In an effort to be consistent with this year’s goals I set for myself, including some writing goals like “write a monthly letter each month,” I’m here sending out a February letter on March 5th. Which is kind of “on brand” because February was a month that I deeply felt my own humanity.
I finished reading Kelly Kapic’s book You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News last month, and it was so good. Kapic focuses on how being human means embracing our limitations, in many areas of our life. Reading this stretched my mind in ways I haven’t since being in seminary, while the book still being highly readable and pastoral. And as I read, I saw more and more how limited I truly am.
I saw limitations in my time — work deadlines, balancing schedules, to-do lists with items that continued to roll over into the next day, then the next…
I saw limitations in my relationships — building new ones and maintaining old ones across states lines and Marco Polos, adjusting to the realistic boundaries of my actual availability.
I saw limitations in my emotional capacity — tragedy after tragedy, in two places I love: earthquakes in Turkey and a shooting at my beloved MSU. Embracing the grief that comes from a very broken world along with my own limitations of my physical location and inability to do much else but text the friends I have in these places and pray. All this while the rest of the Christian space centered on celebration for another college campus in Kentucky. Such a weird both/and world.
The beauty of our limitations is that they lead us to dependency on the Lord, if we allow them. And this is a beautiful thing, no matter what society and social media tell us. We are not meant to know everything, be in all places, and hold all power.
As Jen Wilkin writes in None Like Him, “Our limits teach us the fear of the Lord. They are reminders that keep us from falsely believing that we can be like God.”
I promise better writing, with maybe less sentence fragments and run-ons, in future letters. But if anything, maybe someone else needs that reminder that we are limited, and to alleviate some stress and anxiety that can come from trying to push past those limitations, instead acknowledge and live within them.
We are not God; He is. And we need Him.
Today, on March 5th, I’m continuing to embrace that.
Manna Sweet like Honey
My favorite story in the Bible is Exodus 16, when God provides manna (essentially bread) EVERY DAY for forty years for the Israelites while they’re in the wilderness. You can read that story yourself, but some key points about this provision are 1) the transient nature of the manna and 2) its taste which was described as “sweet like honey.” It was the perfectly-portioned provision that not only met their need for that day and season, but was also sweet to the taste — an unnecessary detail that shows God’s care and grace. We too should be on the lookout for the sweet ways God cares for us in our days. Here are a few examples of my “manna” lately, in all its forms.
What I’ve Read
You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Good Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly M. Kapic**
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman**
What I’ve Been Cooking
Honestly, no new recipes this month! Did I mention I was limited? During weeks like those, Kyle and I eat a lot of taco bowls: ground turkey, taco season, onion, black beans, bell pepper, rice, cotija cheese. Cotija cheese is key. There’s my cooking tip for the month. You’re welcome.
That’s all for today! I’ll see ya same time next month for another reflection and favorite things recap, and likely before then with some other words. ;) Until then, I’d love to hear what you learned and loved in February!
February's letter