Idols

When I was a little girl in Sunday School and my Sunday School teachers would talk about idols, I would always envision the golden calf story from Exodus. I would hear the teacher say that, "Today our idols are very different looking. What is it you spend most of your time doing?" And immediately I would think "I watch Nickelodeon too much!" I then became devastated that my precious Nickelodeon shows were idols. When I was older, it became music or (not surprisingly) celebrities. Those were my idols.

I still have idols today. They take on different forms. Sometimes it's my thoughts control me. Other times, it's what another person might think of me. And lately, I'm guilty of doing everything on my own. I realized this week that I'm tired and getting to the point of exhaustion. I dropped my seminary class because with the High School play, the Vienna trip, and the classes I teach, it had become too much for me. The idol of fear crept in immediately and my first response was "What will people think?" I believe this is the idol that holds me captive the most. I'm such a people pleaser, I don't want to hurt other people, and I certainly don't want people to think bad of me.

Fortunately, Papa God knows best and has given me a roommate and several friends who have been teaching me that it's OK not to always have to please people. It's OK that people won't like me all the time. And I can go ahead with my life and walk in freedom with that. This morning, I let myself sleep in, I let myself talk quietly with God and flesh out a few things in my heart.

We're always going to have idols. We're always going to have these "things" or these emotions that we'll grasp onto in order to control the world around us better. And thankfully, we'll always have a Father who knows that we're going to run to the tangible and he's just there, waiting for us to turn around, hand over the idol and be loved on.