Get still

 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (Matthew 6:33)

The more we 'strive' the less we 'rest'. The more we seek attention, the less we feel appreciated. The more we worry, the less peaceful we become. I guess the lesson here is that we reap as we sow - sow the good seed and reap the good harvest; sow the 'so-so' seed and the harvest will be less than stellar. As I drove through the countryside a few weeks back, I was taken aback by the many wildflowers filling our desert floor once again. Why did this amaze me? It was the dead of summer and hotter than Hades out there! The over-abundance of summer rains had turned the desert floor into a thing of beauty once again. Do you know what happens when the wildflowers start to bloom in the desert? The butterflies come out! As beautiful as it was to see all the desert in bloom, the gentle flitting of those many colored butterflies made it even more beautiful. To just take in the beauty was a great 'rest' to my soul - God-prepared wonders, delightful in every way.

More often than not, we get caught up in the 'hurry, hurry, hurry' of life and forget how much God is working to prepare the things of beauty that will pass us by unnoticed if we are not careful. We worry about the silliest things and wonder why we lack peace that allows us to enjoy a deep night's sleep. We 'go, go, go' until the wheels are about to fall off and wonder why we never 'get ahead'. Maybe it is time for us to sit back a bit and just be still. I will be the first to admit there is a great deal of 'things that need to be done' that come to mind every time I attempt to just 'be still'. I will also admit that I have to purposefully make my life 'still' from time to time to achieve this listening and attentive spirit God desires me to have. How about you? Have you been missing the butterflies because your world has been too hectic and the chaos has kept you from even noticing there is life all around? It isn't too late to just be 'still' in the presence of God - but you will have to stop if you are to ever notice!

All our striving puts us front and center - all that stillness puts HIM front and center. We move from the attitude of having to 'get', to understanding there is someone all around us just waiting for us to be in the frame where he can finally 'give' what we so desperately need. We don't 'get' as much as he 'gives', but if we bring our lives to a place of stillness on a regular basis, we are likely to understand the Giver as much as we appreciate the gifts he gives. Just sayin!

Grace again...yup

I came across a quote the other day that spoke to me deeply: "Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself?" (Thomas a Kempis) Let that one sink in a little and it may just give you a moment of pause as it did me. The very thought of overcoming myself is almost maddening, for there are many complex issues within that are actually in conflict with each other, the Christ-centered beliefs I want to live by, and the way I should be living if I were living by the standards others would create for me to live within. The conflict is real for all of us - we honestly don't appreciate the full impact of this struggle until we step back and ask ourselves if what we are doing at the moment is actually what Christ would desire of us!

23 But anyone who believes that something he wants to do is wrong shouldn’t do it. He sins if he does, for he thinks it is wrong, and so for him it is wrong. Anything that is done apart from what he feels is right is sin. (Romans 14:23 TLB)

The Apostle Paul has been laying out various responses to those who were struggling with the rules of the Law of Moses and the liberty of the Grace of Christ. Law and Grace have a hard time most of the time, because grace changes the 'why' behind the rule. It doesn't always do away with the rule - for it is still a 'rule' to not kill your brother, or steal his belongings, or commit adultery. Those rules didn't go out the door just because grace entered it! In fact, the only thing grace does with the rule is make it possible to keep the rule for the right reason - because it is the right thing to do! Grace changes things for us because it moves us from keeping rules SO THAT WE CAN BE MADE right, to keeping the rules BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN MADE right.

Overcoming one's own desires is sometimes the fine balance between grace and rule-keeping. We know what is right - because our conscience and scripture don't contradict us. We want to do right because we know it is the right thing to do. We hate to do wrong - knowing there will be both consequences and end-results we may not like at all. Yet, the fight continues between our 'striving' to live right and our 'actually' living right! We get this all wrong at times - thinking it is us doing the work. I have said it before, but it bears repeating - there is a new force at work within us - it is no longer us in control.

It was Kempis who also said, "He who loves with purity considers not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver." It isn't grace we need to focus on, but the one who gives us the grace to live in right standing with a holy God! We consider the giver, not the gift. When the struggle is real within me over something I want to do, but know better than to do, I often have to remind myself God didn't give grace so I could ask for forgiveness - he gave it so I wouldn't need to! Just sayin!