Have you ever built Legos?
They are the biggest waste of time ever, and I love them more than most people.
This is saying something because, as someone who constantly has to keep tabs on his attempts at striving, putting little plastic blocks in a pattern ranks up there on the list of least productive activities.
But that’s just it. I am always needing to do something that I view as constructive or valuable. Even in my rest, it needs to be pushing me forward: reading a book, listening to a podcast, drawing something, writing something, recording something. Doing Something.
Legos are not that. You follow a step-by-step plan laid out with pictures and order. Little thinking is involved, and there are no tangible or measurable skills or abilities that progress by completing your project. But in the end you wind up with something really cool. Unless you bought a dumb Lego, and in that case, there is no one to blame but yourself.
All that to say. I often carry my striving into my relationship with the Lord. Every second spent has to be valuable. But the definition of valuable is assigned by me and not Him. I need there to be prayer and Bible reading. I can’t forget to read a Christian self-help book and journal about it. If I have time before my daughter wakes up I will try to do something creative, but only if that thing can be reposted and shared. Because what’s the point of sharing if a bunch of people don’t affirm me in my giftings? Ya know?
My relationship became religion, and my creating became idol worship.
It became religion in the rigidity of process and the shame that followed a deviation from the norm, and idol worship for the fact that I was sacrificing authentic intimacy and replacing it with petitions for creative content that would scratch the back of the algorithm.
I missed spending time with the Lord in a no-strings-attached, no ulterior motives, just hanging out type of way. Everything had to be productive; let me prove to you how much I have earned your love this morning. Let me show you that I am valuable to you and worth your time.
But I realized that God doesn’t need me to be valuable to him. There is nothing I can do that he can’t. There isn’t a task I can strive for that he can’t accomplish in a blink. There is no art I could create, no string of words I could pen, or podcast I could record that he couldn’t produce in less than a breath. And that is not to say I am not gifted or good. That is saying that God is God. And that is not to say that what I create can not or will not be used for good. But it is bluntly saying that whether I create it or not, God will accomplish his divine will. And if we look back, everything he has ever done has had the primary motive of making it possible for us to spend time with Him. The only thing He needs me to do in that is to show up.
I have started asking God to build Legos with me.
I needed an activity to do with God that did not involve me working, striving, and stressing. Sports morphed their way into using a gift from the Lord to a tool of the enemy to levy shame. Drawing, writing, podcasting, shoot… if we are honest, marriage and fatherhood too, have all fallen victim to the same scheme. Gifts from the Lord that I have allowed to be turned into abilities that need to be measured to determine worth.
Did you know that sometimes the Lord gives you gifts just cause He likes to watch you use them? They don’t have to be used as means to an end to please Him? Abiding in Him with them is pleasing enough.
I started asking the Lord to build Legos with me, and I am hoping that it is a practice that bleeds into every other aspect of my life.
Do you know why?
Building Legos is a lot like a life with the Lord could look at.
You follow a step-by-step plan laid out with pictures and order. Little thinking is involved, only simple obedience to the plan written by someone else. And there are no tangible or measurable skills or abilities that are needed to progress in order to complete your project. But in the end, the result is something really cool.
🤓 Life Lessons Learned.
I introduced this last week. And I liked it. So here it is again this week.
Simple questions I ask real men, then copy and paste their answers.
“What is one thing that you do to intentionally love your wife well?”
Something I really focus on in our marriage is being in tune with how my wife feels emotionally and reminding her that taking a break is okay… She is just not good at not stressing. So staying in tune with how she is reacting to the small situations is key. If she is overwhelmed, offering to pick up some of her chores to give her a night off with some girlfriends or maybe to go get a coffee and do some reading can create a palpable difference in our household and our relationship. Being observant of when she is overwhelmed and reminding her to take some time for herself has been very unifying in our marriage
-Josh Suender
I really attempt to make sure that when she communicates that she needs something at the end of the day when returning from work that that is done or whatever. Food, groceries, cleaning, making our home a nice space for her. Especially after our long commute right now.
-John Meding
What is one lesson the Lord has taught you in your finances? It could be a habit, a mindset, a tip, or a trick.
The book of Ecclesiastes teaches me most about finances. I ask myself often when making financial decisions “Will I eventually find this purchase meaningless?” In light of eternity, am I honoring the Lord with how I am spending my money. For me, that often turns into only having the essentials, and putting the rest of my finances into generosity, experiences, and making my home more beautiful because there is the Lords joy in the fruit of your labor.
-Cam Deckett
Something I feel like the Lord has taught me, and that I didn’t learn from anybody else is not to worry about my finances. He will always take care of me.
-Jake Bakken
🙌🏼 Worship Song
This song slaps. And by slaps, I mean it slaps you in the face over and over.
I have had it on repeat all week.
Links 🔽
💪🏼 Weekly Challenge
What areas of your life are you striving in?
What could you give to the Lord?
In your time spent with the Lord this week, ask Him to highlight the parts of your life that you have made tools in an attempt to please him. Things meant for Joy but have been twisted and manipulated by the enemy as a measuring stick to hand out shame.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalms 139:23
🙏🏼 Weekly Prayer
Man. This week is a very specific and pointed prayer. I will be praying against drunk driving.
It is a selfish prayer in the fact that all parts of my family will be on the road for a large portion of the coming days.
Just don’t drink and drive.
If you see someone at a 4th of July party that should not be getting behind the wheel… be the socially opposing one who tells them no.
I am praying the week for protection on the road. For discernment and wise decision-making, and for self-control.
I hope that this week’s edition of the Weekly Weapons Newsletter was beneficial to you in one way or another.
As this thing evolves, I would LOVE feedback or just responses.
You can email me at mitchparsonscreative@gmail.com
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Until next time.
PEACE✌🏻