March 28, 2014- I Can Do All Things

             I can do ALL THINGS through CHRIST Who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:13)

I like bracelets.  The more the merrier, nice and jingly. 

             So.  My boyfriend ordered a surprise present for me and it arrived in the mail today- a sterling silver bracelet with the above quote engraved on it.  Isn’t he the best ever?  I think really though he is just trying to make me happy so he can get me to shut up with all the same old emotional baggage I’ve been making him carry.  Over and over again he has to reassure me; over and over again he has to listen to me stress about the “same old, same old”.  I told him tough.  If he was dumb enough to willingly marry me twenty-eight years ago, it isn’t my fault, he is just going to have to take his lumps because “all a this” (gesturing to my whole self) isn’t free.  It comes with some high maintenance work a lot of times.  He’s just going to have to buck up and deal with it, because I’m like a bloodsucker, a bloodsucker with baggage; I’ve latched on and he is never going to shake me loose.   

           Anyways, I was thinking this morning how fickle and weak we humans are (me in particular).  We can be spouting off sonnets of love and eternal devotion to God, and the next minute we’re changing the locks on the door over a stubbed toe. 

            I can so relate to the story of St. Peter- such a regular kind of guy- swearing up and down that he will be there for Jesus, but when the poop hit the fan, he demonstrated his human weakness, just like Jesus said he would. (John 13:38)  When the going gets tough- the tough cut and run!  Ha!  Oh well.  I’m a human.  What can I say? 

            What this little running setback is showing me is how much I need to latch on like a bloodsucker to Jesus.  But, things start to go my way and I forget in a heartbeat that I am lower than a worm and need to be forever attached to Jesus- in the good stuff and the bad.

           Perfect timing on my bracelet.  Perfect words.  So.  Time to regroup once again (I am good at regrouping because I do it like every five minutes) and let those words and my husband’s sink in.  He keeps saying that I can walk.  If I have to, I can walk part of the race.  Even if I can’t run another day until the big one, I can do this.  I will do it because; I can DO ALL THINGS through CHRIST who gives me strength!  (I’m just going to have to have him tell me so another six thousand times between now and then.)