Ok....this may be a great book for another time. I love brain science. It facinates me! It's just so cool how God made the brain, and how relationship in particular, affects it. But this book seems to be making me get all up in my head in an analytical way that is not good. It's pulls me back into wanting to "fix" myself. Holy Spirit won't let me have that job no matter how hard I've tried in the past.
So I'm dumping it. I need to live loved in the Father and be patient with His timing and process.
So I'm turning my face towards the invitation to journey with him in rest and love once again.
Whew! That was a close one!!
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Saturday, June 10, 2017
The Perfect You has arrived.
I gotta say...I hate the title. I almost didn't want to read it because of that title. I'm sick of our worlds preoccupation with perfection. Especially the church. However....I think she means it in the way that God created you very purposefully, to reflect a piece of his own DNA in the world. In that sense...there is a wholeness to grow into, to display that vision he had when he created you.
This isn't like our parents expectations. He isn't looking at your "potential." More like, he knows how he wired you, and what will bring you joy, satisfaction, and significance, he wants to help you walk away from lesser things to fuller. It has nothing to do with love and approval. NOTHING.
THIS IS ALL FOR YOU.
That said...in the prologue...I thought an interesting question was How can you reflect his glory if you cannot see it in you?
Do we need to see it? After taking multiple personality tests....gifts tests....strengths tests....over the years, I'm not sure how much help or change they brought. Maybe this is different. I'm open to changing my mind.
I'm just me. That was a revelation 3 years ago, in the midst of people who wanted me to be someone else. God made what he liked. And he was asking me to grow up, not change who I was. But I utterly lost myself, amidst bad theology, people with an agenda, my own insecurities and an image of Jesus through others filters.
If you had babies....remember how their little personalities began to emerge? We want them to be who they are, but sometimes we might put pressure on them to move in directions they aren't suitable for. Then when they don't quite fit in the box, we might pressure them to be different so they will fit.
From the book:
"Our Perfect You operates -that is, it is unlocked- in environments of love. Love changes the physical nature around all 75-100 trillion cells of our bodies and gives us the courage to face and deal with blocks and locks of our Perfect You. When we learn to focus on our God, who is love, and what he says about us, we learn how to embrace our unique identity and discover who we truly are in him."
I can agree that love changes everything. Living loved in your Father, will change your life.
This isn't like our parents expectations. He isn't looking at your "potential." More like, he knows how he wired you, and what will bring you joy, satisfaction, and significance, he wants to help you walk away from lesser things to fuller. It has nothing to do with love and approval. NOTHING.
THIS IS ALL FOR YOU.
That said...in the prologue...I thought an interesting question was How can you reflect his glory if you cannot see it in you?
Do we need to see it? After taking multiple personality tests....gifts tests....strengths tests....over the years, I'm not sure how much help or change they brought. Maybe this is different. I'm open to changing my mind.
I'm just me. That was a revelation 3 years ago, in the midst of people who wanted me to be someone else. God made what he liked. And he was asking me to grow up, not change who I was. But I utterly lost myself, amidst bad theology, people with an agenda, my own insecurities and an image of Jesus through others filters.
If you had babies....remember how their little personalities began to emerge? We want them to be who they are, but sometimes we might put pressure on them to move in directions they aren't suitable for. Then when they don't quite fit in the box, we might pressure them to be different so they will fit.
From the book:
"Our Perfect You operates -that is, it is unlocked- in environments of love. Love changes the physical nature around all 75-100 trillion cells of our bodies and gives us the courage to face and deal with blocks and locks of our Perfect You. When we learn to focus on our God, who is love, and what he says about us, we learn how to embrace our unique identity and discover who we truly are in him."
I can agree that love changes everything. Living loved in your Father, will change your life.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
It's always an inside job.
I can barely watch the news. A friend and I were talking about how we were taught in school...to examine current events, read newspaper articles, talk about them. Of course that was in the day when news was reported. Not made up. Not spun to favor one side or another. Not shaded, or broken sound bites made into a conversation. Back in the day when we were all taught to think, not told what to believe.
I know it was present in other ways...the zeitgeist....predjudice...segregation, for one. I'm not saying life was perfect or even better. I'm just saying, there was still something called journalism. Where you gave me the facts, and I was trusted to make up my mind about those facts.
And Christian news is no different. Don't fool yourself. There is some deep confusion about what is religion and what is patriotism. The extreme right has confused their politics with their faith. Talk about a dead system. Really...the answer is to make Jesus a Republican? The other side, the so called extreme left is equally delusional. But that's because what we see in the news IS the extremes. It's manipulation.
But neither of those extremes have to represent us. Or control us. Refuse the brand. Love each other anyway. The real American spirit is not to champion our idea of whomever is the current popular underdog....or to demand MY rights.
My real point is...and yes, I have one....that change is always an inside job. There is nothing these people represent that will bring lasting change to this country. Because it isn't realized in programs, strategies, or everyone gathering on one side or the other.
We forgot unity. In the midst of diversity....their should be unity. Not conformity....unity. Unity doesn't come from a set of beliefs. It should come from love. (A higher priority than rights.) Unity can be a vehicle for love when people are vastly different from one another. It's the true tolerance. It means there is a higher calling than our differences. The call to love is every single human beings call. I realize this isn't simple. We are so far down this road, I don't see us coming back from it until Jesus comes back. But I...I can choose love. In the end, that's all I have control over. It's an inside job.
I know it was present in other ways...the zeitgeist....predjudice...segregation, for one. I'm not saying life was perfect or even better. I'm just saying, there was still something called journalism. Where you gave me the facts, and I was trusted to make up my mind about those facts.
And Christian news is no different. Don't fool yourself. There is some deep confusion about what is religion and what is patriotism. The extreme right has confused their politics with their faith. Talk about a dead system. Really...the answer is to make Jesus a Republican? The other side, the so called extreme left is equally delusional. But that's because what we see in the news IS the extremes. It's manipulation.
But neither of those extremes have to represent us. Or control us. Refuse the brand. Love each other anyway. The real American spirit is not to champion our idea of whomever is the current popular underdog....or to demand MY rights.
My real point is...and yes, I have one....that change is always an inside job. There is nothing these people represent that will bring lasting change to this country. Because it isn't realized in programs, strategies, or everyone gathering on one side or the other.
We forgot unity. In the midst of diversity....their should be unity. Not conformity....unity. Unity doesn't come from a set of beliefs. It should come from love. (A higher priority than rights.) Unity can be a vehicle for love when people are vastly different from one another. It's the true tolerance. It means there is a higher calling than our differences. The call to love is every single human beings call. I realize this isn't simple. We are so far down this road, I don't see us coming back from it until Jesus comes back. But I...I can choose love. In the end, that's all I have control over. It's an inside job.
The New Nature
Not just a cleansing of the old....Not a reboot.....no, no....this is a whole new operating system, as a friend just described it. Not just a do over. I was in the institutional church for over 30 years and did not get this foundational truth. Why is that? Because it has been lost....to our detriment. Professional ministry creates a system that needs hurting people to buy a product to get well. Sermons, books, counseling.....not saying those things are inheritantly bad.....but oh...I think we can see Balaam at work here. Ministry for money. God loves us, is patient....good...He works through imperfect people, and imperfect systems. Indeed....what else does He have?! If you find the perfect church gathering, let me know, and above all, don't join it, you will ruin it!!!! (Levity folks.....lighten up.)
I know, I know. I am going to get a spanking for talking smack about the church. Well....I am the church. Not that building you go to on Sunday mornings. That, is an institution. Or just brick and mortar.
I think God is doing something new, and our understanding is about to change. And I am not talking the politically correct change that is currently happening in the American Institutional gathering. No, this a change back to something that is both timeless and ancient. The 1st century church had it. It was life in the Spirit. The real deal. Completely relational...to both God and man. Living loved in the Father....the true starting point for all transformation.
I know, I know. I am going to get a spanking for talking smack about the church. Well....I am the church. Not that building you go to on Sunday mornings. That, is an institution. Or just brick and mortar.
I think God is doing something new, and our understanding is about to change. And I am not talking the politically correct change that is currently happening in the American Institutional gathering. No, this a change back to something that is both timeless and ancient. The 1st century church had it. It was life in the Spirit. The real deal. Completely relational...to both God and man. Living loved in the Father....the true starting point for all transformation.
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