Friday, August 11, 2017

Place: Five Minute Friday

It's Friday and I'm joining the link-up again with so many beautiful people whose hearts are aligned! Here's the link, I hope you'll try it!

This week's prompt is:

Place.

Immediately, Michael W. Smith's "Place in this world" popped into my head.
I remember the first time I heard it on a secular station, shocked that a "Christian" artist would be played on a "secular" station.

If you examine the lyrics, they're not overtly Christian, though. He wrote it along with Amy Grant and Wayne Kirkpatrick.

"The wind is moving
But I am standing still
A life of pages
Waiting to be filled
A heart that's hopeful
A head that's full of dreams
But this becoming
Is harder than it seems
Feels like I'm

Looking for a reason
Roaming through the night to find
My place in this world
My place in this world
Not a lot to lean on
I need Your light to help me find
My place in this world
My place in this world

If there are millions
Down on their knees
Among the many
Can you still hear me?
Hear me asking
Where do I belong?
Is there a vision
That I can call my own?
Show me I'm

Looking for a reason
Roaming through the night to find
My place in this world
My place in this world
Not a lot to lean on
I need Your light to help me find
My place in this world
My place in this world"

I think it reflects the human heart well. We want to have a plan for our lives and a purpose. Well, our purpose is to glorify God and the details of the plan? Those are not always revealed to us.

I spent time with a friend recently who told me her first remembrance of me. We were in a parent panel, interviewing candidates for administrator of our school. She came in with a different background and was concerned about his financial plans. I would not have thought to ask about those. I, instead, asked him what his view was of chapel and its importance. I was currently teaching the preschool and elementary chapels, but knew that our high school needed to be spiritually fed and not put into the "church box" where it's adult church at school and unappealing.

It left an impression on her that I was concerned about the spiritual state of our school, because it's God's school. And, that if we're doing what He asks us to do, then He will definitely provide financially.

It had been my prayer that year (After reading "The Circle Maker") that our school would become God's dwelling place. That our chapel would be set apart, a sacred place (much like the church sanctuary is not the fellowship hall). Currently, our chapel services are in our cafeteria, as are the elementary and kindergarten/preschool concerts.
***Timer ended here***

*wrapping up my thoughts here*
If God's place is our place, if we're consumed by wanting to be aware of His presence in every place we are, then we will find "our place in this world."

At the FMF Retreat, I wasn't sure what my place was. When you have a lot of gifts, people expect to define you by one thing, and you are sometimes at a loss to define yourself. Am I a writer? A musician? A teacher? A mom? A wife? Well, yes, but even if I lost all of that, I'd have Jesus. I'd have His Spirit dwelling within me. So, I am (in Darlene Zschech's wise words) a paper cup. God fills me up and I pour out His overflow on others.

:D
Love,
Tammy
(please leave me your url or linkup number in the comments so I can find you!)

Now I want to wear light denim jeans, with a white t-shirt, and a matching denim jacket. Ha ha ha!

20 comments:

  1. Visiting via Five Minute Friday. I love that thought of the priority of God's indwelling first, then the finances - a version of Jesus' 'seek first the kingdom...'

    Great to meet you via Five minute friday! I write on the Bible, suffering and the messy edges of life at my blog, Thorns and Gold.

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    1. Tanya,
      thank you so much for visiting! I can't wait to come over and read your writing.
      Love,
      Tammy

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  2. a little bird told me how awesomely talented you were and the praise and worship at the retreat was third heavenly!!!

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    1. Susan,
      that's just Jesus taking my fishes and loaves and multiplying them. :) He gets the credit. I can list for you all the less-than-perfect moments in every single worship session.
      Truly, though? His daughters came to His throne and rejoiced together. It WAS third heavenly!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  3. I love your thoughts here, Tammy! It's so true that if we put God first, the other things will fall into place and we'll find where he wants us to be.

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    1. Lesley,
      And it's such a fulfilling place to be confident that we're where He purposed us to be! :)
      Love that you are here!!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  4. This one is going to sit with me for awhile. "I am a paper cup." What an arresting visual. The idea that God can fill me up with whatever He chooses...that makes me feel special in a way I've never felt before.

    Thank you for taking the spiritual health of your school so seriously. I attended a private Christian school for 6 years and by the end, it was such a mess. I'm glad to know that there are schools out there whose teachers and administrators want to do better than ours did. - Marie (mlsgregg.com)

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    1. Marie,
      That quote really got to me. Her success could have spoiled her, but she knows who gets the glory. We aren't anything special, just paper cups.
      And thank you, no school is perfect, but my heart is that all the students would be saved!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  5. I love that song (and I love the lesson you drew from it. If we are with God, we are in HIS place. A good lesson for me at my school, when the tensions run long and the tempers short as we try to work out problems and through challenges. God will take care of us in his place.

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    1. Anita,
      so thankful for your feedback here. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond! :)
      He will and does care for us!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  6. Great song! God does take care of us. I'm in the 62 spot thus week.

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    1. Tara,
      thank you. I'm so glad you're here! Sorry for my delayed response!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  7. That is too funny that both Michael and the girl in the video are wearing the same outfit! Tammy, you can be all these things at once, full to the brim! I can so so relate. Thank you for writing about this.

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    1. Christina,
      now I remember you in person every time you speak to me online. You are a true blessing, and I thank you for every word. :)
      Love,
      Tammy

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  8. What a great vision for your school, Tammy! So excited to see where it will lead... love your post xx

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    1. Emma!!
      So so good to hear from you again! Thank you!
      Love,
      Tammy

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  9. Great to hear that story, Tammy!
    As a teacher myself, it's a wonderful thing to think of school as God's dwelling place. I believe classrooms will look and feel different. Rich blessings you keep finding God at school!

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    1. Katha,
      oh the calling of teaching! It's wonderful and yet it's possible to be so weary.
      Love,
      Tammy

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  10. I really appreciate your post, especially the part about God's place being our place. Like Psalm 139 reminds us, there is nowhere we can go that is outside God's presence and grace.

    Jeannie (I am at #64 in the linkup this week)

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    1. Jeannie,
      thank you so much! :) Beautiful wisdom in your response.
      Love,
      Tammy

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