I Wish I Were A...

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

I am fearfully and wonderfully made!  When was the last time you said that to yourself as you saw your reflection in the mirror?  I’m guilty of saying several other things instead!  It was a crazy school year full of great changes and challenges and celebrations.  There was excitement and panic tangled up with opportunity and adventure.  There were middle lovelies and seniors and new jobs and new schools all smashed into one school year and looking back I can say there was some stress.  Someone asked me at a softball game this spring how stressful the year had been and I smiled and answered, “About 25 pounds worth, but check in with me next fall and I’d like to show you what 25 pounds of peace looks like!”  So with the first week of summer vacation, I’m on a  journey of peace and a mission to ditch the 25 pounds of stress that mysteriously (or not so mysteriously) wound up slathered all over my body!  If only it were as simple as a good intention.

As I work to restore organization and order to my neglected house I was sorting piles in the office, and I  happened upon an old book and flipped it right open  to a paragraph all highlighted and underlined and it made me laugh out loud!  The book is called Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver.  It was particularly funny because I was pouting about how hard it is to swap my crappy eating for healthy habits (AGAIN!) and wondering why God made me so round in the first place.  I started out shaped like a snowball and I just seem to keep rolling down the hill and collecting more.  I began my little “this is not fair” pity party wishing He had made me differently and that’s when the book appeared.  This is what I read;

I don’t know why I couldn’t have been a bear.  If you’re a bear you get to hibernate.  You do nothing but sleep for six months.  I could get used to that.  And another thing, before you hibernate, you’re supposed to eat yourself stupid.  That wouldn’t bother me either.  If you’re a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business; you swat anyone who bothers your cubs.  If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.  Your husband expects you to growl when you wake up.  He expects you to have hairy legs and excess body fat.  He likes it.  I wish I were a bear!

After I stopped laughing I realized the power of this verse from Psalm 139.  He didn’t make me a bear, he made me HIS!  That’s way better than eating myself stupid, not shaving my legs and sleeping for six months!  I think the part of the verse that deserves attention and not just a pass by are the first three words; I praise you... enough said!  He is waiting for me to praise him because he made me fearfully and wonderfully in his image.  The extra lumps are my doing but he loves me anyway.  I think as I set out in search of a peaceful summer I better make sure I do a little more praising and thanking and just maybe I’ll swap that for pouting and comparing my cross to everybody else’s.  Seems like a good plan to me!  While I’m about the business of praising I’m also going to remember to thank him for his perfectly timed humor because I haven’t opened that book in over 5 years and it just appeared and fell open to the perfect page.  Does he love me enough to rescue me with humor…YUP!!!

A Seed To Plant:  Write yourself a note that contains the words from Psalm 139:14 and repeat it three times every day for a week. 

Blessings on your day!