The movie Frozen
was loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Snow Queen”. In case you
forget your fairy tales he also wrote ”The
Princess and the Pea”, “The Little Mermaid”, The Emperor’s New Suit”, “The Ugly
Duckling”, and about 160 others.
Frozen has been the highest grossing
animated film of all time and due to its setting and cultural influences, has
caused tourism in Norway to increase drastically since the release of the
film.
The highly popular song “Let
it Go” was recorded in 41 languages and was written in one day. It was to be the traditional villain number
that all Disney movies have but instead ended up being about freedom and
empowerment. Once the writers and
producers heard the song they realized that they needed to rewrite the script of
the movie to fit the song.
That one song changed the entire creative direction of the
movie. In the movie, during this song, Elsa realizes that she no longer needs to hide
her abilities, and so declares herself free from the restrictions she has had
to endure since childhood. She rejoices in being able to use her power without
fear or limit, to let her past go, and manipulate snow to create a living snowman and
a magnificent ice castle for herself.
You, too, have been given a power, a freedom from restrictions;
maybe not be build an ice castle, but an ability to use your God given talents.
You too, can let it go.
Pray –
Good morning and welcome to the Ridge on this mother’s day. I’m glad you’re here and for those who are
wondering ‘who in the world is this lady’, I’m Elizabeth Graham, otherwise
known as Beth, or Pastor Nick’s wife, or mom to these two girls. A couple of
times I have made a comment or two about mother’s day and … so upon one such
comment the return remark was … ok... you’re on, you do the speaking. I guess the lesson is unless you want to do
it… don’t mention it.
Since being presented with the opportunity to speak this
morning, my mind has casually been filing away questions on which to speak
about … what do I as a young mom, have
to say to other mothers who have been through way more than I have? What could I possibly say to them? On the other hand what do I have to say to
those moms who are just beginning their journey? What words of wisdom can I share without
coming across as “just another mom who gives her advice” I think I have boiled
it down into 7 simple words. “God loves
you, so let it go.”
Let’s turn to Isaiah 43:1-4.
Isaiah 43 New Living
Translation (NLT)
But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who
created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
I gave Ethiopia[a] and Seba in your place.
4 Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
I gave Ethiopia[a] and Seba in your place.
4 Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you.
A few years ago there was a totally sappy song
entitled “I Will Be Here” It went something like this
Tomorrow mornin'
If you wake up
And the sun
Does not appear
I, I will be here
If you wake up
And the sun
Does not appear
I, I will be here
This song was written by Steven
Curtis Chapman in the 90’s and sung at many a wedding. The song wasn’t actually penned out of warm
fuzzy romantic notions; it was penned out of pain. The role models that Steven and Beth had
placed in their life of what a strong, spiritual-centered marriage should be,
fell apart. It was during that time that
Steven wanted to assure his wife that their marriage wouldn’t crumble.
He said "It felt
like I needed to drive a stake in the ground again and say to her, ‘No matter
how I feel when I wake up tomorrow, no matter how disillusioned we may be at
different points of this, I have made this commitment to you, and I will be
here when you wake up.’ (SCC)
31 years later that promise is still true.
Mom’s we have to be careful. A lot of times we are busy with work, household
stuff, kids, taxi duty, but don’t forget about dad. I completely understand when you say, “I
don’t forget about him.” We still date
(occasionally, while getting groceries), I still see to his needs (when I’m not
too tired), I make sure he has his laundry done and food to eat (the kids have
to eat too), and so forth. Don’t take Dad for granted, maybe, way too soon, he could
be taken from you, and then you could be left to do what you do each and every
day, on your own.
Some of you are left to do this on your own now,
for whatever reason. Maybe it was your
choice. Maybe it was forced upon you. Or maybe for some of you, you have never
had the opportunity to become a mother. No matter what the situation you find yourself
in, God is there for you. Let it go, and allow God to help you to love
your husband even though you are exhausted.
Let it go and allow yourself to mourn over those children you will never
have. Let it go, release your pent up
frustration about not being able to find a Godly father for your children. Let it go because God has said, “I have
called you by name; you are mine. … I will be with you.”
Right now the most
popular names for girls are Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Ava, Isabella and for boys
they are Jackson, Aiden, Liam, Lucas, and Noah.
When we were picking
out the first names for our soon to be child, we had quite a chore. We would think of name and one of us wouldn’t
like it or it would remind Nick of a past girl he may or may not have liked
before he met me, or it was too common, or… the list of excuses would go
on. Eventually we settled on a name and
then of course everyone wanted to know ahead of time what it was. When Erica came along we struggled again, we
had used up 3 names on Emma so that gave us less to work with. Our boy’s choice for a name has never gotten
to be used as much as my mother would love to add more grandchildren to the
mix.
But you know… more importantly than what you
named you’re children; God has a name
for you.
Friend (John 15:15),
Masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10),
Treasure (Deuteronomy
7:6)
Sons and Daughters (2
Corinthians 6:18),
Beloved (Song of Songs
2:16),
Chosen (Colossians
3:12).
He has called you by
name, you are his, and He will be with you, because of that you can let things
go.
God promises in Isaiah
43 that you will not drown be burned or consumed. I must say … there are times it sure feels
like this is a promise that has eluded me!
I read an article the other day, which was fairly lengthy but I am only going
to share bits and pieces of it. This mom
stated how there are so many others out there that think they know how moms
should do their job and be a good mom.
The lists of requirements are,
Be a stay at home mom
Be a working mom
Be a stay at home working mom
Be a mom who bakes cupcakes for your kid’s class
Be a mom who buys cupcakes for your kid’s class
Be a mom who lets their kids watch tv
Be a mom whose kids says “what’s a tv”
Be a mom whose kids have perfect grades
Be a mom whose kids are failing a class or two
Be a new mom
Be a mom with an empty nest
Be a mom who homeschools
Be a mom who sends her children to a Christian school
Be a mom who sends her children to a public school
Be a mom who is caught up on laundry
Be a mom who is ten loads behind and doing the sniff test every morning
Get the drift? There is
just no way to be the perfect mom. Stop
beating yourself up over poor meals once in a while, dirty floors with dust
bunnies, getting frustrated and raising your voice. Don’t be alarmed when you feel the need to
hide in the bathroom with your favorite stash of chocolate just for some peace
and quiet. None of these things really
matter. They won’t matter when your kids
get married and go out into the world on their own. They won’t look back to their childhood and
hate you for all the boxes of mac and cheese you served last minute or the dust
that collected on top of the tv stand.
Others people’s opinions and standards can quickly consume us if we don’t
quickly line them up with the standard that matters… decisions based on what is
good for YOUR family and YOUR kids. No
family or kids are going to be alike, so don’t go around comparing yourself to
others who seem to have it all together.
God has, and will direct your paths when it comes to raising your family
when you go to him for help. Not
Facebook, twitter or the latest self-help magazine. It will only be with His guidance that you
will not feel like you are going to drown be burned or consumed by others
opinions of you as a mom.
You are not “a” mom, you are Billy or Sally’s mom. Do what works best for you and them and let
those outside opinions of you go and accept that He, God, loves you.
Those are easy words to say… let it go… in fact when something has been
bothering me I often hear in the back of my head … let it go, Beth, just let it
go. This is when the Lord and I get into
and little disagreement. Right Lord,
easy for you to say. You don’t have kids
and a husband waiting for you to get supper ready. You don’t know how much that comment hurt,
Lord. You just don’t get it Lord, how
that really bugs me. Beth… just let it
go. We don’t have to be Supermom like
the cartoon.
So how do we let it go? I believe
Rick Warren summed it up well in an article he wrote.
Every day, you have to decide who’s going to be in control of
your life — you or God.
That choice is a battle. There are things in your life that you
want to control. You want to make your own rules. But stress relief always
starts with letting God be God. It always starts with saying, “God, I’m giving
up control, because you can control the things that are out of control in my
life.”
I don’t know what you’re going to face this week. You don’t,
either. But I can already tell you what God wants you to do: Let go, and know.
Let go of control, and know that God is in control. Let go, and know! This is
the first step to serenity in your life.
Whenever we face out-of-control situations, we tend to go to one
of two extremes. For some of you, the more out-of-control your life gets, the
harder you try to control it. Some of you do the exact opposite: You just give
up! You have a pity party and invite yourself to it.
Both of those reactions to stress are foolish. They don’t work.
Instead of being a victim or becoming hyper controlling, you need to pray the
prayer of surrender.
The number one reason you’re under stress is because you’re in
conflict with God. You’re trying to control things that only God can control.
You can’t control your husband or your kids or your wife or your job or your
future or your past or any of that stuff. The more you do it, the more you’re
trying to play God, and that puts you in opposition to God. Not only are you
going to lose that conflict, but you’re also going to be tired.
Millions of people pray the Serenity Prayer, which is based on
the Lord’s Prayer, but most have never read the last eight lines to the prayer:
“Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as
a pathway to peace, taking as Jesus did this sinful world as it is, not as I
would have it; trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to
your will so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy
with you forever in the next. Amen.”
That’s where the power is! There is power when you surrender to
God the very things you’ve been trying to take control of from him.
He summed it up well. Control.
I dislike chaos. I dislike
mess. But guess what… I have a
family. I have kids. I have a husband. There is going to be mess.
Speaking of mess, when I am writing I
like to look up what different words mean, and this time around I typed in the
word mess. The example “An incompetent, disorganized, and confused person : Honey, I'm a mess”
came up. It made me laugh.
It never fails, when I am in my office
trying to work on either school work or book work, or just about anything, I
get interrupted and not just by the kids.
A couple of years ago, I introduced my husband to a new hobby,
woodworking. My plan behind this great
idea was that while I got to do my crafty things that I like to do, he too
would have something he could work on.
Well, that plan backfired. Now I
am in no way saying that my husband is incompetent or disorganized, he is very
capable of doing things and is also very organized … now, but confusion, yes,
that sometimes can set in. He gets these
wood working magazines in the mail and sees these wonderful ideas but the
directions confuse him. So he comes to
me … can you help me with this, what do I need, what do I need to do … so I lay
out the steps for him, figure out what he needs to get for wood, walk him
through the process … yeah… the plan for him to get his own hobby backfired.
Our own lives can be
like that. We have been given the
instruction book, God’s word, full of wonderful things but sometimes the
directions are a little hard for us to follow.
“Love your neighbour as yourself..., Don’t
worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you
will wear…, Seek first the kingdom of
God…” There are going to be events and things that
happen that don’t make sense, there are going to be things that God asks us to
do that others will question but remember God loves you, he will walk you
through the steps , step by step and lay out piece by piece what you need to
do, and because of that you can say:
I have been ransomed by
God.
I have been called by name.
I am his.
He will be with me.
I will not drown.
I will not be burned up.
I am precious to him.
I am honoured.
He loves me.
There is a song that various different artists sing called “You Never Let
Go”. I know I have mention a lot about
letting go, but in that process of letting go of those things that hinder us
from being better moms we need to realize that God is right there to hold us,
not letting us go.
May you listen to the song, read the words and go from here this morning
knowing that it’s ok.
You can let go because God loves you, because you are not just “a” mom,
but because you are “their” mom, God gave you those children and those
responsibilities because He knew He could trust you with them.
Please remember that these altars are also open at any time. There are many a mom here who have been
through tough things as well and would love to pray with you. If you aren’t comfortable with that or just
don’t think you can then at least try to make contact with someone this week
one on one.
You are precious to God, you are
honored, He loves you and because He never lets go, you can.
Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jAA_HgyGuQ
No comments:
Post a Comment