Hello friends.
I hope you have cupboards filled with pasta sauce and toilet paper and can warm up your coffee and sit with me a minute or two.
Painting and remodeling can wait.
There's always next week to turn into a cross between Julia Childs and Joanna Gains.
Have you seen the advertisements for these "Masterclasses?"
They always suck me in and send my mind wondering if I could indeed become a playwright, violin aficionado or blanch fish like no one has ever blanched fish before.
One of these promos came up on the computer and it just melded all that the Lord has been teaching me between rinsing paint brushes and sanding window trim.
It was an astronaut who has spent 21 years in and out of the Great Unknown that is Space.
Those in their 40's... remember how when we were in school we all thought that by the time we were married we'd all be shuttling to and from Space like the Jettsons?
Anyway, I digress.
This happens a lot lately.
I may or may not have taught my kids the Theme song to "The Gummi Bears," in Quarantine.
Hey, it's catchy.
My new hobby is finding new Cartoon jingles that Joel and I both know all the words to from the 80's and 90's...
Forget the Amazing Race, if there's ever a Game Show on old Cartoons, our Couple Game is strong.
We now return to our previously scheduled illustration.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield in the first 30 seconds of his promo hooked me with two phrases.
He said , "No Astronaut ever launches into space with his finger's crossed."
He also said ,"What I've learned after 21 years as an astronaut is that, the more you know, the less you fear."
The Holy Spirit said, "Welcome to your MASTERclass Deena. Meet your Instructor."
I haven't scrubbed like I've scrubbed today.
As if I could scrub away the germs for the whole world that apparently have collected in the downstairs shower.
Maybe your faith has remained unmoved this past week and a bit.
You don't blink at empty shelves, ambulance after ambulance passing the front window, and the news doesn't raise your heart rate a bit.
You my friend are made of some tough stuff.
I for one am fighting the urge to stay put and just let happen what will happen.
I feel weaker in my faith than I expected which causes times of deep sadness and introspection at my own spiritual frailty.
I heard a preacher this week remind me that Psalm 139:23 says, "Search me, O God, not "Search Me, O Me."
"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:" Psalm 139:23
There's a reason why we aren't to search ourselves.
Searching ourselves brings us to a pitiful end, the likes of chapters in Ecclesiastes.
We are to ask God to search us and show us our own need to be fulfilled in Him.
When we see our own frailty in situations like this quarantine it needs to drive us to the most powerful One in this whole wide universe.
Creator God.
This pastor also mentioned a young man in high school who went out for the wrestling team. The thing was, he only had his right arm, and the coach only taught him one move. One which he mastered.
His first meet came and by some amazing circumstance he won it. He just kept on winning with his one arm and his one move and finally asked his coach why he only taught him to fight one way.
This coach told him that he taught him the most difficult wrestling technique there was, and he mastered it.
And the only way to overcome that particular technique was to grab the opponent's left arm.
His weakness was his greatest strength.
This stopped me in the middle of drain scrubbing and made me take a deep breath.
This MASTERclass of Faith is teaching me that weakness is just another way for the Lord to show Himself strong.
To show Himself strong to ME.
No child of God needs launch into a new day with her finger's crossed.
We don't have to hope for strength in weakness. It is there for the taking, right on the bottom shelf, and there's no limit on quantities of it either.
II Corinthians 12:9 " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Weakness is nothing to be afraid of, or even ashamed of.
It is meant to be gloried in.
Each rising sudden fear, each worry, each emotional moment is cause for rejoicing.
It is just an opportunity to see where the Lord is showing up.
I'd rather rest in a heap of frightful thoughts and see the power of the Creator of the universe rest upon me in the downstairs bathroom, than fight tears in scrubbing.
This Masterclass is also teaching me that humility is just complete open-handed, open-hearted honesty with the Lord who knows it all anyway.
It's letting go and giving up and looking through all of the sorrow and cracks and admitting that you cannot fill the holes yourself.
Could it be that we miss showing a light to the world because we don't allow all the broken places to be seen?
When He wants to pour a powerful epoxy that seals all the broken and scarred and reflects a bright beautiful penetrating light that is so needed.
Let's just be honest with God about all the feels.
We aren't good Christians because we bite our bottom lip and barrel through.
We are blessed because we completely empty our pockets and surrender.
My Instructor then helped me see that this dear Astronaut finds freedom from fear in the limited knowledge he has of the vastness of Space.
If this courageous individual can find peace in a veil of Creation, how much more comfort is mine in knowing the Creator himself.
No rebuke, but an invitation.
To tune out the internet and touch actual pages of His Word.
If we didn't need reminded of His watch care and of His attributes we wouldn't have been left here to live with His very Words and His Holy Spirit.
I've made my favorite Johnny Cake recipe at least a thousand times in these 20 years of marriage, but I still forget from time to time just how may eggs I need, or if it's 2/3 cup sugar or 1/3.
So I head to the cupboard and rummage through worn papers to find the yellow page torn from a cookbook that didn't have enough gems in it to keep this minimalist cook from holding on to anything but a few pages.
I remind myself of what I know to be true and keep going.
This MASTERclass reminds me that the more I remember about my Instructor, the more time I spend with Him, the more peace I gain to keep on going.
These are uncertain times to us, but He certainly knows what will be.
It's not a time to become introspective, but to reflect on Him to reflect Him through weakness to a searching world.
If you need toilet paper I'm here.
If you need the link to the "Gummi Bears" I'm just a message away.
And if you need a virtual hug or a great cornbread recipe I am your gal. Reach out to me.
If I can encourage you buy Amazoning you some Oreos, I'd love to have the opportunity.
Let me know how I can encourage you dear ones.
My door is always open.
Just watch out for wet paint.
