THEO

At THEO, I am always impressed by the rare student who seems to have an understanding of their big picture.  These extraordinary people rarely struggle following the crowd, and yet they have friends.  They are content in their own circumstances – with their giftings and failings alike – and yet are pushers who strive to grow, learn, and accomplish more, never resting on their laurels.

Premise:    God created EVERY human being with a purpose.

Conclusion:   Therefore, every human being SHOULD be comfortable in their own skin, with their own talents or failings, knowing that God loves them, chose them for life and created them uniquely for an important purpose in His creation story.

SAD FACT, few people, of any age,  seem to have their big picture, their calling, firmly held in focus.  Few people, even Christ-followers, seem to know that God loves them and thinks they are a fabulous idea with a wonderful purpose in mind.

Irrational rabbit trail:  Perhaps some parents are better at knowing their BIG picture is to instill a trust of God and the knowledge of His BIG purpose into their children?  If that is the case, if the success of each of us lies solely with our parents, then life is a lottery as to who will be successful and who won’t be, completely dependent upon which family you are born into.  Throw that rabbit trail premise out!  It is incongruent with the God of the Bible who sent His Son to die for the sins of each person who is alive today, who was alive in the past or who will be alive in the future.  He sacrificed too much to leave the results to a lottery.  He longs for each one to turn to Him for a relationship.

So what exactly does this big picture concept offer a soul?  Can the big picture be caught or taught or does it have to be engraved by the Lord into the heart of each person?  And if that is the case, then why does He wait so long to send the news to certain people?  (Answer: Perhaps He is waiting for us to ask Him?  My God is a respecter of boundaries.  He does not go where He is not invited.)

Knowing the big picture is not knowing which college to attend, nor whom to marry.  The BIGGER big picture questions are: what do you want to accomplish with the time God gave you on this earth.  Do you sense what He has created you to do? How do you value God?  Is He your number one or is He merely an item in your top twenty favorite things?

Wondering if you are one of those folks with the big picture?  I ask you….Feeling insecure?  Struggling with your identity?  Feel like you haven’t found your place in this world yet?  Wonder why you were born?  If you answered yes to any of those questions, I would suggest you lack the big picture that your soul was created for.  How to find it?

Seek HIM!

Ask the Lord for His plan for your life.

Confess to Him that you don’t see much good in yourself and that you wonder how you can exist in this sad state.  (He knows your thoughts, but He LOVES when you talk to  Him.)

You might be surprised how quickly He will answer when asked sincerely from a posture of humble seeking.

I challenge you.  Try it.  What do you have to lose?

Lord, I pray that you will open the ears and eyes of each person who seeks You after reading this message.  Give them eyes to see Your answer, ears to hear them!  Help them to sit still long enough after praying to take in YOUR Words back to them.

One definition of insanity is to repeatedly do the same thing while expecting a different result.  This is the textbook definition of how Terri Threadgill tries to change.

Today, God’s Word jumped off the page at me as I suddenly recognized HIS wisdom in how we can change.  Wow!  Perhaps this is better than the fountain of youth?

Ephesians 4:23

To put on a new man

who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness

that

comes from

TRUTH!  (exclamation is mine, not the Apostle Paul’s)

Ephesians 4:23 reminded me of Romans 12:2b…

but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind

These two verses are supported by many others, as well as by my experience.

In the past, and sometimes still  now, I try to change by will power, by the force of my desire, which only lasts a few minutes.  Suddenly, this morning, God gave me eyes to see that any true change in my life had come the same as Paul describes in Ephesians and Romans – from TRUTH.  What is truth you might ask? God’s Word, the Bible

I have been changed by studying God’s Word on a consistent daily basis with my mind.  This change has  not been akin to a sprint, but a marathon that I have been running for decades.

Does the idea of  decade long journey to change discourage you?

Don’t let it. God is so kind.  He will reward you along the way, just as He has me.  In the beginning, He let me pick a lot of “low hanging fruit” which kept me coming back.  Farther along the path, I had to strain a bit more to discover new knowledge, but His Word is filled with fruit if you consistently spend time in it – studying in a methodical manner.

Daily roulette Bible reading won’t offer as much return for your time.

Come see me if you have questions about this consistent, methodical Bible study I am talking about!  I will be happy to share a little about what has worked for me.  Godspeed.

Terri@Threadgill.name

Happy Wednesday THEO students,

During our high school Economics class, students learn the difference between producers and consumers.  Normally, I ask the students who in the room is a producer.  Many hands go up as most high school students have a part-time job.
I follow the first question with a second one, a third, fourth and fifth.  Oh, you pay for the rent for the roof over your head?  You pay for your own car insurance?  You pay for every bite of food that you eat?  Every stitch of clothes you wear?  How about the monthly cost of your THEO classes?

Teaching Economics since 2001, I have never had a student answer those questions yes.  Not one of them can say they provide for the roof over their head, their insurance, clothes, education, etc.  They have some producer in their life and that producer does not consume 100% of their income in order to provide for the student’s housing, education, food, insurance, clothing, and more.  What about vacations?

But I digress….

Students, thank your producer today.  Thank the person who does not consume 100% of their income in order to provide for your needs.

It will indicate that you have matured toward maturity; matured to adolescence when you recognize that you are not a lone stranger, an island needing no one.

Which brings us to a new topic – when is a student an adult?

At 18? When out of college?  When you land your first job? When you can provide for all of your needs without any income provided by another producer?  Nope….

You are an adult when you are that producer who doesn’t consume 100% of their income.  When you are that producer who provides for other consumers in your life – a wife? a husband? children?

Be aware students.  Minors are provided for. Recognize your position, the thread wears thin when  you are not grateful.

Adolescents are not provided for; yet, they do not provide for any one else.

You can only be called an adult when you are sacrificing your right to consume 100% of your income to provide for someone else in your life that you love.

Consider.  Thank your producer today.  Recognize your position in this capitalistic world.

Thirty years ago a friend offered some great insight.

God-given gifts are very negative when not harnessed by the Holy Spirit.

Example:
The gift of discernment from the Lord is a critical and judgmental spirit when not harnessed by the Holy Spirit.

When I hear myself sounding critical, I take a step back and recognize I have left out the Holy Spirit.

God gives many gifts, but Christians, remember, they sour when not harnessed to the Holy Spirit.  Bow the knee to Him.  Let Him use you in might ways, positive ways, for HIS glory!

Feeling judgmental?  I struggle with that too, but feel thankful  today that the Lord revealed my sin to me, for I lived decades without knowing it was my sin, without ever struggling against it.  How badly do I struggle?  I feel judgmental of judgmental people…sigh…

Knowledge of how God views judgmental spirits and obedience is part of the cure.  Delving deeply into God’s Word to learn more about Him, not just listening to sermons, no matter how many, can help strengthen you and me for the fight against sin, whichever is our pet.

Matthew 21:28-32 adds a whole new twist to the problem of a judgmental spirit.  Jesus was addressing the chief priests and elders in the temple when He taught them with this parable.

In summary, a man with two sons  tells the first son to go to the vineyard to work today.  The son answers, “I will not,” but later changes his heart and goes out to work.  The father tells the second son to go work in the vineyard that day to which the second son replies, “I will, sir.”  But he did not go.

verse 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?

When the chief priests and elders replied the first son, Jesus responded, “I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!”

Pregnant pause.

Feeling judgmental?
Best stop

today

to consider which son best represents your heart.  The first son or the second son?

Far too often, I am the son who says, “I will, sir” and yet I don’t.

Even worse, I want to judge the first son who verbally says no but then changes his heart and obeys.  How often have I seen outward signs of rebellion in another and judged them?  When I do, I am not allowing them the space and time which God allows for each of us to change our minds.

What was the old phrase from the 70’s? Be patient with me for God is not finished with me yet.

We need to engrave that phrase deeply in our hearts as we view those around us.  I know I am thankful when I find a soul who views me knowing that God is not finished with me yet.  They are an island or refuge on my journey where most people are constantly judging and viewing others for sin and outward signs of rebellion.

Back in the 80’s, my refuge person was Judy Holton.  She instinctively saw me for who God created me to be, not judging me for the shallow immature person I was at the time. (and still am, but I have grown significantly from where I was in the 80’s)  Thankfully, there are people today who also see me in the same light.

Which is why I strive/seek/aim/endeavor/strain/toil to see those around me in the same way. For if the people around me are still breathing, then we can be sure God is not finished with them yet either!

There is a skill set, an angle to understanding life, which few of us think to consider or request from the Lord. The skill of identifying emotions doesn’t hold the key to making all of life happy or peaceful, nor does it make all things right in the world.

However, it can occasionally diffuse challenging situations and it always seems to quiet the voices in our heads. Not the crazy voices, but the tapes which we continually run through our minds like a song that we replay again and again because we so identify with the lyrics.
This skill set is like a tool in our tool box, or a talent in our back pocket which sure comes in handy as we walk through the journey of life. I would say this skill set is MORE important than the tool of being able to speak in public or write a paragraph or cook a meal.
The talent?
Identifying our own emotions, which eventually grows into the skill which helps us to identify emotions in those around us.
(Wouldn’t that be a handy interpretation skill when someone nearby looks grumpy and we assume we have done something to offend them? How many times has that happened to you? Only to find that the person isn’t upset by you, but by their own regret or bad traffic or a thousand other completely fixable, yet annoying things.)
When did I first notice I lacked this skill?

When my dad died, I was overwhelmed with grief in a way unknown to me before those months, despite previous losses. My grief was not marked by long periods of crying or signs of depression. Grief during that time looked like exhaustion, the inability to focus on a task or the lack of motivation to get dressed in the morning. Honestly, the tape in my head said I was handling the loss just fine; I just needed to stop being so lazy.
Once a counselor named grief for me, I could begin to unravel it, like a string. I could find the end of it. When I saw grief a few years later, I noticed it felt like a familiar coat that I hadn’t worn in a long time. In addition to being familiar, grief was less stressful knowing that it would come to an end. During my first encounter, I believed that life at the core of my soul had permanently morphed.

Knowing that grief only lasts for a season – if we process it correctly – helps us all in immeasurable ways.

This morning God has revealed another instance where the tool of identifying emotions helps silence the mental tapes, helps me accept myself for who I am and helps me live life accepting the boundaries that are called Terri Threadgill.
In the arena of mental abilities, accepting the boundaries called Terri Threadgill means I don’t try to solve rocket science math problems because my IQ isn’t high enough. I’ve noticed that most people don’t normally expect themselves to handle jobs above their IQ – they figure out fairly early the size of their mental abilities. Occasionally a person will dream of medical school, but closed door after closed door, low test score after low test score, will slowly reveal their more exact strengths and abilities, where they can succeed, thrive and make a difference in the world, in an area equally, if not more, significant than earning a medical degree.
The arena of emotions is the same. Same defined boundaries with finite abilities like each person has in the area of mental aptitudes.

Except in this arena, we are more prone to expect too much of our bodies and souls, frequently not recognizing we just don’t have the ability to be more than we are, to do more than we can do. We lack enough of the right proverbial gas in our engine for a specific task or encounter.  How often have I had to remind myself that I am not a robot to perform on command?  Far too often…
Application:
For the last few days I have been aware of my inability to sit down and knock off the tasks on my to-do list.
Why can I not accomplish a few simple tasks?
The tapes in my head say it is because I am lazy. (That is one of my personal go to tapes. Maybe or maybe not one of yours.)
Suddenly it hit me. I have mis-identified the emotion or attribute. I am not actually lazy and avoiding work because I don’t like work. My brain says these three items are next on the to-do list while my emotions are saying, hold on sister, we don’t agree with your analysis of the situation.
In this case, my emotions are saying we have some bigger issues at hand.
1) Each of us has a tank that is filled by spending quiet alone time for a stretch of time. Some of us have large tanks in this area; others smaller ones. Regardless of the size, 100% of people do not work optimally if this tank is empty. Nothing in the engine of any person can work unless we get some gas in here. The ONLY way to refill this tank is with alone time in a quiet venue which is unbounded by appointments. That is a hard thing to write on a to-do list if you are a task driven person; nonetheless write it down for long term mental health.
2) Some people are loners; others are extroverts who crave time with people. Despite being a loner who is committed to tasks more often than people, each person still has a tank which is only filled by nurturing others. The last few days I have noticed that a warning light is going off in my brain saying significant people in my world are in need of some Terri Threadgill TLC – husband, children, close friends, parents. These people can find nurturing elsewhere but they cannot replace uniquely designed Terri Threadgill TLC. It is like they have a special tank that can only be filled by time with me, specifically me.

3) The list of  “tanks” in each person are vast, if not infinite.  Those are two examples.  Two more simple examples? My husband functions at his highest when he spends large quantities of time outdoors and when he has consistent exercise.  His ability to function in the most routine of tasks will break down when those two tanks run dry.  Each of us would benefit from having an understanding of what it takes to make our engines run best.  We would then benefit greatly from being sure to schedule those activities on a routine basis, no matter how selfish or insignificant  they may seem to others.
Now that my alter to-do list is taken care of, the mental to-do list is quickly finished.
I propose that the unfolding of our identity in Christ is rooted in the skill of correctly identifying our emotions.
The beauty of seeing both to-do lists complete?

The mental to-do list is now accomplished with feelings of joy, feeding an entirely new tank called self-respect or self-worth which can only be filled by doing important tasks that require use of mental and emotional power given to each of us by the Lord. He created each of us for specific good works.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Warning, use this skill wisely. Never assume you can read the motives or thoughts of another – only the Lord can. Run every use of this skill through the filter of prayer. God is faithful and will reveal truth every time, praying for truth to be revealed is a prayer He answers 100% of the time.

A hole in my heart for God

I grew up hearing that every person has a hole in their heart that only God can fill. I never understood that phrase even though I became a Christian at an early age. It isn’t a phrase you even hear any more, which most likely means I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand it. However, it wasn’t a lie just because I didn’t understand it.
I never felt a hole– until last night. Sitting watching a secular movie of violence, I finally got it.
Most movie themes include a hero and a villain, and the one last night did as well. It was the classic story of good versus evil. In this movie, the evil was the Vice President of America and the CIA, both of which are supposed to stand as beacons for truth and honest righteousness.
This movie wasn’t a Pygmalion story line; it was the true good versus evil story. However, even the Pygmalion story line, a commonly recurring one which includes a weak girl rescued and transformed by a strong, saving, instructing man, fits the mold of looking for a hero. That theme, and others involving a hero, has been repeated almost endlessly in our theaters and works of fiction around the world.
Why? I think, because we are all looking for a hero, dare I say Savior? Perhaps our longing for a hero is what makes the hole in our heart as we suffer years of disappointment, checking out person after person for hero qualities and actions.
Psychologist recently reported (again) that mankind’s top two desires are for security and for significance. I believe that mankind longs for a rescuer, someone to protect us. Someone to be the white knight riding to our rescue when facing some mountain of obstacles—a tsunami, an alien attack, a leader turned dictator/murderer, job loss, foreclosure, the SAT, you get the picture. We love to see the strong hero arrive on the scene, clean things up, protect us from the damage, making it all right.
Not all of the movie or book heroes are fiction. Many portray strong heroes who have truly done valiant things.
To be a hero, is it enough to do one act of valiance? 100 acts? 1000 acts of good? What is enough? Is there a hero on this earth who will always choose to do right? Can mere man (or woman) fill the hole in my life search for a hero to provide security for me? Is there someone walking on the planet now who can fill the hole in my heart which longs for a hero to provide my security.
People can be heroic, but only sometimes, not 100% of the time. In fact that is the worst sort of villain, the one who was a hero turned selfish or weak or incompetent or dead. As I see it, there is only one hero of heroes who is valiant 100% of the time and His name is Christ Jesus. He alone is able to ride into our lives, our situations, 100% of the time and clean them up.
He is wisdom; He is strength and He is love. Those aren’t attributes He holds occasionally. He is wisdom, strength and love in full measure.
When He arrives on any scene, His cleansing agent is always the same, His blood, which is the magical saving agent in the drama of our real lives.

I personally can be loving, sometimes. I can be wise, sometimes. I can even be strong, sometimes. There are many people who can be loving longer or more deeply than me. There are many who can be wiser than me and most are stronger. But they can’t do it 100% of the time, every time.

Just like the missing ape/man link of evolution, this hero man hasn’t been found unless you know Jesus Christ. And He once walked the earth, sharing His love, wisdom and strength. The coolest villain He ever conquered was death and He was able to conquer death for us each because He had already had His victory over sin. He lived 32 years on earth and He was without sin, He knew no sin.
His victory over death made every good versus evil movie obsolete as death no longer is a foe to be feared. He conquered death by conquering sin.
By conquering sin, Jesus had the authority over death to resurrect after three days in the grave. I don’t know what He did for those three days in the grave, but I suspect it has something to do with Him acting as the white knight –perhaps saving those who had died before Him.
You may not understand the weakness of my personality which gives rise to my longing for security—and thus for a Savior, a hero on a white horse, but I suspect someday, when you reach the end of yourself or your resources, you will. I pray that moment isn’t at your death, because no one knows the day or the time of their death. That might not leave you enough time to acknowledge my hero Jesus and to ask him to rescue you.
When it is all said and done, I wish for you insurmountable obstacles which will force you to face your need for a hero too and to see the hole in your heart.

A NEAT TEACHING MOMENT
Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. ‘Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?’

She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.’
They thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s our grades.’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Maybe it’s our behavior.’
She told them, ‘No, it’s not even your behavior.’
And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room. The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, ‘Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.’ At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along side the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.’

REMEMBER VETERANS even when it isn’t VETERAN’S DAY

By the way, this is a true story. Martha Cothren is the daughter of a WWII POW. I checked this out, it’s true… go to http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/school-desks.htm
For the full story.
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