My Hero

I'd like to spend a few minutes today sharing about a great woman's life.  Sallie Ride was a great inspiration for women to reach their dreams, and women around America are mourning her loss.  But there's another strong woman who defied social norms that I want to talk about today - my cousin.

Of all my family members I have always felt the strongest connection to her, most certainly because we both felt different from the rest of the family.  Teresa always did what she felt was right, even when it went against the strong Southern values of the rest of the family.  Teresa was a free-spirited artist, yet was incredibly down to earth.  She loved to garden and to make things - food, sculptures, whatever she wanted.  She loved antiques and nature.  She had her own orchard and complained when the city built a highway near her property.  She loved vegetarian cook books.  She loved order, and I inherited my love for libraries and all things alphabetized from her.  Most importantly, Teresa loved God.  She demonstrated that in a way few of us ever do- with her money.  Teresa was an incredibly generous woman when it came to God.  Ironically, what annoyed the rest of the family is what made me love her most.  Teresa lived out her own values to the fullest despite what everyone else wanted her to do.

Cancer often comes into our lives without knocking.  There was no way of knowing how quickly it would steal her away from me.  James 4:14 KJV tells us " Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." How quickly she vanished.  And how quickly her memory seems to vanish from the rest of the family - but not from me.  In true Teresa fashion, she is leaving her house to the church, something that has angered the rest of the family.  My good friend Hannah said it best "I am actually shocked but thrilled that Teresa would leave her house to her church! :) It's very fitting. If she has no dependents, why leave it to people who probably don't need it and aren't really part of her life?"  How well said!  What an inspiration she was to me, to follow my faith to the fullest!  I really hope she knew what she meant to me.  I have the hope that if she didn't, I can tell her all about it when I see her in heaven.  What a mansion she'll have there.  These are the heroes we need - not just women who flew into space despite the cultural stigma against them (although we need those, too!), but real, every day women who led their lives the way they felt best, even when their own family resented them for it.  And what a kind and loving heart she kept through it all!

Owning Ordinary

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and "sinners," they asked his followers, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Jesus heard this and said to them, "It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to invite good people but to invite sinners." -Mark 2:16, 17

Children in America are taught from birth to become "anything you want to be."  We are given this idea that the world is at our fingertips and we must simply reach for what we desire.  But how realistic is that?  Often preference in America is given to those of a certain racial, socioeconomical, and educational status.  And even with those things, this is a competitive country, and positions are often granted based on who you know.  I have several close friends who are still holding out and waiting for nothing less than their utopian dream jobs.  While I of all people would absolutely encourage trying for those things, at some point you have to move out of your parents' basement.  No one prepared me for an office job.  I was prepared to go to outer space and fly airplanes and go to the Olympics and be rich and famous. Those images are so stuck in brain that as I sit at my cushy, airconditioned desk at a job I love surrounded by great co-workers who are passionate about what they do I still stop and question- is this ok?  Is it ok for me to just work here?

Which brings me to what I really want to talk about.  In a similar way, no one taught me how to be an ordinary Christian.  I heard a great deal about "discovering God's calling for your life."  It sounded so important I thought surely He was sending me somewhere fabulously exotic.  I watched my peers commit to being pastors, youth leaders, worship leaders, and missionaries.  I thought surely God was "calling" me to become a missionary, since that seemed to be the thing to do.  Yet here I sit at the age of 26, with a desk job and a husband who loves Jesus as much as I do.  Did I miss God's "calling?"

I find it fascinating that Jesus ministered to so many ordinary people.  I am still amazed when I consider the story of the woman at the well (John 4).  Who was this woman?  Why did Jesus spend His precious time on her?  There was nothing great or special about her.  But Jesus went out of his way to pour His love out on her.  There is no record of her becoming a great missionary or a pastor.  She simply told her friends what God had done for her.

So is it ok for me go to work, go home, have dinner with my spouse, and go to bed?  Is it ok for me to just join a Bible study, and try to set a good example for others whether they ask me about Jesus or not?  Micah 6:8 tells us "The Lord has told you, human, what is good;  he has told you what he wants from you: to do what is right to other people, love being kind to others, and live humbly, obeying your God." To my best understanding, Scripture teaches us that God desires a relationship with us.  He desires us to be fulfilled and happy in Him.  He wants us to know we are loved and to glorify Him because of his mercy.  Our life goal should be simply to know God.  If God called me to be an "ordinary" child of His, I could not be happier to be Ordinary.

*disclaimer* I have been friends and loved ones who are in the ministry and want to be sure to express how much respect I have for those in full-time positions.  My goal is not to at all belittle that calling.  I simply want to address the fact that my personal experiences did not teach me that God could bless a life that was not devoted to full-time ministry as a profession.  That was a lack of knowledge on my part that I am owning up to.