What Is A Skunkypoleon?
While my family and I were spending time with my parents in Ohio, I was reminded of a valuable lesson. My daddy all through growing up would jokingly call my sister and I “skunkypoleon’s”. We would wail and giggle and say we weren’t, and it was a big game in father daughter land. I never thought to ask what it was; it just was something I was sure I wasn’t. Now that my sister and I have our own children, daddy does the same thing with them. For several days I could hear my daughters and nieces’ go back and forth that they weren’t skunkypoleon’s.
In the car driving to an Amish store the game with my daughters continued. Daddy was calling them skunkypoleon’s and likewise they were saying he was one. Then wisdom from the back of the car piped up in the words of my oldest daughter.
“Grandpa? What is a skunkypolen anyway?” I paused laughing and turned to her. I had never thought to ask what one was. All eyes turned to my dad waiting for a response. Surely after all these years of skunkypoleon calling it had to mean something.
Daddy paused to think. “You know what I don’t know.” The car began to laugh hysterically and the irony wasn’t lost on me. All these years I firmly persisted I wasn’t this made up word and now no one knew what it was. I even went home to Google it and alas it is just a made up phrase.
We do the same thing in life. There are times we just start thinking the worst. So often we live in fear of the unknown, and in all fairness our fears rarely have any kind of reality behind them. The worst case scenarios dance in our minds, but their just made up in our heads.
God doesn’t want us to live in fear of the unknown.
Psalm 23:4 (NCV)
Even if I walk through a very dark valley, I will not be afraid, because you are with me. Your rod and your shepherd's staff comfort me.
Psalm 56:3 (NCV)
When I am afraid, I will trust you.
God wants us to just trust Him! He wants us to have faith in what He has spoken, and not to focus on what could be out there. He’ll take care of you! Trust that He is your rear guard.
Yesterday Dan and I were briefly watching the cartoon Meet The Robinsons. I have always loved that movie, and we were hypothetically talking about what we would say to ourselves if we could talk to an 8 year-old version of ourselves. I quickly responded, “Don’t sweet the small stuff, trust the Lord, and enjoy life.” To which we started to discuss…the list of things I stressed out over as a kid, and how God fulfilled those issues in my life. Then we went on to talk about, if I would tell myself that at 8 years-old then why do I have problems doing that today for my future. Looking back on your life it can be easy to see God’s hand at work. He promises that He’ll always be with you and never leave you nor forsake you. I’ve watched Him time and time again supernaturally fulfill things in my life. It hasn’t always been easy, but things have worked out. Moving forward and living forward is what can get complicated. Just like being “afraid” of the label “skunkypolen”, it’s easy to focus on the unknown.
As I said before and I will continue to say, I believe the key to a mature walk with the Lord is the simple truth of trusting in God! You don’t have to be afraid of the unknown, worst case senerios, and an overactive imagination. Simply trust Him! You have to move forward. You cannot keep living in fear. Put your hope and trust in God. You’ll be glad you did. God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!
In the car driving to an Amish store the game with my daughters continued. Daddy was calling them skunkypoleon’s and likewise they were saying he was one. Then wisdom from the back of the car piped up in the words of my oldest daughter.
“Grandpa? What is a skunkypolen anyway?” I paused laughing and turned to her. I had never thought to ask what one was. All eyes turned to my dad waiting for a response. Surely after all these years of skunkypoleon calling it had to mean something.
Daddy paused to think. “You know what I don’t know.” The car began to laugh hysterically and the irony wasn’t lost on me. All these years I firmly persisted I wasn’t this made up word and now no one knew what it was. I even went home to Google it and alas it is just a made up phrase.
We do the same thing in life. There are times we just start thinking the worst. So often we live in fear of the unknown, and in all fairness our fears rarely have any kind of reality behind them. The worst case scenarios dance in our minds, but their just made up in our heads.
God doesn’t want us to live in fear of the unknown.
Psalm 23:4 (NCV)
Even if I walk through a very dark valley, I will not be afraid, because you are with me. Your rod and your shepherd's staff comfort me.
Psalm 56:3 (NCV)
When I am afraid, I will trust you.
God wants us to just trust Him! He wants us to have faith in what He has spoken, and not to focus on what could be out there. He’ll take care of you! Trust that He is your rear guard.
Yesterday Dan and I were briefly watching the cartoon Meet The Robinsons. I have always loved that movie, and we were hypothetically talking about what we would say to ourselves if we could talk to an 8 year-old version of ourselves. I quickly responded, “Don’t sweet the small stuff, trust the Lord, and enjoy life.” To which we started to discuss…the list of things I stressed out over as a kid, and how God fulfilled those issues in my life. Then we went on to talk about, if I would tell myself that at 8 years-old then why do I have problems doing that today for my future. Looking back on your life it can be easy to see God’s hand at work. He promises that He’ll always be with you and never leave you nor forsake you. I’ve watched Him time and time again supernaturally fulfill things in my life. It hasn’t always been easy, but things have worked out. Moving forward and living forward is what can get complicated. Just like being “afraid” of the label “skunkypolen”, it’s easy to focus on the unknown.
As I said before and I will continue to say, I believe the key to a mature walk with the Lord is the simple truth of trusting in God! You don’t have to be afraid of the unknown, worst case senerios, and an overactive imagination. Simply trust Him! You have to move forward. You cannot keep living in fear. Put your hope and trust in God. You’ll be glad you did. God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!
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