Lions and Kings and Movie Quotes, Oh My!

"The gweat kings of da past up dere, watch ovuh us."

If you mention The Lion King around Nathan, that is usually his reply.  Dramatic wave of the arm, eyes lifted up, the whole nine yards.  Yes, my nearly-3-year-old may have been watching a little too much TV lately. 

I don't know if this is the reason that I have lions on the brain or not...

In fact, lions are a refreshing change from the huge focal points of my recent thought life: the geneaology of Jesus and Prairie Home Companion.  Yeah, I know.  "Work" related stuff.   More on those another time...

In spite of all the dissimilar subject matter rattling my tiny brain I managed to make a connection about Jesus and Satan through the lions. (Get it?  Yeah, I know, that was terrible.)

One of the descriptions of Jesus is as the Lion of Judah.  When I hear this I always picture a stately, strong lion, protective yet kind, able to attack when necessary yet would prefer not to.  Okay, maybe I'm at least slightly influenced by Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia, but I don't believe that is unintentional.  CS Lewis wrote the character with that in mind.

The comparison to the Enemy comes from 1 Peter 5:8, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  For some reason I picked up on the word LIKE in this passage.  

Satan is not a lion.  He pretends to be one.  He is a poser.  A fake.  He thinks he's all that and is trying to get us to buy into his lie.  But the "lion who lies down with the lamb" he most decidedly is not.

And, yes,  it is true that the Enemy is intent on doing everything he can to draw us away from Jesus, and he does want to devour our hearts.  But, in the end, the poser lion is no match for The Lion of Judah, just as Scar is no match for the grown Simba.

Good news for me that The Great King of the Past, Present and Future is not only watching over us from up there, but from inside as well.   

I guess the song, "He Lives In You" from Lion King 2 is truer than they know.

Since I KNOW the suspense is KILLING you... ;)

I do a lot of juggling.  

Not plates or balls or chainsaws, but responsibilities and projects and even the occasional "fun" thing.  

Currently my Commas are as follows:  beloved of Jesus, farmer and business owner's wife, mother of 2 active boys,  Sidetracked Home Executive, co-leader of women's ministry, member of the planning team for ladies' day, member of a local philanthropic organization, writer, blogger, occasional speaker, bible study leader, co-writer of First Christian's Christmas program, and online shopper extraordinaire (which you are out of necessity if you live where I do) .  I even manage to fit in working out many days, although clearly not as many days as I need to.

This is not a "woe is me I'm so busy blah blah blah" post.  I am NOT complaining in the least, nor am I trying to compare my busyness with anyone else's.  I am, however, reevaluating all of my responsibilities and praying about which to give up. 

The reason for this reeval is quite simply that the Lord is presenting me with an offer I can't refuse.  Twenty plus years of theatrical appreciation (I won't go so far as to call what I have "training" or "skill"), of writing and directing and gleaning knowledge have led me to this place.

I am adding film maker to my list of commas.  Talk Your Legg Off Productions is now as up and running as it's going to be.  Of course, all that tangibly means is that I have a website (talkyourleggoff.com), YouTube and Vimeo accounts, a new camera and software, and a whole lot of learning in front of me. 

As far as the intangibles, I have twenty plus years of experiences in writing, directing and producing in my tiny corner of the world, and I have a calling.  Truly an example of  "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

As I relate at talkyourleggoff.com, a couple of months ago I asked God if I was doing all He wanted with my calling as a speaker.  The word "YouTube" flashed in my mind.  Through what I can only describe as Holy Spirit insight, I knew I was supposed to produce skits and speeches and post them online. In short order He gave me the name Talk Your Legg Off and the solid idea for my first film, which for me helped to confirm the calling.

Only problem is, I have no idea how I'll fit this in to my life.  This will be a MAJOR time commitment.  Some things will likely have to go, but every time I ask I don't get any answers.  So, I'm taking a Wait and See approach.  He will reveal the excess as He sees fit.  

I do believe I'm to keep this blog, and keep it in pretty much the same format, so that's one question answered, many to go.  I know, right now you are breathing a sigh of relief.  Ha-ha-ha.  :)

Keep breathing, and keep checking back.  You may even want to head over to talkyourleggoff.com and see what there is to see.   And if not, that's cool, too.

For now, I'm praying Psalm 43:3&4, which He gave me shortly after I got my marching orders:  "Send Your light and Your truth; let them lead me.  Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling place.  Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy."   

It's in my love affair with God, in doing the things I am made to do, in following The Light and The Truth, that will lead me to my greatest joy.

 

High Points and Low Points

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  2 weeks ago it was farming insanity and writing a speech in my head.  Last week I spent every spare moment writing the speech.  FINALLY last night I gave the speech and while I think my delivery could stand some improvement, overall it was a positive experience for the audience.  All along my prayer was from John 12:49, that God would tell me what to say and how to say it, and to the best of my knowledge (and ability) that seems to be what happened.  God is so amazing!

That was the high point.  The low point has been the complete lack of progress in potty training.  Major, major plateau.  Nathan's got the whole Number One thing down, but I'm nearly convinced he will attend college going Number 2 in his underwear.  I run the gamut emotionally from insane fury that he refuses to even try, to failure mode that I've irreparably screwed him up, to despair and resignation.  He'll start preschool in the fall.  I guess time will tell if he actually gets to attend.

On a lighter note, I have some new projects in the works that are too new to talk about here, but I hope to have details for you soon.  Stay tuned!