In His Hands

Kermit, Wee Kermit, and me

If you know me or have been reading long, you might know that I have a strange fondness for Kermit the Frog. This is not, as you might suspect, a lingering obsession left from my childhood, but rather a newer development that has gripped me (and my household....poor Scott).

I grew up on Sesame Street. Well, not on Sesame Street......I don't think there is a Sesame Street in my town. I did watch PBS's version daily, however, and I could tell you all about it. I probably still could. (I remember Grover explaining the difference between "near" and "far," children showing me how crayons were made, the letter S dancing around with scissors to help me understand how it sounded, the monsters' enthusiastic "yupyupyupyupyup," and the normalcy of a 7-foot tall bird like it was only yesterday.)

I don't remember now what my favorite part of the show was. I do, however, know which character has had a lasting impact on me. Kermit. Dear Kermit. Yes, I am a fan of the work the famous green frog did on Sesame Street, not his collaboration with the other Muppets or his earlier work with the Muppet Babies. In particular, I love his musical ventures and his reporting on the Sesame Street news. ("Hiho, Kermit the Frog here........")

This obsession, as it really is, has developed relatively recently, as I mentioned. I don't know the exact moment that it happened, nor do I know why I've been seized by this nostalgia. What I do have, though, is a theory.

Kermit and Wee Kermit playing a trick on me. My, what little arms you have...or is your head just really huge?

Over the past couple of years, I've been through a lot of personal changes and serious struggles. All at once, almost 3 years ago, I got married, quit my job and was unemployed for several months, changed churches, and moved. Everything changed, right down to my name. These were good changes, but they were not without their stress. Around the same time, I began my struggle with depression, anxiety, and agoraphobia, which - as you know - I still struggle with today. I've had a lot going on, and it was somewhere in the midst of this turmoil that I rediscovered Kermit. A remnant of my childhood, he provided me with some comfort when comfort was hard to come by.

My newest Kermit-themed acquisition. It's pretty unfortunate that I'm obsessed with Kermit at a time when the world wants to "go green." Apparently, all it takes is one song about "being green," and you're set to be a spokesfrog.

Don't we all do something like this? We buy trinkets when we're on vacation, decorate our homes and offices with photographs of us with our families, keep memory boxes full of notes and letters..... We hang onto memories and things from the past because they make us happy - encourage us that perhaps because things have not always been as they are now, they will not always be this way, either. Sentimental or not, I think we all have something we hang onto as an encouragement to us when we're down. What we (I'm guilty, too, for sure!) forget sometimes, though, is that God has another message for us:

But forget all of that - it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! (Isaiah 43:18-19)

God doesn't want us to forget about our past and where we've come from, but He doesn't want us to dwell on them and lose all sight of the fact that He isn't finished with us yet. God has never once brought me to a place in my life where He did not faithfully carry me through it and do a mighty work within me throughout the process.

I recall all You have done, O Lord; I remember Your wonderful deeds of long ago. (Psalm 77:11)

Regardless of where we have been, God is taking us somewhere better. No matter how unhapy we feel now in comparison to how we've felt before, God will bring us complete joy. He isn't finished, and what He has for us is better than anything we've seen or can imagine. What a magnificent promise! What hope!

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

It is wonder ful to know that our God knows that our present circumstances might not look wonderful to us, so He makes a conscious effort to encourage us. He wants us to know that He understands how we struggle, and wants to give us something secure to hold on to when the storms of life rage around us. We can cling to Him when everything is going down around us, remembering the things He has done in the past and hoping in what we believe He will do in the future.

I'm so glad I have Him when I need assurance that things are going to be all right, because Kermit's fun and all, but he doesn't really seem to have things under control.