"It Is What It Is" - or, is it? (Muley Message 2 9 2020)

One of the things I hate more than anything is the saying, "It is what it is."  Having heard it so long and so much, I wanted to let Muley have a discussion about it as one of his messages.

Sometimes, you don't have an option but to deal with what's in front of you.  And sometimes, there's things you can do to change it.  Sometimes, it requires help from people around you or even closest to you.  And sometimes you have to have your mind changed, while other times you have to change the mind of others.  Sometimes, you may not even see 'what it is' that needs to be changed in your life, while others around you can't see what 'it is.'

Listen to yourself, listen to the voice in your heart, and listen to those around you.
Sometimes, you don't have an option but to deal with what's in front you, and sometimes you have to be forced to deal with it.

Your highway isn't always the best way, even though it may seem like the only way. 
Go off-road and on the unbeaten path.
Make it work for you.

I believe in you.  ~Kevin

Muley Sermon 2 9 2020         Psalm 103.1 – 17a

Today, kids, I’m going to talk to you and your grown ups – which isn’t really different than normal; but, I hope you all sit and talk together about what happens in church, what it all means to each of you, and how you can use what we hear in our lives.  So, I’m going to begin by asking:

How are you?  How are you today?  How are you doing?  Aren’t those the laziest questions you ever heard?  First, who is going to answer honestly; second, do you really care or is it polite conversation filler, and, third, who will take out time to hear the story?  Not me; I love you, but I’m on my way to the Corner Café to get cookies!  After all, “it is what it is,” right?  (shake head no)

See, right now Pastor Cheryl’s sermons are a series of positive ways of slowing down and thinking, and I want to talk about that, too.  But, you can’t talk about positivity without talking about, what?  (pause) That’s right: Squirrels.

You see, sometimes, people talk about other peoples' problems but say ‘squirrels’ instead of saying names or something like that.  So, the squirrels I hear from are people who have problems with family members; problems with sickness; problems with addictions; problems with money; problems with work.  And when I hear them talk about their problems, they all say the same five words.

(flip sign reading: GIVE ME ALL YOUR COOKIES!)

Wait, that’s the wrong sign.  I mean, I’ll TAKE them if you give them to me, but the 5 words I’m talking about today is:

(flip sign reading: IT IS WHAT IT IS.)

It is what it is.  Because that means you’re accepting things as they are, those 5 words make up the most defeated sentence in the human world; right after, “You sank my battleship.”

It is what it is.  What is “IT” exactly?  And why does it have to be what it ‘is?’  Is ‘it’ really that powerful to control our ‘is?’  Do we have to accept the ‘it’ or the ‘is?’  Can we change our ‘it’ so it isn’t just an ‘is’ but instead a more powerful ‘it’ that is on our side?  I don’t even know what I just said!

First of all, if you’re looking to a talking mule for answers, your ‘it’ and ‘is’ are worse off than you ever thought!  Second, I’m glad to help when I’m able.  Third, the last line of our reading today is, “The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.”  That means FOREVER and even longer.  What do you love?  Your dog?  Your games?  Your cookies?  Your car?  What about the most important thing: You?  Do you love YOU?  If you don’t love you, you need to learn to, because you’re beautiful and perfect, worthy of love from others and yourself, even though you’re a mess – but, aren’t we all?  If God loves you so much, what’s not to love about yourself?

We are the writers of our own stories.  You can start it off ‘once upon a time’ or ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,’ or, if you’re telling stories about big fish, ‘they call me Ishmael’!  The easy answer is to say ‘it is what it is,’ but the better answer is to say, ‘it is this, but it’s going to be this.’  Write your goals down on paper, make your goal YOUR happiness, and mark it off every time you meet one of your goals.  Life is NEVER that easy; but sometimes the best beginning is a simple start, and it’s time we started making changes for our better.

Then, hopefully, you can start answering, “It is what it wasn’t,” because you made life what ‘it is’, and learned to love you, because God loves you, Jesus loves you, and your pal Muley loves you, and I’ll see you real soon!