No Strings Attached
25 May 2012 1 Comment
in Attitude, Change, Faith, Fear, Forgiveness, Friendship, Giving, Grace, Prayer, Priorities, Relationship, Spiritual Practice
“When you give love, more flows through you, and it becomes a special, special thing. And when you start living your life like that, about giving and not taking, and about caring, and being unselfish and not even thinking of yourself, you’d be amazed how beautiful life is.”
Sammy Hagar
It’s easy to talk about giving love as Jesus commanded, but much more difficult to live it. Giving with “no strings attached” is a challenge that I struggle with every day. It’s great to give love when you get something back in return. But what about those times when there’s nothing? What about those times when you receive a rebuke rather than an embrace? There are times I find great difficulty in loving those closest to me; to speak nothing of the “neighbor” Jesus tells me to love in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
As I read recent newspapers and emails, I am sometimes shocked and saddened by my brothers and sisters who seem to increasingly miss Christ’s call to love, sometimes oblivious of those whom Jesus would call neighbor. Dehumanizing those who are different from us, whether those differences are socio-economic, racial, national, sexual, or religious in nature, is contrary to the Gospel. Of course, many times, we reject others based upon fear. The fear is always based on loss: loss of revenue, loss of property, loss of values, loss of power.
But we cannot allow our lives to be based on fear, either real or perceived. John says,
“Perfect love casts out all fear.” (I John 4:18) Perfect love is also hard work. It is not a feeling, but an action. It is not a “hand out,” but calls us out of our places of comfort to work for solutions that will ultimately bring healing and wholeness to others. The kind of love Christ calls us to demands that we lay down our lives, our agendas, our selves, for the sake of others.
Today, I am challenging myself to search my heart to identify at least one person or group whom I am having a difficult time loving. I will begin with prayer, asking God to give me eyes to see them as God does—ones whom God loves. And then, I will ask God to help me find ways to demonstrate love for them. How about you? The shift may only take place in your heart but that’s a good start. Allow God to work within your heart and your head, your lips and your fingers and toes, to share God’s love with all your neighbors, both near and far.
If we will begin there, we might just be amazed at how beautiful life can become!
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
It’s About Focus
24 May 2012 2 Comments
in Attitude, Change, Faith, Grace, Prayer, Priorities, Service, Spiritual Practice
“Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Find out what God’s doing. It’s already blessed.”
Bono
Many times, I find myself asking God to bless, to help, to deliver, to meet my needs without ever taking the time to ask if the path I’m on is God’s path.
We pastors can sometimes be notorious for filling our time with the urgent rather than the significant. It is easy to rise early and fall on the pillow late at night exhausted from self-imposed demands to be “Super Pastor”: resident counselor, social worker, theologian, administrator, motivational speaker, community activist, evangelist, healer. We gauge our “success” by numbers in the annual denominational yearbook-membership, average worship attendance, number of new additions and baptisms, size of budget and giving. And when the going gets tough, many of us have been known to put our relocation papers out to look for a better place with less “stiff-necked” people to do our work, hoping that this time God will bless our efforts and grant us success.
Have I been guilty of this? I hate to confess it, but at times I have. I have asked God to bless what is not of God. Some might ask, “How can that be? You’re doing the work of ministry.” Yes, but unless and until God is the focus of my efforts, unless and until my agenda and motives are aligned with the Holy, unless and until my ego is off the throne of my heart, the ministry I do will not be God’s ministry.
I Corinthians 13 says, “If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have all prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
The Apostle Paul (and Bono) remind us that you and I can find ourselves completely off the path and out of the will of God if we do not put first things first. “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” Jesus said. Seek first, and all that you need will be provided. Quit worrying about getting God’s blessing for what you’re doing and what you want. Instead, look for where God’s showing up and go there—get in on what God is doing. Then you will find real blessing and joy!
Today, can you join me in searching for what God’s doing, and jump in with both feet?
You’ll be blessed!
Pastor Susan
Revelations
23 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Attitude, Faith, Grace, Relationship, Spiritual Practice
“The truth is…that God is revealed to us every day in those nearest to us, wherever we are.”
Joyce Rupp
Perhaps you’ve heard the old story about the man who is sitting on the roof of his house, praying for God to rescue him. The floodwaters are rising. Someone comes by in a boat, and calls out to the man, offering to help. He refuses, saying he’s waiting for God to show up. The comes the helicopter with a rope. Same thing. Finally the man succumbs to the waters, and goes to heaven. He asks God why God did not intervene…and you know the rest of the story.
So often we are looking for God in all the wrong places. Or maybe we’re not looking for God at all. How many days fly by like a whirlwind, and we have been so wrapped up in our own stuff that we haven’t even taken a moment to stop, breathe, and notice the Divine presence? How many times are we waiting for a burning bush, or a blinding light, or some other kind of spectacular theophany, when God is right there next to us, showing up in those who are closest to us?
I have weird dreams. Some of them are just silliness, but sometimes my weird dreams pack a powerful message. One of my dreams was about getting into a car that had no steering wheel. I knew that I needed help. Somehow, I arrived at a computer store. I had a choice between a Mac and a PC. And the voice said that I needed to go to the “Mac Expert”. When I woke up I knew the interpretation of my dream. You see, my husband, Ron, is a Mac wiz. The dream was about recognizing that God was using Ron as a means of helping me find my way during that difficult time, and that I needed to be open to his counsel. It was clearly a spiritual dream, and a powerful reminder that God often uses Ron in my life to keep me grounded to God’s will and way.
Who has God placed in your life to remind you God is near? Your spouse? Your children? Your co-workers? The person in the check-out line in the grocery store? If you take the time to look and listen, you will see that God is trying to get your attention every single day, offering you help and guidance and salvation.
Can we slow down enough today to take notice of those around us? Can we thank God for those God has put in our lives to reveal Godself to us?
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
Waiting
22 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Attitude, Faith, Fear, Giving, Prayer, Priorities, Spiritual Practice
“I’m really glad that our young people missed the Depression, and missed the great big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew. Leaders who told us when things were tough, and that we would have to sacrifice, and these difficulties might last awhile. They didn’t tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose.” Ann Richards
Most of us have grown up in a culture that doesn’t know the meaning of “wait,” “save,” or “sacrifice.” Whether it is something we want to buy, the career we dream of, or someone to love, we are told that we should have it now, not later. And when we don’t get what we want or expect, we wind up depressed, taking pills to “instantly” make the pain go away.
Why do we think something is wrong when we have to wait for it? Why do we assume that a marriage is “irreconcilably damaged,” when it may be a matter of learning how to listen and then talk our way through conflict? Why do we think having ten credit cards is a symbol of success, when all they have resulted in is an abuse that has led to out of control debt? Why do we assume that the person who rises most quickly up the “ladder of success” is really a success at all? How many rungs may have been skipped trampling on the backs of someone else climbing the same ladder?
A child must crawl before he or she can walk. That is a law of nature. But many of us have never learned that wisdom takes time to be cultivated. Like a seed planted in fertile soil, watered regularly and receiving adequate sunlight, you and I need to remember that personal growth requires discipline, a willingness to learn, and TIME. We will make mistakes. We will suffer pain. But what we do with our mistakes and our pain can make all the difference.
Jesus said that in order to “gain life” we must “lose it.” He taught us that the abundance God wants us to have can’t be found in the world. It can’t be bought. It can’t be fast-tracked. Abundance comes through sacrifice. It comes in “being still and waiting for God.” And that’s a foreign concept to many of us.
The truth is, God wants to us to make the choice to put aside our self-gratification long enough so that we can experience the greatest gratification of all: being at one with God! Perhaps we can begin this morning. Allow some time to be still. Ask God to make you aware of God’s presence and love. Enter into it. As you go through the day, don’t simply ask, “What would Jesus do?” but “What does God want ME to do?”
When the answer is “wait,” or “sacrifice,” or “be patient,” how will you respond?
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
Heart Settings
21 May 2012 2 Comments
in Attitude, Faith, Grace, Prayer, Priorities, Relationship, Spiritual Practice
“Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing.”
Phil Jackson
One of the struggles I face is going through a day without getting one thing on my “to do” list accomplished. Though you might not guess it by looking at my desk, I do try to be somewhat organized, having a plan for my daily activities. I set goals each day about the people I need to see, the time for study necessary to prepare for a class or a sermon, the long-term projects that need careful thought and attention, as well as time to nurture my marriage and take care of myself.
As is true for most of us, I rarely get around to everything I’d like, which sometimes leaves me a bit frustrated. Yet on those days when I get nothing I’ve planned done…that can drive me to ennui, a sense of weariness that can suck the life right out of you.
But I wonder: are my carefully constructed plans and goals what should set the condition of my soul? Do my emotional and spiritual well-being rest upon whether or not I am in control of what happens in the day? If well-being depends upon my control, then I am in big trouble, because there is no way that I can juggle all of the balls in the air at once and maintain my sanity.
What does God ask of me each day? Scripture tells me that loving God with everything that is within me and loving my neighbor as I love myself are the only two conditions that will set my spirit free to experience abundant life. If my heart is set on that, then every interruption, every detour that the day may take, can be an opportunity to engage it and see where love might take me. Rather than leading to ennui, the “unscheduled surprises” in my day may be a source of life’s greatest joy and fulfillment.
Today, I set my heart on loving God and loving others who cross my path. I will plan my day to the best of my ability, but leave the outcome to God. I will seek to be wholehearted with everything and everyone I encounter. And in the process, I’m looking forward to what God will reveal in each moment of the day.
Hmmm….could it be that joy is on the horizon?!
May it be so!
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
On Being Content
18 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Attitude, Grace, Spiritual Practice
“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am in, therein to be content.”
Helen Keller
Sometimes, life just doesn’t seem fair. Poverty engulfs one family, while another has never known what it is like to go to bed hungry. A man’s wife and two children are killed when a teenager is hot-rodding down a neighborhood street. A brilliant scientist, at what should be the peak of his career, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. A child is born deaf and blind.
There are many things that happen in life that we do not understand. They are often mysterious, bewildering, and may even make us question our carefully constructed sense of order and balance given by the Creator. It is hard to accept that “the rain falls on the just and the unjust,” especially when it falls on us.
The Apostle Paul and Helen Keller found a way to deal with the rain by learning to be content. In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul writes: “Not that I complain of want; for I have learned to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound in any and all circumstances. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”
“I learn whatever state I am in, therein to be content.” As I look at these words from Helen and Paul, it dispels the myth that I often associate with persons who are “content” to remain in their misery. Being content doesn’t mean that one gives up. It doesn’t mean that one refuses to stretch and grow and become. But being content means that you and I do not have to permit the unfairness of life to bind us. Tragedy may strike, but finding peace, learning to be content, gives us the freedom to rely on God’s power to use whatever circumstances we face for good.
I am amazed by those who have been released from despair, depression, and self-destruction as they have learned to be content. It truly is a gift of God’s grace, but a grace offered must be accepted. It is not easy to do, because it requires letting go of the little bit of control that some try to cling to in the midst of unimaginable pain. And yet, it is the path to freedom.
In what area of your life do you need to relinquish control, where do you and I need to learn to be content? Perhaps it is in that very area where wonder will be revealed—even in the darkness and silence.
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
Choose Rightly
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Attitude, Change, Doubt, Faith, Fear, Forgiveness, Giving, Grace, Prayer, Priorities, Relationship, Simplicity, Spiritual Practice
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world— that is the myth of the atomic age—as in being able to remake ourselves.”
Mohandas Gandhi
If I could pick my greatest joy in ministry, it would have to be witnessing spiritual growth in the lives of those I serve. If I had to pick the greatest sorrow, it would be witnessing the deterioration of a soul that is stuck in the mire of self-destruction.
While one might witness spiritual growth or deterioration in isolated events, they usually are evidenced over a long period of time. The person who doesn’t think they can pray privately, much less publicly, won’t become eloquent overnight, any more than does the person who sinks into the darkness as a result of some kind of abuse. It takes a lifetime of experience to become the persons we are.
But the good news is that God has given all of us the unique ability to choose how we will respond to the events that make up our lives. We can choose to allow tragedy and sorrow to consume us, or we can determine to give God permission to enter into those times with us to show us a different way. We can allow ourselves to become self-absorbed by the successes that come our way, or we can remember that God’s grace has made them possible and that those gifts come so that we can share them with others. Each day we have the ability to choose how we will respond to others, to events, and to our own inner emotions. We have the God-given ability to choose who we will be.
I am thankful for that, but I am also somewhat overwhelmed by it. The freedom I have been given to choose means that I have responsibility. It means that no one or no event can MAKE me feel or do anything. It means that when I feel hatred I can choose to love. It means when I feel afraid I choose to have faith. It means that when I feel superior I can remember I am but dust; loved by God and here only by grace.
There will be days that I fail in choosing rightly. But my prayer is that there are more days that I choose to be remade in the image of God that I was created to be. Today I will begin by choosing to commit myself to God’s will and way. Hopefully, I’ll experience a bit of spiritual growth as I do!
How about you?
Blessings, Pastor Susan
Delicious Ambiguity
16 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Attitude, Faith, Priorities, Relationship, Spiritual Practice
“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”
Gilda Radner
For some reason, we want to know.
It’s a uniquely human trait, this desire to know. From the time of birth, a baby is searching to know and understand the world around her: the sound of mother’s voice, the feel of a ball or the warmth of a blanket. As a child grows, so does his curiosity about the world around him. And children continue to expand their knowledge in school and in life. This search for knowing will be with us until we die. It is part of being human.
Through this quest for knowledge, we have discovered many things. We have made scientific and medical breakthroughs that have succeeded in expanding our lives decades longer than even a century ago. The average life span of people in the 1800’s was 55 years of age. Today it is 77.6 years. Scientists have predicted that with the advances being made in medicine, life could be prolonged well over 120 years. Discoveries surrounding the human gnome have made “a brave new world” surprisingly real. Being able to take a sample of DNA to determine whether or not there are “deficiencies” en utero and genetically engineering solutions are both exciting and scary at the same time.
If you could know how your life will end, would you want to know? Some would. Some would want to know so that they could try to alter their ending, make the changes that would either prevent it or transform it. Others might opt for a little “delicious ambiguity.”
In the 24th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus talks about the coming of the Son of Man, the great day when God will come to set things right. And he says these words: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. …Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
Not knowing can be frustrating…or it can be an opportunity to live each day to its fullest potential. Staying awake, searching to know and experience the gifts of God in the world around us, sharing the gifts we have been given with others in the “now,” and having faith that God will give us grace to face the ambiguities of the future can give us a zest for life and living.
How about it? Can we live with delicious ambiguity today?
Blessings, Pastor Susan
Slow Motion
15 May 2012 2 Comments
in Attitude, Doubt, Faith, Fear, Priorities, Relationship, Simplicity, Spiritual Practice
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
The world we live in today is in many ways defined by speed: computers that will send and retrieve information at ever increasing speed; food that can be prepared and served more quickly; interstates that will get us from one location to the next in the shortest amount of time. We can’t wait to have the lifestyle that took our parents decades to achieve, so we put ourselves in debt to have all the things that we so earnestly want and think we need right now. We want our children to have all of the opportunities growing up that we can, so we madly dash between soccer and volleyball, piano and guitar lessons. And so we can have all of this, we have to work harder and harder, filling our lives with more and more activity until there is nothing left to give our families or ourselves at the end of the day.
Have you ever felt like a rat on a tread wheel? You’re going faster and faster, but getting absolutely nowhere? I’ve felt that way before. In fact, there have been times when I am extremely stressed and burned out, that I have had dreams of trying to run from danger, and not being able to move. It’s as if I’m in slow motion, and can’t get away.
I thank God for that dream, because it has always served as a reminder to me that it is not in my power to control the world. It reminds me that I need to slow down, take a breath, and turn my life once again over to the One who is sovereign. I need to “be still and know that God is God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Fulfillment in life will never come by filling it with more and more things, trying to increase speed and efficiency so we can have and do more. Gandhi is right. There is more to life than that. Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these….Therefore, do not worry…but strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you.” (Matthew 6:25-33)
Today, will you join me in slowing down? Take some time to look around you and see the evidence of God’s provision, not only for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, but for YOU! Enjoy God’s presence. As you take a moment to breathe deeply, remember the Spirit of God that gives you the breath of life. And give thanks!
Blessings,
Pastor Susan
Where are you heading?
14 May 2012 1 Comment
in Attitude, Change, Priorities, Spiritual Practice
“The most important thing is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”
On a trip to the Florida Panhandle a few years ago, Ron used his new GPS system to guide us. It was pretty cool to be able to type in the destination that we were seeking and to hear a voice come on telling us when we were approaching an intersection and which way we needed to turn.
Everything worked out fine the first day. We found our Bed and Breakfast in the small town we’d never visited before with no problem. But on the second day, we decided we would visit another small town. We programmed the address into the GPS and followed the directions given. At one point, we came to a dirt road we were instructed to turn on. It didn’t “feel” right, but we took it anyway. Sure enough, our instincts were correct. The GPS had made a mistake, the road led to a dead end; we had to turn around and find an alternate route.
Sometimes our lives are like that. We have all kinds of “GPS systems” telling us which way to go; many voices calling us to turn this direction or that. Some of those voices will lead us to dead ends. We search for happiness, and we look for it in our wallets or in relationships. We seek peace and relief from anxiety, and we douse ourselves with liquor or drugs so we can sleep at night. We look for meaning and purpose in a job and find ourselves disappointed and overwhelmed because no job fully defines who we are.
You and I must learn to listen to the one voice that will guide us through the roads of life safely. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” (John 10:14-15) When we listen for his voice, no matter what path we’re on, the Good Shepherd will help us to get back on the road that leads to safety and life. Even when we come to the “dead ends,” the Good Shepherd can help us to find our way.
What voices have you been listening to lately? What roads have you been taking on your journey? What destinations have you been programming into your GPS system? Today, can you take some time to evaluate where you are, and ask for the Good Shepherd to lead you in the paths that lead to life? Whether you have to do a U-turn or a slight variation in your journey, you’ll be glad you did!
Blessings on you journey today,
Pastor Susan
