I ADORE YOU
Lord, to what can I compare You,
To the majestic mountains,
The waves crashing on the shore
Or even the mighty forests and
Shifting sands on the desert floor.
No Lord, they are pale reflections
Of the wonder that You are
Put there by your mighty hand
To fill our hearts with awe!
Your love reached higher than the mountains
Deeper than the ocean floor
The day you called out to me,
From your cross on Calvary
My child, it is you, I adore!
As I mentioned previously I have recently been in hospital and during my recovery program I had to learn some things about myself. The most difficult of which was to surrender control of everything I do. I am, in some ways, a bit of a control freak and like to have everything pre-planned – spontaneity is not my strong point! This served me well when getting ready to go in to hospital and I organized everything including arranging for my step-daughter to fly up and take care of me when I got out of hospital. I really didn't think that she would need to stay for more than two weeks and that she really would not need to do much more than meal preparation and some of my chores.
Was I ever wrong! I had no idea of how helpless I was going to be! Granted, I could get up and walk about, shower etc., but as for the amount of bed rest that I needed and how dependent I had become, I was shocked. Yet at the same time, because there was nothing else for me to do but accept my situation, I was able to surrender and allow her to take over.
As the days turned into weeks and my bedroom became like Grand Central Station for visitors, I was able to allow others to pray for me, do things for me, and, for the first time, to do it graciously. I had no choice. I was, in many ways, as helpless as a toddler.
The lesson that I got out of my situation is that, by letting my stepdaughter have control, I was doing exactly what God wants us to do with Him. You see, although I could have forced myself to do my own chores, I would have hindered my healing process and I could never, in my weakened state, have been able to do them anywhere near as effectively as what she could. God in His strength, wants us to give Him the control. Yes, we must do what we can, but with His guidance through His Word and Holy Spirit.
Surrendering may seem like a weak thing to do, as we tend to equate it with war, but we are not at war with God, nor was I at war with my stepdaughter. What we are, in effect, doing when we surrender our lives to God, is giving Him the opportunity to work through us, to strengthen and grow us spiritually, and to prepare us for the glorious riches that He has for us in eternity. At the same time, a life fully surrendered to Christ is a life that is filled with peace and inner joy no matter what our circumstances because we know that He is ultimately in control and that He works things for the good of those who love Him!
For so long the meek have been ridiculed as weak, they are seen as doormats or spineless. Yet in today's society, having the true qualities of meekness require great strength. A truly meek person is extremely difficult to find and yet when you get to know one, they are both a joy and delight. The strength of a meek person lies in his ability to not be provoked to anger, to deflect the wrath of another and to defuse fiery situations. The meek person will also rather forgive a dozen wrongs than take revenge for one. Their true strength lies in their ability to keep God's will as their focus and not allow their own emotions and desires to take precedent. Many a stony heart has been softened and many a life been positively impacted by these amazing people. The meek are calm when all around them the world is raging. They are the humble in spirit who put others before themselves and who know, that without God in their lives, their lives count for nothing. Having a meek person as a friend or spouse is a true blessing, for life with them around is peaceful, joyful and even in the dark times they are strong. Meekness is not a personality trait, but rather a strength that is learned only through a constant and sincere relationship with God.
I don't know about you but I find these well-meaning books about living purpose-filled lives downright depressing! In fact, they have a tendency to make me feel quite inferior! As a result of this though, I have been trying to get to the bottom of what a "purpose-filled" life means for someone of mediocre skills and talents who is not going to be an accomplished rocket scientist or the next Billy Graham. After much soul-searching and even tears of self-pity, particularly when I was down in that dark pit of depression, I have finally come to the following conclusions about what a purpose-filled life means in (I hope) God's eyes.
No matter what we think God has gifted each of us in different ways. Using those gifts that we have been given results in a life lived purposefully! How do we know what our gifts are? If you have ever had a passion to do something, e.g. visit the elderly in your nearest home for the aged; send encouraging messages to a friend; bake a cake for someone at work; babysit; write poetry; I could go on and on but I'm sure that by now you get the picture, then follow that passion. Even if you are afraid to try, afraid to appear foolish, afraid you will disappoint yourself or be rejected in some way, just do it. You will find that the first step is the hardest and from then on, if it is what God is wanting you to do, the rest will follow and you will wonder why you had taken so long to get moving. The amazing degree of satisfaction that you will get out of doing what God has asked you to, no matter how small it may seem in the eyes of world, will make you realize what a purpose filled life is all about.
It's not about the job's we do or our level of financial success or fame, but rather about doing the small (or big) things that God has called us to do that impact the lives of the people around us. We may never know what impact we have on someone else but that does not matter, what matters is that we have done what we were called to do. Living purposefully is not about us, it is about obedience to God and the difference we make by doing what He calls us to do.
We are all aware of how powerfully our words can affect other people. Many of us even use them as weapons, particularly in our attacks on the people closest to us, whom our words generally have the most ability to harm.
However, how many of us realize the damage that our words can have on ourselves. How many times have you put yourself down, described your looks, body shape, intelligence, talents and abilities in a derogatory manner? I know I have done it to myself countless times. In fact, during my depression, I did it all the time. No, let me rephrase that, one of the most tell-tale signs that I am sinking back into depression is when I start being less than complimentary about myself! Whether it is done as a "joke" or not, it still has the same affect on how I think about myself.
Would we really do this to ourselves if we realized that not only are we insulting ourselves, but we are insulting God as well! We are saying that His workmanship is not good, that He has made a huge mistake when He made us. What we need to realize is that God doesn't make mistakes! He has made us exactly the way He wants us to be and therefore, in His eyes we are perfect! We are not perfect in the sense that God is perfect, but in the sense that He has created each and everyone of us for a purpose – His purpose. He has designed each one of us uniquely and individually with our own specific talents and abilities and intelligence, exactly the way He wants us to be, and what we need to understand is that HE LOVES US!! Totally.
Perhaps if we started to see ourselves through God's eyes, as His beloved and unique creation, we would stop worrying about the "details" of looks etc., and instead try and focus on living our lives the way He wants us to and thereby fulfilling our destiny that He has planned for us. If we do this, we will be amazed at the fullness of life that we will have.
Words have a habit of being self-fulfilling. What we say about ourselves will eventually become "true" because we will, through self-hatred, destroy our trust in our abilities to achieve anything. By thinking we are "worthless" we will eventually lead worthless lives. Never attempting anything, never reaching our potential or using the gifts and talents that God has given us.
We need to stop those negative tapes playing in our heads and coming out of our mouths and instead realize that the Creator of the Universe knows exactly how many hairs we have on our heads. And if He is aware of such a mundane and irrelevant detail, how much more concerned is He with the details of our lives!
When was the last time that you actually had time for you? Time with your family or friends? Time that mattered! Not just being in the same room as them but actually doing things together, or listening to someone's problem. You know your friend hasn't been himself lately, but you haven't taken the time to sit and hear what he has to say. Sitting and watching rugby with your friend is not really spending time with him because all your attention is on your team. Then you hear he's been arrested for embezzling company funds and you have no idea why!
Your child is becoming belligerent, but you don't have the time to find out if something is wrong, so you yell or punish in the hopes that this will make things better. Then you wonder why she's been expelled or her sudden weight gain turns out to be an unexpected pregnancy! How could this have happened? You're absolutely gob-smacked by this "sudden" turn of events.
When was the last time you lay on a blanket on the grass and tried to see what shapes are in the clouds? Or went for a leisurely walk with your spouse? Not a 10 kilometre jog, or a planned hike with a hiking club, just a stroll, holding hands, talking about your day, stopping to look at the scenery as you pass.
Is your Bible collecting dust from Monday through till Sunday morning when you give it a quick wipe and take it to church with you for the morning service. When was the last time (and no, I don't mean at Church) that you went to a quiet spot and spent some time with God? He may know all that you are doing, but he also wants to hear from you. Imagine how you would feel if your child was in your home, right under your nose, and never said a word to you, day after day. Nothing. Not one comment. Not even a hello or a smile. It would be pretty painful wouldn't it? Well that's pretty much how we treat God, even those of us who profess to be Christians!
Our lives are so busy with all kinds of stuff, I don't even need to list them because you know what they are! We often wonder why the days just seem to fly past, why Monday becomes Friday without seeming to have any other days in between. It's because we're busy!! But what is all this busy-ness achieving for us? We're more stressed than our grandparents were, we have all these labour saving devices which just give us more time to fill with other devices. Thank goodness modern medicine has improved the way it has, because we seem to have more and more people getting sick from stress related illnesses than ever before. It's amazing how we are quite prepared to throw handfuls of prescribed medication down our throats to alleviate these stress related illnesses, yet if we simply slowed down, took some time out, we could improve our health and reduce our medical expenses! Most of us will get old and find out that we have missed living because we've been so busy trying to make one!
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11v28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." Now we all know that Jesus was speaking of a spiritual rest, of allowing us to go to Him with our troubles and giving them into His care. We know that He is to be the Lord of our lives, and yet we persist in trying to do everything ourselves, we tell Him of our troubles but so seldom hand them over, convinced that we can take better care of them than He can. And so our cycle of busy-ness gets out of control, we have no time for us, no time for our families, no time for God. Being busy allows us to feel as though we have control of our lives, when in actual fact, we are not. Isn't it about time we listened to Jesus? By laying our burdens at His feet and trusting the Creator of the Universe to sort out our problems we can have rest and in His rest, we can finally be the people God wants us to be.
Living Generously
In this time of recession and hardship, the thought of being generous is the last thing on people's minds. Instead, an attitude of "charity begins at home" prevails as people do their best to keep from losing their homes, vehicles and other things that they treasure. They toss and turn at night, cut down on the few "luxuries" in their lives and hope that soon things will return to normal and that they will survive the financial crisis. Yet this is not how God has called us to live. If we are living our lives as He has called us to, then we should not be worrying about these issues. God has promised us that He will meet our needs if we put our trust in Him. "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him." Nahum 1:7.
Generous living is far more than parting with your money. It is living a life that does not look down on other people, that reaches out to others to assist them in their time of need. This may be as simple as helping your elderly neighbor with carrying their parcels, or willingly helping with a lift club. There are hundreds of ways in which we can generously extend of our time and our hearts to be there for other people. All around our wonderful country (South Africa) there are stories of elderly woman, themselves existing on only a miniscule government pension, who have taken in aids orphans, providing them with food and shelter but more importantly love and security.
Recently our church and city has been blessed by having approximately 400 people out for a Soul in the City project. These people, mainly youngsters, came out from the UK, with a few from several spots in Europe, paid for their own fare and accommodation costs, and helped several churches in the Durban area with projects that the churches are working on currently. They dug holes and cleared land to plant vegetables, trees, and wash-lines. They had a "sports / fun day" for underprivileged children and they worked like many of them have never done before in their lives! They gave generously of their time and poured love into the lives of people who have very little love in their own lives.
Generosity is only possible if we are ourselves content. So long as we continue to feel that we do not have the best car, house or latest cell phone then we will never be able to be generous to others. It is only when we can put an eternal perspective on our need for "things" as opposed to being able to bring some joy into someone's life that we can start to live generously the way God intended us to. "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
The other side of the coin to generosity, is the ability to receive! It is truly amazing how often people are ungracious or embarrassed when someone does something for them. When someone extends a generous helping hand to you in your time of need, accept graciously and joyfully because that is as much a blessing to them as their help is to you! By rejecting help when it is extended, you may hurt that person to the extent that they never reach out to anyone again! Your action would then impact the lives of so many others who may have received help, but now never will!
