Finding purpose – Page 2

The wilderness

Moses ran to the wilderness. It was in this self-imposed exile that he prepared for his great work. He then led the people of Israel through the wilderness for many years on their journey to their promised land and the work of building a nation.

Elijah also prepared in the dessert for his great mission. After the great triumph over the prophets of Baal he ran back to the wilderness; afraid, alone and seeking comfort from God.

Even Nebuchadnezzar was sent out into the wilderness to live like a beast. Learning in his madness of his place before God.

John the baptist was a man of the fields. Living off of honey and locusts, staying in the wilderness and speaking to all that would seek him out.

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness where he also prepared for the great work of his life. Fasting, praying and facing temptations, when he emerged he was fully ready to start the great work of returning God’s people to His care.

It feels to me like we are currently in the wilderness. I am not sure how long it will last, I am not sure what will happen next. Even the best guesses are at this point just guesses, time will tell what occurs next. But I do feel deep in my bones that we are being prepared for a great change.

We need to look at this wilderness and remember that we are being prepared for what comes next. Let us spend less time (and I’m looking squarely at myself here) worrying about what is to come, and focus on what we can gain and learn from this period. Accept the wilderness and grow. We need it to face tomorrow.

Better as two

I find it hard to think of the word marriage without thinking of the scene from The Princess Bride, “Mawwiage…”

This is another issue we have complicated with other ideas like patriarchy, power imbalance, sexual freedom etc. We can’t discuss marriage, for fear of offending the non-typical expressions of the institution that exist in our society.

Again this should be far more simple. Maybe it is no more complicated than, life is better when you don’t face it alone.

The morning after my husband had a stroke I returned home, slept for two hours and then got up and tried to organize the job site that he was working at. I then got the kids sorted out and off to school. I looked passed their shattered zombi-like responses and told them sticking to the routine would help. I then answered phone calls from concerned family and friends.

After all that I found myself alone, with no immediate task to face. I was told Wes would be having tests in the morning, so I wasn’t in a rush to get back to the hospital. It was at this point I felt it. It was physical, not just emotional. It was painful. I felt like I had been ripped in half.

I was staring at the reality that I might have to carry on in life without my partner. I would be alone. A wounded half person facing the grimness of life.

Could I have done it if I had to? Yes. But, I’d rather have my partner and helper back. Maybe this is the true power of marriage; the strength of knowing that you have someone completely on your team. The two of you against the world.

I for one am thrilled to still have my other half. I’m happy to have my husband by my side to walk through the trials of life together.

It isn’t good for us to be alone.

Genesis 2: 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Finding our focus

If you live in Calgary you know what the most important thing is during a Chinook – window washer fluid. There is a dance that a driver does during a Chinook, as they rate the splatter on their windshield; when to pump out more of the cleaner and when to wait.

I was doing this the other day. I was trying to decide whether I should spray more cleaner. But I could still see quite well, so I decided that I could manage another block or two. It then struck me how amazing our vision is. Our eyes can focus through all the “static” on the window and see the important objects that lay beyond.

It then dawned on me, this is what we have to do now. We need to look past all the muck and distractions and focus on the important issues. We need to see the reality beyond the splatter so we can navigate our way through the obstacles of life.

I would like to make a case for a short list of issues on which we should train our attention. All three of these are present in the beginning of the scriptures. First – the primacy of the individual. Second – the sacredness of the marriage. Third – the significance of the family.

I would argue that these are the threads that have knit our societies together. These are the foundation stones of a Godly people. Of course, as seen within the framework of God’s plan. Always keeping in mind the wishes God has for his people.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

I’m back

I’ve been absent. I’d like to claim that I was super busy. But I wasn’t. I did have some health issues. But they were minor. I have no excuse for why I haven’t been writing.

I was thinking though. A lot. Here is what I realized.

The world needs the Word. More now than ever. We need encouragement and community. We need to refocus on what matters. We need to roll up our sleeves and work at reestablishing relationships. If only there was a guidebook for such a time…

The Word. We have the word. We need study. We need to be bold.

Christians, NOW is the time for which we were born. Speak up NOW. Reach out NOW. Connect NOW.

2 Timothy 4: 1-5 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Do nothing

The hardest thing to do is nothing.

I look around me and see strife and trouble, but nothing I offer will answer. I feel helpless and angry. I see families fighting over unseen threats. I see people clinging to ideas with a vigour that puts virtue above love. I see hurt. I see frustration.

I spend so much time trying to think of what I can write that will answer this problem. I strain my mind to think of a way to help. But I have nothing. I am truly powerless. I can’t change anyone’s perspective. I can’t make people see how they are behaving. I have nothing to offer.

So I do nothing.

As I sit. Empty. Quiet. Still.

God answers my heart, “Trust me, I am.”

This is His fight. This is His battle.

I am like an injured bird, the more I struggle the more I hurt myself. If I submit and calm my soul he can heal my wounds.

Let’s try being quiet. Quiet before God.

2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake,
I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I am blessed

I often ponder how I can honour God in my day to day life.

Often I make the mistake of thinking big. I was raised in the “you can do anything” generation. The message we were taught is that we could grow up to be, and do something significant. If we put our minds to it we could be the people who change the world.

How does the world describe significance? Fame, fortune, notoriety, social value, the list could go on. We value the people who are in the public eye, the people who make a splash in the world.

Our own small and insignificance lives can be jarring in comparison. It is easy to feel like a failure because I didn’t grow up to be Hemingway, or the next great female politician, or the head of a major corporation. I can feel like a failure if I use the eyes of the world, if I see my life mirrored in the expectations of society.

But… what did Jesus say? Jesus has a different way of seeing the world. Jesus’ view stands in opposition to the values of the world. Perhaps it is easy to see our own worth when we see ourselves as Jesus sees us.

Matthew 5: 3-6 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The noise deafens

Turn it all off. Turn off the noise, the tv, the voices that invade our minds. How is anyone expected to stay sane with all this noise?

Christ lived in a time so foreign to our own. We have great challenges that Christians have never faced before. The distractions and ever present media. It is almost impossible to navigate and move forward. I can turn off the noise, but if no one else does how does that help?

I am looking down the barrel of some pretty ugly days. People have allowed the voices to fill them with fear and anger. I watch as our society is covered by a cloak of virtue but the fruit is hate and distrust.

I have no confidence in mankind today. NONE.

We have to find a path back to God. We have to learn to love others, even if they are wrong, even if they do us harm, even if they wield power, even if they are the underdog, even if they protest what we value. All of us! Not one of us is free of sin. We all hang in the balance.

I honestly don’t even have the words to pray any more. I just pray that God will know and do what is best. I have no ideas, no thoughts.

I am completely empty and I have to put myself fully in his hands.

Do I need to have faith in humanity to be a Christian? Can I be cynical and dejected and still follow him? Is there a different way?

What is forgiveness? What does it look like?

Maybe it looks like a man beaten, bleeding, dying on a cross asking the God of Heaven to forgive the people who put him there. That is a high bar.

Luke 23: 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Comedy vs Tragedy

My oldest daughter has a keen interested in literature and books and authors and all things writing. And I love this! She often asks my opinion about authors or their books. We get into the most interesting discussions (for us, not the rest of the family – they hate it).

Last night I was describing the difference between a comedy and tragedy, in their classic usage. As I struggled to described it, I finally came up with a very simple explanation. All kinds of problems and complications happen in life. In a comedy these complications have a humorous spin and culminate in a marriage – they lived happily ever after. When reading or watching a tragedy, complications happen and they have devastating results and then people die. We were laughing at the over simplicity of my explanation.

Life is neither a comedy or a tragedy – it is both. We have moments of devastating events, we have lighter funny complications, we may live happily and we all die in the end.

Maybe we need to accept the end of our life, the inevitability of death, in order to live full productive and meaningful lives? In this way we can make the most of the moments now. We can care more, give more, love more, forgive more…

Luke 12: 25-26 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?
Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

The time is now

I have been watching the developments in our world for the last few years. Our politics is nastier, our culture more extreme, our values nebulous and ever-changing. It is hard to get a sense of our footing.

But as all this madness around us swirls I am more convinced than ever that God is the answer. What we are seeing is a world with no stability, nothing to cling to.

What can we do? Can we change the direction of the world? No. Can we affect great change? No. But we can believe in something meaningful. We can set an example. We can have a small influence in the world right around us.

Now is the time. Now we need to step forward. Now we claim the territory. Now we say, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Do it now. Don’t wait. The world needs people of faith. Desperately.

Ephesians 6: 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day
of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Turning a page

I am fifty today. I’m half way to one hundred. I always intended to have a big party today to celebrate this great achievement. But, frankly it doesn’t feel any different than any other day and I actually have no interest in celebrating. Why? Oh who knows. These days are so strange that, well, it’s hard to think of celebrating over something so arbitrary as a date!

It has caused me to reflect on my life. I’m shocked at how little I have accomplished. I’m dismayed by the mistakes I have made and the people I’ve hurt. My list of sins is pretty long.

Why do we remember the negative things so clearly?

Maybe it’s because the “good” things we do are often cumulative. We get up every day and slog out the house and provide for our families. We work every moment to teach and help our children to grow and learn. There is nothing glamorous in this. And yet, when taken at a distance it can be truly heroic. The bad stuff tends to happen in capsules, moments of time that we can quickly pull out and remember.

So today, I’m determined to continue to show my husband respect. I will continue to try give my children wise council. I hope to find a way to love my neighbour. And most of all I will remember whom I serve.

Colossians 3: 23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working
for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.