Burning questions...

I have just finished teaching a small unit about Flannery O'Connor's short stories to my Advance Placement class. Was she ever an odd duck! One of the things about her, that I think might sum up her personality quite nicely, is that at the tender age of 5, she gained national recognition for teaching her pet chicken to walk backwards!!

Her stories are no less bizarre! They are not for everyone, and many could perhaps be offended by her plot lines and characters. While her stories may not be everyone's "cup of tea", they do offer poignant lessons and are all largely based on the concept of grace and redemption through Christ and our need, as a fallen people, of them both.

O'Connor wrote stories as a response to what she saw as "repugnant" distortions in modern life. However, she realized that she was writing to an audience that saw these distortions as normal or common place. It was her goal to expose the evil that the world had become comfortable with.

I wonder what "distortions" I have become comfortable with. I wonder if there are subtle evils that we have just become tolerant of over time. To offer a "festive" example, among other things, I have wondered what to think about our involvement, as Christians, in Halloween (as of yet, I am still undecided about this and am making no judgement on those who do participate in it). Teaching my O'Connor unit has reminded me of these questions, as they have been burning for some time in my mind.

About six months ago I really began to grapple with what Paul says in Romans about not conforming to this world. The Contacts group that I was part of last year are studying how to live out our faith without compromise. Unfortunately, returning to work this year, meant that I could not be part of this group. It is unfortunate for many reasons, but also because this is the exact topic that I have been trying to work through.

As I type, I realize I have no idea about how I plan on concluding this post. However, leaving it as it is, is indicative of my state of mind. I offer no answers, just my thoughts on a page. Sorry!!

Purpose

My "save now" button just saved all the blank space on my post. Sometimes that is how I feel. It is like I have so much to process... I can't zero in on one thing. And there are other times that I get so focused on one thing that I exclude everything else. I sure am glad that God keeps up with us better than that! How awesome that He is aware of every little detail of our lives and what we need.

Sometimes, we lose sight of the fact that God has a plan and purpose for our lives. We feel defeated, even worthless and of no value to ourselves or anyone else.

Lately, I have been valuing the freedom that I have. I have a niece that was just convicted in September of a crime and was given 23 to 29 years in prison. She was put in solitary confinement for the first 45 days and allowed out of her cell for only 15 minutes a day. She has lead a troubled life beginning from the break up of her parents when she was a child. She was a victim of date rape and has struggled with addictions. For sure, she has made some unwise choices in her life. We visited with her just before her court date and assured her that we were praying for her and loved her. She has four children with the youngest being seven. She has not seen him since he was five years old because she was in jail for two years before her trial. She told us her greatest regret was that she would not be able to see her children until they are adults. She has continually declared her innocence of the crime. We were shocked when she was found guilty and sentenced to such a long sentence.

Over the process of two years we have been writing back and forth and have had the occasion to visit her maybe three times. We write often and send money to help her buy things that she needs. When she does get a job in the prison, she can make one dollar a day. We received a letter from her recently describing the anguish that she felt when the judge handed down her sentence. She had written us the first of the year, excited about receiving Christ as her Lord and Saviour. She said if it had not been for our letters of encouragement in the Lord, she would have given up.

Sometimes we wonder about the purpose God has for us in our lives. How will she fare over the next twenty odd years of her life? Though she will lose the freedom of doing everything that we take for granted... will she find something more valuable? My prayer is that she will, and that she will not lose sight of the fact that God loves her dearly. My prayer is also that godly people will surround her and encourage her.

The Bible tells us that God will fulfill His purpose for us. Maybe you, like myself have been struggling with where you are in life. Maybe you, like me... sometimes feel that you have nothing to offer or give to others. But if you are breathing... God has a purpose for you. There is someone who needs what you have. There is someone that only you can touch and bring encouragement to. There is someone who needs to hear how God reached down and rescued you from a pit of destruction. God needs you!

Psalm 138 has brought encouragement to me in these words...

I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness...

For You have exalted above all things your name and Your Word. When I called, You answered me; You made me bold and stouthearted.

Though the Lord is on high, He looks upon the lowly, but the proud He knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life; You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand You save me.

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord endures forever... do not abandon the works of your hands.

Psalm 138: 2-3, 6-8

This Fallen World

God's intention for His creation was perfection. When He made Adam and Eve, they were perfect. The Garden of Eden was perfect. Creation had a perfect relationship with the Creator. And then came sin.
Since then, the world has fallen deeper and deeper into that sin. I've been looking through dramatic monologues to perform for a school project, and at least half of the ones I saw talked about sex, homosexuality, had horrible swear words in them, or were just very rude and hurtful. There is a separation between church and state, so now Biblical teachings are taken out of public schools. We used to live in a stated "Christian" country... and now, Christians are mocked or rejected because our beliefs don't accept any other religion. It's all about "accepting everything", and "what's right for you is right for you, and I will accept that". But that's not the way God created us. He is the One and Only God, the I Am, the Saviour of the world. And so many people don't recognize that. Or else they purposely choose to ignore it.

Last night I was at my friend's birthday party and some of the guys built a fire for us to roast marshmallows. There were some issues because the wood was wet, and at one point, my one friend said jokingly to the fire, "I created you! Why are you trying to burn me?" A thought instantly flashed into my head: Imagine how God must feel.

I'm not saying that we should be all depressed and give up on this world because of what it has become. But I wanted to voice some of my thoughts on what's wrong with this picture. We as Christians are called to share Jesus with others. We were created for the glory of God, and I can say personally that I have not been doing my job very well. I think a lot of us might feel that way. So please, take a look at the world around you. It's messed up, I know. But the more we bring God into every moment of every day, the more of a difference God can make through us to the fallen world we live in.

An Exercise for You

A couple of weeks ago, Dianne shared A Personal Psalm and I shared Words in My Heart.  We had been at a retreat where we were given an interesting exercise to invite God to inspire us to write a psalm or song of praise to Him. After this exercise we got back together as a group and shared our songs or psalms with each other. 

As each person shared, their words were accompanied with surprisingly deep emotion. These weren't just pretty poems, but were heart-felt expressions born out of a profound encounter with God during this exercise. As we looked at what we had written, a good number of us felt that what we had written went beyond our own thoughts or writing skills. God had met us personally and was speaking to our hearts as we wrote. Beautiful experience in the end, but a bit intimidating when we heard that this was to be our assignment!

What do you think? Do you want to give this a try this week? God has inspired many a human pen throughout history. He can inspire you to write a song/poem/psalm too. 

I'm often encouraged by the story of Balaam and his donkey and how God opened the mouth of the donkey to speak to his master.  I figure if God can get a donkey to speak, He certainly can move me to do what He wants me to do! The question is, "Am I willing to let Him move me?"

Father, I pray that you would make an opportunity possible for those who read this post to write a song or poem or personal psalm expressing their hearts. May it be a sweet time with You. May this exercise be something that draws them deeper in love with You. I ask this for Your Glory.

(If you're willing, it would be cool if you'd share what you wrote as a comment below. You can do it "anonymous" if you prefer.)

The Joy of Getting

Jesus said, we read in Acts 20:35, that is is more blessed to give than to receive.

This is a well used quote, and is of course, true. Our God is generous and loves to give, so he should know how indeed more blessed it is to give than to receive. And hopefully, we have learned that giving to others can be really, really fun. Our fleshly tendencies toward selfishness have been overcome by experiencing the truth that it really is more blessed to give than to receive.

But Jesus also said something else - about the joy of receiving. Without the fun of receiving, the blessing of giving is diminished. Think about how much more fun it is to give a gift that is received with delight!

Jesus said,
“Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

There is great joy in asking something from God and then getting it. We’re supposed to love getting from him. This may tweak your Christian sensibilities, because we have been trained to believe that wanting to get is selfish, but that giving comes from a pure heart. But God says himself that our joy will be full when we ask him for something and get what we asked for. The reason we’re supposed to ask is so that we can get. And our getting is supposed to give us joy!

It is good to love receiving as much as it is good to love giving.

And when you really think about it, if it’s more blessed to give than to receive, then our giving means for us blessing, which is something we get. So when we give, we get. And when we get, we get - joy, full joy.

Who is like our God? No one. No one at all.

What’s on your heart to ask him for today?

For I know the plans...

I'm sure this is one of those verses that almost everyone has heard at least once... It's one that's used for encouragement, a promise that brings hope:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11
Sound familiar? Well, I've been reading through Jeremiah recently, and to be honest, a lot of it I found quite depressing. God uses Jeremiah to warn Israel and Judah that if they don't turn from their sins of idolatry and adultery, they will be severely punished. God sends destruction and captivity to teach His people that what they are doing is wrong. And then, I stumble across Jeremiah 29:11. God has disciplined and corrected His people quite harshly, but He still shows that He loves them and He gives them hope. He tells them that even though they have been punished and sent into captivity, He will renew them and give them fresh start.

God doesn't punish us because He hates us or because He wants to see us suffer. He wants to teach us that His way is best, and sometimes the only way to grab our attention is to discipline us and move us away from the wide, easy path. But He promises to give us a hope and a future in the end, to prosper us and not harm us. I just thought it was cool to find that verse in its context and get the full meaning behind it. I'm not saying that my interpretation of the verse is the final say on what it means... but I just wanted to share what I see in it and use it to encourage you.

Walk with Me

For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, 

but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. 

Micah 4:5

I saw this verse last night and liked it. What I mean by liking it is that it just settled in my mind and made me ask questions. 

What does it mean to walk in the name of the LORD? I know I want this -  for ever and always - but what does this mean? 

The Message puts it this way:

Meanwhile, all the other people live however they wish, 

   picking and choosing their gods. 

But we live honoring God, 

   and we're loyal to our God forever and ever. 

In this verse we see there are two distinguishable groups of people. There are all the other people and there are we - His people. It's all about belonging.

My greatest joy and fulfillment in life is knowing that I belong to God. He called me to Himself through Jesus Christ and I simply, but wholeheartedly, responded with "yes". As I work in the Women's Centre Drop-in at our church, each week I see how desperately people need to feel that they belong... somewhere. And how much greater it is to belong to the One who loves us with all His Being, and Who is able to keep us belonging to Him forever and ever!

If we belong to God - and know what that really means! - our walk is going to look a lot different from those who don't have that solid foundation of belonging. Oh how I pray that we would grow in knowing how incredibly precious we are to God! I pray that we would know beyond all doubt that God very specifically cares about what we are concerned about and wants to meet us in those places of fear and concern. He is all about being there for us! We are his very own, and He loves us. Let's walk in that awareness, together as sisters, and with Him.