I’m not a superstitious person, but I grew up with a mother who will grab your arm and in alarm warn, “It’s bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one you used to come into it,” and refuse to do so herself. I’ve heard many such sayings, and of course, most people have heard of the superstition – break a mirror and you’ll have seven years bad luck.
So I had to smile the other day when the director at work came to me and said the mirror she had kept in her office for years fell off of the wall and broke. However, it did seem uncanny the next morning at work when I reached for my lipstick and found that the miniature mirror I had transferred from purse to purse over the years had cracked from the middle out to each corner of the frame. Well, I can tell you that the director and I who have both been hired within the last two months thought it a hoot that we should both be cursed with seven years of bad luck (which by the way is about the number of years left before I retire)!
The thought occurred to me that in reality this new job will be a challenge to me as a first time supervisor. Providentially (not coincidentally), in my 66 Books in a Year devotional reading this week, I recognized Jeremiah’s timidity at God’s call to be His prophet. God has to encourage Jeremiah several times by saying, “Do not be afraid of their faces,” and again, “Do not be dismayed before their faces … for I am with you…” (Jeremiah 1)
With any call from God comes my responsibility to answer, “Yes, Lord,” and my expectation that the Lord Jesus Christ will “comfort [my] heart and establish [me] in every good word and work,” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). If I truly believe that God has a purpose in placing me in this environment, then it would be foolish to look to any other source for wisdom, courage, strength, and mercy. Not just so that my day to day is a path of roses, but so that every moment spent with God will reveal a deeper level of trust and faith in Him. It’s a win-win situation, really. The more I am challenged, the deeper I dive into God’s word. The closer I walk with God, the more His Spirit is able to do for and with me. I believe this not because of an old wives tale, but because it is written in Scripture that “our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). Given these beliefs, how then am I to view the job ahead that God has given me? What if the changes needed bring difficulties like those experienced by Jeremiah who endured decades of abuse, threats, apathy, and humiliation? Will I be faithful and obedient, and will I persevere in doing what is right not just expedient? Will the next seven years be someone else’s bad luck or golden opportunities for others to see Christ through me? I’m not about to look to any mirror for those answers!
Sixty-six books in a year 