Lessons from a broken keychain

I was meeting with a colleague yesterday about a fantastic new outreach initiative our organization is tackling. It was a meeting filled with dreams, good ideas, and innovation. After we wrapped up, I reached in my purse and pulled out my keys.

My broken key chain

And broke my key-chain.

No big deal, right? It's just a key-chain.

Wrong.

This was not just a key-chain. It was a symbol of one of the greatest adventures of my life. This key chain was given to me by a friend while I served in Aceh, Indonesia, in 2005. It was crafted by a woman, a survivor of the deadly tsunami. She lived in an IDP (internally displaced people) camp on the outskirts of Banda Aceh. A community organization had taught the women in this camp how to make beaded key-chains, jewelry, etc as an income generating activity.

When I picked up these keys, I was reminded of my great adventure in Indonesia. I remembered my friends there, the impact the trip had on my life, and the long term difference I was able to make among groups who had experienced one of the most horrific traumas imaginable. I remember fiddling with the key-chain  on numerous occasions, wondering how it had survived the years of abuse at my hands.  It has been attached to keys for five different vehicles, three different offices, and three different homes. It's been thrown around purses and has traveled around the world. Pretty impressive resume for a key-chain, huh?

Banda Aceh days

I was sad when it broke, but I was also reminded of how I'm getting old! Next week will mark seven years from the day I set foot on Indonesian soil for that life altering trip. I grew tremendously as a person during those six months. You can read more about my growth time in Indonesia here if you are interested.

After the key chain broke, I reflected on my life over the past seven years and was reminded of three valuable lessons related to this small trinket on my keys:


Growth sometimes comes through trials. My time in Indonesia was difficult and trying, but I grew emotionally, and spiritually. I've been going through a trial recently, and the key chain reminded me that if I let it, this trial will result in growth as well. James 1:2 reminds us that trials lead to perseverance, which helps to sharpen and perfect us.

Maturity comes through time. I remember things I did and said at the age of 20. It's embarrassing to think about. But maturity comes through time. We can't jump from milk to sushi in the matter of a day. (Yes, sushi. I love sushi) The last seven years have been a time of maturing, and I'm so thankful for that. (I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes at my reflections of being 27 vs 20, but hey, it feels like a LONG Time to me)

God is constant. Things break. People leave us. Jobs get lost. But God is constant. My key-chain broke after seven years, but God has been around through this whole time. I'm not close with some people I considered my best friends seven years ago, but God has seen me through interpersonal pain and the advent of new friendships. My husband lost his job in January, but God is where our family's true value lies.

If you're experiencing loss, trials, or pain right now, I hope you remember that God is constant and that these things take time. I'd love to hear about any trinkets you have that remind you of a different time in your life. And I'd love to pray for you if you're going through a tough time of testing or waiting.

Puzzles

My boss brought a puzzle into our office the other day. We haven’t had a whole lot going on in our office lately, we’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern, so she thought it would be a fun thing to complete during breaks and lunch time.  The puzzle is a beautiful Van Gough painting of a terra cotta vase with flowers. The entire thing is in muted orange, green, gray and red tones. So, as you can imagine, it was really hard to put together!

We’ve spent hours piecing together the intricate design of the puzzle. Its been frustrating and I’ve wanted to give up several times. I’d find myself trying to force pieces of the puzzle into places they didn’t fit. I’d convince myself that they fit, only to have to take apart that section later when the picture would not come together. I even joked with my boss that I wanted to go buy an easier puzzle at Wal-mart and put it together instead. That way I didn’t ‘give up’ on the first puzzle, I just moved on to the next project. But, even though the puzzle was frustrating and confusing, the futher along we got in piecing it together, the more beautiful it became. Each individual flower, the delicate strokes of the vase, and the mint green background of the painting all came together to form a beautiful piece of art in puzzle form.

The puzzle reminds me of our lives as Christians. Walking with the Lord is easily compared to a puzzle. Each small piece goes together perfectly to form the big picture of our lives.  God made the puzzle and knows the big picture. He knows where each small piece goes.  I know God can put each person’s life puzzle together without our help, but I think ‘active waiting’ is what He desires for us. My Pastor, Louie Giglio, talked about this two Sundays ago. He made reference to Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart”. Louie went on to talk more about the context of this verse. Verse 3 says “Trust in the Lord, and do good.” Verse 7 says “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him”. This passage in context is essentially saying ‘wait with God’, do good while waiting. Don’t sit in the arm chair of life, staring at the pieces of the puzzle, asking God to come in and save the day. But we also can’t snatch away the pieces of our puzzle and try to piece them together. We must wait with God, work with God, and He will come through.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not good at the waiting game.  I often get frustrated and confused at the direction of my life. I struggle with having faith in God’s plan and timing and frequently find myself looking for the next thing to come. 2012 has been an especially difficult year in the terms of my life ‘puzzle’. My husband and I have faced spiritual struggles, job loss, financial insecurity, and broken vehicles- just to name a few of the stressors. We’ve questioned God’s plans for our lives both separately and together. My prayer has often been pretty whiny  “Lord, if you have big plans, why are you letting this happen? We were going to pay off half our debt this year. We were planning on serving you in bigger ways. Why did you mess up our plans?”

The key word there is ‘OUR’. I had a plan, I had it all figured out. I wanted to put my life puzzle together without God’s help. It would be comparable to trying to put together a 1000 piece puzzle without having the picture on the box. The Lord said “I know the plans I have for you….plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). He made our life puzzle and wants to put it together with us. I just have to relinquish control and allow Him to guide the process. He knows the big picture, He has the master plan.

So the next time you sit down to put together a complicated puzzle, think about Jesus. Think about the big plans He has for you and the fantastic adventures He has in store. If two pieces fit together perfectly, think about the times that God has revealed to you a piece of the big picture of your life or when His provision has come through in incredible ways. When you try to force a piece in the wrong place, think about the lessons you’ve learned when you’ve tried to do things your own way. And as the big picture of the puzzle you’re building comes together, it’ll make you smile to think about how God is putting together the puzzle of your life each and every day.

{archives} One: Twenty-seven

Author's note: This post was originally written on October 12, 2008. 

Does scripture ever come alive for you? Have you ever experienced something tangibly that is written in God's Word? I hope many of you have tasted the sweetness of salvation, but in our lives with Jesus, sometimes God's word is so clearly reflected on this Earth that it's hard to deny who He is and how powerful His Word is. I put James 1:27 to memory some months ago. "Pure and faultless religion is this: to care for widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." So often times us 'progressive' Christians balk at the word 'Religion', but we are part of a 'religion'. And our actions reflect our faith, and our religion. Faith is just a much more 'happy' word in our culture. But regardless, this verse has recently rang true and unmistakably tangible for me.

I have experienced the truth in this verse on several occasions, my first time being at the age of 15. But I wasn't really aware of James 1:27 at the time. My recent trip to Africa was my first time at an orphanage since memorizing James 1:27. The verse began coursing through my head the moment a little girl put her hand in mind. Almost immediately after getting out of our truck, we had numerous hands competing for our attention. For the duration of my first visit to the St. Bartholemew's Orphanage, I had four little girls holding my hands at one time. Two would share each hand. The verse kept running through my mind, on a continuous cycle.

The second evening at the orphanage, I picked up Celina. Celina had malaria, and was a sick and sad little girl. Her stomach was bloated, and she never smiled. She was content just to be held. At one point, her soggy diaper finally gave into its weight, and I found my shirt and skirt moistened by it. I didn't mind, I just wanted to hold her some more.

One day I spent an entire afternoon holding little babies. I picked up little Nancy after her nap. She clung to my shirt, putting her head on my chest. She held on for the entire afternoon. When I tried to put her down, she cried. My heart broke for Nancy, so rarely held, so desperate for physical touch and affection. I think I left a small piece of my heart in her hands when I left the orphanage that day.

I felt the purity of caring for orphans on those days. It was an intense experience, both spiritually and emotionally. I can't quite express how my heart felt during my time at the orphanage, and I can't express how the memories make me feel now. But I do know that the beauty of caring for orphans is indeed pure religion. God's word was alive, and I could see it as I sat on the floor with four children in my lap. I felt it just like I felt Nancy's hands clutching my shirt. I heard it though the laughter of children as we played with them. I smelled it as we fed babies formula, and even as we changed diapers. I tasted it though the hospitality as we were fed an amazing meal from the already tired and overworked staff. It is the living word of God being worked out and revealed to His undeserving child- me. But I'm thankful for the experience, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to know and understand what caring for those precious children is- TRUE religion.