "reproduced" from each of our lives. From the moment God told Adam and Eve to be "fruitful and multiply" mankind has been focused on "bearing fruit" - more than just physical offspring, but fruit of all kinds. With the labor of his hands, mankind brought forth crops and harvests beyond measure. With the investment of his time and talent, mankind ensured the mentoring of the next generation. Mankind is continually bearing fruit of one kind or another. It probably goes without saying some fruit is not exactly good fruit. I live in Arizona, so I am used to seeing these "ornamental orange trees" all over the place. People plant them because they grow well here, produce healthy green leaves and eventually produce the beautiful oranges. The only problem - their fruit is worthless! It is so tart you cannot eat it! It is for looks and not for intake. It looks similar to real oranges but lacks the quality!

In order to be able to evaluate the type of fruit we are producing we must be able to see the good and bad of "self". The "good" and "bad" of self is really not something we "judge" very well on our own. We need the clarity of the scripture and the conviction of the Holy Spirit to actually understand our "self". At times, we are bearing good fruit. When we are not bearing such 'good fruit', we need the help of others to actually see what it is we are struggling with. When I am learning something new it is good to have someone watch me for a couple of times. When they see me do something the wrong way, I want them to be quick to point it out. I do this because I want to be producing my best work. We need others who will help us see our "blind spots", don't we? If we don't have those faithful friends, now is the time to find them! One thing I have observed about myself is this tendency to not even try something if I feel I won't be good at it. Sometimes it is my pride which holds me back, at others it is my fear. I just don't like to fail. Nothing ventured is nothing gained, right? If I want to see fruit in my life, I have to take the first step toward whatever will produce the fruit. The individual failures in our lives will be there - you know, those tiny compromises we make along the way. At first, you don't see the real issue. You will look back at some point and you don't want to see a whole lot of "issues" which really could have easily been taken care of earlier.

In life, we have lots of times when we lose interest - lose focus - or just plain lose our way. God's hope is that we will learn from our losses! Here is something I have figured out - so if it speaks to you - learn from my missed opportunities: WE always play some part in each loss! We might want to point the finger at someone else, but truth be told, we play some part (big or small) in each loss! We will continue to repeat our losses unless we examine them, find their causes, understand our part in them, and then do things differently the next time. Fruitful people are concerned with the fruit produced. They are directed toward something more than "ornamental" fruit - they want fruit which provides deep satisfaction. The way to the production of this type of fruit is riddled with all kinds of failure - but it is what we do with the failure that matters. We have limited fruit-bearing capacity outside of the grace of God in our lives. It is the tender graces of God in our lives that redirect our attention, help us to hold onto the things which produce the loveliest of fruit in our lives, and learn the lessons from those "difficult issues" along the way. Just sayin!

I did it again!

Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success. (C.S. Lewis)

If you have ever tried to read trail signs on some forest trail, or around some preserve land, you may have noticed that it is kind of like an art you must master. Certain symbols mean that the path will go straight, increase your climb, maneuver through harder territory, or even turn you toward a new destination. Those markers are there for a reason - to help you find your way. Have you ever been off-course so badly you totally missed a few of those signs? I have! In fact, I have blazed new trails where no one seems to have gone before! I don't just mean the paths in the forest, my friends, because I have blazed paths into relationship faux-pas where none have gone, cut trail through 'new idea' territory that didn't end so well, and stumbled through some character choice pathways that some would never even consider traversing! What did I learn from these 'not so well-traveled paths'? As Lewis indicated, these failure paths became 'milestones' on the road to actually finding the right course to take!

For all my wanting, I don’t have anyone but You in heaven. There is nothing on earth that I desire other than You. I admit how broken I am in body and spirit, but God is my strength, and He will be mine forever. Psalm 73:25-26 VOICE

I am prone to repeated failure - it is something I do well! I am not sure why I find myself blazing new paths, or worse yet, traversing old ones that only ended up in me pursuing wrong choices. I guess it is because I am human and I am definitely not perfect yet. I open my mouth and out comes words best left unspoken. I act upon impulse and the reverberations of that impulse create relationship aftershocks I have to maneuver through time and time again. Am I much different than the rest of us? Probably not! We don't realize how much the other person right next to us is struggling to get through repeated failures until we stop long enough to recognize the 'pathway signs' that eventually become evident in their lives.

The other day I shared with my BFF my continued concern with managing my emotions when I have to continuously remind mom that she needs to do the simplest of tasks, or answer the same question for the twentieth time in a day. At 101, mom doesn't remember a long series of tasks, so the fewer I give her at one time, the more successful she will be in doing them. That works most of the time, but with age comes this thing called 'short-term memory failure'. Plain and simple - she can ask the same question twenty times over, never even realizing she has already asked it. At times, I can let a little of my frustration come through because it is the twentieth time I have told her what day it is, what we are having for dinner, or that we are the only two people in the house. Mom hears that frustration and thinks I am mad at her. Yup, there I go down the relationship faux-pas path!

If you think it is easy caring for an elderly parent, think again. There can be constant frustrations on both sides of the fence. Hers perhaps because she can no longer do the things she once did and mine because she puts herself in danger every time she tries to do one of those things. If you think it is easy caring for a toddler, husband, wife, or even a good friend in all the 'right ways' that we are supposed to 'take care' of them, it isn't. We all face times when we are going to go down the wrong path in these relationships - what we do in those moments makes all the difference. I have had to learn to step back, allow mom time, not demand so much from her, being willing to step in and do what she cannot. The one who cares for the toddler has to learn to model good behavior, love them when they are acting like spoiled little kiddos, and gently give them guidance to grow in all the right ways.

The thing I have found is that as important as the path is that we are choosing to travel, it is more important that we keep the right traveling companion on that path with us. When our psalmist reminds us that God is his strength, he isn't just spouting 'religious' words. Broken in body and spirit, but God is his strength forever. We learn from the repeated failures - never alone in the journey. Just sayin!

I've tried that before...

A long time ago, a friend gave me an illustration which has stuck with me through the years. He held out a beautiful Montblanc pen, (since I am a writer, pens are kind of a passion of mine), and asked me to "try" to take the pen away from him. Seeing this as an easy thing, I reached out to his outstretched hand to take the pen. Now the pen was in my possession, or so I thought. He then corrected me with the following: He told me to only "try" to take the pen! When I responded with a quizzical look on my face, he used this illustration to speak a life-lesson. Knowing my passion for words, he was showing me the very first definition of the word "try" is really something quite different than we might suppose. In fact, it means to "attempt" to accomplish something. It does not imply actually "doing" it - just attempting it! We talked for a while about "trying" versus "doing". We go through life doing a whole lot of "trying" - attempting to accomplish whatever we set our minds toward. Yet, in the end, when we look back at the "attempts" we may find most of them are actually only marginally successful, if not totally unsuccessful and unrealistic!

We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. 

(Galatians 2:15-16)

There is a definite difference between "doing" and "trying". What I did when he offered his pen is an action which accomplished the intended result. If I was simply trying, I might only have looked at the pen, imagining in my mind how I could swoop in, grasp the object and be off with it. One produced a result, the other produced a whole lot of "mind effort", but no real change in the pen's location or possession. There are many times we look back over our decisions only to find our "efforts" of "trying" to change a particular habit, or break free of a particularly annoying sin never really accomplished the change we desired. When we examine this further, we might just find we actually are doing what the dictionary offers as the second definition of "try" - we have "experimented" with various "options" to see which one might just work. Unfortunately, in our walk with Christ, no amount of "experimenting" with things we could "try" on our own will ever work to bring lasting change!

Lasting change comes not in merely changing the rules we keep. It comes in the changing of the company we keep! The company we keep in our thought life influences the decisions we make. If the company we are keeping in our minds is a confluence of all kinds of input - some spiritual, some worldly, some of our own twisted imaginations - we are often confused as to the actions we should take to accomplish change. This is why we are warned to not focus so much on the input, but the source of the input! Grace is the method of change God uses each and every time. It is by grace our thoughts are changed. It is through grace our choices are refined. In the movement of grace in our lives, we see what we imagine IN CHRIST accomplished in our lives. When we finally admit the "trying" efforts of our own "experiments" at change as riddled with self-failure, we begin to invite the influence of the Spirit of God into the midst of our desired change. We move from a position of "trying" into a place of "doing" by embracing the method of change that really works - Christ IN us, the hope of glory! Just sayin!

Slip-proofing life

I know people who walk around the wet floor signs - faithfully! I guess I am just a little less cautious because there are times I find myself plowing ahead, looking at the floor, observing for wet spots. Why is there such a difference? Perhaps those who go around believe the signs mean what they say! I might actually think they may have been there a while and just don't apply any longer because the floor 'looks dry'! Why do they place their trust in them? Maybe it is because they have nearly fallen in the past and have learned a very valuable lesson. You never know - the one who points out the sign may have insights beyond your own!

So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

We are inundated with signs all around us as we walk, drive, shop, and play. The crosswalk now advises us to walk or stay - not just to rely upon the sign. The road signs advise of speed limits, but those ones that flash your speed get you to slow down a lot more, don't they? Signs announce hazards in the road and delays in traffic, but do we wait till the last minute to merge over, or find a different route? The store shelves and windows boast of huge savings and new products. The images displayed in those 'signs' draw us in, desiring to make us 'consumers', not just 'viewers' of the object. We "take in" lots of the signs in our path and process them - some consciously, and others quite unconsciously.

We are being "warned" to watch our step, because it is easier to get "tripped up" than we might realize! The idea of stumbling is represented here - we find ourselves going along just fine until all of a sudden something in our path makes us stagger and possibly eve fall. It is the idea of making a "slip" in how we normally respond - acting out of what is common character performance for us. For example, most of the time I can be pretty laid back, intuitive and introspective about life's challenges. Then, almost without warning, one hits me hard and I respond with fear, edginess, and doubt. What made the difference here? It is often something as simple as being "tripped up" by what was right in front of me that I just did not notice.

Most of the time, we get "tripped up" because we just did not notice the signs all around us. We had plenty of "warning" of the impending "obstacle" or "hazard" in our path, but we simply did not pay attention. At other times, we just don't heed the warnings! We think that they don't apply in this situation. Both of these responses to the "signs" are equally dangerous for us. Being in a situation in which stumbling is likely means that we are walking unsteadily - we have the opportunity to slip or blunder. So, what is the remedy? We keep each other from "blundering"! You and I need "buddies" who will keep us from those slips and falls when we are in danger of ignoring or not even seeing those signs given to us as warnings. There is strength in numbers. I may not see the warning signs - but you might. You might not recognize the dangers in your path - but I can. When we are faithful to hold each other accountable - pointing out in love what we so desperately need to pay attention to - we both benefit. You are made stronger - I am made stronger.

Slips, mistakes, and blunders cost us dearly. Isn't it good to know that God has given us others with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mouth to share what we cannot, or simply refuse to see or hear? Each slip or fall in life "slows us down" - we have to regroup from those missed steps. Regrouping takes time and energy that would be best spent on other things. When we avoid the blunder in the first place, it is much better. Just sayin!

A few missed steps...

James C. Maxwell is quoted as saying: "God uses people who fail - cause there aren't any other kind around." Good to know I am not in this thing alone! When did we start to look at failure as a bad thing, or better yet, when did we start to look at it as defining who or what someone actually is? Simon Peter, one of the twelve disciples Jesus came to call one of his closest companions while on this earth might have just thought of himself as a "failure" on occasion. Why? He did and said dumb stuff! He got himself in messes which Jesus had to bail him out of at times, and at others, he just couldn't "get it right" no matter how hard he thought about it. He slept when he should have been awake, had a hard time grasping what Jesus said at times, acted impulsively, wasn't always "kind" toward others, and even doubts his actions on occasion. Sounds a little like the words of a country song!

Simon’s fishing partners, James and John (two of Zebedee’s sons), along with the rest of the fishermen, see this incredible haul of fish. They’re all stunned, especially Simon. He comes close to Jesus and kneels in front of His knees. Simon: I can’t take this, Lord. I’m a sinful man. You shouldn’t be around the likes of me.  Jesus: Don’t be afraid, Simon. From now on, I’ll ask you to bring Me people instead of fish. (Luke 5:8-10 VOICE)

If "failure" becomes the term by which we describe a person, not an action, we have crossed the line.  Failure might be the result of a misstep, but at least you took the step.  Failure could be the feeling we associate with losing something, but we engaged in something and took the risk.  It is pretty hard to walk with Jesus if we never take the first step.  It is equally as hard to remain steadfastly in love with Jesus if we never take the time to get to know with him.  We might mess up this thing we call our "daily lives" on occasion, but those mess ups don't define us any differently in his eyes.  God doesn't give us the label "failure" - we do that to ourselves!

Simon Peter's words are so often what we may think ourselves, or even say right out loud:  "You shouldn't be around the likes of me, Jesus."  You might be right on that one, but as Jesus put it himself:  "People who have their health don't need to see a doctor.  Only those who are sick do. I'm not here to call those already in good standing with God; I'm here to call sinners back to him." (Mark 2:17 VOICE) When we sin (fail), we need a loving God reaching out to bring us back into good standing with God.  Notice I said "when we sin or fail" - it is a "given" we will take an occasional misstep (even a bunch of them one right after the other at times).  Jesus knows the condition of our heart, the weakness of our emotions, and the direction of our will.  He isn't labeling us "failure" just because we struggle with those three things!  He makes a way for us to continue in our "good standing with God" because of those things!

I want to challenge us a little here.  I am going to ask us to change how we use the term "fail" or "failure" in our everyday vernacular.  In fact, I am going to ask us to also begin to change the "actions" we associate with failing.  Instead of seeing them as "final" or as the thing which "determines" who or what we are, let's begin to see them as he does - missed steps, but steps nonetheless!  If you have ever tripped up the stairs, or slid down a couple because your footing was slightly "off" in its landing, you know what it is like to take a "missed step".  Truth be told, it was our inattention, or even the fact we were "hurried" in our steps which led to our stumble. We might want to blame the steps for our fall, but they weren't really to blame.  Those steps didn't change since the last time we took them, and they will be the same the next time we take them, as well!

Failed steps are steps nonetheless - they don't define who we are as a person.  They may not lead to the destination we hoped they would - like when you find yourself having to go all the way to the bottom of a stairwell full of steps when you step into it because the door locks behind you when you enter it.  They may not make passage easy because of what we take with us along that passage - like when you have to go up several flights with arms full in order to reach your next destination.  Sometimes we don't think things through. Sometimes we try to do things under our own power.  Either way, we don't allow those steps to define who or what we are. We realize the value of those steps, even if the value isn't apparent at first glance!  If we go through a locked door and find ourselves "trapped" in the cycle of "steps" we are taking, we aren't locked there forever - there is an exit!  If we try to navigate life with burdens too heavy for us to carry, we aren't working "wisely", but that doesn't define us as a fool!

Don't allow missed steps to define you.  Use them to draw you into a new path with a greater focus.  We don't need to embrace the failure as our destination - we should allow the missed steps to become the pathway to our next destination! Just sayin!