believe

When You Are Frustrated Do This

It wasn’t a typical Monday morning. Not after twenty weeks at home in lock-down mode. School was here. Time to face the music.

We’d already made the decision to homeschool our oldest two. You might have read about that previously. But what about the little ones? What were we to do with our toddlers?

How would we navigate all four kids at home, fulfill all of our professional educational responsibilities, lead our congregation, and not lose our minds. Depends on who you ask. More than a few would say we lost our minds a long time ago. Which brings us back to this atypical Monday morning. 

All of us know what it’s like to be frustrated. There have been whole weeks (recently) when I hung out in frustration for so long I fully expected it to start charging rent.

I was frustrated this particular Monday. Why? Because we had made the choice to send our youngest two back to preschool. Not the source of my frustration. But I couldn’t actually walk them into their rooms. That was the source of my frustration.

I’m not knocking the staff or the school. We love our little preschool. King kids have been dancing down those halls for going on eight years—and before that Jamie taught there. It’s the best preschool in town.

I was frustrated because it was time to let go of something I was hoping I could hold on to for just a little longer. See it was my daughter’s first day.  She is seventeen months old. She has never spent an entire day away from Mommy with a stranger. And I didn’t get to be the one to take her to the stranger.

Did I mention I was frustrated? I was frustrated at the options in front of me. I was frustrated at handing that little pink sippy cup over before I was good and ready. Circumstances had wrenched reality right out of my hand. You’d be frustrated to.

You probably have been. These last few months have been repeatedly frustrating for so many of us. What’s ticking you off lately? It’s probably not hard to figure out. What’s that thing just under the surface that seems to make you simmer inside? Loss? Confusion? Missed-expectations? Your frustrations might come from something else entirely. I get it. We all have them.

We all know what it’s like to be frustrated. Frustration often happens where expectations hit a wall.

There we were standing in the preschool lobby. They checked our temps. I signed the paperwork. Everyone was masked up. And then it was time to hand over my children.

Matty took it like a champ. He was so excited to be back at school with his little friends. He was good to go with his Paw Patrol backpack and Ninjago lunchbox. 

Anna didn’t know what to make of it. She is seventeen months old. Do you know how many of those months she has spent at home with Mommy? Seventeen.

But it was time. Time to let her go where I couldn’t go. Seventeen months just seemed too young for that kind of milestone moment. Hence the frustration.

I handed her backpack, some diapers, a lunchbox, and sippy cup over to the director of the school. And then it was time to hand over Anna. She was stoic. She obviously didn’t understand what was going on. She didn’t react emotionally. Not like I wanted to. But she didn’t want me to hand her over either. She held on to Dad. She held on to the familiar. Familiar is comfortable.

Our frustrations will often stymie the next step forward. Even when we know one simple step could take us from comfortable to something better. It’s usually just one step. For you, and for the one needing you to make a move. I didn’t know what to do.

And then sweet little Matty stepped in. My rowdy, hyper, rough-and-tumble three year old said, “I take you, Sissy.” As he grabbed her by the hand and bravely walked her through the front door.

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The moment wasn’t lost on me. My decisive nature is quick to lean hard toward the solutions I like, and bow up at the ones that irritate me. Sometimes reality yanks the choice away.

When frustration hits big and you don’t know how to handle what’s important you need help. You need a hand. I know I did. But you don’t just need a hand. You need a hand-off.

You might need a friend to meet you halfway and help you carry some stuff. Maybe you need a loved one to just pick up the phone. Or, perhaps you need the innocence of a three year old to take his sister by the hand.

Whatever your frustration, don’t let the circumstances make you overlook the opportunity. Take a hand when you need one. Give a hand as often as possible. Handing off what’s got your goat will help you take your next step forward. Probably the one that will untangle your agitations. Do it.

You might not even know what the hand you need looks like. For me, it’s my faith. The providence of a friend with good timing. Or, the certainty of something more than imagination can muster. Faith is good at steadying me in the midst of frustration.

Handing off frustration to faith doesn’t make me weak to reality. It makes me better at trusting God.

I’m thankful for big faith. And I’m equally thankful for the small hands that remind me. Not everything has to be epic. Sometimes God will simply show up and say, “I’ll take you.” He’ll even do it through a three year old.

Hand off your frustrations. You don’t need them anymore. Emptying your hands of frustrations will free them up for whatever help God sends your direction. I don’t know what it will look like for you. I only know he’ll do it. When he does—just go. Take the hand that’s offered. Let faith in something better lead all of the important stuff in your life. It will take you somewhere you’d never go on your own.

Would you let us know what’s been frustrating you lately? Maybe we can help? And if you think someone in your circle could use some help handing off their own frustrations please consider sharing this with them.

April 4 - For Righteousness

Read: Matthew 5:1-12

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 ESV)

The Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5-7, is one of the most widely taught passages of scripture. The first portion is frequently referred to as the Beatitudes. Jesus' purpose in sharing this message was to influence people to forgo their desires for things beyond the Kingdom of God.

You will be blessed by yearning for, and indeed, living off of Christ's righteousness. We possess no righteousness except for Christ's. His goodness, his holiness, his perfection is the root of righteous satisfaction.

We can, and should do good works in this life. However, they will never make us righteous. They will never make us holy. They will never satisfy. Only Jesus can and will. Let us all seek after and for righteousness.

April 3 - Jesus Changes Things

Read: John 5:1-17

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" (John 5:6 ESV)

Can you imagine laying in the same spot everyday and just hoping that someone would help you? It sounds horrible. Yet that was the daily reality of the lame man at the pool. Unfortunately it is also the daily reality for many people today.

Jesus came along and changed everything for the lame man. He did the same for so many others throughout the gospels. And he initiated the change with the question, "Do you want to be healed?"

I firmly believe that many people who face dire situations today, no matter long they have been trapped in that circumstance, can experience a change in their life. Jesus changes things. Not only is he the diving point of human history, but he can also be the diving point of your own personal story.

April 2 - Believe Jesus

Read: John 4:46-54

Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. (John 4:50 ESV)

Belief is such a powerful thing. It compels people to behave in ways that are all over the place. Some responses to it are rational. Some are strange to say the least. History, even recent history, has shown us that some people react to belief with violence. In the gospels we see that people frequently responded to Jesus by believing in him. Today is no different.

We can believe in him. He stands apart from everyone and everything else in history. And that belief is not misplaced.

Like the father from John's story we will see a remarkable difference in this life by placing our belief in the Lordship of the incarnate Son of God. It will mean spiritual healing. Sometimes it may mean literal physical healing. It will certainly mean an eternal destiny in his Kingdom.

However, belief alone is not enough. Belief is the starting point for the recognition of our need for him. Submission, surrender, is the move that brings us wholly into his holy family.