Share our Brochure

Cat In The Hat Theology

We have a cascading rock water fountain on our back porch.  It’s only 2 feet high but it brings me so much pleasure!  I even leave it on when I am in the house, so I can hear the water trickle.  It refreshes my soul!  There is something about moving water in a fountain, in a river or the ocean front that finds me breathing deeper and smiling freer.

I fill my fountain with water and as the pump does its job, the fountain trickles water nonstop by the power of electricity. But if the pump didn’t do its’ job, the water would sit in the fountain and eventually become stagnant. And it is no secret that standing water becomes a prime breeding ground for bacteria or fungi.  In other words, yucky things grow in stagnant water.

All of this makes me think of a verse in Romans that I have been pondering.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. “ Romans 15:13

God does the filling and overflowing, we do the trusting.

AS YOU TRUST

I am challenged with what exactly am I trusting? Am I trusting for a new job, a house or a spouse, a cat or a dog, a fish or a dish, health or wealth, actually anything I wish? Or am I trusting in God, in the midst of my wants and desires?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trusted God.  No matter their outcome they trusted God.   The Great I Am wasn’t going to change in their heart or mind if they survived the fiery furnace or if they burned. They knew who they were trusting.  Can you say the same, regardless the state of your house, mouse or spouse? Daniel 3

So here I am, challenging my own Cat in the Hat theology.

When my trust is in changing or protecting my wishes and dishes, yucky things begin to grow in my heart and mind. I become like the writer in Psalm 13 mulling thoughts over like, “God you forgot me, you are far from me” and like the writer of this Psalm, I can wrestle every day with worry and sorrow and feel like a victim.

BUT

The water begins to flow in me and the writer of Psalm 13 when we both say, BUT….and choose to trust in God’s unfailing love and rest in the gratitude of our gift of salvation.  And that is when the Psalmist and I are able to sing of God’s goodness, in the midst of our wishes and dishes.

With all puns put to the side, my wishes and dishes are truly priceless, fragile and irreplaceable to me. My wants are desperate and my grip is deep. My wishes and dishes are as fine china to me and I’m sure, yours to you. Many of us have had some of our finest china chipped, broken and perhaps snatched away too soon.  Grief, fear and disappointment are real. And so is being filled, trusting and overflowing in the midst of broken pieces.

DIG!

So how do we learn to trust God in the midst of our precious wishes and dishes?  Dig!  Dig in God’s word.  If it is one verse, one paragraph or one chapter at a time train your eye

to find the character of God. Slow down and think about that attribute of God. Talk to Him about what you discover. Ask God to help you grasp and believe who the Bible reveals Him to be. That my friends, when I do my part in learning to trust Him, is when the Holy Spirit makes hope overflow in me.  God lovingly listens, my heart softens and it is then I find myself trusting Him with what is so very dear to me.

Let’s challenge each other to have deeper theology than Cat in the Hat, who is simply full of wishes and dishes.  Instead, may the God of hope fill you with peace and joy as you trust Him.  And may the filler of your soul receive great pleasure as He hears the trickle of overflowing hope in your life.

Lynn Jackson
CO-Founder
Thrive Leadership Foundation
journeylynn@gmail.com