Content

It is a fantastic Friday!  I'm walking around in an amazing mood and a friend asks me why I look so happy today.  I smiled and couldn't explain it.  As I walked back to my desk I contemplated what it is that I feel today and I settled on 'content.'  I've been blessed to be part of the Prevail women's group at church.  Over the last two months we have discussed eschatology and breaking down the meaning of the key words in scripture.  This practice is both enlightening and addicting!  It has greatly enhanced my understanding of the Word and has bled into many unexpected avenues.  I find myself analyzing song lyrics, speeches, and now today, my mood.  What does it mean that I'm content?  Scouring to the Noah Webster 1828 dictionary I unearthed following definitions:
1.  Rest or quietness of the mind in the present condition; satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, restraining complaint, opposition, or further desire, and often implying a moderate degree of happiness.

A wise content his even soul secured; By want not shaken, nor by wealth allurd.

2.  Acquiescence; satisfaction without examination.

The style is excellent; the sense they humbly take upon content.

Again I recognized how truly blessed I am to find contentment.  Thank you Lord!

Spiritual Cow Tipping

I've been blessed to be part of a small group reviewing a lecture series by John Bevere entitled "Driven By Eternity." This experience has rocked the foundational truths I have built my faith on. He's been a spiritual "cow-tipper" of sorts. He makes the statement that each believer will be judged by what God NOT for what they have done but if they have done what they were called to do. Wow. Think about that for a moment and let that sink in...Many well intentioned people believe that the way to heaven is by doing and/or being good. John spoke of an article published in Newsweek three years ago that stated 68% of the EVANGELICAL Christians believed that salvation through Jesus Christ wasn't the only way to heaven. I must confess that I have missed the boat too. I am always looking for things I can DO to be more active in my church. I pile on the classes with the children, various administrative tasks, bringing the treats, tend to the nursery, participate in the worship team. While it is great to help out, am I really distracting myself with all of the tasks and not really standing in the place where God meant for me to be? Or, as my worship leader would say "Am I being obedient to the heavenly vision?" If I want to be totally transparent, my honest answer would be I really don't know. Am I so busy "doing" that I haven't sat still long enough to hear God's purpose for my life clearly?

Doors and Windows

I've heard so many times that when God closes a door He opens a window. Recently I prayed with a friend and she prayed that God closes certain doors and opens windows instead in my life. I hadn't really spent time meditating on that concept until I hear her earnest and loving prayer. She also prayed that I have perfect peace and contentment when God chooses to close a door. How powerful is that prayer!? So many times we focus only on the fact that the door is indeed closed. We stamp our feet. We react with frustration, anger, sadness for the path we thought we were meant to follow. Stopping for a moment to consider that God loved us enough to close that door changes the entire situation. Instead of rejecting us He's protecting us. Amazing. Closing that door has opened a window that will lead to bigger blessings. I think I'm starting to understand that endings aren't the daunting, fearful things I've made them out to be. He's leading me down a new path that will meet my needs, my dreams, my desires more fully than I knew to pray for. Endings now bring me a sense of peace and are a clear expression of God's love.

Labels

I'm not sure how I feel about labels people are given. They are handed out by our family, our friends, our community, society as a whole. Even our employers try to define us with labels. I've been labeled a number of things . . . Christian, female, divorced, educated, stubborn, independent, loving, musically inclined, sympathetic, political, republican. The list of labels that have been applied to me seems endless. Some are positive, some make me want to cry. This begs the question of what is a label and what does it truly define?

It has been my mission this year to remove some of the labels I've been given and own the ones that define the person I hope to become. I'm ripping up the self-reliant label that I've owned for far too long. I've thought for many years that it was my responsibility to handle every difficult circumstance in my life independently. I've chosen to bear burdens on my own so not to stress out my family and friends. I've blatantly ignored the scriptures that talk about how God wants to be our source and our strength. I made the decision that He was busy and that it was petty of me to expect Him to care about the lack of money in my check book or the small conflict at work that I'm losing sleep over. I wonder if this label was slapped on my the same time I accepted my 'independent' label. God can have them both. :)

I am making a conscious choice to no long be defined by my past, my mistakes, my pain and choosing instead to define myself as a child of an infinitely loving God. I'm embracing my identity. I am taking dominion.