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.

Living Icons

“We seldom celebrate enough the fact that healingness and newness are inborn in the human person, and we can release them into the world in creative and redemptive ways.  We are perhaps too frozen in the notion that we are faithful if we are obedient.  We are moral if we play it safe.  We are virtuous if we ask God to do stuff for us.  Slowly and not often enough do we learn that God is not one who bails us out, or one who nags and supervises what is entrusted to us.  The good news is a glorious but demanding affirmation that we are trusted by God to live a new kind of life.”      - Walter Brueggemann

You are one of God’s icons; designed to reflect his very nature.

Goodness.

Mercy.

Justice.

Love.    

Do not wait for God…he is waiting for you.  You have been trusted to act, to move in ways that promote wholeness, restoration and peace.

Today, and each moment within its confines, you have opportunity to live out what has been hard wired into you.  Do not listen to the voice that says, “not good enough”, “forgotten”, “washed up”, “unqualified”, “fool”.  Instead listen as the Author of All sends you forward with new words:

“Chosen”, “Esteemed”, “Friend”, “Daughter”, “Son”...

"Image bearer".

Don't Wait to Create

Get moving.  Put something on paper.  Anything.

Grab a brush and splash some color or take a pen and fashion some words.  Don’t think, just do.

The color doesn’t have to be brilliant to shine and the words don’t have to make a sentence to make sense…just get going.

Writer’s block?  What to create?  What if it’s no good?

No time for excuses, no critic can fully critique those who create.

Go!



Last Of The American Girls

She puts her makeup on like graffiti on the walls of the heartlandShe's got her little book of conspiracies right in her handShe is paranoid like endangered species headed into extinctionShe is one of a kind, well, she's the last of the American girls
She wears her overcoat for the coming of the nuclear winterShe is riding her bike like a fugitive of critical massShe's on a hunger strike for the ones who won't make it for dinnerShe makes enough to survive for a holiday of the working class
She's a runaway of the establishment incorporatedShe won't cooperate, well, she's the last of the American girls
She plays her vinyl records singing songs on the eve of destructionShe's a sucker for all the criminals breaking the lawsShe will come in first for the end of Western civilizationShe's an endless war, she's a hero for the lost cause
Like a hurricane in the heart of the devastationShe's a natural disaster, she's the last of the American girls


We've made it to the class of 13...looking forward to many more.

Enjoy

Today is the Sabbath.

It was created for you.

Ride a bike, paint a picture, milk a cow, play catch with a child…

Rest.

Rest in the fact that you are not a number or a cog in a wheel.

Rest your worries for tomorrow.

Rest in knowing that “it” is not up to you.

You were created to enjoy all of this.

Today is a gift.

Hold On...It's Coming

Probably the thing I struggle with most is being patient.  Not the kind of patience needed when the guy in front of you at the grocery check-out realizes he has forgotten his wallet (usually just after he scanned through his entire shopping cart).  Or the kind of patience one must possess when traveling through Chicagoland traffic.  Oddly enough these impatient moments make sense to me.

Lines at the grocery store will not go on forever and the traffic on your reverse commute will, at some point break-up.

There will be resolve.

The patience I struggle with is when life hits moments that, like heavy traffic, have little movement.  When life feels stuck I want to know how to get it “un-stuck”, I want to know the purpose of the “stuckness” and what is on the other side of the curve.

I question whether there will be resolve.

My impatience breeds anxiety and steals the joys each moment tries to offer.  No joy received.  Asleep to the possibilities in front of me and entrenched in confusing nightmares of my own making, it is in this space that God becomes the Manipulating Trickster.

Maybe another image is in order.  Something that gives respect to the restlessness I feel but renders it powerless.

Jesus gave the example of a child asking for a fish and reminded us that God is not a manipulating trickster who gives a snake, but a loving father who gives beyond what we even ask.

The dynamic is like a child jumping up and down with arms outstretched towards their parent who is lovingly (and patiently) at work un-wrapping a treat for their child.  “Hold on”, the Parent says in a tone that is affirming and promising.  “It is coming”.  With a smile the Parent finishes unwrapping and gladly hands the treat over.

The child was on the verge of a temper tantrum but the Parent was not fazed.  The treat, the gift was always coming; Hope sure and certain.  The resolve may not be in our way or our timing, but there indeed will be a resolve...

And it will abound with goodness.

Hashing It Out

Who would argue with God?  Those that love him.

Why would God bother arguing with us?  Because of his love.

Strange, but our arguments and disagreements with God are indicators of an intimate relationship.  We wrestle with those we love over matters that are important to us and so to find ourselves in a quarrel with the Divine is movement towards oneness.

Walter Brueggemann writes, “Hassling with God, which Israel did with a passion, is an act of faith.  It is a covenantal way of life, for it means that the two parties to the hassling do indeed take each other seriously and know that on their own they must come to terms with each other”.

Arguing with God is part of our mutual “working out” the relationship.  This is not merely “my” relationship with God, but rather the one we share in together (us and the Divine).  Heated dialogue reveals our passion and that which we hold close…whom better to reveal those things than to the One who placed them within our souls?

Do not refrain from questioning God on things you do not understand because of some false notion of piety.  Do not shy away from a slug-fest with the Lion of Judah because the tune “Jesus Loves Me” prances in your thoughts.  Instead…

Unleash your fear.  Scream your apprehension.  Let the furry of your frustration fly.  Be relentless with your interrogation.  

Tell the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob what you really think.  Argue with vibrato and veracity because the relationship matters and love is worth it.