What makes you feel weary or weak? Talk to God about it today; he promises his strength & power (Isaiah 40:29).
Ponderings
Devotionals, prayer & insights from my Bible reading
Prayer prompt for Sunday, Feb. 20
God never grows tired or weary (Isaiah 40:28). Thank God today for his strength and ask him to open your heart to his word this week.
Are you weary? (Prayer Devotional for the week of Feb. 20)
Does it ever seem like you are on auto-pilot, just going through the motions day in and day out? Is your Facebook wall filled with joyful messages every Friday afternoon and cranky messages every Monday morning? Do you ever simply feel worn out, fed up or drained?
Random House Dictionary defines weary as “physically or mentally exhausted, fatigued, tired, irksome …”
As we read this week about the disciples joining Jesus in the upper room for their last meal together and reflect on our own relationships, we will spend time praying about weariness. We cannot always change our circumstances, but we can adapt how we react to them. We choose to forgive, to sacrifice, to love … or not.
The apostle Paul describes this daily choice in life as dying to ourselves. His letter to the Galatians is full of references about how we should be crucified. Crucified?! But that’s awful! Obviously, he’s not talking literally about killing ourselves; he means getting rid of the sin in our lives and replacing it with the Holy Spirit. He talks at length about dying to our old selves and living for Christ, because we have a new focus – a new purpose – in our daily relationship with God.
Part of that process means turning over our weariness to God and leaning on his strength instead of our own.
Prayer prompt for Feb. 19
This week, we read that God’s No. 1 goal for us is love. It’s the greatest commandment (Jesus said so!), and it trumps all of our other goals. With that in mind, let’s focus on placing high value on our relationships in the coming week:
(Saturday) Pick one of the people you prayed for yesterday and spend extra time praying for them today, by name. How can you build that relationship?
Prayer prompt for Feb. 18
This week, we read that God’s No. 1 goal for us is love. It’s the greatest commandment (Jesus said so!), and it trumps all of our other goals. With that in mind, let’s focus on placing high value on our relationships in the coming week:
(Friday) Pray for your neighbors today: people who live next door, the colleague at the next desk, classmates, the car next to you at the stop light.
Prayer prompt for Feb. 17
This week, we read that God’s No. 1 goal for us is love. It’s the greatest commandment (Jesus said so!), and it trumps all of our other goals. With that in mind, let’s focus on placing high value on our relationships in the coming week:
(Thursday) Make a conscious effort to focus your mind on God today. When something (or someone) gets on your nerves, pray about it immediately.
Too busy for our own good
We hear a lot about mentoring. Even the Bible talks about Paul mentoring Timothy (and others), and the Old Testament mentions the importance of passing down wisdom to the next generation(s). Professional development organizations exist to help people network and advance in their careers. Why, then, is it so difficult to make a mentoring relationship work? Is it just me? (If it is, I’m going to start taking it personally.)
For at least the past seven years, I have sought out three different mentors at work. Each one fizzled out, for one reason or another. Either she was never available to meet (once every month or two is all I asked), she left the university for another position, or I felt like a pest for suggesting meeting times and not getting any response, so I finally quit asking.
Less formally, I have tried meeting other women for lunch to get to know them better, make friends, learn about their careers and “network.” Although I have gotten to know a few acquaintances better this way, none of the lunch dates have evolved into a strong friendship or mentorship. The last one I asked never replied, so I took that non-response to mean that she’s too busy.
I’m tired of the chase; it reminds me too much of dating.
After all of the let-downs with my previous attempts, I thought I had something to look forward to. I had a lunch date on my calendar for next week, and I’ve been excited about it for over a month. I have a mental checklist of things I’d love to ask her and know about her. I am hoping to glean some insight from her about my own career interests. This is a lady who I admire greatly: a mom and a scholar who seems to balance it all deftly. Well, her assistant just called to reschedule our lunch … to next month. *sigh. I know she’s busy; I’m not angry, just disappointed.
It’s not just the women, either. Granted, I’ve sought out women, in particular, as mentors because I thought it might be awkward to have a male “mentor,” per se, but I do have male colleagues who I respect and value their input. One of them meets with me a couple of times a year and asks about my research interests as we prepare for a joint presentation that we conduct nearly every fall/spring semester. He has been a tremendous influence and encouragement to me and someone I would consider a mentor, in a broad sense. The problem is that we don’t talk between presentations. I try to keep him updated by email with news articles of mutual interest, but he seldom responds. I asked him once if the articles were helpful, or if he’d rather I not send them (I didn’t want to overrun his already-bursting inbox). He assured me that they were great, but he just didn’t have time to follow up on them.
It just makes me wonder … what do I want? Should I accept that a couple of times a year is the best I can hope for with a mentor? I think that I want to transition from Development into higher education leadership, the faculty track or nonprofit administration, but I don’t want to be so busy that I can’t take time for other women who look up to me. (I’d like to think that there might be a few who do.) At the very least, I hope that I’m never so busy that I don’t have time to return an email.
On a side note, I need to share that I do have one really terrific mentor, my co-pastor. She and I meet before church a couple of times a month to pray and talk. I appreciate her guidance on a spiritual level, and I know that I can be open with her about what’s going on in my life. I do value our relationship, but I don’t think it’s the same as having a professional mentor. I can talk to her about frustrations in my marriage and brainstorm plans for Life groups, but I need someone I can bounce ideas about my career and research.
Prayer prompt for Feb. 16
This week, we read that God’s No. 1 goal for us is love. It’s the greatest commandment (Jesus said so!), and it trumps all of our other goals. With that in mind, let’s focus on placing high value on our relationships in the coming week:
(Wednesday) What worries you? God already knows; talk to him about it. Claim his promise of peace and trust him in faith (Philippians 4:6-7).
Prayer prompt for Feb. 15
This week, we read that God’s No. 1 goal for us is love. It’s the greatest commandment (Jesus said so!), and it trumps all of our other goals. With that in mind, let’s focus on placing high value on our relationships in the coming week:
(Tuesday) What do you “love”? A favorite music artist? Chocolate? Your family? Your new car? Profess your love to God today. He loves you even more!
Fog
It should come as no surprise, if you know me well at all, that I am not a fan of heights. I used to be a theme park fanatic, but my enjoyment of roller coasters disappeared like a freshly fried funnel cake when I grew up. I will still ride them to save face with my kids, but I don’t enjoy them nearly as much as I used to.
More specifically, I do not like bridges. In part, I blame the “Natural Frequency” video that we watched in high school. My usual commute to work takes me across one large overpass. It doesn’t usually bother me unless the weather is bad. (For instance, I took a different route to work all last week when we had icy mornings.)
I should have thought about that this morning, because the fog was so dense, visibility was limited to three or four car lengths ahead of me. At one point, I tapped my brakes to give a dump truck behind me ample warning that we were slowing down quickly. It looked like it was approaching much too quickly, and sure enough, the driver had to veer off onto the shoulder to keep from rear-ending me. I had checked my side mirrors and was prepared to swerve into the other lane if necessary, but thankfully it was ok.
As I followed a slow line of vehicles up the foggy on-ramp of the overpass, it occurred to me that none of us could see the top of the bridge, much less the other side. For all we knew, the bridge could have snapped like that awful video, and we were being led to our doom like the Pied Piper’s rats.
I thought about walking through the fog, metaphorically speaking, each and every day. I can’t see what’s at the top of the bridge, much less what awaits me on the downhill side. I have two hands on the wheel and a tentative foot hovering over the brake, but when it comes down to it, I have to trust that my Bridge will support me.
