Live well

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

Jesus has the power of God - so, if he indwells your spirit, don't lose one minute in allowing him to put that power to use within your life. Faith is good, but we need renewed thoughts, changed behavior, and a whole lot of 'umph' to get through the testing of that faith! We need his power - we have his power - but most of us still feel 'powerless' to live as we should. It is because we think we have to do all this 'changing' in our own power, not HIS.

Good character comes as we begin to allow his indwelling power and his word to bring conviction to any area of our 'character' that isn't upright. That conviction should turn us away from those things that muddy our character and point us toward those things that will build up the good character of one who is truly devoted to God. Spiritual understanding may not be immediate, but when we said 'yes' to Jesus, his Spirit came into our lives in order to bring us into more and more understanding of 'spiritual things'.

Many times, the 'failure' to develop 'good character' begins by allowing our focus to drift back to old ways of thinking and acting. Alert discipline is called for in this walk with Jesus. It is more than 'being on alert' for the enemy's attacks - it involves being open at all times to receive the 'teachable moment' within that circumstance we are facing. Patience may seem a little bit 'passive' to some, but in reality, there is a great deal of 'passion' behind our patience. We know Jesus is about to break down walls, remove past hurts, heal unhealthy emotions, and create a newness within us. We are eager to see it done but wait on his perfect timing with expectation and hope.

Love caps it all off - because God is love and his presence creates that love within us - the love that has no strings attached. We cannot love well until we have truly made the commitment to 'live well'. We only 'live well' when that living is guided and empowered by the Spirit of Christ that indwells us! Just sayin!

A tale of the fisherwoman

It seems a little 'counter' to patience to be passionate, doesn't it? When we think of patience, we probably think about the one who simply stands by waiting to see what will unfold, not losing hope, but being very, very calm, cool, and collected. I imagine being passionate as being a little more animated and less 'calm' - there is action involved in passion, so it doesn't always make me think of patience. Most of the time, we don't really equate waiting and passion as belonging together, but let me be a little bit revealing here - passion and patience make all the waiting worthwhile! I love to fish and let me just tell you that you cannot be any good at this without passion and patience! You must sit still for long times, often rethinking what you are using to attract those fish to your hook, and then know just the right time to snag that catch when they are nibbling on your bait. It is a skill learned in the waiting! Much of what we learn in life is learned in the waiting - but never forget that passion is part of waiting.

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

To be very truthful here, the very first definition of patience in my dictionary has nothing to do with waiting. In fact, it has to do with bearing up under annoyance, persecution, misfortune, pain - all without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or emotional outburst! Hmmm...well, when I think about it, catching that fish means I occasionally get a little annoyed when they repeatedly steal my worms, feeling a little like they are laughing at me when they scurry away from my contented by their latest feast! While I try to remain calm, there are just times when I get a little 'outburst' of disgust with those clever ones that avoid the hook repeatedly! It is the next definition of patience that most of us associate the 'feeling' or 'action' of patience with - that of a willingness to suppress our endless restlessness when there is a delay in our gratification. If we go so far as to examine the very first "synonym" of patience, we will find the word "stability" as a descriptor of patience! Stability? Yup, because in the waiting, we are to never veer from our foundation of trust and hope.

Our patience (stability, lack of restlessness, diligence) needs to be passionate! What is being described is an intensity that surpasses the normal patience we exhibit in daily dealings. When the need arises for our persistence, we are intent on persisting. Fervent, enthusiastic, consistent submission to the alert discipline, spiritual understanding, and good character that God is building in our lives. Things in life will come our way that will require us to make the right amount of emotional investment - neither too much, nor too little. This describes the type of life that is in balance - emotionally, spiritually, and physically. There is an intensity, but it is not marked with restlessness or overtures of impatience. We have observed people going through things that we could label as "intense" in their lives, each one of them taking hold of that "intensity" in a different way. Some dig in deeper, almost looking for cover in whatever they find might distract them away from that severe intensity, if even for just a few moments. I like to use humor to release a little bit of that tension that mounts in those times - if even for just a few minutes - as it releases many 'good hormones' that help me make it through the tough moments.  Others might find themselves turning tail and running, attempting to escape the intensity because it is too unpleasant, requires too much investment, or presents uncomfortable options for them.

The kind of response to intensity that does not move quickly into that immediate complaint about the circumstance, does not easily become irritated with the amount of investment being required (emotionally, physically, spiritually) - this is what God is looking for in each of us. In fact, there is to be a response from within us that shows that the desire for immediate gratification is no longer the motivating influence in our lives. For many of us, we have a long way to go on this one. Honest evaluation of our lives would confirm that we struggle with submission when the issues are intense, the pressures are mounting and the promise of any kind of gratification is waning! How do we get to this point of passionate patience? Remembering what our passage has already revealed to us, it is through allowing the Holy Spirit to work into the very fibers of our being the stability that needs to be there. Today will present us with one or more opportunities to choose wisely - when we do (we call that obedience), a new fiber is woven into us. The more we make those good choices, the more the fibers of obedience are interwoven, until we have a strong cord that bears up under pressure. It is not instantaneous! In fact, it takes time. Add to that 'patience' and you get the picture!

God is after a work of art, not just a quickly sketched design in each of us. His goal is that we will allow the moments of 'required waiting' to become a thing we are comfortable with - allowing him to create within us a solid and secure foundation.  At first, we feel like it is a clumsy, slow, and arduous process to learn to wait, much less have any passion in it. After some time, the passion and the waiting becomes easier - in other words, we don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in directing our choices any longer. We enjoy the touch of the Holy Spirit's hand, gently directing us, keeping us steady, allowing just enough tension in our lives to "weave together" that which produces the beauty of his holiness within. Passionate patience - it is the work of the truly "Skilled Artisan" in our lives. Just sayin!

Don't pray for patience!

Most of us recognize patience is a virtue, but many of us forget just how patience is learned - through tribulation!  It takes a little bit of the "troubling of the waters" of our lives to teach us the lessons of patience.  So, when you pray for patience, you are actually praying to have the waters stirred!  Chew on that one a few minutes - it might just change the course of your prayers! We have those moments when the thing we are expressing is the furthest from what we might label as the virtue of patience.  Learning how to respond in patience is what some call conforming your conduct to some moral or ethical principle.  I call it the divine work of the Holy Spirit in us in an area where he did not previously exist or have access!

Patience is better than strength.  Controlling your temper is better than capturing a city.  (Proverbs 16:32 NCV)

Most of us pray for strength and patience in the same breath, don't we?  Yet, patience is better than strength. Strength might give us the stamina to accomplish the task, but patience gives us the emotional fortitude to actual endure till the end.  Fortitude is the combination of the mental and emotional strength we will need to face difficulty with courage.  I think patient people are very courageous - when faced with adversity, danger, and even temptation, their response is one of waiting on the Lord to lead them through the tough spot they are in.  If you haven't stopped to consider this, it might do you well to know waiting is part of patience and waiting requires a whole lot of courage at times!

There are times when it is hard to be patient - especially when we don't understand the other person's perspective.  If you have ever found yourself waiting in line behind someone who is trying to dig for their pennies at the bottom of their purse, or perhaps want the cashier to go through the tall stack of coupons they have, you probably have been faced with a little bit of this thing called "impatience".  Yet, if you stop for just a moment, taking in the possibilities of the other person's perspective, you might change how you are responding in that moment.  The one digging for coin in the depths of the purse may be on their last few cents, trying hard to get together just enough to make it through till payday.  The one cashing in on the coupon deals may need to save those dollars because it is the way they help bless others with what they are able to buy "extra" when they coupon.  Putting ourselves in the shoes of another often changes our perspective of the situation - and it changes our perspective of the wait!

A warrior sees the battle ahead - narrowing their sights on the nearest target and then taking it on with all the ability they have.  A leader of warriors sees the battle from a different perspective - they consider the strategy of the battle.  I think patience requires us moving from just doing battle, to learning the strategies of the battle.  The warrior might know how to take the city - the leader knows when the timing is right, the conditions are in your favor, and the importance of waiting for both!  It is true - I can make pretty quick decisions and take pretty prompt actions - but are they always the best?  In case you don't know the answer - it is "no".  Sometimes we avoid the "best" for the pursuit of the "quickest".  Guess what?  As long as we are always going for the quickest, we will never learn the lessons of patience.  

Waiting is only one part of patience.  The other part which seems to trip us up on occasion is this whole idea of getting interrupted when we are in pursuit of something.  It is like when I am making a beeline for my car at the end of the day and encounter someone lost in the hospital.  Our hospital sprawls out for a ways, so getting turned around and not being able to find your way is not uncommon.  I am interrupted by their need to find their way.  Notice - it is THEIR need.  MY need is to get home, eat dinner, connect with mom, and just chill out.  THEIR need is to get their CT scan done!  Again, I have to change my perspective to recognize their need.  Part of dealing with the frustration of interruptions is the "quickness" by which we can put ourselves in the other person's shoes.  I have come to appreciate interruptions as God's way of revealing something to me I would not have otherwise seen, or keeping me from something I would not have wanted to experience.  When we begin to see interruptions as "divine" rather than "unwanted" and "frustrating", we might just appreciate them as times of protection, opportunities for learning, and moments of connection.

Our best example of patience is Jesus.  He had a whole lot of delays in his time on this earth - waiting for others to "catch up" to where he was.  His disciples, closer to him than most others, didn't even really "get" what he was doing on this earth, right up to the very end.  He endured a whole lot of interruptions - not once concerned for how it would affect him.  He showed us how to look beyond our OWN need to see the need of ANOTHER.  He imparted to us the importance of seeing past the evident into the probability of the hidden.  He focused not on the immediate issue as much as the importance of keeping in mind the strategy for the bigger picture.  

I don't know your exact circumstances today, but I do know you will be faced with opportunities to need both strength and patience in what it is you are dealing with.  It may be the relationships you are in where you will need strength to see it through and patience to look beyond the faults of the other. If so, remember to keep in mind the idea of "perspective" - look beyond the obvious, there may be more hidden just beneath the surface.  It may be you have personal emotional conflict which keeps you bound up in some personal battle of the will and emotions.  Maybe you need to seek out another to help you bring clarity and to sort out the conflict - their perspective could just give you a new one yourself.  Just sayin!

Jelly anyone?

Have you ever tried to make jelly?  When we look at all those various flavors, colors, and pretty jars all stacked with care on our grocer's shelves, we often forget what goes into making the jelly.  It really is a science - I've tried it!  Some of it tasted pretty good, but I had a few "flops" in the process!  Today, I'd like to share a few lesson I learned in the process.  Pretty jars were all assembled, fresh lids, stock pot filled with water to boil those jars, and sugar all measured out.  Who knew the most important part of making the jelly was not in the "prettiness" of the jar I chose, nor the shininess of the caps which adorned them?  What I learned made the most difference in the jelly was not any of the things I assembled, but the fruit that went into making the jelly!  Who knew?

If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree.  (Matthew 12:33 MSG)

If you have mastered this art of jelly-making, you know fruit which is too green actually makes the jelly a little cloudy.  It affects the clarity of the jelly.    The fruit must be ripe, but firm. If it is too green, it does not go through the "straining" process well.  We used to look for the orchards, or fruit markets, who sold large bunches of the fruit - often some quite ripe, while some others were just about ripe.  We'd sort the fruit, because if it was still too green, it would cook up, but we had to exert too much pressure on it to get the juices out of it in the straining process.  It actually made the resulting "juice" for the jelly very cloudy.  If you have ever tried to "force" fruit from your life (or had someone else trying to do it for you) - producing some semblance of "jelly-quality juice" from your life - you might have seen some of the issues of being "squeezed" too hard.  Yep, you "produced" something, but the quality of what was produced only produced something which lacked clarity!

Some of the earlier mistakes I made with "straining" my fruit for the jelly was a result of my impatience.  You see, for the clearest jelly, you allow the fruit to sit in the strainer, juices dripping freely from it.  You don't squeeze the bag!  You add the fruit to the cotton flannel bag, then you wait - patiently.  Not my strongest suit!  I'd squeeze a little hear and there, hoping to get just a little more juice out, or to speed up the process.  The important thing for me to recognize - fruit comes forth in a process of patient and consistent growth, just as much as the clearest juices are extracted in allowing the process of separating to occur.  No amount of my "squeezing" will produce anything as beautiful as the slow, but consistent, process of having the separation of those things which will "cloud" up my life left in the hands of God.

Another common issue with "jelly clarity" stems from the cooking process itself.  If the fruit is cooked way too long, the jelly-juices which are produced are just made cloudy by the "over-cooking".  Mushy fruit produces little particles of fruit which escape the "straining" process.  In turn, they make the jelly cloudy.  The clarity is produced by cooking the fruit ONLY until it is tender.  To be able to produce the clearest jelly, I had to "tend the pot" quite frequently.  I could not just put all the fruit in, turn up the heat, and walk away.  I had to test, retest, and then finally be pleased with just the right quality of "tenderness" which would produce the excellence desired.  I think God does this with us, too.  He allows the "mixture" of fruit in our lives to be brought to a boil, but he doesn't want it to be "over-cooked".  He looks for us to be just "tender-enough" to produce the clarity and beauty he desires.  When we reach this point, he removes us from the heat - so as not to "over-cook" us!

Probably one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was the art of "pouring off" the jelly into the jars.  Pour it too slowly and you allow air bubbles to get in - giving it the appearance of being cloudy.  Pour it too rapidly, and you might actually over-fill, splash hot juices onto yourself, etc.  Letting the jelly sit in the pan for any length of time before pouring it off allowed it to begin to "set up" where it was, so pouring it off quickly was important.  

Sometimes, I think we struggle with some of these ideas as we look at how God brings fruit from our lives.  He "picks" the right combination of ripe and "hard-ripe" fruit in our lives - to make the clearest "jelly"!  He allows the straining process because he knows the "sweetness" and "richness" of the end product when it is allowed to occur through patient "processing".  He might be able to produce "more" juice from the fruit by squeezing the "straining bag" a little, but the sweetest and clearest juices are produces from allowing the fruit juices to "pass through" the straining bag over the course of time.  The goal is not the "quantity" of "jelly", but in the richness and clarity of what is produced.  God doesn't let us "over-cook" - he is attentive to the "fire" in our lives.  We may only feel the heat, but he knows when we are just "tender enough" to produce the most flavorful of juices.

Just some lessons we can glean from the jelly jar today.  Now, the next time you pick up a jar of jelly, think about what "jelly" God is working on in your life.  The mixture of "fruit" he is using, the care he is taking in getting it "just tender enough", and the patience he exhibits in waiting for it to be "strained" to purity.  When he finally "bottles" the fruit in your life, he indeed will be delighted by the richness of it!  Just sayin!

Defense Let Down

 ¹⁵ Patient persistence pierces through indifference;
   gentle speech breaks down rigid defenses.

(Proverbs 25:15)

Indifference is really a condition of the heart and mind in which a person has determined that they have little interest or concern.  Another term we use that is quite similar to indifference is the term "mediocrity".  There are some telltale signs that someone is pretty much indifferent, or that they have "settled" for a position of mediocrity in their lives.  An indifferent individual might look like this:

- Apathetic to the needs of their life or those of another

- Calm, cool indifference in the face of what would cause uneasiness or apprehension in others

- A seeming absence of emotional connection with others or circumstances around them

When you hear indifference described that way, you might think of an individual who struggles with frequent periods of depression, but they are not the only ones that experience this kind of apathy or distanced-connection with the world around them.  In fact, any of us can be indifferent in much the same way simply as a matter of our choosing.

Rigidity is something a little different.  This condition suggests an unwillingness to bend, no concern for yielding the stand one has taken.  We might label this person as "hard" or "callous".  It comes from a Latin word from which we get another term - rigor.  When we think of rigor, we might also think of rigor-mortis - the stiffness of death!

Solomon was giving us instruction that we can both use in our own lives and in our interactions with others.  Neither condition of heart, mind, or soul is desirable.  An apathetic mind leads to very little positive action.  A rigid heart, hardened by life's hurts will do little to reach out to another for help.  An unyielding soul is in danger of hell.

Two things are presented by Solomon as the antidote to indifference and rigidity.  The patient persistence of a loving God is what breaks through our indifference - he challenges us to take up this same patient persistence in dealing with the indifference of others.  The gentle words of a merciful God breaks through the areas of hardness in our lives - he challenges us to exercise the same gracefulness in our conversation with each other.

It seems like we have the greatest difficulty allowing God to "get into our business" where we have the greatest amount of indifference or where we have erected the walls of rigid unyieldness toward him.  We need to remember that he "counters" our apathy and hardness in much the same way he asks us to "counter" those same traits in others.  A wise friend used to tell me, "We are quick to see in others the things we don't want to see in ourselves."  She was so true in her assessment of my actions and attitude!  What I was unwilling to allow God to deal with in me became the thing I "criticized" most in others.

We would do well to ask God to target areas of apathy and hardness in our lives.  In turn, we need to ask him for the patience to persist and the gentleness of speech that will allow us to be instruments of grace in the lives of those we have been the hardest on.  When we really begin to ask why we are being so hard on them, we might be surprised to know that it is because the area we find fault with is really so close to what God wants to deal with in us!