Day 299 That Bloated Feeling

I hate making big decisions. I'm fine with all the every day small decisions like what time we should leave, what email should I respond to first, what should I have for lunch, etc.  It's the big, life-changing decisions that I struggle with. If I do come to the point where I have to make one of these big decisions I find myself talking through the issues with some trusted friends, and I'll go for walks and pray about the options and their consequences. It's even more challenging when my friends and family support me no matter what, and I realize no matter what I decide that God will still love me, so the choice is solely mine.

Rehoboam (I Kings 8:1-24) had a big choice to make as he started out as king. He consulted a variety of people, but in the end he was the one who had to make the call.

In Rehoboam's case, there was a right and a wrong choice, but often there's not a right or wrong choice to make: our decisions are usually a number of options that just lead us in a different direction. I think it would be easier if there was just the 'right' path and the 'wrong' path, but it's usually more the case of being 'this' way or 'that' way. 

Recently, when I was confronted with one of these big decisions I was comforted in the knowledge that no matter what I did and where I went, God would always be there for me.  Even if we do happen to take that 'wrong' path, we can always rely on God to be beside us each step of the way. It doesn't make the decision making any easier, but it does bring hope to whatever future we decide.

Lord, thank you for fulfilling your promise to always be there for us.  Help us to draw from your wisdom in our time of decision making.  Amen.

Day 298 Wisdom in the Big Stuff

How do you find wisdom in making big decisions like what to do next in life? You know that the answer is to go to the source of all wisdom, God Himself. He is the one who created you—He has placed His gifts and callings within you and understands their worth. Certainly, He is a good steward of His gifts and will develop them, and you, to maturity.

God is also the one who understands your past and future—He has intrinsic knowledge of your weaknesses and strengths. The Lord will protect you, yet challenge you to grow in your Christian walk.

Finally, God will lead you along a path that will fulfill His plans for your life. He is the one who knows the direction you are to follow and will lead accordingly.

So, how do you begin? Here are five ways to line yourself up for receiving wisdom from God.

1. Acknowledge that God has the answer. God is the source of wisdom for all things. Realize that He not only has the answer, He is the answer. Proverbs 2:6 and 9 states, “For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding… Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.”

2. Pray and ask for God’s wisdom. How can you be sure God will answer when you ask Him? James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” So simply ask for God’s help and then…

3. Believe that He will guide you...because He will. Faith is an important component to accepting God’s wisdom. You must recognize the fact that God wants to communicate with you. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” God’s direction in your decision will become clearer and more distinct as you continue to pray and ask for His help.

4. Get in motion. You have probably heard the saying, “It is hard to steer a parked car.” Begin to do your part and research your vocational options. Investigate the prospects firsthand. Explore the housing market, recreational opportunities, and cost of living. Your move could be a blessing in disguise.

5. Check your decision against God’s Word. James 3:15-17 provides the characteristics of true godly wisdom: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Have the courage to ask yourself whether your choice meets these qualifications for God’s wisdom, or whether there are still any outside influences directing your path.

If you sense any anxiety or confusion, keep praying. God’s wisdom will direct your paths in a peaceful manner.

God is the source of all wisdom. Only He views your life from an eternal and comprehensive perspective. Allow Him to become part of your decision–making process.

                                                                       -- Pam Palagyi, Making Decisions

Day 296 Likelihood

Nature seems to exult in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy. If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe. If creation had been left up to me, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the imagination or courage to do more than shape a single, reasonably sized atom, smooth as a snowball, and let it go at that. No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe.
                                                                              -- Annie Dillard, A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Day 295 A Good Reminder

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
                                                                                 - G.K. Chesterton

Day 294 Standing O

Just for a moment, close your eyes and imagine you just died. (Morbid, I know, but one thing is certain, we will one day die.) I am told that for many there is a white light taking you to heaven to spend eternity with God. Your family will be sad, but you will be ecstatic. As you enter heaven there is a crowd waiting for you with perhaps even people you know who have gone before you lined up creating an aisle for you to walk through. When all of a sudden Jesus steps into the middle of the aisle and calls your name.

Then he does a most remarkable thing, he gives you a standing ovation. Jesus Christ our Lord claps for joy and your entrance into eternity.

Why is it that we focus so much on the problems of the day? We are so anxious about our problems that we miss developing an eternal perspective. All of our problems will not go away with an eternal perspective, but our life will be focused on the right priority. And that is “to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

Make your decisions today based on an eternal perspective. God’s unfailing love is with you today and for eternity. You already have his standing ovation!

Day 293 A Place of Welcome

Thank you for sharing your home and life with me this week, daughter, and making it a place of welcome.

Love, Mom

Day 283 Get Ready....

 

I'll be there tomorrow!

Day 282 Christians and Other Aliens

Jesus said, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). Jesus is making a profound observation. The "overflow" from which we speak flows both ways. We can speak words of death as well as life. It all depends on what speaks our heart into being.

This is not a moral teaching about the need for wholesome language in everyday life. It is not about thinking good thoughts so that we can speak good words. No, Jesus is addressing something much more radical. 

Jesus is speaking in not-so-subtle terms to the religious establishment who spoke from the overflow of their heart. He is speaking to those who controlled the language of the Torah and Temple--the very heart of the people. The sacred language system of Jesus' day not only misrepresented God as a tribal and transactional God, but also called people into a terrifying relationship with that god, a false god, thereby breaking the first commandment. Out of the overflow of its heart, the religious system spewed language of exclusion and retribution.

In stark contrast, God speaks to the heart of humanity through an entirely new language of incarnation, "the Word became flesh." It is the language of with-ness and embrace. God inducts us into the language of life by the Word at work in us, forming and shaping our hearts in love. We are learning to speak according to the Word who speaks us into existence. We speak as ones who have been spoken to. This is our call.

William Stringfellow urges us to speak out of the overflow of a transformed heart: In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst Babel, speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and the efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, defend. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death's works and wiles, rebuke lies, cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed, raise those who are dead in mind and conscience. (An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land)

Day 281 The Good Guide

Big decisions are nerve-wracking. So, how to make better decisions?

Examine God’s word. Does the decision you are considering fall in line with the clear teaching of Scripture? If not, don’t do it. It doesn’t matter how good the decision looks or how great a promise it is supposed to be, or how much it will enrich you, or how happy it will make you. If it doesn’t line up with God’s word, the answer should be no.

Why? Because doing anything that falls outside the teaching of the Scriptures is only going to end in pain. There’s going to be some consequence that you’re only going to regret later. You’ll end up saying, “If only…”

So, read a little bit of the Bible everyday. Don’t feel guilty for not reading the entire New Testament on Monday and the entire Old Testament on Tuesday. Just read a little bit everyday.

What you’ll find is the more you read from the Bible, the more you’ll become familiar with God’s guidance for your life. As you read, let it grow into your heart. Then, it will begin to bear fruit in your life. When you’re faced with a decision, God’s word will come to your mind and you’ll know the kind of direction God wants you to take.

Day 280 Night Two...

...too excited to sleep!

Day 279 True Dat

"If you obey God with your whole heart, you'll usually scare off the folks who want you to obey them.”
                                                                                        - Meg Moseley
 

Day 278 Acceptance

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8


Acceptance. It's got to be a universal need, don't you think? Our family legacy includes some nasty stuff--lack of affirmation plus emotional distance and a critical spirit.... The result is, for one thing, a lot of personal work to feel we are "okay."

I think most Americans in particular feel they have to perform to be accepted. When I was good at something, others would pay attention--they would like and accept me. Experience quickly taught me that good performance equaled acceptance, while poor performance often meant some kind of rejection. So, driven by the desire to be accepted, I worked to achieve. Still, I was nagged by the suspicion that whatever I did would not be enough.

Unfortunately, we also learn this same lesson in church in a variety of ways. When I was a kid, there were Bible memory programs. Every week, we learned a new verse, and on Sunday morning we would recite it. If we had learned it, we got a gold star in our Bible memory booklet. Another star was added next to our name on the bulletin board for everyone to see! Of course, most of us forgot the verses within a few days, but that wasn’t the point--getting your gold star and more gold stars than the other kids was the point! I actually remember being happy when one of my friends was absent because it meant I could get ahead in the race for most gold stars.

The lesson was unintentionally taught, but so much of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus became reduced to performance. I learned lessons like Jesus loves good people; people who follow all of the rules; people who get more gold stars than anyone else. It's a hard lesson to unlearn.

Fortunately, I’ve learned more and more about the real Jesus over the years. While obedience to Christ is important, I’ve learned that Jesus’ love for me and His acceptance of me does not depend on whether I’m always obedient. I’ve found Jesus is far more loving and accepting than I had ever imagined. I am convinced that His love for us never fades nor falters. He accepts us without conditions of performance. He always treats us the same way. Yes, He loves us on our best day. And, He loves us just as much on our worst day. The ultimate proof of his acceptance was his willingness to die for us – “while we were still sinners.”

My guess is that you inherited this performance-based acceptance. Take a few moments to be comforted by the truth that there is One whose love is not based on what you do or don’t do. Jesus loves you for who you are at this very moment. This is perhaps one of life’s most important lessons to learn.

Love, Mom

Day 277 The Other's Keeper

We are our brother's keeper. Whatever we have beyond our own needs belongs to the poor.

"The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruze of oil be diminished" for all our giving away the last bit of substance we have.

At the same time we must often be settling down happily to the cornmeal cakes, the last bit of food in the house, before the miracle of the increase comes about. Any large family knows these things--somehow everything works out.

It works out naturally, and it works out religiously.
                                                                                                - Dorothy Day

Day 275 God's Wildness

In God's wildness lies the hope of the world--the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.

                                                                                             - John Muier

Day 273 First Language

The 16th-century mystic John of the Cross believe that God's first language is silence. "Silence is the language from which all other language is derived. It is the language of presence." Just being with the one we love gives meaning and power to the words we do use. Elijah learned God's first language when he "heard" God in the "sound of sheer silence." (1 Kings. 19:12)

In our own lives, our most primal reality, the womb, precedes the words we use to describe it. God's first language is deeper and more natural than words. Mastering his language is difficult, especially for a community of activists and communicators.... We write words. We sing words. We speak words. We use lots of words in lots of ways to proclaim Good News in hard places. 

The Apostle Paul discovered, however, that unless we know God's first language as the source of all speech, even our best words do great harm. "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Cor. 13:1)

God, teach us the indigenous language of love that we might speak well. Amen.

Day 272 Defiant Hope

The Easter hope we have, the hope that never disappoints has nothing to do with optimism or the avoidance of suffering,  is a hope that can only come from a God who has experienced birth, and love and friendship and lepers and prostitutes and betrayal and suffering and death and burial and a decent into hell itself. Only a God who has born suffering himself can bring us any real hope of resurrection.

And if ever given the choice of optimism or resurrection I’d go with resurrection any day of the week. The Christian faith is one that does not pretend things aren’t bad. This is a faith that does not offer platitudes.

This is not a faith that produces optimism, it is a faith that produces a defiant hope that God is still writing the story and that despite darkness, a light shines and that God can redeem our crap and that beauty matters and that despite every disappointing thing we have ever done or that we have ever endured, that there is no hell from which resurrection is impossible.

The Christian faith is one that kicks at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.

                                                                            - from Sarcastic Lutheran 

Day 271 Pulling Resurrection

The Resurrection is not the appearance of a ghost of Jesus--a shade or shadow of his earthly self. The resurrection is the decisive, real-world victory in the battle against death and despair, promising eventual liberation.

The resurrection means that the verdict of Good Friday is not final. Hope is not a cruel cosmic joke. All of our efforts to improve this world are honored by a God who came down...to pull this world up to him.

When asked "What are we going to make of Christ?" CS Lewis replied, "There is no question of what we can make of him. It is entirely a question of what he intends to make of us."