Recently I read:
Do not be daunted by the enormity
of the world’s grief.
Do justly — now.
Love mercy — now.
You are not obligated to complete the work,
but neither are you free to abandon it.
— authorship unknown
Tag: life
The unchanging God of Divine Wisdom
Do not assume that divine guidance flows only when you are in need of help.
Guidance continues to flow whether or not you have problems.
— Caroline Myss – “Entering the Castle“
Why does the Spirit feel so far away?
A couple of days ago, I read this by Madisyn Taylor
We all experience periods where we feel separated from the loving ebb and flow of the universe. These times of feeling disconnected from the source may occur for many reasons, but self-sabotage is the most common cause for us choosing to cut ourselves off from the flow of the universe. We purposefully, though often unconsciously, cut ourselves off from this flow and from the embrace of humanity so we can avoid dealing with painful issues, shun the necessary steps for growth, or prevent the success that we are afraid of achieving from ever happening.
When you choose to disconnect from the source, you block the flow of the universe’s energy from passing through you. You become like a sleepwalker who is not fully awake to life, and your hopes, plans, and dreams begin to appear as distant blurs on a faraway horizon.
Universal support has never left you, but if you can remember that you became disconnected from source by choice, you can choose to reconnect.
And I couldn’t agree more – how often do we distance ourselves from God & our Source?
Practicing presence when the days are dark
These past three days, I’ve been feeling burdened and tired. I’ve been going to sleep early (like 8.30 p.m. early!), and waking up feeling sluggish. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was “depressed”.
But I do know better.
I know that this is all part of the process that I am working on.Read More »
Spiritual and prosperous
Over the past weeks, I have spent a lot of time thinking about money, beliefs and actions. Much of this was spurred by some coaching and heart work that I was doing writing in my journal, getting a clearer view of the life that I want to live and the calling that I have.Read More »
Light, darkness & faith
We all know what it’s like when the lights go off inside our home, and we are left in the pitch black. Can we imagine what it was like before electricity, when a home was lit solely with candles? There was no staying up watching TV. There was no working late on the computer. Imagine, you were handwriting a manuscript, and you make a mistake – rewrite the entire page, there is no delete button on the computer to go back 3 spaces.Read More »
Rising up on wings like eagles
Readings:
- Isaiah 40: 21- 31
- Mark 1: 29-39
Isaiah 40:21-31 (NRSV)
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23 who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
If you’ve experienced a storm in your life, you know being patient and waiting for a resolution can be so hard. If right now you are passing through a hard time, “waiting on the Lord” can seem like a tall order. Like the Israelites, you may be feeling and saying:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
The Jewish people that had been taken into exile in Babylon were in a precarious position. Nebuchadnezzar had long since passed, and he had been replaced by Nabonidus. Now Nabonidus had left the city of Babylon to live in the Arabian desert and worship the moon god, leaving his young son Belshazzar (Belsharusur) as regent king in his place. And this young regent was all about partying and having fun with his friends. You may remember in Daniel 5, with the hand writing on the wall, when the young king is partying with all his friends, drinking wine from the sacred temple goblets. Belshazzar was far from a good king.
Those who were taken into captivity were the old Judean aristrocracy. In Jerusalem, they had held positions of power, status and wealth. This was not the case in Babylon. They were forced to live in ethnic enclaves, something like our 20th-Century concentration or force-labor camps. Such a change would have created doubts in their mind as to whether they were truly the elected people of God on earth.
While the aristocracy was held in Babylon, society in Judah had disintegrated after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The population was reduced by 90%, meaning only 10% of the population was left: death, exile and destruction of the temple gutted all the institutions that held the society together. There was no hope in the past, there seemed to be no future and way forward.
And so, in 550 B.C., Cyrus the Persian captured Ecbatana, the capital of the Median Empire. After this victory, he began to look south toward Babylon. Because of the way that Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar had been ruling, Cyrus was very welcome in Babylon. When Cyrus finally arrived, in 539 BC, he was greeted with shouts of joy from the conquered.
Isaiah chapter 40 starts with “Comfort my people”, and it is the beginning of the second Isaiah (as it is believed that chapters 1 to 39 were written by Isaiah, and the second half were written by a disciple of Isaiah). Regardless of who wrote chapters 40 to 55, there is a distinct change of tone: chapters 1 to 39 speak of judgement and disaster. Chapters 40 to 55 speak to salvation, hope and restoration. For 50 years, they have been “hidden from the Lord”, and so in chapter 40 we read “Comfort my people… Speak comfort to Jerusalem… her warfare is ended… her iniquity is pardoned”.
We find words of hope, “wait on the Lord”.
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
23 who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
What’s bigger? Your problem? or God? How often do we become so embroiled and caught up with our problems, that we make them into mountains? And even so, what is bigger: your mountain of problems, or God? When you go through something awful or unexpected, you get the chance to see whether or not your faith in God is real. Do you really wait upon the Lord when you are faced with challenges?
Some key questions we might ask are:
- What does it mean to wait? What’s involved?
- How are we to wait?
- Who and what are we waiting for?
- Why should we wait?
- How long do we wait?
Habakkuk 2:1 says,
I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Are you keeping watch, at your watchpost? Are you continuing at your station or on the rampart, to see what God has to say about your complaints? I read somewhere:
“Hurry is the death of prayer. The reason why you don’t hear God is because you’re in too much of a hurry. ‘God, I want to hear from you. But hurry up! I’ve got to make it to my next appointment.’”
“Psalm 130:5-6: “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning,” he was comparing waiting expectantly on the Lord to the night guards of the city who watched the passage of time in anticipation of the coming dawn when they would be released from duty. The coming of the dawn was certain, but not without the passage of time.”
Psalm 46:10 reminds us:
Be still and know that I am God.
There is a moment to simply wait on the Lord, in order to renew your strength. Be still.
Psalm 62:5 (NRSV)
5 For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
Are you waiting in silence?
Psalm 27:14 (NRSV)
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
There are at least 29 verses in the Bible that speak of “wait on the Lord”. Psalm 23 speaks of waiting in rest: lie down in green pastures, restoring our souls. Ours is a society that has grown accustomed to immediate gratification. Due to modern technology and all our conveniences—telephones, refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, fast foods, airplanes, etc.—we have many things immediately at our fingertips. But yet we find a growing group of people that are learning mindfulness, breathing (“Just breathe”) and sitting quietly in silence. And we, as Christians, need to learn to wait upon the Lord.
But like the Jewish exiles, we are impatient for salvation. How long? How much longer? Are we nearly there yet?
In Mark 1, we read:
35 Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer.
We also read in Matthew 14: 23:
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Mark 6:46
After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Luke 5: 16
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
Luke 6: 12
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Luke 9: 18
And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him,
Matthew 26 & Mark 14, in Gethsemane: “Sit here while I go over there and pray. “And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed.” “He went away a second time and prayed.” “and he left them again, and went away and prayed a third time”
We are reminded in the Bible repeatedly to “wait on the Lord”, and we see the best example in the life of Jesus. Pulling away from the crowds, pulling away from the hustle and bustle of life, pulling away into the wilderness, or onto a hill, or up a mountain, to pray. Before and after teaching and preaching, before and after healing the sick and throwing out demons – Jesus went aside to pray. He knew where his strength and stamina truly came from.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Who are you?
Readings:
- John 1: 6-8; 19-28
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.
19 This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” 20 He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”
“No,” he replied.
“Are you the Prophet we are expecting?”
“No.”
22 “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’”
24 Then the Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”
26 John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.”
28 This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.
So, I would ask each one of you this morning: who are you?
John the Baptist, knew clearly, who he was. Do you know who you are? Are you living the life that God intended for you to live, being who God made you to be? Have you reached a place of maturity where you know and accept what God says about you, agree with Spirit that this is true of you, and become the best version of you that exists?
Let’s do a small exercise, and review different areas of our lives: starting with our bodies. I want you to close your eyes for a moment, and just be present in your body. Be aware of your head, of your neck, your shoulders, your left arm, your hand, your right arm, your right hand… and now let’s move down to your legs. And now let’s move back to your head. And now, I want to ask you: are you your body? Or is your body simply the vessel that carries you?
If you are not your body, then who are you?
What about your possessions? Do those define who you are? Your home, your car, your bank account? Is that who you are?
How about your job, profession and career? Does that define who you are? How many people do you know that have changed careers? How many times in your life has your career and profession changed? How many people do you know that have been laid off or fired, that have quit, that have moved to another country and had to start over in another field? Is a person truly defined by their career or profession? Who are you?
What about your family? Are you mum, dad, the black sheep, the only single one left, the life of the party, the grandmother? Is that who you are? How many people do you know who have lost members of their family? And yet they still continue to live and find new identities and purposes. Who are you?
How about your emotions? Are you happy, sad, angry, fearful, ashamed, tired? But is that who you are? Or is that simply a state of feeling and emotion that comes and passes?
John responds rather cryptically to the Pharisees and scribes: “I am a voice…” The first verses of John tell us a little more about John the Baptist’s identity:
“God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.”
And you, who are you? What were you sent for? God sent you… Have you discovered yet what for? Are you living out that purpose? Are you being everything that you could possibly be?
Your identity doesn’t depend on something you do or have done. Most of us confuse doing, having and feeling with being. Instead of saying I feel sad, we identify with the sadness and say “I am sad”. Instead of saying that I work as a lawyer, we say “I am a lawyer”. Instead of saying I have a family, we lose our identity within that family. But is that truly who you are?
John knew who he was. And Jesus certainly knew who he was. Jesus said:
- I am the bread of life.
- I am the light of the world.
- I am the door.
- I am the good shepherd.
- I am the resurrection and the life.
- I am the way, the truth and the life.
- I am the vine.
- “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!
And who are you?
Now, I don’t care much for Joel Osteen, but I quite like part of his start to Sunday services and his declaration about the Bible:
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
…
Who are you?
Who does God, through the Bible, say that you are? Let me give you some ideas:
- You ARE a child of God, complete in Christ – John 1: 12; Colossians 2:10
- You ARE loved, accepted, redeemed, holy, forgiven, free from condemnation, chosen, established, anointed and sealed by God. 1 John 3: 3; Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 1:14; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Colossians 3:12
- You ARE a joint heir with Jesus, united with God and one spirit with God Spirit. Romans 8: 17; 1 Corinthians 6:17
- You ARE a temple of God: his Spirit and life lives in you. 1 Corinthians 6:19
- You are God’s co-worker; a living stone on which the spiritual house is being built. 2 Corinthians 6:1; 1 Peter 2:5
So, if that’s who you are: what are you doing that lives up to this description of you? Does your life reflect who you are?
If you embodied this description of you: what would be different to how you are living your life at the moment? What needs to change in your life, for this to really be you? What would new things would appear in your life if this was you?
What scares you the most about this description of you?
- Being a child of God? a joint heir with Jesus?
- Being united with God – complete Oneness?
- being complete?
- being loved, accepted, redeemed, holy, forgiven, free from condemnation, chosen, established, anointed and sealed by God?
- being God’s temple?
- being God’s co-worker and co-creator?
What obstacles or idols in your life keep you from living this out? What habits or practices do you need to incorporate into your life to live this more fully?
What’s keeping you from living this life today? From walking out of the Church today and being You, the best You that there is, the You that God created you to be in all your fullness and glory, so that others might see Christ in you?
Because today, YOU are the hope of the world. You are the voice in the wilderness. You are the light in the darkness. God sent you!
So, who are you?
A river of justice
Readings:
- Joshua 24: 1-3; 14-25
- Amos 5: 18-24
5:24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.
As you walk out of Church today, what will have changed? What difference will it have made to come to church this morning and worshiped God? What does choosing God, rather other gods, mean today? How does worshiping God change our lives?
Noris read for us this morning Amos, chapter 5, verses 18 to 24. I want to re-read those to you now, from the version “The Message”:
18-20 Woe to all of you who want God’s Judgment Day!
Why would you want to see God, want him to come?
When God comes, it will be bad news before it’s good news,
the worst of times, not the best of times.
Here’s what it’s like: A man runs from a lion
right into the jaws of a bear. …
At God’s coming we face hard reality, not fantasy—
a black cloud with no silver lining.
21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want.
That’s. All. I. Want.
God’s anger in Amos was because the religious festivals were not followed up by just actions. God gave the means to reverse the people’s systems of injustice, to end inequity and oppression. But the river of people who were supposed to flow out of the temple (like when we all leave this Church this morning) to fulfill God’s promises walked out of the temple and did nothing.
You were given arms that can reach out to those who suffer: who are those arms wrapped around? Yourself? You were given feet to take the first steps towards those who feel alone, afraid, oppressed: where are your feet planted? In your comfortable life? You were given ears to hear the stories of justice denied: are you listening? You were given a mouth to speak Truth: but words are used to harm and tear down, rather than to build, and certainly not to speak Truth!**
Thursday, November 9th many Panamanians waited expectantly for a reveal of names and details regarding the Obredecht corruption cases. A nation waiting and hoping for justice to prevail and corruption to set a food on the proverbial banana skin and the other foot in the grave. It wasn’t enough.
This brings to mind, for me, Proverbs 24: 24
Whoever says to the guilty “You are innocent” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
All I read on Twitter & Facebook is frustrations and cursing of the lack of action and lack of justice. What more can and should be done? Panama needs to restart and rethink fighting corruption from a grassroots level. It needs to start in the home. Social justice and righteousness are needed from each person and member of society. And for us, it starts as we walk out of Church today. Worshiping God is not just about what we do for one hour on Sunday morning. Worshiping God is in each thought, each word & each deed.
1 John 4: 20 through 5:3 remind us:
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. …
How do we love our brother and sister? Well, let me warn you, it’s not sentimental. It’s not that “feeling” of love. It’s about your actions -and they speak much louder than any words. John warns us about this: “we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fat, this is love for God: to keep his commands.”
Let’s take a quick walk through the Bible and discover the ways we show love to our neighbours – children of God – all created, like you and me, in the image and likeness of God:
Leviticus 19: 9-18
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.
You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. …
… The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. …
… You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. …
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor… ou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD”
Proverbs 29: 7
The righteous care about justice for the poor…
Isaiah 1: 17
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 58: 6-7
… this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Jeremiah 22: 3
… Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
Matthew 6: 14-15
For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 25: 35-36
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Romans 14: 13
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Galatians 6:2
Carry each other’s burdens…
1 Thessalonians 5: 11
… encourage one another and build each other up…
1 Peter 3: 8
be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
I want us to imagine, just for a moment, a world in which all Christians lived according to all these rules and fulfilled these commands. In Joshua 24 we read how the people of Israel chose to follow God and follow his commandments. What would this look like for Christians? Let’s take a moment, just to imagine this:
- no sexual harassment
- no hunger
- everyone paid a fair wage
- no slander
- no hate, no vengeance, no grudges
- justice for the poor
- oppressed people who are defended vigorously, fatherless children who are protected, widows who have someone standing up for them
- no one wrongly imprisoned
- no human trafficking or slavery
- the homeless living in proper shelters, the hungry given food
- relatives receiving hep from their families
- no wrong or violence against the immigrant
- no innocent blood shed
- forgiving others graciously when they make mistakes, even if they intentionally act wrongly
- strangers invited in
- sick cared for
- those in prison visited and encouraged
- no one passing judgement on you
This is justice rolling down like waters. This is an ever-flowing stream of righteousness! This is loving your neighbor and loving God.
As we go out today, let us remember this promise from Psalm 106: 3
Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right.
Always. It’s such a big word.
So, as we leave this Church this morning, may we be a small stream of water, a trickle in the giant ocean of injustice… going against the tide and shining our light in this world of darkness.
**https://www.reformedworship.org/article/june-2014/just-amos
Sermon: Rejoicing in Sufferings
READINGS:
- Romans 5: 1-8
- Matthew 9:35 – 10:8
- Psalm 100
REJOICING IN SUFFERINGS
I invite you to think for a moment about that Olympian champion, the one that sat on the sofa every day watching TV, checking their internet, and reading books. The one that slept in every morning, had a full cooked breakfast, eating anything they wanted, when they wanted, partying with their friends any time they liked, and taking it easy. On the day of the meet, the simply went out and effortlessly won gold because they were just the best.
What do you mean you never heard of that guy? Apparently it’s not that easy to be an Olympian Gold Medalist! There may be suffering involved on the road to glory: it takes work, effort, consistency, perseverance, and faith to become perfect and complete, lacking nothing! Rapid success stories happen, true. But the reality is that most “overnight successes” come at the end of years of hard work and those witnessing the “success” part too readily assume the “overnight part.”
Joy comes in spite of our pain! To have joy in spite of difficulties and struggles is not to deny pain; it is to recognize that they can co-exist. The same way a pregnant mother can go through the agony of childbirth and still have joy in thinking about what is to come. She knows that there is a beautiful light and life at the end of these painful hours.
This morning, Paul says that we are to “Rejoice” in Suffering! And the reason that Paul gives for this is that suffering produces “endurance”: in other words
- intestinal fortitude
- grit
- perseverance
- stamina
- tenacity
- gutsiness
- resilience
Paul goes on to say that this endurance will produce character, and character produces hope, and out of hope comes an outpouring of love into our hearts.
James 1, verses 2 to 4 say something similar:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
I want to talk this morning about cultivating resilience, which enables us to remain positive and focused. Resilience is a quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever – they rise from the ashes, rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve: a basic ingredient for happiness. So, Paul tells us to “rejoice in our sufferings” – note: he doesn’t say you will only suffer once. There will be sufferings – did you hear the S? And yet, we are to rejoice, because this is how we learn and grow!
Paul says suffering will lead to endurance, and this will, in turn, lead to having character (that is, who you really are, when all the layers are peeled away – when no one else is looking!). Said another way: suffering produces steadiness, steadiness produces reliability, and reliability produces hope. If we prove ourselves to be reliable, even in the face of hardship – there is hope!
How many of you here today have survived every day of your life so far in spite of the ups and downs?
Amazing! You have survived everything that life has thrown at you so far! Every one here today is a survivor. But here’s the challenge: it is not enough just to be here – you should be better for it! Better equipped, greater patience, more understanding, a higher level of emotional intelligence, empathy for your fellow man or woman. How do you make this happen, faster and easier on yourself and those around you?
For starters, I would say that the first step is acknowledgement: recognizing that you are in a situation that is outside of your comfort zone and that makes you feel that you are under threat. The reason I say this is that when you are in denial, “this isn’t happening to me”, it’s impossible to actually act! You can’t make any decisions about something that isn’t happening to you! So, step one is admitting that you have a situation.
But I invite you to be careful in your choice of words: transform “hardship” into “challenge”, giving yourself the possibility of seeing opportunity and to make this a productive situation. What do you want life to look like on the other side of this adversity? Remember: your success rate so far is 100%: how will you come out of this one?
Step two, is getting a handle on your emotions. The signs of a resilient person is that when they are in a difficult situation, they keep calm, evaluate things rationally, and come up with a plan, and so they can act. The biggest emotion we have to face is fear – fight or flight or lizard brain (paralyzed by fear, shutting down). Imagine how many times the word “fear” is dealt with in the Bible! John 14: 27 says
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. … Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Or Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged…
Or even Psalm 23: 4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…
Our human response is we try to hide our fear – we mask it:
- with anger (anger feels much more powerful than fear!);
- with frustration (“I don’t know what to do” sounds better than “I know what to do, but I’m too scared to do it”);
- with stoicism (I’m bearing this – rather than getting off my butt and doing something about it, because I would hate to make a decision and be wrong).
When you identify your fear or fears, you can then identify the possibilities that lie on the other side: opportunities. Managing emotions requires that we grow deeply in emotional intelligence – so much to learn from difficult circumstances!
The third step in resilience is a little crazy: you need to be delusional! And by that I mean: you need to set the bar to recovery WAY HIGH! Crazy successful people and people who survive tough situations are all overconfident. And by overconfident I mean… a delusional sense of self-worth. But wait!! – wasn’t step one and step two about acknowledging where you are and what you are feeling? Yes. But now I am asking you to go all out in believing:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…
Yes, you need to clearly understand and acknowledge the situation, but be overconfident about YOUR ability to get yourself through and out of the situation successfully. Remind yourself of your strengths and accomplishments. Remember: so far your success rate at making it through difficult days and situations is 100%.What does successful look like this time?
Step 4 in the process is something continual: Preparation. Whether you are in a difficult situation or not, you should always be in preparation. Luke 12:35 reminds us:
Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.
And likewise, 2 Timothy 4:2
… be prepared, in season and out of season…
It’s impossible to prepare for the unknown, but we can constantly improve ourselves, practicing good habits and overcoming our bad habits. Habits are what will come through in times of difficulty. Think of common habits you have: breathing, walking, putting on your seat belt…
When I was 22, I spent 7 hours preparing and training for the most important 10 seconds of that day. I arrived at 8 a.m., with a group of about 20 other people, and we trained, over and over and over again, lying on the floor, standing up, hanging from harnesses in the air… and when they felt that we were actually ready, they put us all in an airplane, with parachutes on our backs. And when we reached an altitude of over 3,000 feet, one by one, we jumped out of the plane.
I have complete amnesia about those first five seconds of the jump – no sense of falling, no sense of the wind rushing past my face, nothing! All I remember is my security check: arms in position, knees bent, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, Check (over my right shoulder), check (over my left shoulder). Parachute properly deployed! We were static line jumping, in our first solo jumps from the plane. I do remember the last 5 vital seconds of the experience – the landing. There are really only 10 seconds in a jump that are the most important: the first 5 and the last 5: making sure your chute is open (otherwise releasing that chute and deploying the reserve – if that happens, go back to step one!), and landing on the ground. You don’t want to collapse your chute 3 stories up in the air, otherwise you could break both femur’s as you plummet down straight onto your legs! But we spent 7 hours preparing for those 10 seconds – and hardly any time at all on how to actually control your parachute, turns and having fun. Just pay attention to your headset and what the instructor is saying and you’ll be fine.
What does your preparation for the hard times in life look like? Does it bring you hope? I had hope as I jumped out of the plane – not one, but two parachutes on my back, and knowing that I knew exactly what to do if there was a problem with the first one. I was as ready as I could be. There is an amazing adrenaline rush on the other side of fear!
Step five, is kind of obvious: hard work! Whatever the situation is that is bringing you suffering, there are things you will need to do! Whether it is the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, a drop in income, or the ending of a relationship, there is work to be done. After acknowledging the situation, and facing your fear or pain or loss, and getting delusional about your ability to survive this, relying on all the preparation that you have brought to this moment in your life: you have to actually stand up and do what needs to be done!
Proverbs 14:23 reminds us:
All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
It’s not enough to talk about what needs to be done and what you are going to do. You actually have to do it! I understand the desire just to stay in bed and pull the covers up over your head and give in to mind-numbing sleep! I am sure that we have all been there – plagued by the depression. Step one: get up! Take the first step!
“Survivors take great joy from even their smallest successes. That is an important step in creating an ongoing feeling of motivation and preventing the descent into hopelessness.”
It is those small victories that carry you forward – one more step, one more challenge, one more day.
And finally, help: there’s a time to receive help and there’s a time to help others. Having caring, supportive people around you acts as a protective factor during times of crisis. It is important to have people you can confide in. And sometimes, in our most challenging moments, what our souls and spirits need is to reach out and help others. It is when we find a sense of purpose in our lives that we transform the most. For example:
After her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver, Candace Lightner founded Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Upset by the driver’s light sentence, Lightner decided to focus her energy into creating awareness of the dangers of drunk driving.
I’m thankful for her impact – she reached me, as a teenager, teaching me two important lessons: never drive drunk and never, ever get in the car with a drunk driver. So, I was usually the designated driver. Candace Lightner will never know me, or the thousands of teenagers whose lives she saved: but she made a difference! Are you making a difference?
This is where we find hope and an outpouring of love in our hearts!
Divine Presence: Letting the Infinite flow in my life 