Firsts & Lasts, What Happened to the In Betweens?

(a picture of my niece Lauren Kate on her first birthday, eating her first birthday cake)

FOCUS TEXT: ROMANS 12:1-2, 6-8 (THE MESSAGE VERSION)
^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. ^6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Lauren, who is my first niece, and the first grandchild in the family was born just over a year ago—so this past year has been following her life and the ‘first’ things that have happened. I was able to see her on her first day in the world, attend her first birthday, follow her blog and have been able to see her first steps, hear her first words, and hear stories about other ‘firsts’ in her life, and will continue to as she seems to have a ‘first’ something or another every week!

We celebrate and often talk about all the ‘firsts’ in our lives. First smile, first steps, first time on potty, first birthday, first words, first day at school, first boyfriend, first kiss, first job, first car, first credit card, first child, first, first, first. Recently there have been deaths of many celebrities and well known people like Michael Jackson, and Patrick Swayze—their accomplishments and contributions in this world have been recently celebrated. We often celebrate the first and the lasts of our lives. What about the in between?

You often hear the saying, it doesn't matter how you get to your destination as long as you get there. Can I suggest to you differently? Maybe it does matter whether take the scenic road, the intrastate, or the toll road. I think it didn't make a difference in my grandparents' day but I think it does now for us because we're so obsessed in getting places first and we often have too much to do in one day to take the scenic route. Not only are we obsessed about getting to our destinations first but we want to be there in the fastest time possible otherwise we see it as ‘wasting time.’

The bible is full of stories of men and women who have taken the scenic routes in their lives. Most often, we think about the pain and extra time that comes with a detour. We don't think of how beautiful it can be. Getting to our destination is not God's top priority. The process of getting us there is equally if not more important than our destination. That's because we embark on the journey with God and not alone, and when we finally get to our destination we will be the person God has intended us to be.

Have you ever made a pottery project? You begin with a lump of clay that first has to be pounded and slapped around before it can be thrown onto the wheel. When it gets on the wheel, it is molded. After that it's left to dry and then fired in a kiln. When the first round of firing is done, colors can be painted onto it. After which it is put back into the kiln for another two times before we see the final product. Often times we admire these works of ceramics but we have no idea what great pains and many hours and days it took an artist to create a beautiful work of ceramic with its intense colors. God is like an artist that creates us for a purpose.

Moses and Nehemiah are people in the Bible who had their days in the scenic routes of their lives. But I like Nehemiah's attitude. Nehemiah's my man these days. He has an attitude worth imitating. From Nehemiah 2:2, we read that the King could tell that Nehemiah was visibly sad. It was SO obvious that he asked Nehemiah what he wanted. I don't think the King would have bothered if Nehemiah had been throwing temper tantrums or been a complainer during his years of service. He was the best cup bearer he could be. If there was such a thing in Nehemiah's time as best service award, he would have gotten it.

We're all currently in our in between years now. Can I suggest to you to live out your life like God depends on it? When we live our lives with such an attitude - life's the best, our scenic routes suddenly take a different turn. We stop to smell the roses, enjoy a nap under the oak tree and sink our feet into the first spring grass. We journey with the Lord who is our guide and companion.

You know what, I'm so enjoying my scenic drive these days that I'm taking as many "snap shots" of my drive. Do that and you'll be amazed at the roads Christ is taking you on. Continue celebrating life, especially the ‘in-between moments,’ on your journey.