I Can Do All Things...

Returning to my blog theme, I have discovered myself saying “I can’t” an awful lot lately. How quickly I have forgotten that “I can do all things through Christ…” so I pulled my desk Bible out today, (it’s my NIV study Bible, it’s huge, check out the youtube video “Baby’s Got Book” and it’s kind of like that), and read Philippians 4. To get to verse 13, I had to read verses 1-12. Now there’s the kick in the spiritual pants I needed. Verse one says “stand firm in the Lord”. Ya think that would help? Verse 2 was easy because I don’t know anyone named Euodia or Syntyche. Verse 3 though, is bringing it again. “Help all the fellow workers whose names are in the book of life”. Well that certainly includes the Christians I don’t really make an effort to help, doesn’t it? And this is probably where Euodia and Syntiche come into, it has to be relevant or God wouldn’t have put in Philippians. Verse 4 “rejoice in the Lord always”. Verse 5 “let your gentleness be evident to all” (COME ON! Totally not fair putting this in there. Me? Gentle to all?), and continues “the Lord is near”. Well praise God for that. Verse 6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with THANKSGIVING (my emphasis) present your requests to God”. Prayer and anxiety are opposing forces. Try to stay anxious while you pray, I dare you. Verse 7 “the peace of God…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
I truly believe verse 8 is the lens we should view absolutely everything through, and it convicted me of changes that need to be made, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, thing about such things”. Am I the only one saying “ouch”? Our thoughts have so much control over our lives. Verse 9 “whatever you have learned, received, heard or seen from me, PUT IT INTO PRACTICE” (again, my emphasis). We are being told to do what we have learned, received, heard or seen. It’s kind of specific, like the difference in telling your kids to get ready for bed, or telling your kids “put on your pajamas, put your dirty clothes in the laundry, brush your teeth, wash your face, get in bed, turn out the light, and go to sleep”.
Verse 11 and 12 “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances”, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want”. I was hungry one day last week. Really hungry. Wednesday is my roughest day for work, schedule wise, and then I made it harder on myself by working a second job on Wednesday nights for 3 hours. I work 13 hours on Wednesdays (but it’s just for 4 weeks, and 3 are over and the second job is for the best boss I have ever had and the perks this month have been unbelievable, God has definitely blessed me), and I have back to back meetings at 10:15 and 11:30 which mean sometimes I miss lunch, which I did last week. Then I was late getting to my second job, so I grabbed a diet coke and a bag of microwave popcorn. There was no microwave. I don’t know how missed that, but I did. I was the only one there, so I couldn’t leave, and it’s only a 2.5 hour shift anyway. So I went to the car and looked through every pouch, pocket and compartment and under every seat, hoping my son or daughter had left a granola bar or protein bar or a three week old turkey sandwich, anything I could eat. I found one M & M and one Sonic peppermint. Needless to say, the second I left work, I headed straight to Arby’s. (Twofold reason, most importantly, I was hungry, and second, my family will wait for me to work 13 hours and then come home and feed them, so I got Arby’s for everyone, just ate mine in the car on the way home). I could have called any number of people and they would have brought me food. My husband, my mom, a couple different friends, my brother, but I knew in two hours I would get to eat, so it really wasn’t a huge deal, so I don’t think this counts as learning to be content in hunger. Maybe it was the digging under the car seats that shows I was not content.
(Notice I did not say my kids would have brought me something to eat. I think that if my kids fed me as opposed to me feeding them that it would upset the balance of the universe. Cosmic chaos would ensue. No way to recover from this magnitude of opposite world). I have lived through some times where I didn’t know if things were going to get better or get worse. It’s verses like this that keep me going. The heroes of the Bible that understood life is ugly and messy and painful and there will be seasons of want, but I CAN be content in these times too. God is always good, even though life can be pretty bad. Contentment is an internal force, it works its way from the inside out. Could this be the secret Paul was talking about? It’s what’s inside you, not what you have or what you achieve. On the flip side, going without and being an underachiever (in the world’s eyes) doesn’t mean you have to suffer discontentment.
So while I’m not going to tell you the things I’ve been thinking “I Can’t” because many of you would find me just plain pitiful, I am going to make some changes. Because my “Can’t” is going to be Can”. What about you? Have you been saying “I can’t” to something that you should be doing?