Rapturously Heaven makes His way in His role
Spiralling, turning, delving deep within my soul.
He finds delight in the clean & perfect spaces,
And shutters not at the dark & dirty places.
He calls to me; permission He seeks
To wash & clean each cardioid room for weeks
Upon weeks. Seeking from me leave to bring the pain
That comes as He removes darkness that has always lain.
Even one speck makes a room darkened.
Even one speck made me miss when He hearkened.
From eternity past His task list He has planned
To bring me clearly to the Door else I'd been banned.
Gently as is possible, He wipes out the stain
That has covered each spot where sin has lain.
From Father Adam's own influences
To more modern confluences:
All that darkens is removed
By scarlet fluid that is approved
By flowing from hands willingly given
To soldiers' nail to be driven
Through perfect flesh n'ver stained by sin
So that all that is within
This so monstrous sinner
Can be made newborn, returned to beginner.
For without this bath so crimson, so clean
These eyes will n'ver look on heaven's bright scene
And see the One who gave up all for me
To bring me close having set me free.
Oh, my Lord, my God, my King,
My Hope, my Joy, tis under Jesus' wing.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Opportunities in Change
We're hearing it everywhere. Change. I'm going through change. You're going through change. Let me share how things have changed in the last 13 months or so at our house. My son graduated college and moved to Wichita. My older daughter entered grad school, but still lives upstairs. However, that room has become like a new US territory. I know this because one must approach her door with the ambassador's touch, knock in a certain manner, and then request permission to enter, even if it is just with the voice. My younger daughter turned 15. It is one of the most traumatic times in my kids' lives.... Year 15 - The Roller Coaster Not Mentioned in Guide Books Anywhere! I've acquired a new puppy, when I'd thought potty training was a thing of the past. She also has a bit of magpie in her, collecting stray objects from tables, purses, on the floor... and then strewing them about the backyard like a farmer sowing a field. My husband quit his job, accepted one where he can telecommute, so we're rearranging the house for his new home office. The country voted in a president with extreme views in the opposite direction from mine. My school has to find a new building because the state is taking our parking lot. My church is undergoing change. My office computer system of 11 computers has to be converted to a new system. My home computer died and needed replacing with a computer carrying alien software from the planet VISTA and Office 2007 (instead of oh, so familiar 2003). My mother-in-law died, and her estate has to be settled. Forget TV where the lawyer shows up a week after death and gives you the final check or verdict. No, it's more than a year of legal and practical hassles. 5 major friends have moved away. That's FIVE! Plus their families. Two key employees moved away, so the office is in flux. Omigosh, as the teens say, the list goes on and on. Now, according to the online websites, even one of these events in a year is considered traumatic and worthy of pampering time.
And most of my friends, colleagues, and associates are experiencing similar events. How can it be?
So, when a person who is in leadership goes through something, it has been my experience that often times the people they are leading then go through the same things. Leaders learn so that followers can benefit.
My experiences have taught me a few things. First, anger arises. We want to believe that the circumstances cause the anger, but the truth of the matter is that circumstances are merely the vent of the volcano, while the anger is the magma that has been there all along. Anger at God for being in control and not allowing me to dictate my life terms is seething a way in many of us. It is Adamic in proportion, man's basic argument with God made manifest in my life. We tell our children after an angry outburst that the events and pressure caused us to dump on them. The reality is that it was there already, and they looked weak enough to take the hit of our sin. So, I'm learning to follow God. By the way, the way you learn whether you are a follower of God or merely an acquaintance for the moment is when He leads you somewhere you don't want to go. If you go, you are following. However, often we follow unwillingly and unsubmitted. This is like going dead weight, like my dog does when he doesn't want to move. Passive resistance that causes the anger magma to rise just a bit. We must learn to deal with the change of direction His way.... in willing submission, which is the path of peace with Him and thereby with all mankind, including our family.
Second, change offers many opportunities for offense. Me to be offended with you and you to be offended by me. It seems, at this point, that the offense is generated at points where either you are changing and I'm not willing to change (maybe just yet, maybe not at all) or when I am changing and you won't change as well or as fast as I desire. Be on the alert for this. End it as quickly as possible. Remember, Scripture says that you can't even take communion when offense is present, whether it is your offending someone else or them offending you. And that lack of being able to take communion is just a symbolic representation of the real problem, lack of being able to have communion with God during that time. Now THAT is starvation.
We have a tendency to want to make others change. We can't. Only God can change a heart. We can learn to live our lives in such a way that they see Him in us and then want to have those qualities. They then seek them from Him, and, in His presence, He changes them. On His own timetable, not mine. Whether I think they are changing too fast or too slow, it doesn't matter. It is His timetable that counts. And He is fully capable of changing them. I need to focus on spending time with Him in such a way that He can change me and allow me to show those changes to others.
Third, change will continue and get worse. That's the spiral of our time. If you need X number of changes in your life to get you to become who you should be, and time is shortening, the X number of changes have to occur closer together. How fast you willingly move with the changes will determine how close the events are. In my case, I think there were changes I kept resisting, so they kept piling up ahead of me. It's like glacial moraine. Those bits of rock and boulder that a glacier piles up in front of it as it scrapes the land. The pile gets higher and higher the longer you refuse to deal with it.
Many say we live in the last days. Some say ten years, some say fifty, some say 100. Well, while I believe it's last days, I also believe that it's a case of last days either corporately or personally. That is, either corporately or individually, Jesus is coming for me within 100 years or even within 50 or even in a shorter span of time. So, I can either take the changes as He delivers them, or I can let them pile up so the changes become harder. He gives me my choice on that. It's called free will. My prayer is that my free will morfs into His perfect will.
And most of my friends, colleagues, and associates are experiencing similar events. How can it be?
So, when a person who is in leadership goes through something, it has been my experience that often times the people they are leading then go through the same things. Leaders learn so that followers can benefit.
My experiences have taught me a few things. First, anger arises. We want to believe that the circumstances cause the anger, but the truth of the matter is that circumstances are merely the vent of the volcano, while the anger is the magma that has been there all along. Anger at God for being in control and not allowing me to dictate my life terms is seething a way in many of us. It is Adamic in proportion, man's basic argument with God made manifest in my life. We tell our children after an angry outburst that the events and pressure caused us to dump on them. The reality is that it was there already, and they looked weak enough to take the hit of our sin. So, I'm learning to follow God. By the way, the way you learn whether you are a follower of God or merely an acquaintance for the moment is when He leads you somewhere you don't want to go. If you go, you are following. However, often we follow unwillingly and unsubmitted. This is like going dead weight, like my dog does when he doesn't want to move. Passive resistance that causes the anger magma to rise just a bit. We must learn to deal with the change of direction His way.... in willing submission, which is the path of peace with Him and thereby with all mankind, including our family.
Second, change offers many opportunities for offense. Me to be offended with you and you to be offended by me. It seems, at this point, that the offense is generated at points where either you are changing and I'm not willing to change (maybe just yet, maybe not at all) or when I am changing and you won't change as well or as fast as I desire. Be on the alert for this. End it as quickly as possible. Remember, Scripture says that you can't even take communion when offense is present, whether it is your offending someone else or them offending you. And that lack of being able to take communion is just a symbolic representation of the real problem, lack of being able to have communion with God during that time. Now THAT is starvation.
We have a tendency to want to make others change. We can't. Only God can change a heart. We can learn to live our lives in such a way that they see Him in us and then want to have those qualities. They then seek them from Him, and, in His presence, He changes them. On His own timetable, not mine. Whether I think they are changing too fast or too slow, it doesn't matter. It is His timetable that counts. And He is fully capable of changing them. I need to focus on spending time with Him in such a way that He can change me and allow me to show those changes to others.
Third, change will continue and get worse. That's the spiral of our time. If you need X number of changes in your life to get you to become who you should be, and time is shortening, the X number of changes have to occur closer together. How fast you willingly move with the changes will determine how close the events are. In my case, I think there were changes I kept resisting, so they kept piling up ahead of me. It's like glacial moraine. Those bits of rock and boulder that a glacier piles up in front of it as it scrapes the land. The pile gets higher and higher the longer you refuse to deal with it.
Many say we live in the last days. Some say ten years, some say fifty, some say 100. Well, while I believe it's last days, I also believe that it's a case of last days either corporately or personally. That is, either corporately or individually, Jesus is coming for me within 100 years or even within 50 or even in a shorter span of time. So, I can either take the changes as He delivers them, or I can let them pile up so the changes become harder. He gives me my choice on that. It's called free will. My prayer is that my free will morfs into His perfect will.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
We have a puppy in the house now. (Another due soon!) Puppies are a reminder that change is good.
Dealing with a puppy is interesting. She plays with a toy only as long as something else doesn't show up that is different. She craves change. New, new, new. The bone that was good two minutes ago is not adequate now. There must be a new one, preferably the one upon which the older dog has settled his energies. She is indignant when he won't give her his. She insists, even risking that smile with the extra teeth he's showing. She howls with ingratitude, ignoring the bone two feet from her.
Now, many of us do this same routine with God. We find a new thing. It is good for a moment. Someone else has something flashier or even, just different. We have to have it. Our old one is still there. But the NEW one! Aye, there's the rub! Gotta have it. And He's unfair because He won't give it to me. Now I have to be bitter and whiny towards God because He didn't ......
Ever seen a child in a grocery cart grabbing things off the shelf? Same principle. That child has no need for a new pot scrubber or seven boxes of brownies. But that child grabs at it because it is different.....new.
So, question for thought: What is the difference between a new thing, a different thing, and a change of things? Let me know what you think.
Dealing with a puppy is interesting. She plays with a toy only as long as something else doesn't show up that is different. She craves change. New, new, new. The bone that was good two minutes ago is not adequate now. There must be a new one, preferably the one upon which the older dog has settled his energies. She is indignant when he won't give her his. She insists, even risking that smile with the extra teeth he's showing. She howls with ingratitude, ignoring the bone two feet from her.
Now, many of us do this same routine with God. We find a new thing. It is good for a moment. Someone else has something flashier or even, just different. We have to have it. Our old one is still there. But the NEW one! Aye, there's the rub! Gotta have it. And He's unfair because He won't give it to me. Now I have to be bitter and whiny towards God because He didn't ......
Ever seen a child in a grocery cart grabbing things off the shelf? Same principle. That child has no need for a new pot scrubber or seven boxes of brownies. But that child grabs at it because it is different.....new.
So, question for thought: What is the difference between a new thing, a different thing, and a change of things? Let me know what you think.
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