Sunday, October 28, 2012

Rule Followers



Nay and I are a lot alike. We like routine and rules and yet we are both extremely stubborn. NayNay does not like wet grass. I can't really tell but I think she tip toes through it. She always cleans her paws before she eats her peanut butter kong. She requires cheese with her kibble. In fact, she will lay there all prissy like until she gets it.  She is predictable. I know what to expect from her. After you've lived with a dog for 8 years it really is like they can talk to you. I know when she needs water by the way she sits in front of me. I know when she needs love by the way she looks at me. I know when she doesn't.....by the way she walks away from me!

I am a "rules" girl. I have lists and I have routine. I drink one diet mountain dew every morning. I won't do a u-turn if it says "no u-turn". Walking on the grass seems illegal. When I drink a red bull (one that happens to be sugar-free) I think I'm being edgy. I like having it all together and letting people think I have it all together.

The truth is....I am not all that I seem....I LOVE to watch television. I have a "People Magazine" app on my iPhone. When you see me you may not realize there is a hole in my sock.  That even though it isn’t Christmas my socks are probably Santa Claus socks.  I am probably wearing what I have on because it was hanging in the closet and not on the floor. You don't realize that halfway between home and destination I worried about whether or not I turned off the iron, that I imagine my house burning down with my dogs in it. I may have even turned around and went home to be sure. Truthfully, I am a complete organized mess.

I recognize other girls who like to have rules. Though I am not a huge Oprah fan, she is clearly a rules girl.  She likes things perfect. She works to perfect that image.  It almost hurts my head just thinking about how much work that must be for her, and yet sometimes I live that way. Striving to an image of perfection.  Following the rules.

I must slow at yellow and stop on red. I must park between the lines. I must color inside the lines. I must read my Bible, pray, and attend church all the time. I must praise God, always in the storm, never complaining. Then.....I remember.....I must live by grace. and when I live by grace pleaseing God follows.

No, I won't always praise Him, walk the line, not complain. At times I will buckle, and whine and cry. I won't be perfect because I can't be perfect. I have to remember that though I am a "rules" girl, I have a God of grace and when I live in that grace there is a real peace and happiness that it isn’t about the rules.  


I have learned over the last couple of years, through very difficult times, that it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. I don’t live for them. I live for God and at the end of my life it is HIM that I will answer to, and even more inspiring than that….there is no other that loves me the way I am like He does and when I think of How He Loves......then I know grace.

Debbie

If you are a rules girl too then you should read "Grace for the Good Girl" by Emily Freeman

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