01-31-11 Inspiration Of The Week--HAPPY BIRTHDAY?

 

     This is the day! . . . that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!   We’ve all  quoted this familiar scripture so many times that is has almost lost its pungency!  This coming Wednesday, February 2, is well-known to most people because its Ground Hogs day.   But its also the birthday of such famous celebrities as Farrah Fawcett, Christie Brinkley . . . and many lessor-knowns including “yours truly” . . . Lanny Wolfe!   

    Remember when we were four or five approaching our next birthday, we would say “I’m four . . . almost five!” or “I’m 4 and 1/2” . . . so eager to get to the next rung of our journey.  

 

     Then, when we were 12, we couldn’t wait to become official teenagers.  You may not remember, but I do . . . getting my social security number on a card that I was so proud to carry.   Yes, I know to many it simply dwarfed all of us to the status of a faceless number. . . but I was so happy to think that I had a number with the Social Security Administration. 

     

     And with just as much eagerness, we counted the days until we would turn the age we needed to be to get our driver’s license.  Oh, yes!!  We had arrived at somewhere between the age of 14 to 16.  I was 14 when I graduated from Jr. High, looking forward to becoming a Senior High student.

 

     The contentment at achieving this monumental milestone soon became a “rear-view mirror” item in our lives as we would mark off the days on a calendar until we would be considered “legal” in so many arenas.  Ah, yes! . . . to finally be eighteen!   And it seemed like it would never come!

 

 

      On our twenty-first birthdays, you would have thought we had won the lottery, thinking we finally had “legal” status with the government and every other arena that mattered.   Working towards my 3rd decade, my scrapbook included graduating from Ohio State University with my first of five degrees, getting married, securing my first teaching position—Columbus public schools ($4400/yr) moving away from family and “our comfort zone” to California where, in the pix to the left, my first job in the religious teaching arena—Dean, School of Music, Christian Life College, Starting my first degree in music education at San Jose State College, finishing this degree, and moving to St. Louis, MO. to become the Dean, School of Music at Gateway College of Evangelism, and forming the Lanny Wolfe Trio.  Let’s fast forward to the age—29!  Probably you, like me had some very sober reservations about turning this page, and celebrating like we did nine years earlier. 

 

     Turning 30 sounded as if it were sucking all the “youth” out of my life as I blew out 30 candles . . . and what I thought had surely been the “best years of my life.”  After a few months . . . or years being in my 30’s . . . or as some have called it “mid-life” (thanks!), I finally gave in . . . and accepted the fact that I had to act like a mature man and not be tempted to ever think again life a teenager . . . or someone in their twenties.   Okay!! Now that you’ve had your laugh for the day . . . me, included wondering if I could really become air-borne with these “wings” that, at the time, we called “collars.”  Oh, and we thought we were so “cool.”  By the way, underneath the “wings” was an even cooler—polyester suit!  And, before you laugh too hard, why don’t you go back and take a look at YOUR scrapbook from the ‘80s.

 

        I would have never thought that I would  ever want to go back to being in my thirties . . . under the grim reaper snuck up on me and I had to take his cold hand and cross over into the “Over-the-hill” status.  I repented at being so unexcited about turning 30, but it was all too late! 

          

 I’ll never forget my 40th birthday.   Friends called it a celebration with morbid black balloons and “Over the hill” signs.  Whoever made the signs at that party that said “Life begins at forty” was so far off from the reality that I was holding onto which was closer to “Life ends at forty.”   Well, I blew out the candles and tried to pick myself up after the hoopla was over and to get on with the “beginning” of a new challenge in my life . . . which included buying reading glasses from the dollar store . . . in order to be able to read the birthday cards! 

     A couple of years into my fourth decade God’s plan for my life included some very wonderful moments like the one above with presenter Pat Boone and this one at the 15th annual Dove awards with my parents accepting a dove award for “Song of  the Year” and “So     ngwriter” of the  year.  What a joy to have my parents share this wonderful moment with their middle child. Somewhere in my 40’s I finally accepted that I was not a “young person” anymore;  I can’t tell you how many birthdays in this fourth decade of my life I spent more time looking in the rear-view mirror than straight ahead at what was coming down the road. 

 

           I must be absolutely truthful and tell you that at age 49, the last things I wanted in my wallet next to the Social Security card (which had faded in it’s debut glamor status) was . . . you know the answer already!  The word “AARP” was a word that I shied away from for as long as I could.   Of course, I didn’t get one right away.  I was in denial!  Even when I could have gotten benefit from this card, I refused and paid full price to keep protecting the integrity of the mid-life “Lanny Wolfe” and n      ot the “Oh, no! I’ve-really-crossed-over” Lanny Wolfe.  When I finally broke down and gave in to becoming an AARPmember, I realized that this one card would be proof to the world that not only was I over the hill; I was over the “prime of my life. . . and possibly the best years of my life.  

 

 Turning sixty was even worse than turning fifty; I would now have to align myself with people that, for so many years of my life, I termed as "old."

     

     My only consolation was the hype from Hollywood that kept trying to sell the public that the “now 60 is the new 40.”   Yes, about that car! . . . It made me feel good to have it grace my “the-new-40” mentality, but its not mine!  The hype helped somewhat . . . in spite of the fact that my doctor, at a routine exam, informed me that I had arthritis!  . . . That was the good news.  The bad news  . . . three different kinds!       

 

     Even the thought of turning 65 turned me off completely.   I wasn’t ready to go there; wasn’t ready to get “senior citizen’s discount.” was ready to be associated with so many in this age group that I through had resigned themselves to sitting quietly in “Life and Death’s” waiting room, patiently waiting for their name to be called.  One slight ray of hope, even though I hated the sound of the name of the organization-- The Social Security Administration.  Even though I had been a card-carrying member since being in my teens and had paid into this organization all of my life, it was like the “black plague” that I never wanted to be friends with.   But as God would have it, I crossed the timeline to fill out all of the papers to become “one of those people" I never thought I would be considered a part of! . . . the good side of this coin, a SS check every month. 

 

           My family and friends from different arenas threw a big shin-dig with a cake so big and and 65 candles on it that a fire fighter was standing within feet of the flaming cake to make sure that we didn’t burn the church down.   Thank God Marietta and Dave were there to help me muster up enough air to take down this “Tower of flour, sugar, icing, with enough candles for it to qualify as a lighthouse.  

 

 

 

 

          Wise Solomon moment! -- With the reenactment of the burning of Atlanta on Feb. 2nd, 2007, I finally got it!!!   All of my friends and family weren’t really celebrating my birthday; it was simply a day that became an excuse to CELEBRATE ME!!  . . . and , that every new day that God gives us is a reason to celebrate; looking forward to the next new day or new year is a gift from God . . . and we should celebrate each of those gifts with joy and anticipation . . . and not any regret that we have left our earlier seasons of life in a scrapbook album.  Our birthdays, even more than stopping to have a party with a birthday cake,  are like the comma in the sentence of life.  The “comma” becomes a visual indication to stop, pause, take a breath—look back over the journey to what has brought us to “this day”, pause and celebrate, and then . . . anticipate future “This is the day’s.” So, our birthdays become a time to “pause,”celebrate and be celebrated.   Realizing that makes each of our birthday’s worth . . . whatever the number of candles on the cake.   The candles represent each of us being a light in a world to shine and make a difference in the world. 

 

          So, here I am somewhere between getting put on the Social Security payout list . . . and the next “milestone” . . . but finally ready to concur with David of old, that on this coming Feb 2nd, Lord willing, I will say “This is the day that the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it!  S     omeone said, “Life is not measure by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.  I realize that age is often so attached to a number, but how you think about aging and life, I believe, starts in the “head” first.  I know people two and three decades younger in numerical age than myself . . . but act years older than I do.   They think like an elderly person, the act like an elderly person . . . and it all starts in their mind.

 

          Now, more than ever before, I anticipate each new day to explore this wonderful world God placed me in and to accept the challenge of making a difference in people’s lives . . . one at a time.  It doesn’t matter what age YOU are today; it does matter how you send TODAY!  Each day God allows us to live, He gives us a coin worth 24 hours.   It is up to each of us how we will spend this gift called “the present.”   For me, I truly accept each day as a wonderful new present that I want to unwrap carefully and spend the coin wisely.  And for  YOU . . . how will you spend the “24-hour” coin God gave you today?  Will you make a difference in even ONE LIFE.   And remember, you only have one life, so soon it will pass; only what’s done for Christ will last!  An old Chinese proverb says, “The journey is the reward.”  I’m working really hard to enjoy the journey . . . every turn in the road . . . rather than thinking that all of the journey is simply an investment for a payoff at the end. The payoff is the daily “present” given to take one more day of the journey!   And, don’t forget . . .

 

     . . . the message on top of the cake is more important than the chocolate cake inside and the icing on the outside . . . for the message from those who truly matter in your life is what your heart will remember long after the extra pounds from the birthday dessert!  Happy Birthday . . . and Have a Nice Day . . . with Jesus!

 

Lanny Wolfe

01-17-11 NEW YEAR, NEW YOU? . . . OR NOT!

     It’s commonly voiced that after age forty, people don’t change!    Coming from that same philosophical arena is the old adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”   Many psychologists say that a child is “set” in his formation of thought, etc. by the time he is three years old.   The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.”  I keep thinking, the reality is, “However you train up a child, that’s the way he WILL go.”

     It’s very difficult for a person to depart from the input in his childhood.  It’s almost like a “fingerprint” that gets stamped on everything in his later years.  All of the “things” put into the luggage that a child carries around with him throughout his childhood and teenage years are taken with him into his adulthood . . . and marriage . . . and most often . . . the rest of his life.  For this very reason it is usually reported that children of abusers become abusers and most children of alcoholics become alcoholics.  So many times the “like father-like son”  cliché  turns  out to be just as true as “mirror, mirror, on the wall, I am my mother after all.”  

          The Bible speaks of generational curses.  I would like to think that these “generational curses are a product of both “nature” and “nurture.” In the same way that we who have a propensity to either gain weight easily or be overweight  keep trying to understand why when we look into the mirror we see our father or mother starring at us.  My family consoled ourselves so many times by simply noting that we were “big-boned.”  For sure it’s some combination of the gene pool and the rearing or training up a child . . . the nurturing process.  It’s easy for me to blame my propensity to be overweight on not being blessed with a good metabolism or the fact that my father’s side of the family were all tall and big . . . and my mother’s side of the family were shorter . . . with a propensity to be “stocky.”  My father weighed 300 pounds at his zenith, but when I look at his high school picture, he appeared to be very fit. 

  

 

     All of that to say, it’s not just in the genes or the DNA; the other part of the equation looks at the mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese that frequented our family’s supper table.  I’ve worked as a vocal teacher and coach to many students over the years who through that a change in their singing voice would only a couple of lessons away, not realizing that they had been working years and years on branding their existing voice into exactly how it sounded when they walked in for their first lesson.  The statement hwas been made, “Things take time.”  Although this does not seem to be very profound, the reality of the statement IS profound.  Things don’t happen overnight . . . except if you’re a mushroom.  Ask the huge, towering 200-year-old oak tree if things take time!  As far back as 1734, Alexander Pope added his two cents in on this subject when he profoundly wrote, “Tis education forms the common mind, just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.”

      

     Well-known motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar,  says that to change anything in your life, you must do it for “twenty-one days” consecutively to even have a chance that the “change” will have an opportunity to “stick.”  Having said all of this, we all are creatures of “habit.”  Recently I read that of the 97% of smokers who would like to give up smoking, only 3% actually carry out the process to “kick the habit.” 

      So, you, like a gazillion others, made “New Years’ Resolutions” . . . and like most of the gazillion, you’ve possibly already failed to keep some or all of them. The bottom line!  What would you like to change to make YOU a better YOU this year?   Moreover, what do you think God would like to change in YOU to make YOU a better YOU that He would like to see this year?  If you read the opening paragraphs carefully, you realize that making changes in your life do not and will not happen easily.  And the older “of a dog” we are, the harder it is to change!   Keep in mind you don’t have to necessarily be old in years or single to be brittle in your ways and thinking; way too many younger in years suffer from a condition of arthritis of the “head” and/or  “heart.”

     And so, we  acknowledge that it’s not easy; however, the important criteria here is how “IMPORTANT” is it to make whatever change in your life that you would like to make . . . and that you feel God would like to make.  For God’s part, you’ll have to seek him earnestly to “hear” his still, small voice admidst the clamor of a roaringly-loud 2011 world of which you are a part.   

For your part, sit down and--

a) look back to where you’ve come from,

b) look at who you are and who you’ve become over a period of years,

c) look at what has been put into the “luggage” you carry around from day to day, and ask yourself if you are pleased with what’s in your luggage.  Do you think God is pleased?

d) look into the mirror and try to get past the legacy of who your parents were . . . 

        . . . and then try to step away from the forest and take a good look at yourself and the areas of your life in which you are pleased . . . and the areas of your life that really need your attention.   Case in point . . . I travel a lot; and, if I’m not careful I can overeat or eat way too much of the wrong things and easily blame it on my schedule. For me December was one of those hectic months; the schedule and demands were much and many, and my eating habits were way out of line.  As a matter of fact,  I gained about 10 pounds over the month!   And so, on Dec. 26, . . . not waiting until Jan 1^st, I started immediately to work on my situation; I jump started myself by cutting back very soberly.  It is Jan. 17^th, slightly over three weeks later, and I’ve lost 13 pounds and will lose 17 more to get where I want to be.  Will I do it?  Yes, because I’ve made up my mind that I don’t want to match my father’s weight and, Lord willing,  I want to live longer than he did.  So, I have a routine plan in place to make sure that I achieve my goal . 

     You know how sometimes your computer acts up and doesn’t work correctly?  The first thing those “in the know” say to do is to shut it down . . . and reboot!  There’s something about rebooting that so many times fixes the problem.  What’s your problem?  What’s your challenge?  What’s your resolution?  Where do you start?  You might just want to “reboot!”  Get a jumpstart . . . to get your attention . . . or your body’s attention . . . and then get on with a realistic, systematic, plan.

          Oh,  by the way, I didn’t forget the most important item on this list!    I saved “e)” in the above list until you were through looking in the mirror and making visual evaluations.

e) look into your heart! Better yet, let the Great Physician look into your heart and tell you what He sees!  This is the kind of checkup you need more than once a year and this is the kind of MRI or heart scan that we don’t like to undergo, because we know that many times the One who made us also made a plan for our life. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”  In this hectic world we live in we can so easily get sidetracked from HIS plan.   Blame it on the devil, blame it simply on “life” or maybe you could just blame it on “yourself” not being as close to “the GPS voice” as He would like for you to be.   And we know that oftentimes, this doctor, after examining us will want to put us on the potter’s wheel and “reshape” us . . . “reshape” our thinking . . . “reshape” our passions . . . “reshape” our hearts . . . “reshape” our direction . . . “reshape” our life! . . . as  ONLY He can!   So often we resist the wheel because we simply don’t want to give up our control of our life . . . be at the mercy of the potter’s hands.

     So, after you’ve looked into your January ‘11 mirror and your heart . . . after you’ve listed some realistic priorities for your “2011” and responded to the Great Physician’s prognosis . . .  ask God to help you have the “grit” to stay with whatever is needed to change to make a better YOU in 2011. . . to make you the YOU that He sees in the mirror.    Remember that when your Maker looks into your mirror He keeps seeing the YOU He knows you can be and not just the you that you’re seeing.   On your own you probably won’t be able to pull off whatever your head and heart decide needs to be changed, but . . . with God . . . all things are possible.  Would you choose to argue with Paul who said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:13)  Let me remind you that this same Paul was the infamous killer of the Christians who God stopped in his tracks and turned his head and heart around, after which Paul penned, wrote 2/3’s of the New Testament.     It would be both arrogant and a boast of self humanism to just say “I can do all things” but quite different to confess “I can do all things through Christ.”  

     New Year , New You?  .. . or Not!  Only YOU can answer this question!

Mp3 file: What I Could Be, words and music by Lanny Wolfe, ASCAP from the musical “Love Found A Way” (Lanny Wolfe/Mark Hayes) ParadigmMusic Productions #303854.