My Huh Moment

Gilda Radner was the funniest woman ever on Saturday Night Live. She was in the original cast and I believe she set the standard for every woman—and every man—who has ever been on the show since.

One of her funniest characters was Judy Miller, a live-wired little Brownie who would turn her bedroom into a studio in which to host her own variety show. The frenetic pace of the show would build and build until Judy (Gilda) would eventually be slamming herself into the door of her bedroom, at which point her offstage mother would be yelling, “Judy! What’s going on in there?”

Judy would freeze in place, look around bewildered as if she had no idea what had just happened, and reply, “Nothing.”

Yesterday I had an epiphany. We often call those “aha moments,” but we don’t actually say, “Aha!” At least I don’t. What I usually say is, “Huh.” And then, “How ‘bout that.” And that’s what I did yesterday. I was driving in my car and suddenly said, “Huh.”

I’ve been carrying around a very deep pain for several weeks. It’s a problem that has hurt and troubled me for a while and the longer I’ve carried it the deeper it has drilled down into my heart. I won’t go into the details here, mostly because I don’t want you to isolate the specifics. I want you to get the point that I was carrying it around . . . and there was absolutely nothing I could do to fix it.

My “Huh” moment yesterday came when I realized that I was being Judy Miller. I was slamming myself up against a door for absolutely no reason. It was doing me no good to worry about the problem and it was doing the other person involved no good either. It wasn’t fixing the problem and, worst of all, it was robbing me of my joy.

So I thought, Huh, I can let this go. How ‘bout that. I don’t have to keep throwing myself up against a problem that I can’t fix just to keep frustrating myself and feeling swallowed up in pain. And the minute I realized that, I felt the chains around my heart break. I could practically hear them snap! And the grace of God flowed in and filled my heart with peace . . . the shalom kind of wholeness that I had been missing for weeks. And I looked around and thought, Oh my goodness, what a beautiful day! (I know that sounds corny, but I just report the truth; I don’t invent it.)

God will give us the grace and the strength to handle anything in our lives to which he has called us. But there is no grace for those things that are not ours to carry.

If you are carrying a load that is not yours . . . if you are feeling guilty for something that is not your responsibility or worrying about something for which someone else is accountable . . . turn it loose. Lay it down. It is not your burden. You can still pray about the situation and love the people unconditionally. But you are not responsible for their actions or choices.

Allow the love and the joy of the Lord to fill your heart with peace as you become the person you are called to be and live the life you were created to live. Jesus Christ has set you free and you are free indeed.

Huh. How ‘bout that.

That's What You Got?

Have you ever walked out of a movie theater with a friend and asked, "What did you think?" and been utterly stunned at their response? When they said something like "I didn't like the music," or "I've never liked Hugh Jackman," or "The color of the whole thing seemed too blue...I hate when they do that." And you just want to scream, "Really? That's what you got?!? We just sat through two-and-a-half hours of movie time and you were stuck on the soundtrack??? Do you even know who Martin Scorsese is?"

I haven't written on my blog for several weeks now...very busy and not feeling especially well. But also nothing has particularly inspired and/or bothered me. Until this past weekend. Easter weekend. And now I've got something to say...still busy, not feel very well, but have to write about this.

I actually heard an ad on the radio that said, "Of course Easter is in the spring...it's the most beautiful time of the year!" What? Did someone just say that? Did someone have the audacity to say that our Lord Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead in the spring because it was prettier to do it then than, say, sometime in September?

That just brought to the surface a frustration that was building in me over the preciousness associated with Easter this year. I don't mind the pretty flowers and bunnies decorating everything in celebration of spring. It really is a beautiful time of year as everything is in bloom and the energy in the air is contagious and invigorating. But there is a line that we need to be careful not to cross, and that ad on the radio just jumped (or hopped) all over it.

I imagine Jesus walking through one of our stores--say, Wal-Mart or Target--and into the Easter section, and saying, "Really? That's what you got? I died on the cross, overcame the powers of death and sin, and rose on the third day, and this is where you take it?"

Of course, we could explain to him that we use Easter eggs to symbolize new birth. We could explain that the Easter bunny is...I don't know...I really don't have a clue how to explain that one. And we could point out that it's a celebration of springtime. 

And then we would tell him to just show up on Easter Sunday morning and listen to our church service...that he would be really impressed with the music then. 

Here's my bottom line: We Christians have been making a huge deal lately about keeping Christ in Christmas. How about we keep Christ in Easter? 

We know he is risen indeed...let's remind the world!