On Fixing Yourself

I generally like mornings. Getting out of bed for me isn't a huge fight and I'm not in much of a groggy mood in the A.M. hours. I occasionally have those thoughts like I don't wanna go today.... but for the most part, there's no problem.

But then there are those days when "it" happens.

I walk to the bathroom, switch on the light, pop in the contacts, and then, I see it.

Oh, it's ugly. It feels gross. How in the world did it happen? Why do I deserve this? WHY?

With grunts of frustration, I proceed to squeeze the living day lights out of my skin surrounding it. Oh, the unnerving pain. I look ridiculous as I let out forceful breaths behind my clenched teeth and with one squinted eye.

I.
shall.
DESTROY.

SPLAT!

Hits the mirror. A sigh of relief and a hint of victory escape my lips, but I am once again disgusted as I wipe it off with toilet paper and am curious enough to examine the residue left on the glass.

If that isn't enough, my face starts bleeding.

I grab more paper and apply pressure to my fatal wound. Thanks to my body's highly effective blood coagulation process, I am left with a scabby beauty.
Awesome.
It's going to be a great day.


Did I just graphically describe one of your occasional mornings?

It may not be a gross pimple that you discover, but I'm sure there are plenty of other things on you, in you, or about you that you wish you could wish away. One of the easiest things in the world for me to do is lay in bed at night and think of everything I need to fix about myself.

I'm pretty glad that I'm at a point in life where I'm having thoughts like, Hmmm. I'm not as awesome as I thought I was. It's true. I'm not that big of deal and I've got loads of issues just like everybody else. These thoughts are good and sobering. I'm also finding it good and sobering to think that it's not all on me to fix myself. I've given control of my life to the Life Changer.

When I agreed to follow Jesus, I essentially made Him my landlord. This life really doesn't belong to me. I don't own it. You'd understand this if you've ever been a renter.

I am so relieved that when my heat stops working, I just have to call the landlord. I don't have to go to Home Depot and I don't have to spend money or time or frustrating hours trying to fix my own maintenance problems. I put in a request for it to be fixed, get on with my life, and then come home to a fixed heating system. It's glorious.

Also, this Landlord--He doesn't get angry with you when something's wrong. He has an immense amount of patience and His love doesn't depend on the number of problems you have. Actually, I'm convinced that He really enjoys the process of you learning about an issue and helping you get over it.

He enjoys YOU.
Yes, you.
With all of those problems and all of those things you keep doing over and over and over again.
YOU with all of those attitudes and thoughts.
He loves YOU and He loves to see His prized possession become something amazing.

That process will most likely not be easy and it won't be short. There's no magic pill, but it is so, so beautiful for the Lord to see. It's his hobby. It's an absolute pleasure to take his children through transformation.
He LOVES the process of transformation because He loves YOU.

Got a problem? Call your Landlord.


"I give it all to you, God, trusting that you'll make something beautiful out of me."