by Amber O’Brien
I just love all the pithy pickle phrases that is part of being on the pickleball courts. My first goal for my partner and I, if we start falling behind and feeling anxious, is to be “unpickled“.
To be pickled means: to be skunked and end of with 0 points…so I get excited when we get that first point and I yell out, “We can’t be pickled now!”
But how do we get “unpickled” in life? How do we keep from the vinegar of life that can slowly turn us into sour pickles?
What is the opposite of vinegar ? I say sugar…like the sugar sprinkled out from our Dear Heavenly Father’s hands this past weekend. Let me explain.
A small gathering of some sweet sisters occurred and we listened to the Sept. 8th first5.org audio taping on the topic of the tension of being in exile in the bible (like Adam and Eve banished from the garden, the Israelites wandering in the desert, Joseph being sold into slavery…etc..) and then we discussed how this all related to the times in our lives when we felt unrooted …or our children were unrooted and our “mommy hearts” were torn in the process.
One sister shared how she was unrooted a lot as a child because her dad was in the military, another sister feels torn between home and a job that are in different locations, one friend has a child who was exiling themselves by bad choices….another whose long season as a mother had ended with an empty nest. Now what?
We all could relate to being exiled like so many biblical men and women who often were confused, hurt, anxious etc…. when God allowed painful times of Exile.
One sister recently made the tough decision to shake their adult child out of the warm nest of her home…. knowing that this was best long-term for the child.
Our “pickle” was slowly becoming…….unpickled!
So this must be why Our Heavenly Father shakes us up too!
We discussed how Long -term God knows what is best for each of us and that when we become too comfortable, this can create weak spiritual muscles.
Our good good father loves you So much my sister….so if He has shaken you up and out of your comfortable nest, it is so that your wings will start to flap and grow stronger and as a result you will grow closer to God as you soar higher with Joy in your heart.
What can you do to strengthen your spiritual muscles while you wait?
But those who (wait, hope, trust) in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings on eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:13
