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There was a seaon that on any given day at the Weatherly house you’d find a small congregation of children. Ranging from new born to 5 years old, we maintained an extremely delicate balance amidst growth spurts, temperaments, and tantrums. 

Something I often observed breakout among my older few was an explosive reaction to the younger children when they’d toddle in and demolish their building projects. And understandably so! After having found the perfect set of building materials, carting them into the living room, and building an absolute masterpiece of architectural feat, only to have the younger littles smash it to pieces, would be quite frustrating. 

I found myself repeating often to the older few, “move up higher.” On the ground their work was vulnerable to attack from little hands and little feet, but when they chose to build higher, on the dining table or the kitchen island, they could enjoy their work to completion and beyond. 

We often try to build great things in our lives in the presence of immaturity. We leave ourselves vulnerable to people who speak words of discouragement and rejection to us when we are in the middle of process. Well meaning or not, they simply do not know any better. 

And likewise, in seasons of building we often refuse to allow Holy Spirit to mature us in areas we need His transformation. Resistant to growth, our own fits of immaturity leave what the Father intended to be established in our lives, laying in pieces on the floor.

When my big kids build their grand towers on the living room rug and a toddler comes by and does what toddlers do to towers, I explain to them the importance of coming up higher. 

When you are building something for yourself and your family, something for your community that will impact generations, you can’t build among the immature. You must bring your plans into the place of prayer between you and the Father. You must surround yourself with likeminded architects who will spur you on and understand the process. And you must allow Holy Spirit to transform the places of immaturity within yourself.

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.” Proverbs 24:3-4

One evening on a family drive home, we got stuck behind a very slow truck pulling a flatbed. Unbeknownst to me, my husband was growing more and more irritated, as he trailed slowly behind. When the truck finally turned off our road, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

The thing is, I had no idea of this truck being an issue. I was enjoying the ride; music playing, daughters content in their seats, and the beauty of the setting sun. It’s so funny how two individuals can be in the same vehicle, going to the same place, exposed to the very same circumstances, and yet be having an entirely different experience.

I am reminded of Jesus sleeping in the boat while his disciples were frantic with fear. How often have I been frantic or frazzled while in the boat with the Prince of Peace? Apart from the slow truck, my husband is usually the one enjoying the ride of life. His capacity for enjoying continually draws me from a place of frustration into gratitude.

I am thankful for those individuals in my boat that have shown me that my day-to-day experience can be lived a different way. That where there is the potential for fear and anxiety, there is also the potential for peace. Where there is the potential for irritation, there is space for contentment. Look around you. Who is at peace? Who is content? Take a lesson from those individuals in what Holy Spirit has made available to you.

And if you can or can’t find anyone else, look to Jesus. He is in the midst of every challenge, and he is the supply for every need. He speaks to the tumultuously mundane, frustrating, and disappointing places in our lives, “peace be still.”

A Word from God is a rhema (Holy Spirit-inspired Word from the Logos) instruction for your life. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18 that it is according to the prophecies spoken over us, that we wage a good warfare. A Word from God may speak to your identity or it may speak to your calling. It is important that we treat these words as precious and steward them properly before the Lord, through the help of Holy Spirit. We are not held accountable for what He doestn’t tell us, but we are held accountable for what He does. As the Parable of the Talents instructs us in Matthew 25:14-30, may we be found good stewards of what our Master gives, not burrying our talents, but multiplying them.

Here are 10 ways to steward a word from God:

• Pick it up – Take that old word off the shelf, dust it off, look it over. A word of God is a precious gift. Don’t let it lie dormant. Create rhythms of engaging with His words for your life.

• Pray – Prayer is a two-way conversation. God wants you to ask Him questions about His words to you. He has answers! Proverbs 25:2 says, “it’s the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out.”

• Meditate on His Word – If you are in Christ, you have the mind of Christ. Engage your God given imagination to begin to see His promises operating in your life.

• Write it – Habakkuk tells us to write the vision and make it plain. There’s something about writing a word from God that over time moves the word from pen and page deep into the epistle of your heart.

• Share it – Share it with someone you trust. You need encouragement and sound insight. Proverbs 11:14 says, “where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

• Put your hands to the plow – There is something you can do in response to His word. However small or great the step, take it! If you don’t know what’s next, faithfully act on His previous instruction to you until you do. It’s vital to keep moving. It’s impossible to steer a parked car. 

• Keep an open hand – Remember you are fixed to the Lord not to the promise. He may (and often does) want to adjust the course you are on. Keep an open hand before Him, surrendering daily to His now instruction.

• Surrender the timing – This may be the hardest thing for most believers to do, to lay down their own timelines. A good thing at the wrong time is not a good thing. Remind yourself continually to trust His timing.

• Labor over it – When you have conceived a word of promise in your heart, carrying it may feel like a kind of labor. As you travail in prayer, you take often intimidating steps of faith in response to His call. It’s important to discern the difference between labor and warfare. Spiritual warfare is an attack we resist, but labor pains are a stretching we lean into. We understand that on the other side of labor pains is the birth of the promise.

• Rest – It seems contrary to ‘putting your hand to the plow’ and ‘labor’ to rest, but rest is the secret to the Kingdom life. Rest means becoming utterly dependent upon the Lord and trusting His guidance in the process of fulfilling your destiny. 

Years ago I worked as an Inclusion Aide in Special Education in an Elementary school. I love the kids I worked with. I love that they taught me to laugh at myself and daily gave me a lighter view of the world. Throughout my short career in education,  I had the privilege of spending hours observing and engaging in relationships with children.  I especially gleaned from their interactions with one another.

One little girl, Savannah, was so enthusiastic. The books her teacher read, the videos her class watched, her teachers instructions, her peer’s stick figure drawing, all blew her away, evoking her most expressive “Wow!” “Woah!” “That’s awesome!” “Did you see that?!”

She was a fount of encouragement. She’s the voice you’d want cheering in your congregation as you preached. What I liked most about Savannah was not simply that she was encouraging, but I believe she recognized quality in others and had a sensitivity to the efforts of others. When her peers, or her teacher for that matter, presented quality to her, she’d applaud it. “Good job Ms. S!,” she’d shout to her teacher.

One day, Savannah was coloring in her fire station workbook. She pulled out a freshly sharpened color pencil and brought it within inches of my nose. “What color is this Mrs. Weatherly?”

“Aqua!” I replied. Her eyes lit up and she let out a screechy giggle.

Immediately, she went to coloring her fire station dalmatian pup, aqua. When she had finished she was immensely proud of the work she’d done. I told her it was fabulous and she beamed, but sometimes approval means more from your peers. So, she showed her work to those at her table.

“Dogs are black or brown, not aqua!” the first girl said. Disappointed, but not deterred Savannah took her masterpiece to the neighboring table.

“That’s wrooooong!” another girl declared. Savannah sunk.

“It’s pretty,” I heard her say under her breath.

I wanted to scoop her up and explain that sometimes people don’t recognize the beauty that is so obviously within in you. That you have to receive approval from God alone. I wanted to shield her, to protect her. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t shown the same courtesy she so readily bestowed to everyone else. I sat there feeling as deflated as she. I told her again what a great job she had done and then it was time to clean up.

There are times in my life I have been guilty of the same treatment those little girls showed Savannah. And there are times I have been Savannah, eager to please and to celebrate a job well done but swiftly rejected by those with whom I thought to celebrate. We all have to learn the hard way that approval comes from the Father. We have to know in our heart of hearts that we are “accepted in the Beloved,” Ephesians 1:6.

At the same time, I wonder. Can I, in my day to day be more like Savannah, quick to recognize the quality in others and eager to applaud it? Can I be sensitive to other’s efforts and join them in their celebration of a job well done? I understand that the gift of encouragement may not come so easily to us as it does to Savannah, but my prayer is that we not allow any excuse or insecurity within ourselves keep us from learning love.

One of my favorite passages says in Romans 12:10-15 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord…Rejoice with those who rejoice.”

In other words, be like Savannah.

-Antonette Weatherly