Laughs and giggles during a game of tag make so much sense, because have you ever played tag yourself? I still do, right after I scare one of the boys when they come around the corner and want to get revenge. I love our kitchen area; great places to hide. A really fun tag game is when a person dodges the tagger at least three out of five times they try to tag them. Then there are those people whom the tagger focuses on and decides they are the easy target, because they are just not as fast or they tire out or they always choose the direction the tagger is going. Whatever their demise, they are always frozen or tagged. And then those around them want them to be the tagger because they, let us face it, are not that fast, or tire out… I was recently a sub for PE at our boys’ school, and the one rule that the tagger had: they could not stand guard by those that were frozen, because then that person could never get back in the game. Great rule! I do not remember playing it that way, but what a way to make it fun for everyone, even for those who did not do so well.
Tag, you are it. I am going to tell you I despised getting tagged. Whether it was freeze tag or regular tag, I was so bummed, yet I kept playing. I felt like I was pretty quick when I was a kid; come on, I had all those field day ribbons to prove it! And, yes, I was that girl who went after the slowest kids first because they were easier than the really fast kids, whom I rarely even got close to. My strategy worked, so sorry if you were those kids. But, in the long run, we played the game because it was fun, and after forty years, it is still being played. Kiddos running around like a chicken with their head cut off, in sheer chaos, but having a good time. Tag, you are it!
I find myself playing tag when I am at the house. Looking at the vacuum sitting in the middle of the living room that I pulled out two days ago, the paperwork on the table to remind us to make a decision, the work gloves and hat on the floor from the pool project finished up three days ago, and the five fishing poles and tackle bag sitting next to the stairs. All these things should be put away by the culprit, yet I will take an hour and “tag” everything in due time. Sometimes I despise the game, but I love it all the same and keep playing it. Why? It is what God has for me at this time. Tag, I am it!
We hear the same thing over and over again about Life and what it sends our way. But what are we going to do about it? We have been tagged for whatever we can list on a piece of paper right this very minute. What is yours? Immediately I list:
Wife, mom, cook, housekeeper, teacher, pool maintenance worker, receptionist, scheduler (summer appointments, crazy!) secretary (I love lists, I LOVE writing lists, AND I LOVE MARKING THINGS OFF MY LIST), woah, that was a little excessive, sorry. Right now, packer (church camp), youth pastor’s wife, friend, baby shower food organizer, cancer survivor. (we knew that one was coming)
I have been tagged with an abundant amount of things that I am proud to carry. Then the tags get a little unpleasant:
Cancer survivor, proudful, unkind, pessimistic.
I go from being the one holding all the good tags, proud of my accomplishments, just like the tagger who gets all the kids or the one that got away. Either way, those tags are ones we can say that we enjoy, we cherish, we thank God for choosing us! Then the unpleasant ones we do not want anything to do with, yet we have still been tagged with them. Let us make sure we are not “guarding” these like in the game. We could say that we see the things to change and make an excuse for our behaviors, so we are not allowing the changes to happen. Not letting the game go on like it is supposed to. Let us remember not to stay stagnant in our lives especially concerning the unpleasant tags. And I realize life is not a game.
So what do we do about that? God knows that when He shows us the unpleasant tags, whether in a sermon or talking with a spouse or friend or through our daily Bible time, He expects us to figure out what to do with it. He has given us His word for just that, and if we are not going to spend anytime in His word or at His church building, then I do not know what to tell you. Just like our happy tags, these tags are to be thought of and worked on. We cannot hope they fix themselves. They are not going away, they are who we are, and we must change them. I despise some of my unpleasant tags, but I love that God has shown me what to fix, no matter how long the process is.
Our pastor had amazing messages on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. He said, “Present sufferings are worth enduring for life’s future.” Amen, amen. Been there, done that. Cancer is such a horrible suffering, but every day, as I have mentioned multiple times here, I am reminded of that very saying. That suffering was worth enduring for my future. When things do not quite go the way we think or expect, like in a game of tag we still keep playing, year after year, decade after decade.
Yesterday morning at 9:30am, I had an appointment in a building that at 4:50pm a man came into and killed four people, including two doctors. I realized this morning that I had totally forgotten about my appointment yesterday and called to talk to the office to reschedule. This office is a few floors above the floor that was attacked, but all the same the office staff was there working the day after this attack. They were shook up, but still there. Amazing. No one knows why my appointment was scheduled when it was and even why I forgot to go. I never, ever just forget appointments like that. But those that are affected by this horrific incident will not understand until later why these “present sufferings are worth enduring” until life’s future shows them the reason. God’s Word tells us in Romans 8:18, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Not going lie; this is easy to say and hard to practice. Still, thanking God for this reminder.
God Said Cancer 