The Pink Flamingo :: My Lenten Lessons (thus far)

that I’ve even written a book about it, along with all the praise verses in the Bible.

In fact, I wrote the book during Lent 2000. Earlier that year I went through a personal and romantic disaster. My (almost) fiancee basically trashed me to the point where there was nothing left of my self esteem or of the real me. While I now realize how lucky I was and the huge bullet I dodged, at the time it was rough. I think on a personal level it was one of the worst times of my life. I survived through PRAISE.
I’ve since learned that things are not always black and white with Praise. The book was completed that spring and at the publisher by the summer of 2000. They lost the draft. I had to go back and rework it. Then I realized the proofing was a mess. We’re now into the fall of 2001. By that time I needed to work on TRAVESTY so I put the book aside. Around 2004 when TRAVESTY and the Peabody were at the publishers, on their way, I went to pick up the praise book again. They wanted my novel. I’m into the summer of 2005. I reformat the layout. I lose it in a computer crash. I was a bit upset. By the Fall of 2006 I have it ready. The format is beautiful. We get a copy to my proofing editor. I get a new computer. I get the proofs back. The blasted HP turned out to be one of the world’s great lemons. I completely lose the format. It’s now the Summer of 2007. This time, instead of being angry and upset, I started praising the Lord for the mess. Fast forward to now.

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is every time I go back to reformat or rewrite most of the book, I’ve had to change a few things and add additional ones. I also realized the original version was so shallow it was pathetic.

And so, I’ve learned many new things. Just praising when things goes wrong isn’t enough. We must learn to praise and to be thankful for everything – including ourselves. We must learn to be thankful for how we look. We must be thankful for what we weigh. We must be thankful for our lot in life, for the mistakes we have made, and for our own screw ups. We must be able to look in the mirror every morning and say, “Thank you Lord, thank you that I am exactly what I am. I am thankful that I look the way I do. I am thankful that I weight what I do. I am thankful that I am exactly the way that I am because I am what YOU created. You do not make imperfect creations. While I may view myself as imperfect and the world may view me as imperfect, in Your eyes I am perfect (theology aside). We must learn how to be happy in who we are.
If there are things that need work, do it, but go about that work happily and in praise.

I started this about a month ago. I can’t tell you the ways my attitude has changed. The part of “me” that was stripped away by cruelty and unkindness 8 years ago is coming back. I am not perfect, but guess what, I am what I am and I am the person the Lord created. I can ask for nothing more (except for a specific pair of white shoes in the Bloomingdales catalog that I need for Spring).

Lesson learned.

The other day when I was all preachy about a blog post on The Sermon on the Mount, I noticed something.

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

I think this is the final step in Praise. This is rough stuff. It is also the most psychological satisfying thing I think I’ve ever encountered. I want to know why the heck I did not see it years ago. It is so simple – and almost impossible.

I think the bottom line here is we are to turn EVERYTHING in our lives over to Christ. Turning our faith and the big things over to Him is easy. It’s the little everyday stuff that rattles around in our heads that we just don’t want to give up to Him. I still don’t understand why, but that’s okay. As I grow in faith I am learning there is no why. Why is for the young.

The way I see it we are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks because this is the will of Christ. By doing this we open ourselves to new experiences. When we hold onto resentments, we don’t see the absolutely exquisite evolution of growth and faith. By doing this, we somehow open a door to our future, and the things that are to come – good things. By not doing this, we wallow around in a morass of depression and despair (been there and done that – no fun). We fail to see the gifts God is giving us. By being thankful for who and what we are and how we look, we stop fixating on ourselves and start thinking differently. When we realize that we are not to worry – but be happy, we let God work through faith.

It ain’t easy – but it’s starting to be fun.