“Teach me to do Your will; for You are my God; Your Spirit is good…” Psalm 143:10
Zoo Lights - Tacoma, WA
When I arrived home for Christmas I was greeted at the airport by my parents and their two dogs…one an old lady and the other a puppy who in her excitement usually ends up tripping over herself, landing flat on her back and wiggling with excitement as you acknowledge her and rub her tummy.
My dad pulled into the garage; the dogs jumped out of the car and ‘helped’ me with my bags. I turned to go upstairs and was smacked in the face with the most delicious smell - cooking lasagna! My mouth started to water, and all of a sudden I realized how hungry I really was. Within an hour we were seated feasting on the piles of pasta, cheese and meat sauce – my taste buds were happy, my tummy was full, I was sated, and ready for sleep. My mom is a really good cook.
Funny thing is, after the first whiff of the lasagna, I couldn’t really smell it anymore – my nose had become accustomed and negated it as “not new” and “not needed to smell / acknowledge” any longer. When I went outside and came back in, I could smell the deliciousness once more, but staying within the confines of the house nullified the scent within minutes.
This made me think about things in our lives – things that are ever-present but rarely, if ever, acknowledged. These “things” are so apart of our world we accept them as routine, usual, standard, ordinary, typical…common. But, if we really took a look, a hard long look, we would realize these “things” aren’t normal at all:
• The anger flare when cut off in traffic, the grocery line, or the return counter.
• A manipulative technique used to get our way.
• Automatically assuming the worst verses the best of a person’s motives or actions.
• Gossip or slander of another.
• Playing up illness or inconvenience to illicit empathy / sympathy from others.
• Expanding upon a story to make it “more interesting.”
• Playing upon others weaknesses to make one look more talented / successful.
• Asking questions as a guise to actually teach and share an opinion / point.
Some are so accustomed to anger and its manifestation, life without them would be unrecognizable; same with manipulation, lying, or control. In “spiritual language” these are entitled “familiar sprits.” God’s sprit is all about good, true, pure things – when something anti his nature is apparent he isn’t the source.
How do we get such things in our lives? Well, they can be learned (Dad had a temper and responded that way, so I do too.), taught (Mom always got her way by doing this…), as a result of being hurt (I’ll never let that happen to me again, so I’ll…), or a decision (Aunt Sally was successful and she did this, so I will too.). Some assimilation of these “spirits” are conscious, but most are unconsciously morphed into our lives and their appearance is treated as normal.
It isn’t until someone points out where God’s plumbline for anger falls and where we are standing (20 feet to the left) we realize we aren’t quite where we should be. Sometimes it is when our actions are revealed for the manipulative control measure they really are we realize how ungodly our actions have become.
The holidays are a perfect pressure cooker for bringing the “familiar” to the surface (he / she is always that way). Family, close friends, spouses are mirrors walking around showing us the “ick” in our lives surfacing under pressure, pain, or impolite circumstance.
As you reflect back on this past holiday season what “familiar” attitudes / actions aren’t following God’s plumbline. What revealed “ick” revealed do you need to deal with? What ways can God help you to become more like himself and his son?
If it is not God’s character – it isn’t God.
Update
•Work – We just finished our five day planning retreat on Thursday night. My favorite parts were listening to what God has in store for 2011, and listing out all the incredible things he did in 2010 (over 110 of them)!
•Heath – I am back to normal! Whoo Hoo! All the sleep at my parent’s house as well as Mom’s good food kicked any viral bug right on out of my system! Yeah Mom!
•Travel – I am home for the time being – but looking forward to a year of gallivanting around the world with my boss, his wife and our teams… Nigeria? South Korea? South Africa? India? Indonesia?
Requests:
•Work – We are gearing up for our upcoming training cycle – orientation on the 19th, Kick-off on the 29th.
•Life – in 2010 I made a list of five things I wanted God to answer – 3 of the 5 were all about me (all resolved – WHOO HOO my condo sold!!!), one involves another (still outstanding) and the last is for a corporate entity (still waiting). I am still standing in faith that the outstanding items on my list will be answered – will you stand with me?
Happy 2011!
P.S. Congratulations to all my recently engaged friends – Jodene & Shawn, Ruth, Steve, Cliff, Jessica & Bart.
1 comment:
As I read this paragraph, I too began to think of things that don't get acknowledged because they are routine, usual, etc. But apparently I went a different direction with that thought. I thought of the steadfastness of friends that so many people take for granted because of self-focus. A long, hard look in this direction by any of us would find one or more of the following circumstances where "normal" is traduced into "expected" or "commonplace" when it actually originated as a tiny rivulet of living water:
- the prayer that springs up in one's heart for another
- the desire to love or heal or meet any other true need in another
- trusting that of God in a friend
- praising what He has done through that friend
- spontaneously setting self aside in submission to Him
- choosing a path that honors the heart of another
- pointing another to the true source of our life
- giving time
Our Father in Heaven pours His heart into us and those around us every day. In order to seat ourselves on His throne, we must twist each tiny miracle into something mundane and insufficient; but if we glimpse what He set aside for us, and what His steadfastness cost Him, the only living response is surrender. When we do that, He leads us out of the confines of the house, sets us free to come back in, and -- beyond smelling the lasagne - that can lead to loving with all His heart.
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