They watch.
They listen.
They see.
They speak, but are not heard.
They wait for the Lord to take up their cause.
Please make it right.
They find the courage to speak but are put in their place.
There is nothing to see here.
They go back to silence.
But God, it hurts so much.
God sees.
God knows.
In His Church.
Maybe you’re a Christian.
Maybe you’re not.
If you are the latter, I hope you can glean something from this writing today.
Western world thinking is not the same as Eastern world thinking.
I think being a Christian in America may have some ideas that need adjustment. That’s because I am a Christian in America and I am aware of my ongoing need!
We are a very productive, goal-oriented society. Input – output. Do this, get that.
So when things do not go as planned or what you worked hard for, well, some of us fall apart. It shows up with anger, frustration, self-pity, and/or depression.
Consider this excerpt from an article taken from the NY Times:
Western culture … conditions people to think of themselves as highly independent entities. And when looking at scenes, Westerners tend to focus on central objects more than on their surroundings.
I came to terms with this some time ago. Over the course of 30 years, my perfectionist and ambitious temperament latched on to the scriptures that talked about doing. Prayer, commitment, service, dedication, and did I mention prayer?
You can imagine when things did not go well after I worked so hard at covering all the bases. Especially when pro-active faith is front and center in your church experience.
Our strengths can be our weaknesses. I am motivated, detailed oriented, and a perfectionist. I thought this was a good thing and they are certainly qualities conducive to good character as outlined in the Bible.
But those things eventually became weaknesses when anything got out of my control. Gradually, as I learned to acknowledge and trust God with each situation, I became less and less irritated.
Hmm. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It isn’t. It’s a huge struggle. But it’s worth it in the end.
Because God is not an American, he doesn’t only teach us through a central object but through our surroundings (see above quote).
Long ago, I was introduced to a few books written by Watchman Nee, a Chinese church leader and teacher during the 20th century.
I was also introduced to not thinking like an American.
Nee saw through a different lens. He saw God working from the inside out through using our every day experiences to shape us and really, to free us from our strengths becoming our weaknesses.
Americans are geared for learning from the outside in. Give me a book. Give me a list. Give me a class. Attend a conference. Then apply (or not).
There is nothing wrong with this. Yet, at best, it doesn’t always last.
When God does something in us, it lasts. Even if we forget and fall back, he reminds us, and builds upon what he began in us.
There’s the small irritations like the time I planted tulips and they didn’t come up.
Then there’s the really big things like divorce, a child’s death, or a serious illness.
Big or small, God wants us to have peace, joy, contentment, strength, and so much more – no matter what we are going through. When we accept our situations instead of resisting with anger, frustration or self-pity, we are allowing God to work within us.
That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying
I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had his hand in this,
as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,
was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel,
(brave even among lions),
“It’s not the weight you carry
but how you carry it –
books, bricks, grief –
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it
when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.” So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?
Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?
How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe
also troubled –
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love
to which there is no reply?
—Mary Oliver
Photo on <a href=”https://foter.com/”>Foter.com</a>
God has a way of hiding in the shadows.
We have a way of stumbling along in the dark until He steps out of them.
It happens in a moment. But when it does, when He steps out and again declares “Let there be light,” the clouds part and our souls’ dark alleys and cluttered corners glow with understanding, hope, and faith. In that moment, if only for that moment, we can see.
And we realize that He’s been there all along.
It’s just that we will see Him in a different light.
Photo credit: Leonard J Matthews via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
We are in the process of building a small herd of beef cattle. Herefords.
Last week, 2 heifer calves were born.
Here is one with her mother.
Life unfolds in mysterious ways, mostly without our contribution.
It makes us pause, doesn’t it?
Yes, life can be gravely sorrowful.
But thankfully, we still see good, too.
It keeps us on track, knowing God is over it all. He alone has the answers.
Rest in that today.
~~~
There is real power in being thankful.
We know how to exercise our body to improve balance, tone, flexibility, strength, and over all health.
Did you know there is an exercise for our minds? If you feed it with dwelling on your situation, it is the same as not reasonably taking care of your physical body.
When I become overwhelmed with discouragement, everything looks grim. But when I pause and think about the beauty in the midst of sorrow, it lifts me out of despair. When I choose to give someone more benefit than doubt, I am a happier person.
That’s because I have not allowed that situation access to destroying me. Being thankful for the good that has come my way gives me a better outlook on life.
This isn’t “positive thinking”. It is a deeper, genuine, heart-felt moment of gratefulness.
Our emotions have a purpose, but we can’t live with them being the sole navigator of our thoughts. God gave us emotions (he has them, too) but he also gave us the ability to think reasonably.
You might have good reason to be angry. Set it aside for 1 minute. Let your thoughts go to what you are thankful for.
Dealing with tragedies do take longer. There is horrific, destructive pain out there. No one who loses a loved one is comforted by thinking (or being told) “at least you had them for a time”. No. You want them back and that’s all you feel.
It’s okay. God is not in a hurry. And what I have found is he brings small moments of brightness to your life when you aren’t expecting it. Gently and softly he touches your wounded heart with tender care. People often do not do this for us so don’t be upset. Some people expect more from Christians. It’s understandable because we expect compassion, care, and essentially, love. It is what it is. Don’t let people define how God does things.
You can conquer the reality of your situation through how you think.
Practice being thankful and watch what happens.
Life can be unpredictable.
Complex.
Turmoil.
Devastation.
But if we look closely …
we will discover what is predictable.
Simple.
Order.
Calm.
God.
We all have them.
Recently, a young couple and their baby were instantly killed when concrete debris fell from an overpass onto their vehicle.
But there have been similar stories when people have missed such a tragedy by seconds. Those people often say, “God was with me” or “God wasn’t done with me yet”. Wasn’t God with the family who was killed? Was he done with them?
Personally, I have questioned why God didn’t intercept my son’s death. Finally, I had to stop asking something I was never going to get an answer for. I concluded that God knew and that was enough.
Our questions are normal. But at the end of the day, there is something we are trusting in. We turn to drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, television, and more to help us cope. Understandable. But inside, we know these things are band-aids.
One day, a friend asked if she could come talk with me. She cried through a series of serious and tragic situations she was facing with her young adult children. The father was completely out of the picture.
There are no quick fixes with some situations. As a Christian, it’s not the time to say, “God loves you!” or any other scripture. Because that hurting person is not believing God loves him/her at all.
My friend’s life was like a boat in a vicious storm, ready to break into pieces. She was looking for safety.
After listening for some time, I said, “All I can tell you is this: the sun rises every morning and sets every night”.
This is a picture we can all relate to, no matter who you are or where you live. It is the picture of assurance – pointing us to the Creator of the universe – who is sovereign, infinite, all-knowing, and faithful.
Because there are some things we cannot explain with words.
All of us have experiences we build upon.
There are all kinds of stories of people who survived an accident or beat an illness. They are ecstatic. And they should be!
The frailty of life and imminent death becomes a reality.
In Christian churches, there’s a lot of good experiences and people give testimonies of answered prayer and how God came through.
But I’ve always wondered about those who didn’t get their prayer answered and how they think God did not come through.
When you’re sitting in front of the television or in a church service, and you hear how an individual’s life was spared from cancer or unscathed in an accident, and they attribute God with the credit, (e.g. “I guess God’s not done with me yet”), I can’t help but think of someone who did die and wonder, “Was God done with them? Why didn’t God want h/she to live?”
If we think “input-output” (I prayed, God answered), there’s got to be an answer both ways.
I am sincerely happy and inspired when individuals thank God for what he has done for them. I just want to know how to help people who feel left out.
Are you one of those people? I know how you feel. While I have much to be thankful for, there have been some real confusing and difficult areas that have left me disappointed and hurt. The only way I’ve been able to come to terms with the pain is to trust God with it.
You are not the first to hurt and you won’t be the last. Life is hard and we learn to look at it with optimism since life has some very wonderful moments, too. The only way you can have this outlook is knowing God sees the end from the beginning. It won’t last, only to have a positive outlook. It has to be based in something solid.
We either trust God. Or we don’t.
It takes time to develop trust. God knows this.
When you trust, you rest.
When we look out into the night sky, we are breathless at its beauty.
There is Someone over that magnificence. There has to be.
God.
when it hurts 