Tag Archives: wisdom

Thanks Lord

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P1260776 compressedI’ve stayed over in the village, settled in my bed, the talking finally stopped, and now the singing and dancing has begun outside, and I am so tired I just want to cry.

And tomorrow, I’m on deck, for two or three sessions of Spiritual Development and life-giving prayers that sap the energy from me as God’s power pours through.

It has been a hard few days.

The bulk of the work has begun, and in the midst I can’t see heads nor tails.

I’ve been reminded that once we enter the fray, we are either ready or not.

We have either done our homework beforehand, or we will be found wanting in the midst.

Once the work starts, we’d better hope that we have our heads screwed on straight.

It is a bit (okay maybe a lot) like flying blind.

It’s as though I’ve entered the darkness and can’t see my hand in front of my face.

And but for my well-honed intuition and years of character development (and thank-you God for wisdom gifts), I don’t think I would be lasting.

The wait has been long to enter this work, and now I get it. Those years, every single one of them, were absolutely necessary. Not a speck of time has been out of order.

Makes me think of a pilot who trains and practices and trains and practices so that when the blizzard comes the pilot has the no-how and guts and instinct to navigate well and come out the other side.

Thank-fully, I’ve got one of those little bobble-head compass things in my head

And my list of do’s and don’ts:

  • Never manipulate through emotions, making others feel guilt or shame
  • Never uncover a persons weakness in their own home (country)
  • Make no excuses, take 100% responsibility
  • Always honor

It’s not an exhaustive list, but one that has worked well over the years. And it is working well now. Through these benchmarks for my own responses I am safeguarded from allowing my humanity to destroy the work.

Work taken years to build can after all, be undone in one swift movement.

And I’ve learned one more this week:

  • Do not give authority for decision to others, that are supposed to be my own.

It is easy to give our authority away. When faced with a hard call and voices all round declaring this and that, pulling and pushing…

I gave way and handed over a decision to another

BAD MISTAKE

I recommend you do not do this.

BAD things come of it.

And I am reminded that we are to carry the responsibility and the authority of our lives.

And when we default these to others, things do not go well.

I wonder how much of the things in our lives that are not working well, are because we’ve given over the authority to another.

Having somehow forgotten that we will stand before God one day and give account for our lives. Not anyone else.

In the years of preparing for this work, years of tentatively stepping out in various ways, of pushing the boundaries of who people knew me to be…

Trust me, I’ve had my share of naysayers.

What kept me on track has been a holy fear of God.

A sermon years back jolted me to the Biblical passage that goes something like this, ‘she who has been given much, much will be required’

And through my mind went all the things I’d been given, such as legacy, wisdom, intelligence, among others.

And I clearly saw myself standing before God and answering for my life.

“What did you do with what I gave you?”

And I imagined my pathetic – at the time – responses,

“Well you see, my husband mocks and ridicules me.”

“Well you see, my friend doesn’t understand.”

“Well you see, my pastor won’t give approval.”

“Well you see, I have dishes to wash.”

Can you see it, standing in the throne-room of heaven before the God of heaven and earth and I am giving these excuses…

I knew they wouldn’t fly, and that I had to be faithful to HIM, and not any other.

And here I am today, holding full responsibility for my life as any adult is meant to do.

So, in the midst of the fray, and the flying-blind, that just might continue for the rest of this trip, I’m remembering to keep authority close in my pocket,

While giving honor and respect and emotional freedom in spades, I do NOT give over the authority that I have been particularly called to walk in.

Rather, making decisions I am to make, boldly and with courage, and to hold fast,

Trusting the one who has prepared me and trained me and remembering that He does all things well, and His timing is perfect

Thanks Lord

Prejudice Against the Wealthy

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P1310658 compressedPrejudice against the wealthy is a very real disease, and it traps people in poverty.

We easily know a prejudice and discrimination against the poor, but how often do we speak of discrimination against the rich.

It is there and well and alive on planet earth.

The thing with prejudice is it stems from a heart of judgment. And no good thing comes from judgment.

And there are PLENTY of judgments against the wealthy.

I’ve had some myself over the years, but have been doggedly working to rid them from my psyche, for a judgment given is a judgment that comes back. And judgment against the very things I’d like results in nothing whatsoever.

In the Bible (James 1:6-8) we are told to believe without doubting for the double-minded person will receive nothing.

Nothing comes of double-mindedness.

In regards to wealth it shows up this way:

“I need more money to live, I don’t have enough, all the wealthy people have it, tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Fact is, no one keeps wealth from us except us. And when we judge the wealthy we are declaring that to have money is bad and wrong.

Sooo… why would money want to come hang out with you?

It is a divided heart and mind. The mouth is asking for the very thing that the heart is cursing.

The mouth says, “Please God may I…” while the heart is condemning, “look at that person that has… tsk-tsk-tsk”

Logically speaking, how does that work?

It doesn’t.

All judgments work in this way, they set us up for despairing over the very things we want but do not have but hate about everyone else having.

And nothing will change, till we let go the judgments, change our minds about the way the world works, let the bitterness that always underlies judgments go.

Without this change, judgments against the wealthy secures our poverty.

Plain and simple,

And as horrifying as that.

It is easy when we have been hurt and wounded and the victims of injustice to carry those things close to us as a badge of sorts, an honor of poverty of sorts.

The Israelites when they were taken to the Promised Land, blew it. They had no faith, took no courage and ended up wandering the desert for forty years until that generation had died.

In the book of Psalms 106:24 we find this sentence, “They despised the pleasant land.”

And this led to their death. Literally.

It is the same with us. When we despise the wealthy or the powerful or the bosses, the government…. whatever the sneer that comes from our spirits, it will not go well with us.

A few years ago I personified money to see what I believed of it more clearly. This is some of what I found:

“Money is dirty”

“Money is too heavy for me”

“Money doesn’t like me”

I found that I was the cause of my money difficulties. I was driving money away with my attitude about it, my belief systems and paradigms.

They had to change. I had to change.

If this was a friend or a relative that I was thinking and believing and speaking these things of, would that friend want to come near me. Intrinsically speaking the emotional messages I’d be giving would be off-setting and that friend would not feel comfortable in my presence, and would stay farther and farther away.

Judgments that secure our poverty.

Prejudice against the wealthy condemns us to less and less and less.

And we respond with more hate, more prejudice, more judgment, and we get less and less, and we add on more judgment and prejudice, and we get less and less…

Despairing over what is wrong while drowning in our own vomit.

To set this right:

Confess that you have held onto poverty like a badge of honor,

Confess that you have despised those with money,

Confess that you have rejected the pleasant land,

And finally, begin to celebrate.

Celebrate that raise your friend received.

Celebrate the new care someone was able to buy.

Celebrate the promotion that so-and-so got.

And lastly, honor.

Honor is about looking every individual in the eye and declaring them worthy of a smile and a moment or more of your attention just because they are human just like you, simply because they have been created by God just like you.

Honor must go to everyone: the woman on the street, the peasant in the village, the children at the gathering, the elderly on their mats and in their homes, the men and women in their positions of influence, the politicians and the clergy.

Honor, and you will receive honor. Refuse to honor, and we will get that also, no honor.

Honor the poor and the wealthy, the sick and the healthy, the lame and the strong…

Honor everyone, and then, and only then, will it go well with you

Capturing God’s Heart – Leadership – Volume 5

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This volume look at leadership and how we mature in Christ.

As leaders we must always be developing and growing ourselves.

We cannot lead others in ways that we ourselves have not matured.

And maturing takes time. The development of character takes some work and some focus and a lot of asking the Lord to grow us.

Maturity does not happen by accident.

We must allow and invite change in the way we see and do life.

Continue reading →

Dancing

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P1180368 compressedPulled back and forth between what is pressing and immediate to the long-term big picture of things, can be a bit of a trick.

As individuals we are often and naturally wired one way or the other.

We may be good at big-picture long term thinking but lousy with day-to-day immediacy’s.

Or we are good at the details of living but never really think about what any of it might mean in the big scope of things.

Thing is, we need both of these abilities. And both of these can be cultivated.

We need to be able to face our day-to-day and the immediate details of life and work and home and family.

Visions don’t happen unless we put some ground-work into place.

We also need to be able to step back, widen out the camera lens so to speak, and see ‘the point’ of what we are doing, how we are spending our time, and where our efforts are going; what is the map of our lives.

Ground-work means nothing without a larger scope of understanding.

Last week I was confronted by an immediate and traumatic need that required I  bring some stability and sameness into a situation. All of a sudden there was nothing else that needed attention but a very ‘in my face’ need.

It took a few days of my life, and extended in small ways throughout this past week. With that week’s time revealing that some details of my days will in fact be changed from here on out.

At the same time, the week went by and perspective opened up once more and long range vision cried for some attention.

Life often feels this incredible mix of all that is imminent and pressing contrasting with the much bigger point of everything.

It is not either / or

It is both / and

One day I am dealing with a crisis that demanded every ounce of my being to enter in and engage and simply ‘be’ in the pain, adding what comfort I could, and within a few days I am considering this years trips to Africa, and am reminded by texts and emails and phone calls that there is a much bigger world than my little pocket of crisis.

That world I am also to engage, bringing what I can to the table; being fully present.

The crisis of mental illness / the task of extending deep spiritual freedom to nations

Extending deep spiritual freedom to nations / the immediacy of being a single Mom

We all have conundrums and dichotomies that must be faced.

I’ve found, that the farther into leadership and influence one goes, the larger the dichotomies become, and the more humility is necessary to walk it.

It takes enormous focus and discipline of ‘setting oneself aside’, our fears and inadequacies and self-doubts and what doesn’t make sense, to in fact step into bigger pictures.

The farther one goes into influence, the less and less it is about us.

Our lives becoming one of service means…

We mustn’t be distracted by our stuff

It’s not about us!

Fancy that

So we walk faithfully with our days. The days that have us with a microscope gazing at our imminent and personal realities, and then the days that have us engaged with something that is far, far bigger than ourselves.

The camera lens zooms in, the camera lens zooms out.

Big picture, then the details, big picture, then the details…

Hmmm, sounds like a dance to me!