Living Gift

The world would have you believe that you are an impulse.  A stomach to be fed, a reaction that cannot be contained, an urge to be fulfilled.

You are marketed to, tantalized, wooed-in, and teased.

A consumer.

Something to be controlled.

Something to be manipulated.

Something to be used.

But these things are a twist of the reality; a perversion of the truth.

You are a gift.

Designed to be given.

Designed for generosity.

Made in Love.

Tiny Little gods

The little gods of this world make demands.  They tell us what we should be doing, how we should be behaving, who we should vote for, and why we should believe what we believe.  These little gods bark commands with a puffed up chests and give orders that relish in compliance.

Politics, religion, family dynamics, and our inner thoughts all give a platform to these little gods.  We are attracted to little gods because they claim to have each answer carefully packaged…no need to wrestle, chew, and digest.  They are remarkable little creatures and so getting lured in by tiny gods is easy.

They speak with a cadence of confidence and mask their delusions with authority. 

When we bend our ear to the little gods we give them power to speak into our life and alter who we really are.  They feed on our insecurities, grow in our conformity and devour our identity.

But the secret?  These tiny gods are afraid.

Afraid that you will see them for what they are…trivial, small, insignificant.  Afraid you will awaken from their spell and no longer pay attention to them.  Afraid the home they constructed, fit only for a straw man, will blow away.

Be skeptical of the pat answers that leave no lasting satisfaction.  Be cautious when your allegiance is expected, and be leery of the little gods that make demands…

That you might be open to the one God that gives invitations.

More Than Busy (Brother Lawrence pt. 1)

Married life with three kids is busy. Add a full-time job and a part time student to the mix and life is in constant motion. It is the constant "doing" that gives my life definition, and the busyness of life that I find my identity. And so like some kind of drone worker ant I measure myself and success by what I produce. It is a exhausting cycle of striving, reaching, and doing.

I long for a retreat, to focus on "being". All with the hope that I might find meaning and rest.

In his classic work, "The Practice of the Presence of God", 17th Century French monk Brother Lawrence writes:

Cultivators of Dignity

Our greatest call is to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as our self...the two are inseparable. Our lives should reflect and impart to others that they are intricately made in the image of the Creator...they are of worth because they are image bearers of God.

Our history of humanity has been plagued by severe lapses in our God given command. Out of our xenophobia we have turned to defending "self" and terrorizing the "other". The benefit of this exchange has been (and always will be) "self" (identity is protected, safety guarded), at the expense of the "other" (now entrenched in worthlessness and fear). This is a win-lose scenario (win for "self", lose for "other").

This "win", however, is short sighted. True wholeness comes not when one person, or a particular people group are lifted up over and against another, but when all people stand in solidarity with one another. Our distinctive as kingdom people is not compatible with the self preservation model of our culture. The metaphors our Savior gives us (take up your cross, wash one another's feet, save his life will lose it) point us in a direction of selflessness, service, and sacrifice.

This is "our" call; all of us. In the hope that in it and through it, identity, worth, and dignity would be found for all people.