A New Year, A New Me

What might Yahweh's goal be for you in the coming year? What would He illuminate or highlight for your well being? To what would He ever so gently turn your chin, so as to invite your attention? I can sense Him saying, "Look, sweet child. Please look at this. It will save you from greater hurt; both the continuation of hurts from the past and even new kinds of hurt our enemy would like to inflict upon you."

Psalm 119:36-37, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.”

Inclining my heart to Your testimonies, to celebrating what God has done and is doing in me, is an inoculation from the insipid allure of being covetous. Covetousness leads us to compare ourselves to others, and I don't believe I am alone in saying I need forgiveness for this false focus. Forgiveness for comparing my life, the path He has placed me on, with the path of others. It is worthless to do so! It is life draining and He wants for each of us to turn our eyes away from it. Rather, He would have us to celebrate what He is doing our life. If we look to others, let it be only to celebrate His testimony, what He has uniquely crafted for them in their life, their journey. Then allow Him to revive you in His way that is specially crafted with sole-intentionality for you. To revive you in His way that is also specially crafted with soul-intentionality for you.

So many of His precious Truths for His children include methods for how to best guard our heart and mind from the attack of the enemy of our soul. Nestled within Psalm 119 is one such tried and true method: inclining our heart (our spiritual and emotional attention) and our eyes (our physical attention) to His ways. Why? So as to be revived; to reap eternal benefits for my heart and my emotions, yes, for my overall well-being!

Praise the Lord that we don't have to try to make these changes all on our own! Because what sounds so simple on paper becomes so complex when we actually move to walk it out. We have all tried with varying degrees of success (er... failure, if I'm being honest) to look away from things that make us covetous. The Psalmist asks for the Lords help, "Incline my heart," "Turn my eyes," and then, "Revive me." This is not his strength to accomplish these goals, but God's. 

But are we resting on God's work alone? He will just do it. I'll just sit here and wait. And enjoy the view... of all those things I wish I had... Hmmmm.... Yeah. That probably isn't going to cut it. Psalm 119:32 says, "I will run the course of your commandments for you shall enlarge my heart."

Running. Ew. Sounds like effort. A LOT of effort for some of us! We are asking for God's help in these heart health endeavors, but we also must agree in our spirit and partner with Him to establish these changes. Effort will need to be expended. But the results? An enlarged heart! We know this to be a true dividend for athletes; a healthier heart capable of even greater things. It is equally true for our spiritual hearts and their health.

What part of your heart would God want to partner with you to enlarge for 2017? What would He lead you to "write in" as your shared goal for that heart? Ask Him. Find a quiet moment on your drive to work, during a coffee break (or the break you need after having too much of that coffee), as you go on a walk (or run? Ha!), or in the pre-sleep moments as you lay down.

He promises that He will enlarge your heart! He will make you whole! To the extent of the effort you are exerting, He meets you and you are in process, even now.

Finally, rest. Allow your spirit to be at peace because you are confident that He is working. Be still, continue to be honest in the midst of each stillness, and allow Him to accomplish His purpose within you, sweet friends!

Pockets of Peace ~ An Advent Reading

The magic of the season, the sugarplum fairies of which we dream, are these healthy desires?

Or are they marketing schemes developed to encourage us to engage in the ongoing belief that something in our lives is lacking; to create a constant sense of unrest, an infinite and exponential hunger for more? But “more” in the sense of economic commodities isn’t what brought joy from fear, fatigue, confusion, and shock, to any of the characters present in the first Christmas scene.

All of these emotional extremes; from the depths of grief to overwhelming joy, it is all encapsulated in this unique historical event. The shepherds were “terrified” in Luke 2:9, but after visiting the child they, “went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen (vs. 20).”

The wise men traveled from afar and were likely quite road weary. Even the heights of enthusiasm are beat out of me after just 13 hours of travel. So while their wonder propelled them to take action and pursue a visit with this King, I’m certain they were exhausted by the time they arrived. Yet the only physical characteristics significant enough to be mentioned in this passage are that they were “overjoyed,” then “bowed down and worshiped,” and finally “opened their treasures and presented their gifts.”

Then there was Mary, sweet Mary. Shunned by her family. Likely disowned because of her condition. When she originally received the news in Luke 1:29 she was “confused and disturbed.” Yet within just a few verses she chose to accept God’s plan. And then, just a few days later, she was singing a song of praise in verses 46-55 that began with these words, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” After the arrival of the baby, and after all of His visitors have come and gone, the scriptures tell us in Luke 2:19, “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

And finally Joseph, the leading man who over the shock of these circumstances was ready to relinquish his role. But instead, this “righteous man” (vs. 19) believed the angel that appeared telling him to not fear and to proceed with taking Mary as his wife. Did Joseph experience joy during this season? I can’t tell from scripture. What I can tell is that he was obedient to take her and even carried her at a very sensitive time (nearing the end of her pregnancy) with him on a long journey. Perhaps because no one else would care for her? Perhaps because he felt he was best qualified to do so? Regardless, he was faithful to care for a woman in a precarious situation both physically and socially. I often find that I am most filled with joy and peace when I’m nobly carrying out a duty I confidently know is mine alone to complete. And so I would like to believe that in doing so, Joseph, too, was rewarded with these divine gifts.

Each of those encountering the Christ-child left with a gift in their heart; joy. They had found a pocket of peace in the midst of certain chaos. A peace from His presence that will exist not in pockets but for all time when we are one day allowed to remain in His presence for eternity.

I am especially curious as to what perhaps were God’s emotions during this first Christmas? Did He also experience these extremes? I shared with you on 12-21-16 that God has emotions and that we are made in His image. So I think it is reasonable to believe He most certainly did. He loved humanity and wanted to restore a right relationship with us. But to do so cost Him dearly; it cost him sending His only Son away and ultimately then a brief 33 years later seeing the Son sacrificed to accomplish this very purpose. Love, hope, sorrow, grief & despair, all of these even inhabited the spiritual space of that first Christmas and these continue to be the same extremes you and I experience during this season every year.

Have you pondered that perhaps this season is full of emotional extremes for a highly significant purpose? That to try and rid the season of them is an exercise in futility? That we should enjoy the pockets of peace the season offers, but ultimately remember, Christmas is truly about a radical rescue operation the sights of which are set on a much higher plan; an eternal plan. An eternal kingdom.

Perhaps God uses the extremes each and every year to highlight for us the extreme measures He was willing to take to bring us back into His family for eternity. If this is so, then hiding from these emotions rapes the season of its completeness. Of His all sufficiency. For even, especially, in the midst of all of these burgeoning emotions, His final answer is forth coming. And through that baby, we will be able to experience His final answer with all of creation redeemed. And we will call it eternity. Emmanuel. God forever with us. And us forever with God. And THAT, my friends, will finally be peace everlasting.

“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.” Galatians 4:4-6

Emotions & False Memories ~ An Advent Reading

 
Christmas. The word summons mental pictures of our personal memories mixed with visions of what others such as Kincaid, Disney, or Rockwell have depicted.

Emotion. This season is overflowing with emotions. But between our personal memories and those that have been glamorously airbrushed for us, many of us have become jaded. Burnt out. Dead to any of the wonder or magic that once may have existed for us in this season. Do you find yourself filled with “Christmas Spirit” this year? Or has the mesmerizing become the mundane?

Some of us are simply overstimulated and may want to cover our ears, scrunch our eyes closed, and cower while yelling, “STOP!” as the ads, music, activities, and general merriment activities fly at us off the conveyor belt at an ever increasing speed. Do you find a longing in your heart for a different sort of Christmas scene? Perhaps the type we associate with songs such as Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem?

Listen, many of us are just remembering the high points of seasons past, or, worse, are operating on false information altogether! The first Christmas was no more quiet than ours is today. Goodness sake, they traveled back to their home town, stayed with (ack) extended family, and everyone had gathered for the glorious event of… being taxed. If that doesn’t warm the crowd for a great show, I just don’t know what will. But within the hustle and bustle of a BUSY event in Bethlehem, several found the opportunity for brief reprieves; a woman in a stable having a baby, shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night, and even the magi on a royal road trip.

The fascinating (and alarming) thing about memories is you can actually mix to suit. Some believe that for our psychological benefit, our brains allow painful memories to fade and only the pleasant to endure. There are tragic events in lives that some may rehearse over and over, but even these memories sometimes become “repressed.” And like an old computer, as these painful or even tragic events continue to run and refresh in the background of our minds, our performance in our present life is slowed and slogged; our peak potential is inhibited.

So what about us? Our hustle and bustle can no more be removed than it could for those who experienced it that first Christmas season.  But what can we do in light of all these emotions being stirred by this season? Should we just ignore them?

Is the performance of the computer improved when the processing speeds (which is most similar to our own) are just ignored? Of course not! We all know that to be a ridiculous supposition. So why, even for a moment, would we entertain the notion that this solution would work for our own minds? Our own hearts? Our own emotions?

Often emotions are vilified; we are overly emotional “hot messes” or we are unyielding with hearts of stone. Yet emotions are near and dear to the very heart of God and we are created in His image. We see from scripture that some of God’s emotions include anger, laughter, compassion, grief, love, hate, jealousy, and joy. We see that Jesus himself, God in bodily human form, also experienced emotions including weeping (with those who wept), compassion, and being overcome with sorrow. God also desires for us to experience them so that we might be tender and responsive to each other and to Him.

Emotions can be beautiful indicator lights that drive us more deeply into a passionate relationship with God Himself. Are you confused by something? Scared? Excited?  As a group of ladies and I studied this past semester, we were challenged to note “Emotions aren’t smart. They don’t think. They just feel.” So, rather than trying to ignore it or figure it out on your own, why not try a different response? Could you instead take the emotion, your mind and heart, to the Creator of all emotions asking Him to reveal His heart and His ways in the situation, even asking Him then how He would have you to respond? Just as a check engine light drives you to get in touch with your mechanic (right away. The sooner the better!), so our emotions should motivate us to seek out the mechanic of our very essence; the Creator Himself. Are you feeling love, hate, joy, grief, jealousy, peace, loneliness, or even just a void absence of feelings this season? When you feel any emotion being stirred in your soul, turn your heart to seek His heart. Lift your face to seek His face. Allow Him to illuminate the reasons for your personal experiences of emotions. Allow Him to come into your present so that you can experience the emotions together, like the best of friends.

What would keep you from getting to the auto mechanic asap? So what will you allow to get in the way of getting to your soul mechanic? What if you would take some time with Him today and let him show you what needs to be removed, changed out, or even added - sometimes you need an additive to strip out the gunky yuckiness (pardon my educated terminologies). What if time with Him is all it would take to prime your spirit to once again experience His spirit during this season? What if within that moment all the wonder, ultimately all the passion, of the season could again be released for you?

Ezekiel 36:25-27

²⁵ “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.  

 ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

Failure ~ An Advent Reading

How often do we see God as an objective reporter, merely observing our life, perhaps even taking notes on our successes and failures (heavy on that second one) from afar? Failure. How often does this sense plague our soul and contaminate our life blood? The lurking dark inkling that we aren’t good enough, or that what we gave wasn’t really enough, whether in our private or public lives, even if it truly was the best we had to offer? I’m afraid that during this season of merriment all too often many of us are feeling like failures.

The family we do life with day in and day out isn’t glamorous and is in fact, very broken. The quality of our work doesn’t seem to be enough. The meal we fixed for the family gathering wasn’t all we had hoped. Our decorations are lacking. But this certainly won’t be what today’s facebook post surmises!

Now, pick a character from the holy family. Any one of them could have been defined by an apparent failure. First, Mary was an unwed, pregnant teenager. Why, she must have done something disastrous for this to have happened! Second, it initially appeared to Joseph that the love of his life had cheated on him. And it likely continued to appear that way to many of their family members. So what exactly was wrong with him to justify this unfaithfulness toward him? Finally, even Jesus himself was rejected by many and ultimately crucified. What had he done to deserve such a cruel death? What had any of them done to deserve such suffering? Shockingly, absolutely nothing.

We can see this in their stories, but can we see it in our own? The struggle you are going through, it isn’t because you’re a failure. Certainly we struggle at times because of poor choices that we have made and their resulting natural consequences. But here is the thing, the Creator of the universe more intimately than any other knows why we made that poor choice. He knows it, and knows us, even better than we know ourselves. He understands that a poor choice often flows from a broken spirit that in all honesty was likely doing the best it could at the time. And where we have been willfully disobedient, His consistent go-to response is grace and forgiveness. His heart of love wants nothing more than to show us, as we turn to Him for answers, our own destructive patterns and to teach us new paths; paths of life!

God is not merely a distant observer of His children, nor does He view any of us as failures. The angel told Mary that she had “found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). The Bible refers to Joseph as a “righteous man” (Matthew 1:19). And not once, but TWO times God refers to Jesus as, “My beloved son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 and 17:5).

Here is a counter-world concept: we aren’t successful based upon anything we’ve done. We are successful because God made us. We are made in His image and this is what God says about his children, even today: We are God’s work of art (Eph 2:10), He has chosen us (Isaiah 41:9-10, 43:10) and called us by name (Isaiah 43:1), we are precious and honored, deeply loved by Him (Isaiah 43:4).

It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Him. His calling. His purpose. When I am focused upon myself, I see failure and, frankly, am in danger of such. But when I remain focused upon Him, I see there is a bigger plan, a fuller purpose. And it is saturated with success and hope, because He is nothing less. And in Him, I, too, am nothing less. Return your focus to Him today and live in the light of who created you and how He created you to be!

Psalm 103:8-14

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
⁹ He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
¹⁰ He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
¹¹ For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
¹² He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.