We sat around the dining room table at my parents house on Christmas morning watching my step-kids, Parker and Ryen, open their presents and build cities and fortresses out of plastic blocks we affectionately know as Legos. We laughed as my mother reminded me that I was not much of a Lego-kid growing up. Apparently I still suffer from being allergic to following directions. Panic attacks, rolling eyes, long sighs—it’s a horrible disease. Side note: I hate when people tell me what to do. Who needs a boring building when I can make a ThingaMajiggy with wheels on bottom and flowers on top? [Insert jazz hands here.]
Four hundred and fifty two pieces of a Lego Ninjago set sent this control freak into a panic. How on earth will a seven year-old have the patience to build this plastic, mechanic creature?! I peered over Parker’s shoulder and watched him diligently stack on peg of plastic into another; one, then another, then another. I sat down with him and slowly started building with him. A sticker here, a stack there, and all of a sudden I’m a LEGO MACHINE! You can’t stop me, mom! Look at me! Who needs directions now?!
Snap. Stack. Turn. Voila! Parker was right and I watched with naked shame like I was in the Garden of Eden. God’s voice sounded like Parker’s, I told you that you should follow the directions.
Together we stacked, snapped, clicked, and completed our 452-piece masterpiece of plastic. I think I felt more elation completing my first Lego set then walking across my college graduation stage. [As much as I like to tell you this is playful exaggeration, it’s true.] By the end of the project, Jasmine, me, and Parker built a beauty of a piece. Team work makes the dream work, eh?
Since the building of my first Lego set, I’ve been enamored with the art of building. Stack, snap, click. Just like Nehemiah told his friends. Team work makes the dream work as we see in chapter 3 of Nehemiah. There was this massive commission of insurmountable proportions: Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The entire task required the action of everyone involved.
Don’t worry about the daunting project, just build the wall in front of you. Square foot by square foot, stack, snap, click. Each person listed in the annals of Nehemiah’s diary recorded the completion of the walls. And this year, there is a commission upon us. To rebuild the hope and glory of the gospel. Don’t worry about the daunting project—what it looks like, who will help, how long it will take—but focus on what’s in front of you.
Write your term paper. Rock your child to sleep. Work a full eight hours. Teach your bible study. Run your business. In all things we do this year, may we work to rebuild the hope and glory of the gospel. Another year of sharing JESUS; His love, His forgiveness, His pain, His redemption, leads to their purpose and destiny.
2012 was a good year, friends. But we ain’t done yet. Stack, snap, click. 😉
What are some highlights and low-lights of 2012? We’ve been on this journey together for some time… we are free to share the progress. 🙂
This. Love it!
The beginning of 2012 was a rocky start for me as I was freshly out of a relationship with someone who I had absolutely no business dating and left me completely broken. But, the Lord completely turned things around opening so many more opportunities for me to serve and He reminded me how great He really is. I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Sociology degree (HOLLA!), found a great church CCV where I’ve began serving as a Life Group leader to 8 amazing college aged girls, networked and met some amazing people (including peeps at Cat West! I can’t WAIT to volunteeer again!) and ended the year finding out the I will be starting Grad School at Azusa Pacific in February! 🙂 Yes, there were moments of darkness and moments that I was in the “desert” where I thought the Lord had abandoned me. However, looking back I can’t help but see how every trial in my life, both spiritual and emotional, was beautifully woven together to create this new person I am today. I’m looking forward to 2013 knowing and fully believing in complete faith that God is a God of restoration and hope!
Love you, B!
BOOM! This is awesome!
AMEN!! And let’s be real…Parker likes me more than you! 😉
Don’t get it twisted, sister. You’re trippin’. 😉
Coming out of my hermitess shell and doing life….sometimes painfully but over all it`s been an awesome adventure. It`s like 80% highlight 20% lowlight.
A lowlight would be the credit card debit I carry around. A very heavy weight.
Progess in both the highs and lows though is sooo slow……
SO proud! You can do it 🙂
Your reply has gotta be more then a coincidence as I recently just found Ezra 10:4b and am taking it as my “life verse” :
“We support you, so take courage and DO IT”!!!
Low point: reading yet another big fat NEGATIVE on a pregnancy test and a week later, the High Point of our year: getting to see what a POSITIVE result actually looks like!! After a long road, we are at 19 weeks.:) Praise God for His faithfulness and patience.
WHAT?!?! Congrats! You need to send a picture of the baby in 8 months!
Nehemiah is one of my favorite stories. God doing an incredible thing through people being willing to work hard. “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” One of my favorite parts. Don’t mess with me. I’m focused, and you can’t distract me!
My 2012 was pretty tame. I became an aunt of twin boys, so that is a pretty fun part. I finished my first half marathon in April. I hosted a virtual 5k on my blog to help some friends out with adoption expenses and had a tremendous response. And I got to walk with friends and family through it all. 2012 was a good year. 🙂
And what about your running endeavors? That was massive! And your writing. And your encouraging others. I would say it was a pretty epic year, Juls. 🙂
Can we still call it epic even though I didn’t get to meet you at Catalyst?
Great post! Needed to hear it today.
I am going to be in the L.A. Area Jan. 23-27 and would LOVE to meet up with you. Coffee? Lunch? Dinner?
It would be so fun to finally meet you.
Laurel
aka: Mama D.
I would love to!!! Email me. I work in Orange County now, so if you could get out here, I can make it happen! XO
Yeah! I’ll email you with Date/Time possibilities. So looking forward to it!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi Bianca,
I’ve been reading your blog a long while now and have loved every moment I’ve read it. I guess it’s about time to say hola, huh. Some highlights of 2012 for me include graduating from college, moving from GA to CO, and my job. I’m a tutor and mentor to high school freshmen and sophomores… and God has gifted me with so many moments in which I was able to talk about Jesus and/or to just be Jesus to my kids and coworkers. Ha, it’s so awesome. Speaking of coworkers, I work in a team at a high school, and I really like this phrase team work makes the dream work. I’ll be sharing this with my teammates. Thank you. And thanks for the blogs and the laughter and wisdom! 2013 will be great.
Well, 2012 was a slow year for me – nothing exciting happened, didn’t meet anyone special – honestly, I don’t know why I bothered with it. Somehow I managed to pull a whole blog post out of it though – I’m gifted like that. 😉
http://suzannephysick.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/oneword365-obedience/
Lies. All lies. And even yet, I believe the best is yet to come. XO
What a wonderful inspiration! 🙂
Here’s to 2013 and all the good things, building experiences it will bring! 🙂
LOVE this! So timely! 🙂 I’ve been following A21 & listening to the podcasts for a while now; and more recently started reading your blog. Just wanted to say thanks! Thanks for boldly being who God called you to be & for encouraging and loving others on their paths to the same.
My 2012 was NUTS (in a good way)! I moved from NorCal to SoCal to start a church with my pastors and a group of another 20-30 crazy Jesus lovers. Currently, we are in OC learning what it really means to be fearless before we plant a church in LA called “Fearless”. It’s been an adventure, an amazing adventure. It’s grown and challenged me in ways I didn’t realize I needed to be grown and challenged. It’s tested my faith in every area. It’s been well worth it!
I love that God IS! He is Who He says He is, all the time! He is our provider, our lover, our healer, our peace, our security, our joy, our comfort, our strength, our everything! Such a wonderful truth to meditate on, and something that He really engrained in me in a fresh way in 2012.
Expectant for what He’s going to do in 2013 as we have our first conference of the year in February, and move into LA in the spring! Excited to focus on it all piece by piece!
Highlight: New baby! Low-light: So little sleep.
I’m also just happy to find someone else who hates to follow directions, despite being proven wrond time and time again! Warning, there are a lot of directions that come with a new baby. Just so ya know when you have yours one day. Good thing Parker will be around to help 🙂
I blame all typos on lack of sleep. The end.
so great and exactly what I needed! thank you:)
You’re welcome! Happy new year 🙂