Equal Opportunity

Life can be unfair.

Discrimination abounds.

Bullying is rampant.

Justice seems blind.

The rich appear to be the favored class.

Certain skin colors seem to have all the advantages.

Where does this end?

News Flash:  Breaking News!

Listen to these words:

“Come unto me, all who carry heavy burdens.  

I will give you rest. “

Matthew 11:28

No exclusivity found there.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

No qualifying directives and no one is singled out.

Seek me and you will find me, 

when you search with your whole heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

The only requirement there is “with your whole heart.” No color restrictions.  No language requirement.  Just seek and mean it.

I suppose, with these statements of fact given, that we could say that God is an equal opportunity God.

We approach him on level ground -- all of us.

Our past doesn’t help or hinder us.

Our clothes matter not.

Our pedigree is unimportant.

Our native tongue is fully understood by God.

God is an equal opportunity God.

I like that kind of God.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Getting Better

A short story:

There once lived a boy who dreamed of being a world class runner, except he never ran.  He never trained.  He never entered into anything even remotely connecting to running. 

He got fat and lazy – he died having never tried.

The end!

Whoa!

Can you name one activity, one skill that is made better without practice?

Me neither.

Emile Coue, a famous French psychologist, once said this …

“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.”

The fact is this - We get better at what we practice

What is your craft?

How do you improve it?

Are you a reader?

Do you attend conferences?

Do you watch others who excel in your line of work?

Do you analyze past experiences and find ways to improve?

We get better at what we practice.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

What? Pray?

I have a new favorite book.  It is Anne Lamott’s Help Thanks Wow.

It’s fresh and it speaks to me.

For instance, Anne says:

“We can say anything to God.  It’s all prayer - even the simple word ‘help’.

“That is a pretty profound prayer.  It’s not a hallmark prayer like the Lord’s Prayer or the Serenity Prayer, but it’s pretty profound anyway.” 

What exactly is prayer?  Its conversation – it’s simply talking to our higher power (God) about anything and everything.  Its shotgun bursts of “help’, “thanks”, “I hurt”, “I’m lonely”, and many other utterances. 

We pray because we seek union.  We seek union with God because so often we are bitter or broken.  Anne says that “In fact, these are probably the best possible conditions under which to pray.” 

Feast your eyes on this concept:  “Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up.  The opposite may be true.  We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape.”

There seems to be a dose of honesty in this approach to praying, and the God I talk to can handle my honesty. 

Let’s begin some honest conversations. 

Pray.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Thimbles and Buckets

There is a huge difference in the capacity between a thimble and a bucket.  Thankfully, life isn’t always measured in capacity.

Quantity is not all that it is cracked up to be.

How many times have I been embarrassed by the meager contribution I felt I could offer compared to others in my peer group?

Remember the parable about the talents in the Bible?

The one given five turned it into ten.

The one given two turned it into four.

The one given one buried it for fear of lack and fear of exhausting the supply.

He was the one who was punished.  He buried his thimble-full rather than invest it, share it, and watch it grow.

Believe me, my friend.   Your thimble-full contribution is important and needed.  Where would the orbiting space station be without the smallest set screw doing its job along with the big swinging arms, the powerful engines, the massive computers, and the sophisticated communications equipment?  That set screw is pretty powerful in its own right.

And so are you. 

Your contribution matters to someone somewhere.  Step up to the plate; bring your thimble-full of whatever is on tap in your life.  Somebody needs a taste of that brew.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Did You Get It All Together

We live in a time when it’s important to “get it all together”.  People who are undone sometimes find themselves on the short end of things. 

We have to “get it all together” on projects, on songs, in relationships, in church and in recipes.

I mentioned church in the list above.  Does God look over the railing of heaven and judge us on our “togetherness” factor? 

I don’t think so. 

Time and again we are reminded to come as we are, leave the cares of the world behind and follow; accept the invitation.  I’ve noticed when I read those words that there are no qualifying instructions leading up to the invitation.

We don’t have to do forty laps around the football field.

We don’t have to bow to the east, or west, or in front of a crucifix or say the Lord’s Prayer in Hebrew.  No such commandments exist. 

The invitation is simple – Come.

And God is doing the inviting.

He says:  “Bring me your tired, your weary, your heavy burdens, your worries, your woes.  Bring it all to me.  Don’t worry about tying it up in a neat little bundle; just bring it all to me.”  In other words God is saying, “You don’t have to get it all together before you show up.”

You can’t earn a place at the party.

You can’t smell good enough.

You can’t look regal enough.

You can’t know the right people in power.

You don’t have to be healthy before you show up.

You don’t have to have two years clean time before you show up.

Just come.  Come as you are. 

Maybe Anne Lamont is right – “we do not have to get it together before we show up.  The opposite may be true.  We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape.”

I kind of like that imagery.  That’s my kind of God!

He helps me get it together.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Hand to Guide Me

I want to borrow the title to this blog from Denzel Washington’s book published in 2006. 

The power of influence is sometimes a misunderstood power.  We all influence and we have influences.

Denzel refers to the Boys & Girls Club in his New York home town, and how they had a guiding and stabilizing influence on his life.

And the story continues. 

Who is on our path that is in need of a hand to guide them?  Sometimes those who serve in the social services industry see nothing but an endless stream of individuals who soon become just one more helpless person who has lost their way.  Yet they still have the power to be a hand that guides.

I’ve served in ministry for a good part of my life.  Was I a guiding hand for someone along the trail?

Teachers see masses of students over the course of their teaching career.  Do they still try to be the hand that guides, or have they given up hope of ever making a difference in a student’s life?  Just this week I watched the movie Freedom Writers, the story of Erin Gruwell, a teacher who became a hand to guide her students in a large inner-city school in Long Beach, CA.

I could name you a few select individuals who have been instrumental for me.  They came along at a time when I needed them the most and their influence has made a lasting difference.

Let me encourage you to commit your life to becoming a hand that guides.  Often, we don’t get to choose where we have our most impactful influence.  It happens when we least expect it, and the one we might think is listening the least is the one we help the most.  

We have an influence on those around us.  What kind of an influence are we leaving behind?

Ears are listening.

Eyes are watching.

Hope is waiting.

They just want to know you care.  And your hands could become the hands to guide some unknown spark of humanity from despair to living a distinguished life.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Dark Night of the Soul

Sometimes we face the dark night of the soul – those times when the world closes in, relationships fail, jobs end, finances run out, health falters and emotions get spent.

When those times come along, take heart.  You are not abandoned.  You are not lost, and you are not alone.

The God of the universe is with you.  He is marking out your path, even in the dark night.  He is protecting, guiding, conquering, though you may not see any of that.

Be at peace.

                    Rest easy. 

Allow His words to bring comfort and rest.

Be neither afraid nor dismayed, for I the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

(Joshua 1:9)

Be still and know that I am God.

(Psalm 46:10)

He whispers and soothes us with words of hope and encouragement. 

What more do we need? 

What more indeed.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Facing the Impossible

When we face challenges we almost automatically think “impossible.”  That is the human response. 

And then along comes our faith.  Some people find faith statements in the ancient scriptures; others find their faith in other people’s thoughts. 

Audrey Hepburn once said:  “The word 'impossible' itself says “I’m possible.”

I like that.

Also love to be reminded of this thought: 

“For with God nothing is impossible.”

These words were spoken to Sarah, wife of Abraham, regarding the birth of Isaac.  Remember, Sarah was 90-years old, a wee bit past child bearing in those days.  Amazing.

Mary, the mother of Christ, must have heard the stories about Abraham and Sarah and their great show of faith, for she answered the angel Gabriel with similar words: 

“Even so, be it unto me as the Lord has said.”

In other words, With God nothing is impossible. 

May you find grace and strength to face your impossible tasks.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time