A Frog and a Pressure Cooker

I just dozed a minute in my cozy chair (I promise you -- that chair is a sedative!), and I awoke suddenly because I heard: "No pressure!" At first I wondered what that meant, because I sure don't, any longer, see my life as pressured. But then I heard it as a clarion call to caution my beloved friends and family. The answer came quickly. Life is full of opportunities to be stressed-out, but sometimes, voluntarily, we bring on the added pressure.

I thought about the added pressures we got ourselves into because of that BIG, beautiful, must-have home we purchased. It came with all that extra cleaning, the added maintenance of things that would break-down like the garage door motor, the air conditioner as well as the larger lawn and landscaping requirements, and God forbid -- that the home came with a gorgeous pool that was surrounded by pine trees that when the needles shed.....landed in the pool. Those were the added pressures we experienced with our dream home in Canada. But, we loved our home for entertaining and had wonderful family times. But was the added pressure really worth it?

And, who doesn't crave career "opportunities" along with titles and fat paychecks? We surrender our evenings and weekends to speed-climbing up the ladder or to promote our services if we're self-employed. The long hours are often grueling and the added pressure comes when we have to miss family time, school activities and celebrations, and it even affects our quiet times with God. And, often in even doing the right things in taking on more volunteer commitments in organizations and church -- we spread ourselves so thin that we leave little for those God placed in our lives as first priority. Again, I speak from experience -- though I can count on one hand the number of family opportunities we missed because of work. We did strive for prioritizing our family.

We can learn a lot about being in "hot water" from a frog. If you drop a frog into a shallow pot of boiling water, he'll jump out immediately. But if you place him in water at room temperature, then gradually bring the liquid to a boil, the frog doesn't notice until it's too late. Farewell, Sweet Prince!

If we have succumbed to the pressure cooker lifestyle and aren't noticing the signs of the heat being turned up, then maybe it's time for a closer look, especially because we are not only living a pressure-filled life, but we are modeling this life and teaching it to our kids. It doesn't take rocket science to recognize that years of pressure and stress will manifest in our behaviors and even in our physical bodies. Other legitimate signs of lives filled with pressure may be insomnia, excesses of food and drink, a troubled marriage and children straying off right paths.

It seems to me that we've become frogs -- creatures in some great experiment that we didn't sign up for. If we don't start paying attention, the outcome is predictable. Sure, some pressures are unavoidable and we handle them with wisdom, faith and strength. But we can strive to be free of pressure cookers by placing priority on what's most important in our lives -- God, our family, our peace. When we do have time for our loved ones, we can choose to disconnect from our phones and computers. We can talk to our spouses and our children face-to-face at meals. We can purposely make time for God in our prayer-times together and "no excuse" mentality in attending church where our spirits grow stronger and He gets first-place priority. We can say no to perpetual overload and in its place, say yes to turning down the temperature -- before we find ourselves pressured cooked alive.

“Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." Psalm 86:11.

Maybe You Could Use a Gap Year or Month or Day

I’ve been in Austin to see two of my sweet Canadian cousins. The extra perk is that they are staying at my kids’ home for a few days until they head out for Comfort, TX where Tynessa Neufeld will be attending Bible School.

Tynessa is taking a “gap” year to wholeheartedly pursue God and His Word. A “gap year” is typically when a student takes off a year to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Sometimes that gap year affords them the opportunity to explore the world or volunteer to help build water wells in third world countries or, in Tynessa’s case – to hone in on what God has planned for her future. Tynessa is three years in on her degree from the University of Manitoba, but along the way, she started asking “Where am I going? What will I be doing once I graduate? God, what IS your plan for my life?”

With so many questions about her future and a foolproof plan for her career future, she had an “aha” moment when she realized the answers can best be found in pursuing God and serving others. In fact, their first serving opportunity will be to Houston where the students will do their share in helping meet the needs there. I love her heart to be ON PURPOSE to get the answers for her future from HE Who knows everything about everything. The location is isolated and beautiful. I love that. Focus – void of the distractions of the world. Good for her and no doubt she will hear God’s voice -- loud and clear.

I, too, am in a “gap” year. I’m digging into the Word like the days when I was teaching full time which always gave me clear understanding for today’s decisions and tomorrow’s. We all need a “gap” time to clear our heads and hearts to hear directions from Heaven-Central! I sense that God may be waiting for many of us to admit to our dissatisfaction and lift our chins toward heaven and have guts enough to ask, “Are You asking more of me? Are You wanting me to pursue you more? Do You have plans for me that can only be known and found as I seek You with all my heart?”

If it is, then may God give peace and understanding to those of us who are unsettled. Over the course of the last six years, one of the things I believe God has consistently made clear to me is that He’d require more in my later years than less. Coasting was out of the question. If I wanted to be effective as a teacher and devoted follower of His, to bear more fruit so others see Him in me, I’d have to press in further, go deeper with Him in His Word, get bolder in love, service, and prayer. Those of us who are sensing an unsettled heart are expressing dependence on He Who GAVE His all for us. Unlike those with an "entitlement" mentality, our Lord was “titled” with God, Creator, Almighty, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, but He came to be one like us, without a title, to feel what we feel. He even took GAP times when He was found in the temple at age 12 and went home to learn more about His Father and pray and serve, and in His ministry years, He still needed to have GAP times when He’d steal away to a mountain to pray or to the Garden of Gethsemane to receive the strength He needed for what was up ahead.

We keep hearing the words “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14. We must ask ourselves the questions: "Are we really praying anymore? Do we read our Bibles anymore? As hard as this is to accept, reading a blog post or a daily devotion doesn’t really qualify as reading the Bible. We’re getting push notifications on our phones for our daily Scripture readings, but is that really digging into and seeking God's face and reading and meditating on God's Word?

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul refers to “the word of God which is at WORK within you.” Maybe it’s time for us to find some GAP moments, minutes, hours, days or even a year to seek Him and find Him. We won't have to look far. He's already there!