Stop and freeze? How did you get to this moment right here? At the Park Avenue United Methodist Church, specifically at Space for Grace, sitting in whatever pew you’re sitting in, thinking about whatever you’re thinking about, looking how you look, working where you work, dating who you’re dating…
It’s a combination of things that brought you to where you are and who you are in this moment – it’s biological, part of it is genetic. It’s circumstantial; part of it has to do with the people who have been in your world and the things that have happened to you. It’s self-created; part of it has been entirely because of the choices you make.
And today, I want to talk about this self-created aspect of our lives. Now, not everything is because of our choosing. I don’t think people choose to get cancer, for example. It is true however those things people choose to do can lead to cancer. I don’t think, for example, a woman chooses to marry an abusive spouse. It is true however that some men show signs of being abusive long before a woman marries him, and she chose not to see those signs.
We don’t have control over every aspect of our lives, but that’s all the more reason we should exercise control over that which we can. And there’s a simple way to do this: some call it mindfulness, some call it presence, some call it awareness, some call it the power of now. Call it what you will, the important thing is that it works.
One of the simplest definitions of this idea that I’ve heard of is paying attention to the present moment, to fully be in the here and now.
It’s important to be in each moment because moments are the building blocks of life. The present moment creates your future moments. Take the example of something scientific and easy to prove – weight. If in the present moment I choose to eat a filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes, and then for desert, follow it up with cheesecake, I know that I’ve eaten a large portion of my daily caloric intake in one meal. If I’m trying to lose weight, this choice has taken me away from my goal. If the next day, I work out and eat only yogurt and salad, I’m back on track.
Now an example that is a little more complex might deal with human relationships. If in the present moment I chose to tell you how I disagree with the way you are handling a situation, and I know you don’t respond well to criticism, then chances are, by choosing to make that comment, I’m choosing to get in a fight with you. If however, I don’t want my future to be filled with fighting, I can simply choose not to make the comment.
All of our power lies in the present moment. Just like a tree that is good bears good fruit and a tree that is bad bears bad fruit, so too does a person with presence live a life of his or her own making. What you are is what comes forth. Christians often talk about being “wise stewards” of the earth’s resources, of financial resources, even of how we spend our time. Let us also consider that we must be wise stewards of our moments.
How do we do this? It’s as simple and as difficult as it can possibly be. We do this by staying awake in the here and now, by being present to what is.
In the meditation that follows, we will first pay attention to our breathing because it is the most basic entry point into this current moment. Then, we will pay attention to our thoughts so we can gain some understanding as to what is consuming our minds. Then, we will listen to music and also watch a slideshow. With each exercise, just try to stay focused on what is happening. As we learn to do this, we assume power over our lives and help to create the existence that we truly want.
Sit with your feet flat on the floor and close your eyes.
Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
In the very here and now,
We touch the source of life itself.
We come near to God.
Breathing in, I know that I am here.
Breathing out, I know that it is now.
Breathing in, I feel the flow of air entering my body.
Breathing out, I feel the flow of air leaving my body.
Breathing in, I feel myself sitting up straight.
Breathing out, I release all tension and anxiety.
silence
Now, let us turn our attention to our thoughts and feelings. Be present as the watcher of your mind, because whenever you are able to observe you mind, you are no longer trapped in it. You are the witnessing presence established in the here and now.
In the coming silence, just listen to your internal voice. Watch your mind as though it were a video. Don’t get caught up in the thinking, but watch yourself as you think.
Silence
Breathing in, I see my thoughts.
Breathing out, I feel my emotions.
Breathing in, I know where I am.
Breathing out, I am happy to be here.
Breathing in, I relax into the present moment.
Breathing out, I open myself to life.
And now, let the music and the images on the screen take us further into the present moment.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
You Are the Mountain
(Read Psalm 30)
Life is not just falling in love. It is also falling out of love. Life is not just landing a job. It is also leaving a job. Life is not always feeling happy. It is also feeling sad.
Most of us would prefer that this isn’t so, but it is the reality of human existence.
Part of what we must do on our spiritual journeys then is learn to embrace that which plagues us. By embrace I don’t mean that we have to like our trials and tribulations, but we must learn to accept them as a part of our life, we must learn to love ourselves though them, otherwise, we will end up bitter and angry.
Part of the reason that embracing is so important is because what you resist persists. If you resist the ongoing argument you are having with someone in your life, the argument persists. In fact, resistance fuels the flame and makes the problem bigger. If you resist and deny your declining health, the problem won’t go away, it will persist. The best way to help yourself is to embrace what you are going through, to look at it through the eyes of compassion and learn to work with it instead of fighting against it.
There is something called a mountain meditation. And in this meditation you are the mountain, and no matter what happens on the mountain, you stand firm and at peace. The sun may be scorching the earth, the wind may be blowing fiercely, the rain or snow may be pouring down, but the mountain is unaffected by all the turmoil going on around it.
The elements of sun, wind, rain and snow are like the changing circumstances of our lives. The important thing to remember is that we are not the elements, we are the mountain. The elements swirl around us and sometimes they make life pleasant and good, while at other times, they make life miserable and bad. Through all of this, you, the mountain remain calm.
The things we have to endure - breakups, work stress, disagreements, destructive attitudes and behaviors, poor health - if we don’t get caught up in these storms of life, we can truly make it through them and be better off than before. But this will take time. Years even. What we should learn to do is harness our energy so that we can make skillful choices that will lead to healing, reconciliation and wellness.
So right now, we are going to take a few minutes to imagine ourselves as the mountain. After I finish speaking, music will begin to play and some images will be displayed on the screen if you would like to look at them. This will be a time for reflection in which you can think about the circumstances of your life and the best ways to respond to them.
To sum it up simply, the road to health and happiness starts with us being strong and still, unaffected and firm like the mountain, and we move further down the road as we respond to life with insight and wisdom.
I invite you to sit up straight or stand in the mountain pose if you like. Close your eyes and focus on your breath.
Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain
Breathing out, I feel solid and strong.
Imagine yourself as a majestic mountain with your summit in the clouds. Imagine how solid and strong you are, how connected to the earth you are, for you, the mountain, have stood for thousands of years.
The weather has always been in a state of flux around you. Some days, the sun shines brightly overhead, and you feel its warmth and bask in its light. Other days, the sun is too hot, and it scorches the earth and rock. No matter what the weather, you, the mountain are solid and strong.
Some days, the sun is hidden by the clouds, and it feels so cold on the mountain that you shiver. On these days, the wind is like a whip against your skin. Debris blows across the mountain, but you are not harmed. You are solid and strong.
Other days, the heavens open up and rain falls gently to the earth providing it with much needed water. Or snow falls from heaven and covers you in a gentle blanket of white, and even though it is cold, there is no harm to you for you feel as though you are covered by a down comforter. No matter the weather, you stand firm and immovable.
The winds of change have whirled for centuries around you without any noticeable effects. And as this meditation ends, you shall remain still, firmly grounded and connected to the earth regardless of the circumstances of your life. So now just sit and continue to follow your breath as you sink deeply into your majestic mountain base. Become one with the feelings of solidity, strength and connection.
Breathing in, I feel calm.
Breathing out, I am centered.
Breathing in, I feel secure.
Breathing out, I am strong.
Breathing in, I feel still and connected.
Breathing out, I reflect on things as they are
And I am at peace.
Life is not just falling in love. It is also falling out of love. Life is not just landing a job. It is also leaving a job. Life is not always feeling happy. It is also feeling sad.
Most of us would prefer that this isn’t so, but it is the reality of human existence.
Part of what we must do on our spiritual journeys then is learn to embrace that which plagues us. By embrace I don’t mean that we have to like our trials and tribulations, but we must learn to accept them as a part of our life, we must learn to love ourselves though them, otherwise, we will end up bitter and angry.
Part of the reason that embracing is so important is because what you resist persists. If you resist the ongoing argument you are having with someone in your life, the argument persists. In fact, resistance fuels the flame and makes the problem bigger. If you resist and deny your declining health, the problem won’t go away, it will persist. The best way to help yourself is to embrace what you are going through, to look at it through the eyes of compassion and learn to work with it instead of fighting against it.
There is something called a mountain meditation. And in this meditation you are the mountain, and no matter what happens on the mountain, you stand firm and at peace. The sun may be scorching the earth, the wind may be blowing fiercely, the rain or snow may be pouring down, but the mountain is unaffected by all the turmoil going on around it.
The elements of sun, wind, rain and snow are like the changing circumstances of our lives. The important thing to remember is that we are not the elements, we are the mountain. The elements swirl around us and sometimes they make life pleasant and good, while at other times, they make life miserable and bad. Through all of this, you, the mountain remain calm.
The things we have to endure - breakups, work stress, disagreements, destructive attitudes and behaviors, poor health - if we don’t get caught up in these storms of life, we can truly make it through them and be better off than before. But this will take time. Years even. What we should learn to do is harness our energy so that we can make skillful choices that will lead to healing, reconciliation and wellness.
So right now, we are going to take a few minutes to imagine ourselves as the mountain. After I finish speaking, music will begin to play and some images will be displayed on the screen if you would like to look at them. This will be a time for reflection in which you can think about the circumstances of your life and the best ways to respond to them.
To sum it up simply, the road to health and happiness starts with us being strong and still, unaffected and firm like the mountain, and we move further down the road as we respond to life with insight and wisdom.
I invite you to sit up straight or stand in the mountain pose if you like. Close your eyes and focus on your breath.
Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain
Breathing out, I feel solid and strong.
Imagine yourself as a majestic mountain with your summit in the clouds. Imagine how solid and strong you are, how connected to the earth you are, for you, the mountain, have stood for thousands of years.
The weather has always been in a state of flux around you. Some days, the sun shines brightly overhead, and you feel its warmth and bask in its light. Other days, the sun is too hot, and it scorches the earth and rock. No matter what the weather, you, the mountain are solid and strong.
Some days, the sun is hidden by the clouds, and it feels so cold on the mountain that you shiver. On these days, the wind is like a whip against your skin. Debris blows across the mountain, but you are not harmed. You are solid and strong.
Other days, the heavens open up and rain falls gently to the earth providing it with much needed water. Or snow falls from heaven and covers you in a gentle blanket of white, and even though it is cold, there is no harm to you for you feel as though you are covered by a down comforter. No matter the weather, you stand firm and immovable.
The winds of change have whirled for centuries around you without any noticeable effects. And as this meditation ends, you shall remain still, firmly grounded and connected to the earth regardless of the circumstances of your life. So now just sit and continue to follow your breath as you sink deeply into your majestic mountain base. Become one with the feelings of solidity, strength and connection.
Breathing in, I feel calm.
Breathing out, I am centered.
Breathing in, I feel secure.
Breathing out, I am strong.
Breathing in, I feel still and connected.
Breathing out, I reflect on things as they are
And I am at peace.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Grace Prevails Over the Wars Within Us and Among Us
There are parts of the Bible I have a hard time understanding and cannot relate to, like the book of Numbers and parts of Revelation, for example. But one passage I understand and relate to very well, and I expect you might also, is Paul’s words from Romans 7. Paul says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15).
You know what he’s talking about, right? Some days, maybe even every day, we find ourselves in conflict, wanting to behave in one way, but instead behaving in another. We want to eat healthy, but we end up at McDonald’s or Crumbs. We want to get up early, perhaps to workout or have devotional time, but we end up hitting the snooze until the last possible second. We want to take care of matters of the heart, like calling our parents or friends who live far away or putting together the photos from last year’s vacation, but instead, we end up watching some pointless TV show or surfing the web.
Sometimes, when we “do the very thing [we] hate,” our actions are even more detrimental. We want to serve God, but we feed our own selfish desires instead. We want to give love, but we end up hurting the people we love instead. We want to follow a straight and narrow path that leads to life, but we end up going down the dark road that takes us deeper into the heart of our own misery.
As Paul says, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (Romans 7: 18).
Being unable to do what we want to do is a part of being human. In a way, it sounds ridiculous. Why wouldn’t we be able to do what we want to do? Paul says that it is the sin that dwells within us that keeps us from doing the good we want. Without speaking any condemnation at all this morning, I simply want us to acknowledge that the inner conflict and the damaging behaviors that come from it are a part of our shared human reality.
We love God and we want to do what we believe is the good and right thing for us and others, but there is a war that rages within us. Sometimes, we follow the good. Other times, we are overcome, destructive, even possessed. We succumb to the very addictions, actions, and interactions that ultimately convict us of our brokenness and our weakness.
Everyone needs forgiveness.
Do you think the woman who committed adultery, was caught and put before Jesus as an example wanted to be in that situation?
I don’t! I can’t explain why she did what she did but I don’t think she intentionally wanted to be in a situation of adultery, knowing all the pain that causes so many people, including herself.
What happens to the woman caught in adultery though? No one is going to argue that she was right in her behavior, and yet, no one can condemn her or stone her.
You know what Jesus said. “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And everyone disappeared because the scribes and Pharisees and people listening to Jesus suffer from the inner conflict and the actions it leads to just like she did, just like we do.
Jesus says, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
Her reply, “No one, sir.”
And then these words, some of the greatest words in the whole Bible. “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Everyone needs forgiveness, and in Christ, everyone receives forgiveness.
Jesus doesn’t condemn us for our sin or weakness. Just the opposite: He saves us from it! Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” And then immediately, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” because it is Jesus who breaks the law of sin and death, and it is Jesus who takes our condemnation upon himself and keeps us in a dynamic, working relationship with God. It’s Jesus who gives us a fresh start and another chance every day. As our opening hymn reminds us, “Morning by morning, new mercies I see.”
Thanks be to God is right!
Doing what we don’t want to do is a part of what it means to be truly human. And rather than condemn us, what this must convict us of is that we need help. To be human is to be in need.
Everyone needs help, and in Christ, everyone receives help.
You might be wondering, how does God help us?
One way is by giving us each other. We have the choice of whether we will love each other through our troubles and difficulties or whether we will hold grudges and be unaccepting.
One of the most touching stories of reconciliation that I know was a friend of mine who lived in a seriously dysfunctional family. When she was a child, Veronica’s father was an alcoholic and verbally abusive. Her mother was afraid to leave because she had two young children and no money of her own. Sadly, it’s a common story. From birth until she was 13, Veronica’s father drank heavily every night, whether at home or the bar, and he barely paid attention to anyone in the family. Then on May 12, 2007, he quit drinking. I don’t know his exact story, but he had hit his bottom, as they say. He apologized to everyone in the family, but it was difficult to forgive after all the pain and suffering they had endured for those many years.
When Veronica left for college, she had no real relationship with her father to speak of. But when her dad got sick in her senior year, Veronica went to visit him in the hospital. The road to repairing their relationship has been a long one, but one time I was with Veronica and her whole family at one of her birthday parties. Her dad said to me very quietly but with conviction, “I love this daughter of mine so much because she was willing to see past my mistakes and love me again.” That’s it. That’s all he said, but I could tell that Veronica’s acceptance and love had changed his world.
Everyone needs love, and if we act like Christ acts towards us, everyone can have love.
Another way God helps us is by giving us the strength to change our ways and to actually stop doing the very things we hate. It is possible to do things differently, and I believe it is it the work of the Holy Spirit to empower us to see the world from a new perspective and to make new choices. Veronica’s father did it with his drinking, and there are millions of success stories of people like him, who went from being weak and broken to being strong and whole.
My prayer is that we can do this and that the people whom we love can do this as well.
So when you find yourself conflicted and acting in ways that diminish your existence as a unique, loving, Spirit-filled person, don’t waste time condemning yourself. When you see others going astray, don’t waste time condemning them. Jesus isn’t.
But point yourself or point that person in God’s direction. Turn your life back over to Christ. He will help you. God will be gracious to you. God will “relieve the troubles of [your] heart, and bring [you] out of [your] distress” (Psalm 25: 17).
This morning, I simply invite you to open up your hearts and lives and let God love you just as you are…perfectly imperfect. Acceptance, strength, transformation – these things can all be yours because…Everyone needs grace, and in Christ, everyone receives grace.
You know what he’s talking about, right? Some days, maybe even every day, we find ourselves in conflict, wanting to behave in one way, but instead behaving in another. We want to eat healthy, but we end up at McDonald’s or Crumbs. We want to get up early, perhaps to workout or have devotional time, but we end up hitting the snooze until the last possible second. We want to take care of matters of the heart, like calling our parents or friends who live far away or putting together the photos from last year’s vacation, but instead, we end up watching some pointless TV show or surfing the web.
Sometimes, when we “do the very thing [we] hate,” our actions are even more detrimental. We want to serve God, but we feed our own selfish desires instead. We want to give love, but we end up hurting the people we love instead. We want to follow a straight and narrow path that leads to life, but we end up going down the dark road that takes us deeper into the heart of our own misery.
As Paul says, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (Romans 7: 18).
Being unable to do what we want to do is a part of being human. In a way, it sounds ridiculous. Why wouldn’t we be able to do what we want to do? Paul says that it is the sin that dwells within us that keeps us from doing the good we want. Without speaking any condemnation at all this morning, I simply want us to acknowledge that the inner conflict and the damaging behaviors that come from it are a part of our shared human reality.
We love God and we want to do what we believe is the good and right thing for us and others, but there is a war that rages within us. Sometimes, we follow the good. Other times, we are overcome, destructive, even possessed. We succumb to the very addictions, actions, and interactions that ultimately convict us of our brokenness and our weakness.
Everyone needs forgiveness.
Do you think the woman who committed adultery, was caught and put before Jesus as an example wanted to be in that situation?
I don’t! I can’t explain why she did what she did but I don’t think she intentionally wanted to be in a situation of adultery, knowing all the pain that causes so many people, including herself.
What happens to the woman caught in adultery though? No one is going to argue that she was right in her behavior, and yet, no one can condemn her or stone her.
You know what Jesus said. “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And everyone disappeared because the scribes and Pharisees and people listening to Jesus suffer from the inner conflict and the actions it leads to just like she did, just like we do.
Jesus says, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
Her reply, “No one, sir.”
And then these words, some of the greatest words in the whole Bible. “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Everyone needs forgiveness, and in Christ, everyone receives forgiveness.
Jesus doesn’t condemn us for our sin or weakness. Just the opposite: He saves us from it! Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” And then immediately, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” because it is Jesus who breaks the law of sin and death, and it is Jesus who takes our condemnation upon himself and keeps us in a dynamic, working relationship with God. It’s Jesus who gives us a fresh start and another chance every day. As our opening hymn reminds us, “Morning by morning, new mercies I see.”
Thanks be to God is right!
Doing what we don’t want to do is a part of what it means to be truly human. And rather than condemn us, what this must convict us of is that we need help. To be human is to be in need.
Everyone needs help, and in Christ, everyone receives help.
You might be wondering, how does God help us?
One way is by giving us each other. We have the choice of whether we will love each other through our troubles and difficulties or whether we will hold grudges and be unaccepting.
One of the most touching stories of reconciliation that I know was a friend of mine who lived in a seriously dysfunctional family. When she was a child, Veronica’s father was an alcoholic and verbally abusive. Her mother was afraid to leave because she had two young children and no money of her own. Sadly, it’s a common story. From birth until she was 13, Veronica’s father drank heavily every night, whether at home or the bar, and he barely paid attention to anyone in the family. Then on May 12, 2007, he quit drinking. I don’t know his exact story, but he had hit his bottom, as they say. He apologized to everyone in the family, but it was difficult to forgive after all the pain and suffering they had endured for those many years.
When Veronica left for college, she had no real relationship with her father to speak of. But when her dad got sick in her senior year, Veronica went to visit him in the hospital. The road to repairing their relationship has been a long one, but one time I was with Veronica and her whole family at one of her birthday parties. Her dad said to me very quietly but with conviction, “I love this daughter of mine so much because she was willing to see past my mistakes and love me again.” That’s it. That’s all he said, but I could tell that Veronica’s acceptance and love had changed his world.
Everyone needs love, and if we act like Christ acts towards us, everyone can have love.
Another way God helps us is by giving us the strength to change our ways and to actually stop doing the very things we hate. It is possible to do things differently, and I believe it is it the work of the Holy Spirit to empower us to see the world from a new perspective and to make new choices. Veronica’s father did it with his drinking, and there are millions of success stories of people like him, who went from being weak and broken to being strong and whole.
My prayer is that we can do this and that the people whom we love can do this as well.
So when you find yourself conflicted and acting in ways that diminish your existence as a unique, loving, Spirit-filled person, don’t waste time condemning yourself. When you see others going astray, don’t waste time condemning them. Jesus isn’t.
But point yourself or point that person in God’s direction. Turn your life back over to Christ. He will help you. God will be gracious to you. God will “relieve the troubles of [your] heart, and bring [you] out of [your] distress” (Psalm 25: 17).
This morning, I simply invite you to open up your hearts and lives and let God love you just as you are…perfectly imperfect. Acceptance, strength, transformation – these things can all be yours because…Everyone needs grace, and in Christ, everyone receives grace.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
What Happens After We Say "Yes" To God?
(Read Jonah 3: 1-5, 10 and Mark 1:14-20)
Do you ever feel stuck? Like you aren’t moving forward in any positive direction? Uninspired? Unmotivated? In a funk, we might say.
In the dead of winter, this can happen to us. Whether its actually the dead of winter, like in the months of January and February, or if we find ourselves in the dead of winter in our souls.
I know I do, but the blah days don’t have feel like the end of the world or like we’re failing in the game of life. They can just be taken in stride. The blah days are the days we treat ourselves to watching movies, eating cupcakes and taking naps, enjoying the simple pleasures of being human.
Life is a journey and a process. The beginning of the journey is when we say “yes” to God. Jesus comes to all of us and says, “Follow me.” And when we reply, “yes,” our lives head off in new directions. The disciples went from being fishermen to fishers of men, and Jonah, after he said, “yes,” went from the belly of a whale to Ninevah to proclaim the message of God. It is in saying “Yes” to God’s call that we find our lives expanding and ourselves transforming. It is in saying “yes” to God’s call that we live into our highest callings.
But this doesn’t happen overnight. What does happen overnight is a great deal of trial, of testing, of wrestling within ourselves and with God. That’s because where we are at and where God is taking us is a journey of the soul.
Think of a caterpillar on its way to becoming a butterfly. It must go through a process of metamorphosis. The caterpillar needs to wrap itself up tightly in a cocoon and allow itself to be changed.
The soul’s journey is no different. If God is calling you to change a way you think or act, you must go through the events and have the realizations that will bring you to a new place. What feels like blah days, what feels like being stuck, might actually be your own process of metamorphosis.
I also like the image of a mother who is pregnant, waiting to give birth to her child. For nine months, she is in a process called gestation. The time is necessary for the baby to develop so that when it is born it can live and thrive in this new world. Our souls also go through periods of gestation. As the Holy Spirit is actively working to sanctify us, we might feel as though we are just waiting around, being unproductive and not moving forward, but in truth, we are making advances in our development, it just takes time.
And here’s the thing, the process that we are going through, the time of metamorphosis, gestation, transition is not something you can force. It happens when the time is right and for as long as is necessary.
This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of the spiritual journey if we don’t understand what is happening because internally we feel conflict. We feel like we are stuck and changing at the same time. We long for some resolution or advancement that is not happening quickly enough.
But, if we recognize that what we are feeling and thinking is normal, if we know that what we are hoping for will in fact happen in its own due process, than we can relax into this stage of our journey. It is preparing us for the greatness to come. I now know that everything I’ve been though I needed to go through to get to that next step, and the same is true for every soul.
Think about actors or musicians who hit it big when they are only kids or teenagers, Drew Barrymore, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan, River Phoenix. These people aren’t ready for their success and they inevitably can’t handle their reality and destruct. When we try to force our growth or be someone that we haven’t yet become, we too aren’t ready for the work that God gives to us. We find ourselves in the limelight without the right words to share. We find ourselves in the job without the skills necessary to complete the tasks required.
But if we are wise, if we allow for the process of maturation and give ourselves the time needed, then when we finally do burst forth, we are ready for it. We are like George Clooney acting and producing film after film of Academy Award caliber. Or author Steven Pressfield who went from being unable to write 10 pages in a six month period to someone who churns out bestseller after bestseller.
While we cannot force the timing of our evolution, we can play a part in our own development. One thing we can do I’ve already mentioned, and that’s trusting the process. Another thing we can do is take one step forward each time we are ready. The journey of a 1000 miles starts with one step. And then another step. And another step. And another. And another. Until one day, we find ourselves in the place we always wanted to reach. Having a willing attitude will make us co-creators with God in order to live into our highest callings.
What happens after we say “Yes” to God?
The journey truly begins. We find happiness in the process. There will be days, weeks, months, hopefully not years, that seem like a waste, but don’t panic. These are actually times of metamorphosis and gestation. When the time is full, we will soar like a butterfly.
Do you ever feel stuck? Like you aren’t moving forward in any positive direction? Uninspired? Unmotivated? In a funk, we might say.
In the dead of winter, this can happen to us. Whether its actually the dead of winter, like in the months of January and February, or if we find ourselves in the dead of winter in our souls.
I know I do, but the blah days don’t have feel like the end of the world or like we’re failing in the game of life. They can just be taken in stride. The blah days are the days we treat ourselves to watching movies, eating cupcakes and taking naps, enjoying the simple pleasures of being human.
Life is a journey and a process. The beginning of the journey is when we say “yes” to God. Jesus comes to all of us and says, “Follow me.” And when we reply, “yes,” our lives head off in new directions. The disciples went from being fishermen to fishers of men, and Jonah, after he said, “yes,” went from the belly of a whale to Ninevah to proclaim the message of God. It is in saying “Yes” to God’s call that we find our lives expanding and ourselves transforming. It is in saying “yes” to God’s call that we live into our highest callings.
But this doesn’t happen overnight. What does happen overnight is a great deal of trial, of testing, of wrestling within ourselves and with God. That’s because where we are at and where God is taking us is a journey of the soul.
Think of a caterpillar on its way to becoming a butterfly. It must go through a process of metamorphosis. The caterpillar needs to wrap itself up tightly in a cocoon and allow itself to be changed.
The soul’s journey is no different. If God is calling you to change a way you think or act, you must go through the events and have the realizations that will bring you to a new place. What feels like blah days, what feels like being stuck, might actually be your own process of metamorphosis.
I also like the image of a mother who is pregnant, waiting to give birth to her child. For nine months, she is in a process called gestation. The time is necessary for the baby to develop so that when it is born it can live and thrive in this new world. Our souls also go through periods of gestation. As the Holy Spirit is actively working to sanctify us, we might feel as though we are just waiting around, being unproductive and not moving forward, but in truth, we are making advances in our development, it just takes time.
And here’s the thing, the process that we are going through, the time of metamorphosis, gestation, transition is not something you can force. It happens when the time is right and for as long as is necessary.
This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of the spiritual journey if we don’t understand what is happening because internally we feel conflict. We feel like we are stuck and changing at the same time. We long for some resolution or advancement that is not happening quickly enough.
But, if we recognize that what we are feeling and thinking is normal, if we know that what we are hoping for will in fact happen in its own due process, than we can relax into this stage of our journey. It is preparing us for the greatness to come. I now know that everything I’ve been though I needed to go through to get to that next step, and the same is true for every soul.
Think about actors or musicians who hit it big when they are only kids or teenagers, Drew Barrymore, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan, River Phoenix. These people aren’t ready for their success and they inevitably can’t handle their reality and destruct. When we try to force our growth or be someone that we haven’t yet become, we too aren’t ready for the work that God gives to us. We find ourselves in the limelight without the right words to share. We find ourselves in the job without the skills necessary to complete the tasks required.
But if we are wise, if we allow for the process of maturation and give ourselves the time needed, then when we finally do burst forth, we are ready for it. We are like George Clooney acting and producing film after film of Academy Award caliber. Or author Steven Pressfield who went from being unable to write 10 pages in a six month period to someone who churns out bestseller after bestseller.
While we cannot force the timing of our evolution, we can play a part in our own development. One thing we can do I’ve already mentioned, and that’s trusting the process. Another thing we can do is take one step forward each time we are ready. The journey of a 1000 miles starts with one step. And then another step. And another step. And another. And another. Until one day, we find ourselves in the place we always wanted to reach. Having a willing attitude will make us co-creators with God in order to live into our highest callings.
What happens after we say “Yes” to God?
The journey truly begins. We find happiness in the process. There will be days, weeks, months, hopefully not years, that seem like a waste, but don’t panic. These are actually times of metamorphosis and gestation. When the time is full, we will soar like a butterfly.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Grateful For It All
(Read Job 42:10-17)
It all becomes so clear when we look back on our lives. How this turns into that. How that turns into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
Hindsight is always 20/20 or so the saying goes. When we reflect upon the twists and turns, it’s much easier to see how God was working to orchestrate our futures looking back than while we were actually going through our ordeals.
For example, Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple Computers, dropped out of college after six months, which was very scary for him considering he had been told from birth that he must go to college. He dropped out because Reed College, where he was attending, was incredibly expensive. Jobs parents’ were working class and all of their savings were being eaten up by his college tuition. Since Jobs had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and didn’t think the required classes that he was taking were leading him down any definitive road to happiness, he dropped out. But in doing so, he started dropping in on other classes that did interest him.
One such class was a calligraphy course. Jobs was fascinated by serif and san serif typefaces, about the amount of space that went between different letters and about the art of typography in general. At the time, the course didn’t have any practical application to his life, but 10 years later, when Jobs was designing the first Macintosh computer, this information had a tremendous impact. Jobs said this in his Stanford commencement address:
“[The Macintosh] was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.”
I like this idea about connecting the dots as we look back at our lives.
Think about your life. Perhaps that bully from school who tormented you is the reason you are so courageous and successful today. Or perhaps your mother who never gave you adequate attention and affection is why you married the loving woman sitting next to you. Or perhaps the school who rejected you or the employee who sent you away is why you are now on a chartered course more in line with your gifts and passions than if you had just followed some generic path you thought you should be taking. Or perhaps surviving cancer is the reason you no longer take life for granted, and the reason you have so much compassion for the suffering of others.
Connecting the dots is something that we do looking backwards, and it is affirms who God is in our lives as the great orchestrator, the One who transforms even the most difficult times and circumstances into our growth and maturation as the children of God. Romans 8: 28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
This philosophy about connecting the dots can positively impact how we live today because we now know that the present moment creates a better future. Everything may not be perfect in your current situation, that’s pretty much a guarantee, but everything now is leading to something orchestrated by God and the outcome is secure. That’s a reason to give thanks at all times, no matter if it’s a good or bad period of life.
Rascal Flatt’s wrote a song called “Bless the Broken Road,” and he picked up on this idea in the song. Some of the lyrics are:
"Bless The Broken Road"
I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
That’s connecting the dots.
Take Job for example. He was a man who was afflicted in many ways. To use the language we applied to ourselves, everything was not perfect in his life. Far from it. His donkeys, oxen and livestock were stolen, his children were killed and he had boils from his head to his toes.
At one point, Job cursed the day he was born, but at another point, he refused to curse God and give up his faith. I think Job knew that even his suffering and loss were not reasons to given up on being thankful because healing would be on its way.
That takes us to the text we heard this morning when Jobs fortunes are restored. Scripture says, “The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42: 10).
The scripture doesn’t tell us Job’s response, but I bet he was giving God thanks and praise for a myriad of things. Yes, that his fortunes had been restored, but also thanks that God had saw him though the period of trial, thanks that he had the courage and fortitude to endure, thanks that his outcome was secure in the hands of the Lord.
Looking back, Job could see the dots connecting. He could see how his relationships with his siblings had improved Scripture says that they came to him and ate bread with him, that they had sympathy for him and comforted him because of all the evil that had been inflicted upon him.
I bet that first meal Job had with his family after his fortunes were restored was the best meal of his life. I bet the hugs he received were cherished unlike any embrace he had formerly known. When he had more children, I bet a day didn’t go by that he didn’t appreciate them. Scripture says he even gave the daughters an inheritance along with the brothers, which was not the practice in those days. There was no amount of generosity too great because Job now knew after all that he had been through the superior value of having people in his life whom he loved.
Every person has a default position. Some people that you know are happy and optimistic, while other people that you know are depressed and fatalistic. Some smile while some are sarcastic. Some want more while some give as much as they can away.
Giving thanks can be our default mindset. By default mindset I mean it can be the attitude we revert to in any given moment no matter what the circumstances are.
Many people make thanksgiving about the blessings we have, and that’s not wrong, it’s just not the full picture. When we give thanks, we are thankful for the good things. We say, I am thankful for my loving family. I am thankful for my good health. I am thankful for my material wealth and the security it affords me.
But what if we gave thanks for all things, whether it feels like a blessing or a curse at the time, knowing that God is plotting a course, and that we will be able to go back and connect the dots later. As crazy as it sounds, the biopsy can be a reason to give thanks. The divorce can be a reason to give thanks. The bankruptcy can be a reason to give thanks.
It can all becomes so clear when we look at our lives. How this is turning into that. How that is turning into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
And that is because 1. We are alive to experience all of these things. 2. Because we never know what blessing God will bring out of them. And 3. Because God has placed in each of us the intrinsic ability to take even the most difficult worldly circumstance and turn them into rich and meaningful experiences though God’s Spirit who dwells in us. Steve Jobs was able to do this. Job was able to do this. And all of us are also able to do this.
Giving thanks can be analogous to our breathing. It’s our default position. When things are good, we give thanks, and when things are bad, we still give thanks.
Our faith is that we believe in a God of redemption, a God of salvation. We believe that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. We believe in a new heaven and a new earth where crying and pain and death will be no more. We believe that all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
There’s always something to be thankful for. We can look at our past, connect the dots and be grateful. We can look at our present situation, count our blessings and be grateful. We can see in our minds eye a future that we know is secure because it is in the hands of God and be grateful.
Those of us who have this default, perpetual attitude of gratitude (and with some spiritual growth, it can be all of us), last longer, recover quicker and become more.
We last longer in the face of adversity. We don’t let hardship beat us down, but we endure knowing God give us the strength and will see us through.
We recover quicker when life doesn’t seem to be going our way or when we are mistreated. We have resilience because God’s Spirit dwells in us and Jesus walks along side of us.
And we become more. We don’t settle for mediocrity because we know God has plans for our future, plans for our good and not for our harm.
So connect the dots and let them give you hope for your future.
It all becomes so clear when we start looking ahead to our lives that are being created. How this will turn into that. How that will turn into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
It all becomes so clear when we look back on our lives. How this turns into that. How that turns into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
Hindsight is always 20/20 or so the saying goes. When we reflect upon the twists and turns, it’s much easier to see how God was working to orchestrate our futures looking back than while we were actually going through our ordeals.
For example, Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple Computers, dropped out of college after six months, which was very scary for him considering he had been told from birth that he must go to college. He dropped out because Reed College, where he was attending, was incredibly expensive. Jobs parents’ were working class and all of their savings were being eaten up by his college tuition. Since Jobs had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and didn’t think the required classes that he was taking were leading him down any definitive road to happiness, he dropped out. But in doing so, he started dropping in on other classes that did interest him.
One such class was a calligraphy course. Jobs was fascinated by serif and san serif typefaces, about the amount of space that went between different letters and about the art of typography in general. At the time, the course didn’t have any practical application to his life, but 10 years later, when Jobs was designing the first Macintosh computer, this information had a tremendous impact. Jobs said this in his Stanford commencement address:
“[The Macintosh] was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.”
I like this idea about connecting the dots as we look back at our lives.
Think about your life. Perhaps that bully from school who tormented you is the reason you are so courageous and successful today. Or perhaps your mother who never gave you adequate attention and affection is why you married the loving woman sitting next to you. Or perhaps the school who rejected you or the employee who sent you away is why you are now on a chartered course more in line with your gifts and passions than if you had just followed some generic path you thought you should be taking. Or perhaps surviving cancer is the reason you no longer take life for granted, and the reason you have so much compassion for the suffering of others.
Connecting the dots is something that we do looking backwards, and it is affirms who God is in our lives as the great orchestrator, the One who transforms even the most difficult times and circumstances into our growth and maturation as the children of God. Romans 8: 28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
This philosophy about connecting the dots can positively impact how we live today because we now know that the present moment creates a better future. Everything may not be perfect in your current situation, that’s pretty much a guarantee, but everything now is leading to something orchestrated by God and the outcome is secure. That’s a reason to give thanks at all times, no matter if it’s a good or bad period of life.
Rascal Flatt’s wrote a song called “Bless the Broken Road,” and he picked up on this idea in the song. Some of the lyrics are:
"Bless The Broken Road"
I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
That’s connecting the dots.
Take Job for example. He was a man who was afflicted in many ways. To use the language we applied to ourselves, everything was not perfect in his life. Far from it. His donkeys, oxen and livestock were stolen, his children were killed and he had boils from his head to his toes.
At one point, Job cursed the day he was born, but at another point, he refused to curse God and give up his faith. I think Job knew that even his suffering and loss were not reasons to given up on being thankful because healing would be on its way.
That takes us to the text we heard this morning when Jobs fortunes are restored. Scripture says, “The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42: 10).
The scripture doesn’t tell us Job’s response, but I bet he was giving God thanks and praise for a myriad of things. Yes, that his fortunes had been restored, but also thanks that God had saw him though the period of trial, thanks that he had the courage and fortitude to endure, thanks that his outcome was secure in the hands of the Lord.
Looking back, Job could see the dots connecting. He could see how his relationships with his siblings had improved Scripture says that they came to him and ate bread with him, that they had sympathy for him and comforted him because of all the evil that had been inflicted upon him.
I bet that first meal Job had with his family after his fortunes were restored was the best meal of his life. I bet the hugs he received were cherished unlike any embrace he had formerly known. When he had more children, I bet a day didn’t go by that he didn’t appreciate them. Scripture says he even gave the daughters an inheritance along with the brothers, which was not the practice in those days. There was no amount of generosity too great because Job now knew after all that he had been through the superior value of having people in his life whom he loved.
Every person has a default position. Some people that you know are happy and optimistic, while other people that you know are depressed and fatalistic. Some smile while some are sarcastic. Some want more while some give as much as they can away.
Giving thanks can be our default mindset. By default mindset I mean it can be the attitude we revert to in any given moment no matter what the circumstances are.
Many people make thanksgiving about the blessings we have, and that’s not wrong, it’s just not the full picture. When we give thanks, we are thankful for the good things. We say, I am thankful for my loving family. I am thankful for my good health. I am thankful for my material wealth and the security it affords me.
But what if we gave thanks for all things, whether it feels like a blessing or a curse at the time, knowing that God is plotting a course, and that we will be able to go back and connect the dots later. As crazy as it sounds, the biopsy can be a reason to give thanks. The divorce can be a reason to give thanks. The bankruptcy can be a reason to give thanks.
It can all becomes so clear when we look at our lives. How this is turning into that. How that is turning into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
And that is because 1. We are alive to experience all of these things. 2. Because we never know what blessing God will bring out of them. And 3. Because God has placed in each of us the intrinsic ability to take even the most difficult worldly circumstance and turn them into rich and meaningful experiences though God’s Spirit who dwells in us. Steve Jobs was able to do this. Job was able to do this. And all of us are also able to do this.
Giving thanks can be analogous to our breathing. It’s our default position. When things are good, we give thanks, and when things are bad, we still give thanks.
Our faith is that we believe in a God of redemption, a God of salvation. We believe that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. We believe in a new heaven and a new earth where crying and pain and death will be no more. We believe that all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
There’s always something to be thankful for. We can look at our past, connect the dots and be grateful. We can look at our present situation, count our blessings and be grateful. We can see in our minds eye a future that we know is secure because it is in the hands of God and be grateful.
Those of us who have this default, perpetual attitude of gratitude (and with some spiritual growth, it can be all of us), last longer, recover quicker and become more.
We last longer in the face of adversity. We don’t let hardship beat us down, but we endure knowing God give us the strength and will see us through.
We recover quicker when life doesn’t seem to be going our way or when we are mistreated. We have resilience because God’s Spirit dwells in us and Jesus walks along side of us.
And we become more. We don’t settle for mediocrity because we know God has plans for our future, plans for our good and not for our harm.
So connect the dots and let them give you hope for your future.
It all becomes so clear when we start looking ahead to our lives that are being created. How this will turn into that. How that will turn into this. And we can be grateful for it all.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Say “Yes” to God
(Read Jonah 1)
One of my favorite scenes in the Academy Award winning film, American Beauty, is this wonder-filled moment when the camera follows a plastic bag being blown by the wind. As the wind whips and stirs, the bag rises in a spiral like motion up into the air, and as the wind calms, the bag drops down to the ground. It dances along in the street for a moment, before it is again taken up by the wind. It is as though the bag has a life, not of its own, but because of the wind. The interaction between the bag and the wind reminds me of the dance between the creature and the Creator.
God is like the wind, bringing forth life and movement. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, God is the wind in my sails. Imagine that you are a sailboat, propelled forward by God’s strength and energy, by God’s breath and Spirit. When our sails are in line with the wind, we move forward swiftly on the course chartered by God. But when our sails don’t align with the wind, we can find ourselves barley moving or at a rocky standstill. Our lives are more dynamic and flow easier when our sails are filled with God’s Spirit.
God is always trying to do something in our lives. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that God is always trying to get us to do something with our lives. After all, our God is the God of direction. There is always some path we are supposed to be following and some decisions we need to be making. When we resist God, when we effectively say “no,” it is as though our sails are not aligned with the wind. Our boat doesn’t follow God’s trajectory. But when we are willing, when we effectively say “yes” to God, our sails are filled with wind, and we move forward as God intends.
Take the story of Jonah for example. God wants Jonah to do something, to go to Nineveh and cry out against the city because of their wicked ways, but Jonah refuses. He makes his refusal known by fleeing to a different city called Tarshish; this is a place that Scripture says is “away from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1: 3). And that’s when things really start to go wrong for Jonah. While on the ship, God raises up a storm, perhaps in his anger, which causes all the men on the ship to quake with fear. When the sailors realize that Jonah is the reason for the storm, they throw him overboard. Jonah brought calamity to himself and others because he said “no” to God.
Throughout my life, this has happened to me in subtle ways, but one time, just like with my friend Jonah, God was very direct. It was in 2002 when I was working in Los Angeles as an assistant to a film producer. I felt God calling me into the ministry, and I even applied to two seminaries in an attempt to follow the calling, but when I got accepted, I decided to turn the offers down so I could stay in Hollywood. In my heart of hearts, I knew the film industry wasn’t for me. I knew because I was actually quite unhappy working there, but I had hopes that things would get better.
One day, I told my boss, Keri, that I had been accepted to seminary, but that as long as I had a job with her, I was going to pass on the option. She assured me that my job was safe and that things were going well. Only a few days later, I left for a week to attend my sister’s wedding in Hawaii. While there, I heard God speaking to me, telling me that he had plans for my life. In my mind I heard a very clear statement that I wrote in my journal. It was: “I am going to give you your land.” I didn’t know it at the time, but God meant that he was sending me to seminary.
When I returned to California, I found out a little bit more about the way God works when we say “no” to his plan. You see, the night I returned, I opened up my mailbox to find a letter from Keri, my boss. I wish I could say it was a letter of thanks for what a great employee I was, but I cannot. It read, “Mandy, I hate to do this to you because you are a very nice person, but you are fired. I think you belong in seminary.” Talk about taking the wind out of my sails! In a matter of second, I had been brought to a dead halt. God was intervening. I had said “no,” but God was saying “yes.”
After crying all night, I called Harvard, the school I really wanted to go to, but they said my position had already been filled. Now, I was really panicking. I called Princeton next, my back up school. They said “yes” I could still attend. I was relieved and overjoyed. I boarded a plane a few days later, and as I was driving through the lush green town of Princeton, I heard the words again, “I am going to give you your land.”
God did what he had to do to get Jonah to go to Nineveh. God did what he had to do to get me to go to seminary. And I imagine, God does what he has to do to get all people following in the direction he wants them to go, for our God is a God of direction. In what direction has God urged you? Or in what direction is God urging you?
Maybe you’re estranged from a loved one. Perhaps God is urging you to reconnect with a family member or distant friend. Maybe you have been working 70 hours a week and are completely stressed out. Perhaps God is urging you to take a vacation or even just a walk in Central Park. Maybe you have been lonely and without the support you need in your life. Perhaps God is urging you to meet new people, to develop relationships. Maybe you feel unfulfilled in your current work. Perhaps God is urging you to take a class or switch fields.
I have learned that saying “yes” to God is the best response because it will make our lives easier and lead us towards our highest callings. Saying “no” can lead us to estrangement, fatigue, loneliness and unfulfillment. Saying “No” is frustrating, moreso for us than for God, because let’s face it, God always gets his way in the end.
Here I am in the ministry, and trust me, getting fired from that Hollywood job was not the route I wanted to take. And I’m sure Jonah didn’t want to get hated by people, thrown from a boat, and swallowed by a fish. But that fish actually saved Jonah’s life, and after three days in its belly, Jonah had a change of heart. When he returns to dry land and God asks him a second time to go to Nineveh, this time you best believe he goes. Saying “yes” is like aligning your sails with the wind. You get to your destination more quickly and with less turmoil.
Remember that bag and how it danced in the wind. This is the dance that happens when we say “yes.” Yes to changing, yes to growing, yes to challenges, yes to the journey, and ultimately, yes to God.
Instead of ending this sermon by saying the traditional, “Amen.” I’ll simply end it by raising my hands to heaven and saying “Yes!”
One of my favorite scenes in the Academy Award winning film, American Beauty, is this wonder-filled moment when the camera follows a plastic bag being blown by the wind. As the wind whips and stirs, the bag rises in a spiral like motion up into the air, and as the wind calms, the bag drops down to the ground. It dances along in the street for a moment, before it is again taken up by the wind. It is as though the bag has a life, not of its own, but because of the wind. The interaction between the bag and the wind reminds me of the dance between the creature and the Creator.
God is like the wind, bringing forth life and movement. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, God is the wind in my sails. Imagine that you are a sailboat, propelled forward by God’s strength and energy, by God’s breath and Spirit. When our sails are in line with the wind, we move forward swiftly on the course chartered by God. But when our sails don’t align with the wind, we can find ourselves barley moving or at a rocky standstill. Our lives are more dynamic and flow easier when our sails are filled with God’s Spirit.
God is always trying to do something in our lives. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that God is always trying to get us to do something with our lives. After all, our God is the God of direction. There is always some path we are supposed to be following and some decisions we need to be making. When we resist God, when we effectively say “no,” it is as though our sails are not aligned with the wind. Our boat doesn’t follow God’s trajectory. But when we are willing, when we effectively say “yes” to God, our sails are filled with wind, and we move forward as God intends.
Take the story of Jonah for example. God wants Jonah to do something, to go to Nineveh and cry out against the city because of their wicked ways, but Jonah refuses. He makes his refusal known by fleeing to a different city called Tarshish; this is a place that Scripture says is “away from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1: 3). And that’s when things really start to go wrong for Jonah. While on the ship, God raises up a storm, perhaps in his anger, which causes all the men on the ship to quake with fear. When the sailors realize that Jonah is the reason for the storm, they throw him overboard. Jonah brought calamity to himself and others because he said “no” to God.
Throughout my life, this has happened to me in subtle ways, but one time, just like with my friend Jonah, God was very direct. It was in 2002 when I was working in Los Angeles as an assistant to a film producer. I felt God calling me into the ministry, and I even applied to two seminaries in an attempt to follow the calling, but when I got accepted, I decided to turn the offers down so I could stay in Hollywood. In my heart of hearts, I knew the film industry wasn’t for me. I knew because I was actually quite unhappy working there, but I had hopes that things would get better.
One day, I told my boss, Keri, that I had been accepted to seminary, but that as long as I had a job with her, I was going to pass on the option. She assured me that my job was safe and that things were going well. Only a few days later, I left for a week to attend my sister’s wedding in Hawaii. While there, I heard God speaking to me, telling me that he had plans for my life. In my mind I heard a very clear statement that I wrote in my journal. It was: “I am going to give you your land.” I didn’t know it at the time, but God meant that he was sending me to seminary.
When I returned to California, I found out a little bit more about the way God works when we say “no” to his plan. You see, the night I returned, I opened up my mailbox to find a letter from Keri, my boss. I wish I could say it was a letter of thanks for what a great employee I was, but I cannot. It read, “Mandy, I hate to do this to you because you are a very nice person, but you are fired. I think you belong in seminary.” Talk about taking the wind out of my sails! In a matter of second, I had been brought to a dead halt. God was intervening. I had said “no,” but God was saying “yes.”
After crying all night, I called Harvard, the school I really wanted to go to, but they said my position had already been filled. Now, I was really panicking. I called Princeton next, my back up school. They said “yes” I could still attend. I was relieved and overjoyed. I boarded a plane a few days later, and as I was driving through the lush green town of Princeton, I heard the words again, “I am going to give you your land.”
God did what he had to do to get Jonah to go to Nineveh. God did what he had to do to get me to go to seminary. And I imagine, God does what he has to do to get all people following in the direction he wants them to go, for our God is a God of direction. In what direction has God urged you? Or in what direction is God urging you?
Maybe you’re estranged from a loved one. Perhaps God is urging you to reconnect with a family member or distant friend. Maybe you have been working 70 hours a week and are completely stressed out. Perhaps God is urging you to take a vacation or even just a walk in Central Park. Maybe you have been lonely and without the support you need in your life. Perhaps God is urging you to meet new people, to develop relationships. Maybe you feel unfulfilled in your current work. Perhaps God is urging you to take a class or switch fields.
I have learned that saying “yes” to God is the best response because it will make our lives easier and lead us towards our highest callings. Saying “no” can lead us to estrangement, fatigue, loneliness and unfulfillment. Saying “No” is frustrating, moreso for us than for God, because let’s face it, God always gets his way in the end.
Here I am in the ministry, and trust me, getting fired from that Hollywood job was not the route I wanted to take. And I’m sure Jonah didn’t want to get hated by people, thrown from a boat, and swallowed by a fish. But that fish actually saved Jonah’s life, and after three days in its belly, Jonah had a change of heart. When he returns to dry land and God asks him a second time to go to Nineveh, this time you best believe he goes. Saying “yes” is like aligning your sails with the wind. You get to your destination more quickly and with less turmoil.
Remember that bag and how it danced in the wind. This is the dance that happens when we say “yes.” Yes to changing, yes to growing, yes to challenges, yes to the journey, and ultimately, yes to God.
Instead of ending this sermon by saying the traditional, “Amen.” I’ll simply end it by raising my hands to heaven and saying “Yes!”
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Think Different; Be Different
American media and advertisers want us to feel needy. They want us to feel needy so that we will buy their products, use their services and run to them, instead of God, whenever we have a problem.
If we are not feeling beautiful enough, there is some makeup or hair dye that can solve our problem. If we are not feeling powerful enough, there is some car or mutual fund that can solve our problem. If we are not feeling healthy enough, there is some pill or program that can solve our problem.
Whenever “the world,” in the negative sense of the word, tries to make us feel not something enough, not good enough, not successful enough, not skinny enough, not smart enough, not athletic enough, not happy enough, a red flag should go off in our minds because what “the world” is trying to do is make us feel needy, insecure, lacking and dissatisfied. The word “enough” means “sufficient to meet a need or satisfy a desire; adequate,” but used in conjunction with the word “not,” it starts referring to things not being adequate or unable to satisfy us. This is pretty much the opposite of how God wants us to feel and think.
Tanya is a pretty, educated, and successful woman, but she still doesn’t think she is “good enough.” She wants her apartment to be cleaner and her clothes to be nicer and her waist to be thinner. When she talks like this, she is focusing on the negative, on what’s not “good enough” in her life. This is no way to live, especially because God has blessed her in hundreds of ways, and she should be focusing on what is good and right in her life, and not on what “the world” is telling her she still needs.
Errors in the way we think are stumbling blocks to the spiritual life. How can we praise and give thanks to God if we are continually dissatisfied with what we have? How can we present ourselves as living sacrifices to God if we are continually dissatisfied with who we are?
Today’s scripture from Romans says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
Or the New Living Translation says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
If we simply stop using the words “not enough” in reference to ourselves and what we have, we will be making a big step in renewing our minds and transforming our lives.
Two very simple ways we can do this are by being grateful for what we have and by being happy with ourselves.
First, gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude. “Have an attitude of gratitude,” my father always says. We have so many things to be thankful for in life. Our bodies for example. The fact that we have eyes to see, ears to hear and legs to walk. Forget that we are not perfect. We don’t need to be perfect because we have been blessed with health in so many ways.
Our relationships are another thing to be grateful for. We have friends, family, church family, good co-workers, all sorts of people who make our lives more interesting and offer us support. Instead of dwelling on the one relationship that we don’t have or isn’t going well, we can be thankful for the many people in our lives who bring us joy and comfort.
We have many possessions as well that we can be grateful for. We have homes to live in, beds to sleep in, clothes to wear, and food to eat.
It’s easy to take these things for granted, to want more, to say we don’t have enough, but that’s worldly thinking. We do have enough. And to know this is to have the mind of Christ in us.
William Ward once said, “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
A second way we can refuse to conform to “the world,” renew our minds and transform our lives is by being happy with ourselves. God created each one of us carefully and with a plan in mind. And when we constantly berate ourselves because we aren’t this and we aren’t that, we are insulting God. No one is perfect, but each of us is blessed, and until we own that, until we know that, we will squander our gifts because we may not realize that we have something very special to offer this hurting world.
I like this quote by Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In God’s eyes, you are a gift and an opportunity. You can create beauty and heal the world by being alive as yourself.
There’s a story called Jonathan Livingston Seagull that exemplifies this quote, and in this story, Jonathon, who is in fact a seagull, is frustrated with the meaningless materialism and conformity and limitation of seagull life. All the other gulls do is eat and balk, which is really boring to Jonathan.
Jonathan realizes that he was meant to fly. And so he spreads his wings and spends hours learning to fly higher and faster, to do rolls and turns in the sky. It is through his pursuit of being fully himself and following his heart that Jonathon is taken to a new level of being. Eventually, he is befriended by other gulls, gulls he didn’t even know were out there when he began his journey, and they guide him into an existence that brings him as close to God as one can get.
Today, I want to invite everyone to be true to yourselves, even if that means leaving the old flock behind and venturing out on your own. We can start by not conforming to this world who tells us that we do not have enough, and we are not enough. Instead, we can be grateful for what we have and who we are, and then continue to move forward by opening up our hearts and living life to the fullest. Remember, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
If we are not feeling beautiful enough, there is some makeup or hair dye that can solve our problem. If we are not feeling powerful enough, there is some car or mutual fund that can solve our problem. If we are not feeling healthy enough, there is some pill or program that can solve our problem.
Whenever “the world,” in the negative sense of the word, tries to make us feel not something enough, not good enough, not successful enough, not skinny enough, not smart enough, not athletic enough, not happy enough, a red flag should go off in our minds because what “the world” is trying to do is make us feel needy, insecure, lacking and dissatisfied. The word “enough” means “sufficient to meet a need or satisfy a desire; adequate,” but used in conjunction with the word “not,” it starts referring to things not being adequate or unable to satisfy us. This is pretty much the opposite of how God wants us to feel and think.
Tanya is a pretty, educated, and successful woman, but she still doesn’t think she is “good enough.” She wants her apartment to be cleaner and her clothes to be nicer and her waist to be thinner. When she talks like this, she is focusing on the negative, on what’s not “good enough” in her life. This is no way to live, especially because God has blessed her in hundreds of ways, and she should be focusing on what is good and right in her life, and not on what “the world” is telling her she still needs.
Errors in the way we think are stumbling blocks to the spiritual life. How can we praise and give thanks to God if we are continually dissatisfied with what we have? How can we present ourselves as living sacrifices to God if we are continually dissatisfied with who we are?
Today’s scripture from Romans says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
Or the New Living Translation says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
If we simply stop using the words “not enough” in reference to ourselves and what we have, we will be making a big step in renewing our minds and transforming our lives.
Two very simple ways we can do this are by being grateful for what we have and by being happy with ourselves.
First, gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude. “Have an attitude of gratitude,” my father always says. We have so many things to be thankful for in life. Our bodies for example. The fact that we have eyes to see, ears to hear and legs to walk. Forget that we are not perfect. We don’t need to be perfect because we have been blessed with health in so many ways.
Our relationships are another thing to be grateful for. We have friends, family, church family, good co-workers, all sorts of people who make our lives more interesting and offer us support. Instead of dwelling on the one relationship that we don’t have or isn’t going well, we can be thankful for the many people in our lives who bring us joy and comfort.
We have many possessions as well that we can be grateful for. We have homes to live in, beds to sleep in, clothes to wear, and food to eat.
It’s easy to take these things for granted, to want more, to say we don’t have enough, but that’s worldly thinking. We do have enough. And to know this is to have the mind of Christ in us.
William Ward once said, “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
A second way we can refuse to conform to “the world,” renew our minds and transform our lives is by being happy with ourselves. God created each one of us carefully and with a plan in mind. And when we constantly berate ourselves because we aren’t this and we aren’t that, we are insulting God. No one is perfect, but each of us is blessed, and until we own that, until we know that, we will squander our gifts because we may not realize that we have something very special to offer this hurting world.
I like this quote by Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In God’s eyes, you are a gift and an opportunity. You can create beauty and heal the world by being alive as yourself.
There’s a story called Jonathan Livingston Seagull that exemplifies this quote, and in this story, Jonathon, who is in fact a seagull, is frustrated with the meaningless materialism and conformity and limitation of seagull life. All the other gulls do is eat and balk, which is really boring to Jonathan.
Jonathan realizes that he was meant to fly. And so he spreads his wings and spends hours learning to fly higher and faster, to do rolls and turns in the sky. It is through his pursuit of being fully himself and following his heart that Jonathon is taken to a new level of being. Eventually, he is befriended by other gulls, gulls he didn’t even know were out there when he began his journey, and they guide him into an existence that brings him as close to God as one can get.
Today, I want to invite everyone to be true to yourselves, even if that means leaving the old flock behind and venturing out on your own. We can start by not conforming to this world who tells us that we do not have enough, and we are not enough. Instead, we can be grateful for what we have and who we are, and then continue to move forward by opening up our hearts and living life to the fullest. Remember, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
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