Skip to main content

Not again, but afresh

 I came across a thought we might want to consider this morning: "Only the mediocre are at their best." (Jean Giraudoux) Well, that certainly puts it right out there, doesn't it? There are days I feel pretty good about what I accomplish, while others just pass without me really doing all that much. How do you I think I feel about those days when I don't accomplish much? Usually I am a little bit discouraged by my 'lack' of 'doing', but I am learning to 'do' less and 'listen' more - not because I don't want to 'do' something, but because I have learned it is easier to do it once than repeat the same failures time and time again! 

Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?— and treat your servants with kindness for a change. Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we’ll skip and dance all the day long. Make up for the bad times with some good times; we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime. Let your servants see what you’re best at— the ways you rule and bless your children. And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do! (Psalm 90:12-17)

Life isn't about 'doing' as much as it is about doing 'well' the things we are called to do. When we ask God to teach us to live well - living with wisdom and making right choices - we are about to be rewarded with a whole lot more than the 'mediocre' we can produce on our own. What is God 'best at' in your life? Go ahead and answer that one right now. If I were to answer this, I'd have to begin by saying he is 'best at' setting things right in my life that I have managed to get wrong. There are a whole lot of things in life I set out to do that God will never 'confirm' as the 'right' thing for me to be doing - those are the things he somehow 'sets right' in all his grace, love, and wisdom. I don't know how he does it, but each time I settle for the 'mediocre' in my life, he comes along and changes my perspective to desire more.

Why is that? God wants us to always be 'at our best' - he knows settling for 'mediocre' is not going to ever get us to that point. How many times have you been 'surprised' by God's love? I cannot possibly count the times his grace has rushed over my life, filling me afresh with a sense of his deep and passionate love for this one gal out of so many others he has created on this earth. When I am not 'at my best', he is right there to encourage me to get up, start afresh (not just start again). There is a difference between starting 'again' and starting 'afresh'. If we always do what we have always done (starting again), we will always get what we have always gotten (meaning we need to start yet once again).

God changes our 'again' into 'afresh' because he knows the only way to be free from the mediocre choices we make is to be filled with his grace. It is his grace that teaches us - that shows us there is something other than what we have always done that will lead us into something we have never known before. The 'barely adequate' choices we make are somehow transformed into the 'more than exceptional' ones he desires for us. The poor choices are no longer appealing to us. I don't always understand how God changes my 'again' into an 'afresh' start, but I do know he is always faithful to do just that. Maybe what many of us need is not just another 'again' moment, but rather a truly 'afresh' moment. Just sayin!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment if this message has spoken to your heart.

Popular posts from this blog

Sentimental gush

9-11  So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 MSG) Sentimental gush - that is what I kind of feel when I watch some of those sappy "and they lived happily after" love stories. Yes, I believe people can "be in love" and that "love will find a way" and all those other cliches about love. Don't think I am down on a solidly committed and growing relationship - it is just that our world often portrays love in ways that are totally gushy and then doesn't show the very 'hard' side of that loving being vital and vibrant...
1 comment
Read more

At the right time

Greetings from Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was sent to help God’s chosen people have faith and understand the truth that produces a life of devotion to God. This faith and knowledge make us sure that we have eternal life. God promised that life to us before time began—and God does not lie. At the right time, God let the world know about that life. He did this through the telling of the Good News message, and he trusted me with that work. I told people that message because God our Savior commanded me to. (Titus 1:1-3) Sent to help God's chosen to have faith and understand the truth that produces a life of devotion to God. Maybe that mission is one we can carry on each day as we go about our business of 'living life together'. We may not have been called to form the New Testament churches like Paul was, but we have been called to help others grow in their faith and to come into a deeper understanding of God's truths. Why? God wants a people w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hmmm...seeing things differently now?

Create in me a clean heart, O God; restore within me a sense of being brand new. (Psalm 51:10) Einstein said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."  He was so true in this perception!  The problems we create will never be overcome or changed until we change the way we have been thinking about them!  To change our thought process we often need to change what we are focusing on so often or intensely. If we always see the problem, we will never see the solution standing just beyond it! If all we see is the river in front of us, raging out of control and making it hard to pass over to the other side, we will likely not see the bridge being lowered from the other side! Restoration is a process of not only being "clean" of the sin in our lives, but of being able to look beyond the sin.  We can ask for forgiveness when we have done something we are not happy we have done, but if all we keep thinking about is that thing we asked...
Post a Comment
Read more