Fearlessly Fragile

Over the past few days I've been mulling over the reality of my own weakness.  However, instead of this being a negative, depressing thought, it has become very liberating for me.

 

Embracing my weakness gives me the freedom to surrender control (and I love control).  Embracing my weakness relieves me of the stress and pressure of having to be all, do all and please all.   Most importantly, embracing my weakness makes room for God to be strong in me, through me and instead of me!  It is such a comfort to know that in my weakness I am strong!  Mere me, who is weak and fragile, can claim fearless freedom in the strength of my Creator who IS all.

 

Over and over I have prayed for strength.  I pray for strength for my friends, my children, the grieving, the sick,  myself, the whosoever.   I'm changing the rudder in my prayer life.  I'm no longer asking for strength.  I've realized it's not about my strength, it's not about me.  Instead I will only pray that God's strength would be made perfect in my weakness.  That God's strength would flow through me and that I would readily see supernatural inexplicable things happen through a weakling like me.

 

Soak it in:

 

"But he (Jesus) said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Crist's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 

 

The Struggle of Morality

Have you ever considered morality as idolatry?  It can quickly become that if we are not careful.

Morality is defined as "right behaviour" based upon one's beliefs.  If someone has no beliefs or faith, they can still be a morally upright person.  Basically if they keep the law and show respect, they are moral.  Morals are in place by God and man to protect us from terrible things.  Where there are no morals people get hurt.

Obviously we want to be good.  We want and expect our children to be good and go through a lot of effort to teach them right from wrong.  We want others to be good too.

The problem with morality is that we can become too focused on our behaviour and how we perform.  We can easily become perfectionists and obsess about always doing the right thing and feeling like an utter failure, or loser whenever we mess up.  And quite frankly, we all mess up. 

When we are focused on our behaviour, we tend to transfer those same expectations on to others.  As a result we become judgemental, critical, intense, uptight and uncaring.  Who am I to decide how someone else should or shouldn't behave?  If someone is rude, reckless, self-absorbed or unconcerned , who am I to judge?

As soon as we begin to obsess about our behaviour and the behaviour of others, we become a "believer in moralism and not the gospel." (c.d. baker) .  For the Jesus follower, this is unwise and even an insult to the redemptive work of Christ.  Focusing on our behaviour is focusing on ourselves instead of on our Saviour. 

The Good News of Jesus teaches us that morality (goodness) is the natural fruit produced when we are in a right relationship with God. When we truly love him and allow his Holy Spirit to change us (thoughts, attitudes, beliefs), then the actions flow from that.  Sound moral living happens.

Jesus, thank you for offering freedom from the law and replacing it with incredible grace.  Thank you for knowing that I am not good on my own and for taking care of that burden for me.   Amen.

Living in Paradox

 

My Son took this picture during one of our many visits to the Bay of Fundy shores.   When I look at it I see stillness in action.  Peace in the noise.

For years I've been trying to figure out how to cultivate my 'being' in a life of 'doing'.  I tend to keep myself busy.  So much so, that guilt seeps in if I sit for too long.  When I'm really honest with myself, I see how I can easily find my worth and identity wrapped up in what I do. Danger.  This I know to be so flawed.  My identity and worth are found in my creator, who has embedded a part of himself in my DNA by stamping me with his image. 

When our identity is found in who he (Jesus) is, than all of the success and failure in life do not impact or embellish or change who we are.  Our 'being' is discovered and nurtured in those quiet times.  The stillness. 

God has been leading me towards a life which practices solitude and silence.  It is my goal to live the paradox of 'being' within 'doing'. To live a life combining stillness and action.  This has been one of the most difficult things he's ever asked my distracted self to do. It is in those moments that I cultivate my being. Those are the moments when God and I hang out and he whispers truth into me;

"My child"

"You are dearly loved"

"I created you exactly how I want you to be"

"Never will I leave you."

"Let go, I'll catch you."

"You can trust me".

"Do not worry"

"My peace is yours
claim it."

"My joy is complete
live it"

"My Grace is free
receive it

"Be still and know that I Am God".

In your daily toils of working, partnering, parenting, cleaning, cooking, comforting, teaching, guiding, playing, listening, watching, driving, studying, shopping and any other '...ing' you find yourself in, know this:

You are created by a God who wants all of your attention and who wants to give you all the love you need.

Surf's Up

Last week we were away in Niagara Falls for a work retreat/conference.  I am often very uncomfortable in this atmosphere because I feel as though I don't fit in.  I'm not complaining that I don't fit in because I like that I don't fit it, it's just uncomfortable.  The good thing is, there are others who don't fit in who happen to be my friends so we have a great time!

Anyway, our guest speaker was very, very good and I learned a lot from her.  Stuff that would have been helpful to learn a long time ago.  She spoke on prayer. I should have taken notes because she said a lot of wisdom that I have since forgotten.  It was great at the time but my retention is lacking. I guess the thing that stood out most for me was the fact that we often feel guilty and beat ourselves up because of our lack of praying.  The reason for this is that we have one idea, one ideal of what and how prayer is and works. we are so wrong.

She likened it to a beach.  The beach being prayer.  We all go to the beach but what we do when we get there is all very different depending on the personality type.  There are the sunbathers, the surfers, the snorklers and the ice cream sellers.  In other words, some like to be still and silent and ponder, others need to be active and experiencing and moving void of an agenda.  Still some need an agenda and focus and a need and results while others are busy questioning and thinking, studying and learning.  When we understand that there are so many ways to approach prayer we realize; a) I've been doing this all along so I'm not as pathetic as I oringinally thought and b) I can do this!! How liberating.

I resonated most with the surfer (experience, movement, creativity, no agenda) with bouts of sunbathing (being still, few words) as well.  I have done several different personality tests and discoveries and there is just no way around it, I am who I am.  Once you really get a good understanding of yourself and how you think and work and live, you are free to live within that and develop that and use your strengths to leave your mark on this life.  You also learn a bit about others and why they can be so irritating!  (ha! ha! jokes)