You’ve got it. I’m back at it again. Yes I had another date with Sudoku yesterday morning because there wasn’t much else I could do. We just finished a three consecutive concert in a row tour (that’s redundant isn’t it?) and my body went on strike. For two days I’ve been chasing my running nose like a two year old toddler who refuses to settle down for her nap. I’m sneezing virtually and in reality. No fever, headache or other aches, but just the tiredness that comes from a congested head that added a couple of kilograms on the scale. Whew!
Oh but my time with Sudoku was nice and peaceful and I finished the puzzle faster, even though I wasn’t trying to speed through it. What was happening? Well, I’ve been applying the other lessons Sudoku taught me i.e. thinking outside of the boxes for instance. But today I noticed something different I hadn’t been doing before. I was talking out loud!! LOL!! “You can’t do this, you can’t do that. . . because there’s a nine here, and there and there. Aaah, but you can do this!” If I recall correctly from my school days (sometimes I was just dazed, and enjoyed it.) this is called the “process of elimination”. Cool, it really does work in real life and not just in text books. :-)
Looking back on my upbringing especially in the church, we were warned that as Christians we could not do so many things, so much so we were not told what we could do. So for many of us our lives were spent “not doing” rather than doing, like walking down the street with your eyes glued to the sidewalk so you won’t step in dog doo, but you miss that handsome man walking by who was trying to get your eye. (Well something like that. Wait, please come back!!) We were thus limited in our scope as to who we were then, and who and what we could become. Even though we had invited Jesus to live inside our hearts we had not intellectually come in contact with the great big dreams He had for us so we told HIM on a daily basis “we can’t do this and we can’t do that” by our words, thoughts and deeds, efforts at living righteously. Of course I can now imagine Him looking at us with “unbelievable” in His eyes, yet with undying love and patience with us in our blindness. (Thanks for Your Amazing Grace!)
As I played with Sudoku this time, each time I said what I couldn’t do, Sudoku would eventually reply “but you CAN do THIS!” I was like wow! And each discovery made the game come alive to me once again. That’s the power of encouragement and affirmation – it gives us strength and power to move on and press through the difficult time and place. I wanted to go to church today but my body said “no”, and the Holy Spirit agreed, or the Holy Spirit said “no” and my body agreed. Anyhooooo, that’s two against one. All I could envision were the thoughts behind the stares (I can SEE what you’re thinking) of fellow metro passengers that with each sneeze, sniffle, and nasal drip snort that I was probably engaged to a pig. NOT! Then my mind fast-forwarded to the people I wanted to see who I’ve not seen for months thinking “ghee we’re glad to see you, but couldn’t you have stayed at home with that song and dance?” So what could I do? I didn’t want to just sit or sneeze the day away, at least in my mind. My body thought it was a good idea and just continued as she pleased. “Your body’s here with me, but your mind is on the other side of town.” That’s what I was experiencing. So I asked my Lover, what can I do? He said “you can work on finishing your book and prepare it for the editor. You can use this time to rest and be quiet.” Not a bad idea.
Many times Jesus told His disciples to “come away” and rest after feeding thousands, taming stormy seas, cleaning out the temple (didn’t have Hoovers back then) and healing a man from the swine flu. Well actually what happened was the man had a lot of “folk” living with him and everybody wanted to have things their own way. He was very schizophrenic and violent and loud and when he saw Jesus get out the boat everybody just went berserk. Jesus asked him his name and he replied “Legion because there are a lot of us living in here man.” To make a longer story long (just kidding) Jesus told them only one person could stay, but all the rest had to go, so they asked Him to send them into the herd of pigs on the hill. And so He did and the swine flew down into the sea. LOL! Jesus did what He could do and that was liberate that man mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, socially. Wow talk about one-stop shopping! Walmart has nothing on our Savior.
I’m now looking at life differently more each day, not from the perspective of what I cannot do, but what can I do here, now, on my way to doing what I cannot now do here. :-) All things are possible to her who believes, and I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Nothing is impossible with God for if I have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed (that’s not very big) I can ask Him for what I need and desire – according to His best for me – and I shall receive it. Daily God asks us “What CAN you do?” not because He doesn’t know, but because He does know and He wants us to know it and get it, and DO it. I find that in all situations, the one thing I can do no matter what’s happening is pray. Prayer isn’t just asking for this or that but it’s the vehicle for elevating my mind and senses above my environment. Prayer empowers me to believe when I find it difficult to see. Prayer encourages me to use all my gifts and talents to accomplish something at any level, not just for myself, but for others too. Prayer lets me praise and show the Lord my gratitude for what He has already done for me in my life. Prayer is an awesome privilege and opens the portal between heaven – the Lord, and earth Me (we are made from the dust of the earth. ;-0) – God touching me and me touching God Spirit to spirit. (That’s what Jacob’s ladder signifies, btw.) Prayer opens my eyes, gives me fresh and new vision (“I once was blind. . .”) to other possibilities, and also to retrieve nuggets I discarded because of disappointments. I could go on about prayer (Yes I Can! LOL!) but I think you see what I’m singing. LOL!!
So the next time you or I are talking about this or that, and we hit a place where we’re talking smack, you look at me and I look at you, and ask the question “What can you do?” Lord not only is Your grace amazing, but YOU are amazing!
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