I came across something from Evenlyn Underhill today and I was so taken by it, I want to share it with you. This is where we find ourselves so many times trying to find God's will. Let me know what you think.
How are we to know, or find out, what the Will of God is? I do not think that any general answer can be given to this. In clear moral or political issues, we much surely judge and act by the great truths and demands of Christianity; and if we have the pluck to do this, then, as we act, more and more we shall perceive the direction of the Will. That choice, cause, or action, which is least tainted by self-interest, which makes for the increase of happiness - health - beauty - peace - cleanses and harmonizes life, must always be in accordance with the Will of the Spirit which is drawing life towards perfection. The difficulty comes when there is a conflict of loyalties, or a choice between two apparent gods. At such points many people fell unaware of any guidance, unable to discern or understand the signals of God; not because the signals are not given, but because the mind is too troubled, clouded and hurries to receive them. "He who is in a hurry," said St Vincent de Paul, "delays the things of God."
Those words from St Vincent de Paul really rocked my world today and I believe it's in light of Preacher man!
I am the one that wants to take the bull by the horns and run with all the gusto of a crazy person being chased by said bull! At times, I have gotten my cart in front of the horse, and in rare occasions, there hasn't even been a horse to pull or push within miles! This is conflict of loyalties which ends up being my way verses the highway, with God being on the highway!
We get in such a hurry to have things done, completed and set right for all the world to see. We forget that God is still in the business of setting our cart in the right direction, with maybe a goat pulling instead of a horse pushing. We forget that He's been doing this for a lot longer than we have and in fact, has seen the likes of us all through history. Nothing really is new under the sun.
This get's back to being...surprise!! When we stop trying so hard and we let God be in control, things may take longer, but they are so much better!!
Peace out Friends!
I can not remember it being this hot, this early, in a long time. If it has been this hot I was living at a pool and just didn't care. I'm all about staying inside to be cool, but this long term, no outsideness is making me crazy. I don't want to open another box! I have no where to put the boxes I've unloaded, the paper that everything is wrapped in, nor do I want to find one. So I shall retreat to blogging!
I'm getting ready to be at Mount Eagle this weekend to finish up the 2 year program on Spiritual Direction. There's a part of me excited about it and a part that's dreading it. I keep holding onto the dreading part for some reason. Why do we do that? We just don't drop the dread! For me, if I drop it and the worst happens, it will hit me unexpectedly and I will burst into flames and cry in front of everyone! Isn't that silly? But it's true, we hold on to the dread cuz we don't want to be surprised. Now being surprised in the good way, well that's a horse of a different color.
It all comes down to trust and control. It always does in some shade or fashion for some reason. We want control, because surly God doesn't know what's best for me like I know what's best for me! Until we let go of always needing to be in control, we are stuck on the merry go round, when we should be on the trapeze!
There we are, just swinging. Comfortable with the speed, height and view. In order to grow, do anything new, we have to let go of that bar and wait, our feet firmly planted in mid air, for the other bar or other person to come into our grasp. What if they aren't there? What if something happened to the bar and I let go and ...nothing! We have to trust that God has a plan and this is part of it. We have to let go of trying to control our life and live it. He would not bring me this far just to let me fall! I must trust in the process and know that bar will be there and I will grab ahold of it!
So how many things are on your list to get done today? I have 10! I also have to admit, that it's from yesterday's list too. I have 5 things marked off, 2 of which belong to today! Yeah!
Do you find yourself doing that? Making list's. Do you stick with them? Mine seem to carry on for about a week, with additions and check offs. At one time, when I was running the soup kitchen, I kept my daily list on notebook paper. Yes, I had that many things to do! Now a day's, even though I seem to have a lot to do, my list is on post it notes or Marriott note thingys that they leave in the room for you to put list's on.
I think this is where Covey got the idea for his Day Planners, of which I've had many! We just love checking things off and being organized, or at least looking like we are.
Here are my questions:
Do these list's hold our life in balance?
Do these list's bring us health?
Do these list's bring us closer to God?
I'm going with Maybe, Sometimes, and Probably not. In fact, if your like me, when a space opens up it's meant to be filled.
Here's a new thought that will seem crazy to most people. Let the Holy Spirit come up with your list! I like to think that's why my list may last a week. I get it done, I just let the Spirit decide when it get's done. Take showers...please. I used to get up and first thing I did was take a shower. I would find sometimes that I wouldn't go work in the yard because I was already clean for the day, so I started putting off showers. (Preacher man still doesn't go for this!) Now I can work in the yard whenever, or at least until I take a shower.
My thinking on this is we have become so good at making our own list's that we don't leave any room for the Holy Spirit to move. This happens in a lot of churches too cuz we got to have a 2.3 minute prayer and the song has to be 5.3 minutes, the sermon needs to be cut short cuz the song ran long and no one will make it to Sunday school on time. In those churches, I think the Holy Spirit just waits to see if He's missed.
We leave tomorrow for the Woman's Walk to Emmaus, which on Mother's day in 2000, changed my whole life. This walk is at Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. We won't come off that mountain until Sunday afternoon and I pray that we as a team will make time for the Holy Spirit to order our day's. I have my list, my talk and prop's are ready to go, I'm packing this afternoon and I'm in a constant state of prayer, which is how God likes it.
I spent some of this weekend working on my talk for the Walk to Emmaus . I've been asked to do the Body of Christ, which I think I can speak pretty good on. Maybe the better way to say that is that God can use me for that talk. Anyway, one of the things that came up for me while I was writing the paper was that everyone has their part to do. It's a well oiled body, if you will. Some folks are good at leading classes, some at working with kids. You've got the Pastor, who brings the interpretation of the Word to the people and the trustees that take care of the building. As long as everyone stays within the lines that have been somehow predetermined, by someone that might already be dead, no one get's hurt. I always like to know where these lines are and how ingrained they are in the "system". It's a lot more fun then to mess with the people that live by the lines drawn in the sand. For me, a little of that happened this weekend when Preacher man got to preach.
We are doing this church wide study called Becoming a Contagious Christian, and it's a mild thing to say that most of the church hates it. They hate it so much, that they are refusing to do it in their Sunday school classes anymore. The jest of this study is to teach you how to give your "story". I'll leave it up to you why the church doesn't want to do it, but I have to say just one word...COMFORT ZONE. OK that's 2 words.
Anyway, Preacher man preached on telling your story. He told about Paul in Acts telling his story and gave detail about how to tell a good story. Then midway through his sermon, he called for a witness! Freaked out most of the people. Unknown to them, Preacher man had Bobby waiting in the wings, ready to give his witness, his story. It went great! People were giving Preacher man feed back and hugging Bobby. Stuff like this just isn't done, so it caused a little stir.
What blew my mind was a few of the comments that Preacher man got that really show how far we have to go to get the Body of Christ working in the right direction. I will just say, for Preacher man, he's about making disciples for Christ. He's about building others up, teaching them the how to's, you know, shepherding and teaching! He doesn't mind sharing the spotlight, cuz it's not about him in the first place, it's about God!
I was proud that he asked Bobby to tell his story and tickled that Bobby jumped on the idea. As the Body of Christ, we are called to work together as a team. Sometimes I lead, sometimes you do, but we work together for the glory of God! We can't all be the eye's or the feet, and we shouldn't try to be. One lesson that I learned the hard way a few years ago is that you can't be THE body of Christ either. You need others to help you be your part of the body, so they can be their part.
