Discovering what love is one day at a time
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash When I was growing up, there was a childhood game called Mercy that we would play. Honestly, it was only fun when you were winning, and even then, not so much because to win you had to execute the win with strength, skill, endurance, and most of all pain tolerance. The player that cried out “Mercy” was the one who surrendered to their opponent who with their hands clasped opposing yours had managed to swiftly twist your hands wrists and fingers into an unsustainable and painful position.
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Obstacles, road blocks, and bumps in the road of life, are not necessary about the solution, but about learning to be like Christ. Our life situations give us deeper revelation about God. Sometimes relational difficulties and other obstacles are about breaking us out of our own old ways of thinking and getting the broader, higher perspective that Christ has for us and our circumstances. Our lives in Christ are continually fluid and linear; we are never going backwards but moving from glory to glory.
Sometimes we have the wrong focus when we encounter an obstacle, and we look at the circumstance from our own understanding. We make mountains out of molehills, because our perspective and focus is coming from the wrong direction. And yet God tells us to trust in Him with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our path. God speaks to us from the finish line. He sees us as we are in Christ. No matter where we are. No matter what circumstantial evidence surrounds us. He calls us into position, identity, and relational experiences with Him and with others. We get to pursue Christ in all of our circumstances. We get to receive His encouragement by agreeing with His perspective, obeying His direction and aligning ourselves with His Truth. We get to ask Him questions when we encounter obstacles that will reveal a deeper perspective of what He is doing in our lives and the lives around us. Obstacles are not meant to be a place that we wail to God about “why is this happening?” but a time of asking “Lord, what would you have of me? What are you trying to show me? What are you trying to teach me here How do I get to grow up in this? What have I refused of You in my life, and who are You wanting to be for me? What are you expanding my capacity to steward in this circumstance? What is your provision for me? What are you developing in me? What needs to be eliminated in my life?” We get to ask the questions that expose our wrong thinking, the walls that we have constructed to self-preserve, and the things that stand in the way of good healthy relationships with others, and our experience with God. The question for us at the point of our exposure is what will we do? Agree or Deny? Yesterday while riding my bike to work, I saw a skunk. It was a baby one and was pretty stinkin’ cute…pun intended. I stopped to take a picture(keeping my distance of course)however, my phone skills are not as awesome as my kids and by the time I got my phone out of my bag and got it ready the little bugger disappeared into the brush. I was told by a friend that baby skunks can’t spray, however, after further investigation I discovered that the truth is that their glands develop within 4 weeks of birth and some as early as 8 days after birth…so if I would of got too close to that lil’ bugger…my week would not have been so pleasant for me nor for anyone else for that matter…
Doesn’t every family have a story of one or two family members that make themselves scarce at big family functions…especially when it is time to do the dishes? Cook? Clean up the mess? Take care of the kids?
Excuses run deep and can be as simple as well, "I am not really good in the kitchen, I really don’t like..," |
AuthorI have been married to my wonderful husband for 29 years. We have two young men ages 25 and 20.. This blog is somewhat of a journal and attempt for me to remind myself of my purpose and invite others to join me in keeping an eternal perspective as we move through each day. Archives
May 2023
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