My Image

For man created

god

in his own image

statue and philosophy

he created them.

Man said to it,

“Now you will bless me

I will give you offerings of food.

I will follow all your rules.

Anything that happens in life

whether good or bad

I will blame on you—

say that you willed it

Any ideas I have that

don’t agree

with those of the people around me

I will justify

using the name of my god.

If there is something that happens in the world

I will explain it away

based on my god.

When I don’t like something,

when I don’t agree with something,

I will revise

my god.

My god will change

to suit my needs.

My god will become

whatever I believe.

My god is

me.

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them.”

Genesis 1:27

“I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods before me.”

Exodus 20:1-2

“He makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships.  He prays to it and says, ‘Save me, you are my god.’  They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.”

Isaiah 44:17-18

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Hebrews 13:8

It's Time

Do you ever feel like there is so much to do and either so much time or so little time to do it in?  That's how I'm feeling right now.  Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about "so little time" if I would just get motivated to do the stuff in the "so much time."  However, there are some things that can only be done at certain times.  As I look ahead to the things that need to be done then, I get tired and think, "I should rest since tomorrow is going to be so busy," thus pushing today's TO DO list to another day. 

When I was little I loved to read the books by Stephen Cosgrove in the series called Serendipity.  He wrote favorites like Leo the Lop, Morgan Morning, and yes, Serendipity.  My grandparents would record themselves reading them onto tape and mail the book and tape to me.  I would play the tape on my own little tape player and hear their voices even when they were far away.  When I was old enough to read myself, they stopped recording, but I would still ask my mom to read them every once in awhile.  Then when my sister was little, she'd pull them from my bookshelf and ask me to read them to her.

I can remember one about a little princess whose father, the king, asked her to do something.  Her response to everything was, "I will, but just a little later."  I can still hear my mom reading those words in the princess' voice.  There is a whole series of events where she doesn't do what she is supposed to do right then and ends up in trouble--stuck on a lily pad in the middle of a pond kind of trouble.  Her unicorn is willing to help get her out of the pond, "but just a little later."  It is then that the princess realizes what she has been doing to everyone around her, she apologizes, the unicorn helps save her and she goes back to daydreaming--this time as the regular little girl that she is, whose regular dad asks her to clean her room.  She does it.

These books always ended with moral written in rhyme.  I don't remember what this book said at the end, but I feel like a little princess who needs to realize that the things I need to get done, while capable of being put off until "just a little later" need to get done now.  While there is still time--whether too much or too little.

More than a Noun

I didn't know the "More Than" blogs were going to become a series when I wrote "Preschool Teacher."  But they have developed into them as I think about the topics more and more.

I am more than a noun as defined by the relationships around me here on Earth.  I am a spiritual being.  It is actually the living God who has defined me.  He has given me life.  He has given me purpose.  He has established the number of my days here.  And he has given me the opportunity to spend an eternity with him in heaven after those days have run out.  I can choose the way that I live here.  I can choose whether to use my verbs to develop a relationship with Christ more fully or whether to forget about Him altogether.  I can choose to let verbs and nouns get in the way of who I am really created to be and what I am really created to do.  And to be honest, there are many times when I do just that.  When I get so caught up doing the verbs or so involved with my relationship with the nouns that I forget about the One.

The One who enables me to do and who has placed me in relationship.  I forget that my relationship with Him has to come first, or the doing and relating doesn't work.  God has got the "being" thing down.  He is the one who first declared, "I Am."  Whatever I need done, whatever I need emotionally, whatever I need...He already is, just by being.  However, a verb or noun aren't my favorite ways to describe God...I'd much prefer to use adjectives!

Awesome

Incredible

Wonderful

Peaceful

Faithful

Wise

Good

Generous

Forgetful

Unchangeable

Just

Merciful

Beautiful

Just to name a few.

More than a Writer

Teach = verb

Write = verb

Clean = verb

Verb = action

Doing something.

I already explained that I am more than a preschool teacher.  That I am also a writer.  But the more I thought about it that evening, the more I realized that I am more than a writer as well.  I am not defined just by verbs.  I am not defined just by what I do.

Daughter = noun

Sister = noun

Friend = noun

Girlfriend = noun

Noun = person

Someone.

I am actually defined by my relationships--who I am in relation to the others around me.  They do not only add to my definition, but I help to shape theirs as well.  I cannot daught.  I can only be a daughter.  (Although just as a side note in my mind when I thought about dotting it was like ". . . . . ." kind of dots and I thought that if there was a dotter there would have to be a crosser as well.  It reminded me of the jots and tittles spoken of in the Bible.)

"To be" is a verb, but there is no action required in being.  It is actually referred to as a state of being verb.  It stands alone.  I can be a sister, friend or girlfriend.  There is work and action required in maintaining and growing these relationships, but if I quit working, I would still be.  I would retain my "titles" for lack of a better word because of the people around me.  They do not expect anything of me other than that I am.  Even when family members pass away, I am still a niece, daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter.  Their position has changed (from this life to the next), but my relationship to them hasn't.  I still am.

This hit home just yesterday as I was talking to my boyfriend about how overwhelming his love for me is and how undeserving I am of it.  I didn't treat him well yesterday.  He tried to plan a fun hike for us and I was grumpy and complaining the whole time.  I argued with him.  I cried.  I looked and felt like crap.  And he still loved me.  Just because I was.  Just because I am.