Month: October 2019

” God can’t use us profoundly unless we hurt deeply.”

scott hamilton

Listening to the radio the other day, I came across an interview with Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic ice skating gold medalist.  He talked about his skating career, a bit about the loneliness he felt from singleness, and cancer…the big “C” word that changes the lives of so many.  Each blow in his life was a different type of letdown.  But, each time within the downward spiral of disappointment, mediocrity, shame and even self-abatement, he retrospectively saw victory.  His ability to look at adversity and glean the good from such obstacles became a trademark of who Scott Hamilton is. 

At times in my own life, I have marked disasters as setbacks not stepping stones.  The difference between someone who succeeds and one who doesn’t is perspective.  Seeing failure as an end cannot result in growth because the buck stops there. 

When a muscle is strained or a bone broken, advice and treatment is sought from a doctor.  Proper measures are taken to heal the area that has been affected.  Using this analogy from life, when a situation or relationship is strained, broken or considered a loss, it needs attention not abandonment.  Hamilton said, “The greatest strength is a lack of weakness.  Find your weaknesses and knock them out one at a time.”  He saw failure as feedback and cancer as “probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”    

Failure is feedback.

scott hamilton

Failure should wake us up.  It should liven our senses to areas within that need attention.  Failure is not the end, it more than likely the beginning of a tough, hard climb up a very steep hill with many obstacles.  Seeing failure as such shows great tenacity and prepares us for what God has next for us.  In a recipe, failure is the single most important ingredient according to Hamilton, but it doesn’t have to be the main ingredient!

Christian theologian, A.W. Tozer once said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”  In the words of Hamilton, “God can’t use us profoundly unless we hurt deeply.”  Do you want to be used by God?  Take inventory of your weaknesses, failures and disappointments. Consider them feedback, a response or an observation.  Learn from your so-called failures; don’t live under them. 

Stay away from negative people,

they have a problem for every solution.

unknown

Do you know someone who lives in a seemingly colorless world that breeds gloom? It’s downright depressing. Expressions of “why me?” fill the thick air of a room they’re in–scarcely evidenced by oxygen. You can’t take a deep breath into your lungs when you’re around them for fear of looking like you have life within you.

When tackling a life-problem, it’s tough to ask advice from such people. Their dismal outlook on life takes you down to the mat, shoulders plastered to the ground, leaving you wondering if there is any hope. And what is it like to live with someone like this? Your bottom lip would be raw from biting it and you’d need to take stock in an aspirin company from a chronic headache caused by gritting your teeth…as advice would frequently roll off their sharp tongue.

Do not be misled: “bad company corrupts good character.”

I Corinthians 15:33

Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

Proverbs 19:6

Being a part of a group of good friends, I’ve learned that MY bad company has the potential to corrupt the good character of the group of friends I hang out with. If I cannot love over an offense of one of my “sisters” then I will put a wedge in our group and we’ll split up. Is our group of friends worth it? Of course! The lesson: don’t be bad company and corrupt not only your good character but those around you as well.

How easy is it to complain about how you have been wronged somewhere? Pretty easy, I’d say. How many times do you take that coffee or fast food receipt and threaten to blow the employee away on the survey? But what about the inverse? How many times have you sent in a survey stating the good deed or simple smile of an employee that unexpectedly made your day? Probably not near as often as a bad report.

Take the time to respond to others in love rather than making more problems. It is just not worth it to be a “Negative Nelly Know-It-All” type of person. Find solutions to problems by acting in love, not problems for solutions by being a dark, cheerless pessimist.

It’s fall in the Midwest and yes, the weather is hot then cool, dry then wet and humidity looms somewhere between the stages of the thermometer. Predictable is not found here. And yet, things aren’t always unpredictable either.

As I strolled outside this morning near the barn, I noticed my husband’s John Deere. He faithfully uses this hard working piece of machinery every week. Barely getting a break all spring, summer and early fall this mower keeps up with the grass as it grows at a rate faster than a smooth move of a teenage boy. The hum of this machine is getting louder as it grows older; the paint is chipping and rusty red spots appear here and there. As break downs become more common, it may sit for a few days waiting to be fixed. But, one little spot caught my eye as I gazed at the big, bad boy.

A tuft of tender grass peeked through an angled area atop the mower blades. The flat housing was laden with dead grass from months of cuttings, but amidst all that death was fresh, green life. Nothing should grow there, it was not meant for growth. It was meant for protection from the whirring blades as they spin underneath. But despite what the housing was meant to do, there was a little spot of lush, tender life.

And what if the dash of a forest could speak? What would it say? “Darn the world” for being placed in such a precarious position. Angry, it would stomp and snort how life wasn’t fair because it grew in a restricted, unattractive, unwanted place–only to be swept way by a spray from the hose or the swish of a handbroom. Or, why would such tragedy befall the little jungle when it was peacefully minding it’s own business? The petty little nuisance of a clump was doing it’s own thing, but someday soon the dead grass underneath would dry out again and the plot of turf would lose the base it took root upon. The destiny of the happy and healthy green cluster was doomed. The clump would soon die one way or another.

If asked if it was worth it, would the tiny forest complain of its existence? I think not. Would the happy splotch of green blades wilt if pushed to think of the future it faced? I think not again. I dare say the collection of germinated seeds would be thrilled that they were able to make it in such dire circumstances. The clod would lean over in the wind thanking it for the afternoon stretch, and life given to the fledgling blades would be a life well lived as long as it suited the purpose it was intended to fulfill.

And what about us? What about me? Sometimes it seems like my little cluster of life is wilting and getting smaller and smaller and my existence is not of value. Why do hardships and drama fill some of my days robbing me of the joyous moments meant to pepper my God-given identity? Am I the inverse of those simple blades of grass growing to whatever they were meant to grow?

Psalm 90;12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” In numbering our days, seeing the beauty of the moments we have, we gain wisdom into our hearts. At times I can hear myself moan about a situation and the brevity of pleasure I will receive from it. I do not realize the pleasure afforded to me, in whatever measure it is given, is still pleasure…even if I desire more. By counting the days I have on this earth to bless others and to make a difference for Christ, it gives me a greater, God-centric perspective of the whole of the breadth of my life.