Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

You've heard the saying, right? Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Interestingly enough, I looked this quote up, via google, and found that this idea of life happening while we're busy planning is attributed to many people including John Lennon, Allen Saunders, and many others whose names you probably won't recognize. But regardless of whether you recognize their names, you understand the sentiment. Life is what's happening to us right now . . . while we're making other plans. 

I never took much stock in this saying . . . until quite recently. You see, I’m anxiously searching for a teaching job for the 2017-2018 school year. It has been a frustrating process to say the least. I’ve put in several applications at surrounding school districts, but what I’m really waiting for is for specific positions to open so that I can apply for those jobs. In my opinion, it is a process that is taking entirely too long. Meanwhile, I find myself becoming increasingly annoyed with a God who seems to be way too slow in handing me the future I think I deserve.

But the other day, my husband, ever the voice of reason and truth in my life, made a comment that brought my complaining, whining and dissatisfaction with my current life to a screeching halt. “You realize, Nici, that while you are busy looking for jobs for next year, you forget that you already have one.”

Ouch. He’s right. I do have a job. A pretty great job, in fact. I get to be a teacher’s associate in my kids’ school. It’s a great environment where I work with a fun-loving, hard-working, supportive bunch. In short, it is a fun and friendly place to spend my days.

Not only that, but every day after lunch, my son comes up and gives me a hug. My soon-to-be 6th grader gives me a hug every day with all his friends and classmates looking on. How amazing. What a gift.

And as if that weren’t enough, every day on her way to recess my daughter pokes her head in to the room where I work, smiles and says, “Hi Mom, I love you,” while her gaggle of girls looks on and giggles behind her.

What amazing, incredible moments. Ones that I am wishing away while I pine for my future—a future that is really unfolding one day at a time if I were just wise enough to realize it.

Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans.

So, true. Too true. So, this week I’m making a resolution. I’m going to enjoy the gift of the present. I’m not going to waste the small moments of joy God lays at my doorstep every day by looking ahead into a future that I have no control over.

No, I’m going to let my future unfold one small moment at a time and take the course that God has given me one step at a time. I challenge you to do the same this week, to find joy in the gift that is the present. No matter how big your future plans are or what you're waiting for, remember that life is really about what's happening to you right now. In that knowledge, enjoy and embrace every single moment of every single day.

This morning as I was taking a shower, I was practicing a little artistic composing (as in shower singing and doodling.) Just call me the Mozart and Picasso of the showering world. Anyway, after I’d been in a while, I began to doodle on the shower wall. I drew a heart and a cross and that simple image stirred something in me. Some fond memories actually.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

If there was any verse ingrained in my brain from the beginnings of my Christian upbringing, it was this verse. The gospel verse. Pure and simple. So when I doodled a cross inside of a heart, I thought about this verse and how simple and sweet the gospel message is.

Oftentimes, when I write “Christian” posts I wonder what others will think about it, especially those who don’t subscribe to the Christian faith. Even as I type this, I wonder who thinks I’m being foolish by sharing my simple beliefs. But no matter what you believe, you have to admit this, the gospel message is a simple one, as simple as a cross inside of a heart.

Because it was a God who so loved the world that reached down to save us. Save us from ourselves,  from our world,  from our pain and loneliness and so much more. He sent his son, Jesus, down to this broken world to guide us back to our Father--a Father who never stopped loving us, even when we were the farthest from him.

I wish I had fancier words to put down onto paper today. I feel like I should have more to share, more to write, but maybe that's the point. The beauty and truth of the gospel is that it's pure and simple. As simple as a picture of a cross inside of a heart. So the next time you're doodling, draw a heart and a cross and see if it doesn’t stir something beautiful in side of you, something more beautiful than even a blog post can describe.

Last night, I fell into bed exhausted. As I collapsed into a heap, I felt as though I’d expended every ounce of energy within. Honestly, I felt like a rolled-up tube of toothpaste, like all the stuff inside me had been squeezed out, even to the very last drop.

Do you remember learning that lesson as a kid—the proper toothpaste-tube-squeezing procedure? My parents taught it to me early on, “Don’t squeeze the tube in the middle, it’s a waste. Start at the bottom of the tube. Then roll it up every time the tube runs low. That way, by the end, you’ve squeezed out every drop of toothpaste you possibly could.”

Believe it or not, as I was falling asleep last night I felt an analogy coming on and honestly, it kind of cheered me up. It encouraged me. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe living the Christian life is a little bit like using up a tube of toothpaste. By the time you’ve lived it, every single drop of life within you has been used up . . . in a good way.’

4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

These words were the ones penned by the Apostle Paul in his 2nd letter to Timothy. What’s amazing to me about this portion of Scripture is that Paul knew the end was near. He knew nearly all the toothpaste was gone. And he was proud of that. He had run a good race, the race he was meant to run.

Can you say the same? When you come to the end of your days, will people say of you that you spent all your energy making the world a better place? Did you give all you could? Love all you could? Share all you could? In other words, did you give of yourself until the very last drop of goodness within you had been squeezed out and used up for the building of God’s kingdom?

If you can say, “Yes,” to all the above, then good for you. I know it’s something I aspire to do, live every day to the fullest, even if it means that sometimes I fall into bed exhausted and spent. There’s something nice about knowing I didn’t waste my day. In other words, I didn’t squeeze out a sloppy mess that left something inside of me wasted.

When God’s Spirit lives in us, we have everything we need for life and godliness. All the toothpaste is there. So, don’t be afraid to pour out your life for Jesus. Let every breath within you be expelled in sharing the life-giving, life-changing Word of Christ. Then when you come to the end of your days, you’ll know you spent every amount of yourself for the good of the cause—a pretty good thing to feel proud of, if you ask me. Even if it does leave you feeling a little bit exhausted.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

I don’t know about you, but on a Super Bowl Sunday, I want to read a post about the Hall of Fame. Well, I hope I don’t disappoint, but I’m talking about a Hall of Fame greater than any sports one. I’m talking about the Hall of Fames of all Hall of Fames, the one in the Bible.

Now, before you close this post and shut me down, hear me out. Of all the places in the Bible I most went to when I was struggling with depression, or anxiety or just bipolar, in general, it was this chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11. Why? Because I could relate to the people who were in this Hall of Fame.

See, I’m not much of a sports fanatic and admittedly, if you asked me to name someone who’s been inducted into any sports hall of fame, I’d be hard pressed to come up with even one name.

But when it comes to the Hall of Fame in the Bible, I know their stories well. I bet you do to:

There’s Abel, who got killed by his brother Cain. Nice happy ending there, right?

There’s Noah who was ridiculed by everyone around him when he built a boat in the middle of nowhere . . . as in nowhere close to an open body of water.

There’s Abraham who lived in a tent. Not a house, a tent. If you’ve ever been camping, tent dwelling isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

Shall I go on?

There’s Moses who dragged a bunch of whiny, bratty might-as-well-have-been children around with him for 40 plus years.

How about Daniel who got thrown into a den full of beasts with particularly sharp teeth?

Or David who waited around fifteen years to claim a throne that was rightfully his whilst being chased around the countryside by a madman worried about job security.

And what about the New Testament Believers?

Peter who was crucified upside down.

Paul who was likely beheaded by the Romans.

Why, am I naming these sad, sad people and their incredibly sad, sad stories. Because it helps me to stop feeling sorry for myself. Or, in the very least, it helps me to know that I’m not alone. Not alone in my struggles. Not alone in my suffering. Not alone in my faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

It’s about faith, people. And if we had in our grasp what we hope for, it wouldn’t be called faith. See, faith is what got me through the hard times. It’s what I still cling to now when I wish I could shed this life for a happy-tent-free-dwelling-one. A life worth waiting for.

So, don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged. And don’t feel sorry for yourself. Most of all, know that you’re not alone. Read through Hebrews 11 and see if it doesn’t cheer you up just a little bit. And wait for the day when your name will be included with those great Hall of Famers who have gone before you. It’s a story with a happy ending worth waiting for—better than any Super Bowl commercial, no matter how much the hype.