Pure

A friend once said:

"a glass can only spill what it actually contains."

I believe that this is the kind of commitment and sacrifice and love that Jesus asks of all of his followers. I believe that this is exactly what Jesus did and accomplished on the cross. I also believe that everyone (whether you identify as a follower of Jesus or not) is called to lay themselves down for someone else. We all have had experiences (or are having them now) that require us to put our neighbor's needs before our own. And sometimes, that is uncomfortable and/or exciting.

Jesus calls us to live such a life daily. He gets no extra fees and this choice comes without any gimmicks. This self-less life is often overlooked as "too good to be true." Similliar to those informercials that say if you buy this product in the next 90 seconds, your life will be great! But, Jesus is not an advertisement running across the television screen or a billboard on the highway. He is not absent from our lives only to be called upon when we are in desperate need. He is active and living today and everyday. He is all around us, through us and in us.

His life is like that of a glass cup. But, I think that the deeper part comes down to this: "What's in your cup?" Because if we can really get to the meaning behind the truth, then we have come to understanding. Before you pour the liquid into your cup, do you read the ingredients list on the back of the can or bottle? Are you filling up on just sugar and chemicals and preservatives? Or is it all natural?  Is it made from real things in the environment? Does the nutrition label say: "made with grace, peace, forgiveness and love"?

When you finally pour that liquid into the glass, what does that substance say about you? About your life? Whatever you choose to quench your thirst is a direct reflection of you.

And when your glass is knocked over, (either planned or not) what flows out? Does the liquid bring forth help and healing or does it choke up anger and resentment?

Truthfully, I think that we all have a little Splenda in our drink. But, what does it take for us/me/you to work to make it pure? To be nothing but "all natural"?

You know how some waters (like Aquafina) say: "contains: water and salt"? How can water be anything but water? Why do we find the need to always enhance the flavor that is already so rich? In the same way, why do we all feel the need to enhance our lives with additional items and artificial ingredients?

Why do we do this?

I think that one of the many answers is that we feel uncomfortable being ourselves. We don't relish the opportunity of showing people our true selves. Our identity (whatever you find yourself immersed in) greatly impacts others. We never know how much we really impact a fellow human being (either positively or negatively). Our lives are always on display. They are a showcase. If we really examine the ways in which we live and it reveals that we are not comfortable with ourselves, then how will we ever be able to counsul and help others? If Christians are not able to find their sole purpose and satisfaction of new life in Christ, how will their friends know that there is another way to live apart from the sweeteners?

I also believe that another reason we enhance our drink with man-made materials is that we are afraid of making mistakes. We need to come to terms with the fact that as humans, we are not always going to get it right. It's important to learn from our mistakes so that we can become better stewards of our world and help others not to make the same ones that we did. Mistakes are one of life's learning tools. I'm not saying to go out and fill up on caffeine but what I am saying is that we are constantly reminded that through every fall, stumble and trip we acknowledge that we can't get through life on our own. Life is not supposed to be an independent journey. Humans were made for relationships and to experience and be dependent to the extent that it helps us not hurt us.

For those who identify as followers of Jesus, may he teach us how to be dependent on Him; to know that we are partners on life's journey. For those who may not profess to be followers of Jesus, may we begin to understand and take comfort in knowing that though all of us long for an artifical sweetener to add flavor to our drink, may we begin the process (however that may look for you personally) of removing this unncessary addition to making our drink pure.

Copyright July 2010: Alex

"because he loves me"

I came across this poem in the Providence Sunday Journal today and wanted to share it with you.

"our father who art in heaven"

he comes back
to the family now
with a vengeance
that seems odd
even to me,
the Queen of
never let them forget.
what could he
possibly hope to achieve
by arriving at the door
twenty some odd
many years
too late.
he offers us
a loaf of bread
telling us how long
he kneaded it,
and let it rise
until he knew it had
become
perfection.
he picked
the grapes from
his garden, where
they were grown
with optimism
and great faith.
tells us
all he is looking for
is one last meal
with his children,
a place to rest his head.
surely we could grant him that.
our father,
 -Lynnie Gobeille

[it really spoke to me today. i also see some spiritual allusions...not sure if the poet intended them to be there, but they are.]

in love with Love

"Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps." - Psalm 85:13

"Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you."
- Psalm 86:2

"Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name."
-Psalm 86: 11


/////////////

God has already prepared the way for me. Jesus and his disciples have already gone before me. One of the writers of the Bible talks about "running the race that is marked before us." So, why the worry? For my Father says: "Do not worry." God has taken care of it all. He has provided for the birds and thus has provided an endless bounty for me. I keep on coming back to this passage in Luke 12:22-34. Verse 33 says to "sell your possessions and give to the poor." Poverty is more than a lack of material riches, homelessness and hunger. From personal experience, I know that there are people who are poor and look as if they have it all together. Poverty wears many different masks. Love wears none. True love is naked, exposed and vulnerable. The epitome of love is Jesus. The epitome of that love is God. The Holy Spirit lives inside us to make this love personal, alive and real. It's tangibility is evident everywhere, even in the most broken of places.

..."for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." (verse 34).

If my heart is on the things that God desires and I am moving and listening and seeking his advice from older Christians in the faith, then I know in my heart that God has it {my fears, concerns, worries, uncertainties} worked out.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

"For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Now, I know that verses such as these can be taken out of context if not read carefully; but for me, today, this comforting verse lets me know that just like I am devoted to God with my life, my spiritual purity and his purpose for me, I know that God is devoted to me. For my heart and my mind are on the things of God and though I get stuck in a rut sometimes, I am aware of my identity in Christ. I know that I am loved. When I come back to his word I am constantly brought closer to my only lover and Father. My reflection is in him and he is in me.

poor in spirit

"The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become-the more we realize that everything in life is a gift" (The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning, page 81).

far beyond the vow of "i do"

"To have the mind of Christ Jesus, to think his thoughts, share his ideals, dream his dreams, throb with his desires, replace our natural responses to persons and situations with the concern of Jesus, and make the mindset of Christ so completely our own that "the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" is not the secret of or shortcut to transparency. It is transparency" (Manning 38).

- it is a laying down of our own wants and needs and picking up Christ's wants and needs. It is humbly accepting a new perspective; a way of life completely different than mine. This new life that Christ offers is a daily struggle; it is not easy but it is worth it. a complete surrender to one person far surpasses my detailed map of life.


"Christianity, then, comprises more than involvement in human rights struggles, environmental causes, or peace programs. Fullness of life in the Spirit is more than finding Christ in others and serving him there. It is a summons to personal holiness, ongoing conversion, and new creation through union with Christ Jesus" (Manning 53).

- Living for Christ is work. i can never be perfected through actions and works if my heart and mind are not aligned with Christ's. If my desires become so weighty that they take precedence over God's than I have created a fictional character. Only a daily commitment and a lifetime of devotion to Jesus with our lives, our souls and our hearts will help to change our world that is governed by fear to a world passionately in love with its creator.



~ the above quotes came from Brennan Manning's book, The Importance of Being Foolish

You

i want nothing more than knowing God.
nothing less than his mystery and
nothing more than what is his truest identity.
i want nothing more than knowing God.
i want to be drawn so close to him that I can
hear his breath
i want to feel his fingers run through my hair
and have him prune my life;
however that may look or feel.
i want nothing more than knowing God.
for his concern is not appearance but rather
heart.
rip my heart out of my chest and examine it under a microscope.
use your magnifying glass to see if there is any unworthy way in me.
teach me how to "let go"
making me become exactly how my Father saw me from the womb.
creation made a choice,
and though i may not make the correct or sensible move everytime,
teach me how to be humble.
show me ways in which i can express, receive and demonstrate humility.
show me ways in which i can love backwards.
for love isn't always forwards.
love isn't just a kiss and then a pulling away.
the love of God is so much more.
it is truly the love that lasts after the kiss and
penetrates the heart.

i want nothing more than knowing God.

to be alone with me (us)

This morning, I woke up with the chorus of a song in my head:

"To be alone with me
 To be alone with me
 To be alone with me
 You went up on a tree."

Last night I was worried about a lot of things that are ultimately out of my control. I was driving to meet a friend and the "what if's" started to knock on my door. I tell my friends that the "what if's" will destroy but until you experience the battle, it becomes a mere phrase that covers a large wound.

As I turned the corner of my street just before the highway, I caught sight of something absolutely spectacular. A sunset. I was completely in awe of such beauty. The shades of blues, yellows and whites were intricately woven together across the horizon of the skyline. It was a picture that no painter could have ever produced. Creation was the author.

In this moment, I was reminded that God is in control. It is not by my doing that the sunset was beautifully formed or that the grass turned green. No. I cannot do these extraordinary things that are so simple for God to do. Instead, I stand as a breathless child who experiences a rainbow for the first time. 

Last night, I was mesmerized by such indescribable beauty and comforted by the truth that it's ok. It's quite all right that I do not possess nor have all the answers to all the questions that tumble around in my mind. It's quite all right that I may not know exactly what happens today, tomorrow or ten years from now. For when I get  worried and long for unending assurance, God wraps me in a hug. The kind of hug that a mother gives to her child after she falls and scrapes her knee. Or when a guy and girl who are in love just sit and gaze at each other, each equally lost in the amazement that they could be loved by someone. God gives us this universal hug that crosses all bridges in order for us to give that love to someone else. His beauty is nature, his face is found in the homeless and his heart is nailed up on the cross for all to see. We can choose to walk by the human statue or stop, take it in, and ask "what then shall I do?"

empty my cup

In his book, The Importance of Being Foolish, writer Brennan Manning describes the love of Jesus as "kenosis - a total self-emptying." I could go on and on with examples and my own interpretation of what this kind of love is, but the fact of the matter is that if I do indeed do this, then I/we lose all understanding of Jesus' love. Therefore, in order to find out exactly what kenosis is, we must look at examples from the Bible in order to even begin to grasp such a foreign concept.

Many instances that Jesus had with his followers describe this kind of self-giving self-sacrifical love. I will only refer to a few of them. First, Jesus encounters a woman who was going to be stoned. This instance reminds me of a bunch of cats circling around a little mouse. Obviously, the mouse has nowhere to hide and is bound to be dinner for the intruding felines. In a similiar way, a group of men wanted to stone a woman. Jesus comes in and says: "Whoever is without sin, may you cast the first stone." Jesus completely revealed himself to the men and the woman by allowing his true nature to be exposed. He dealt with a conflicting situation with words rather than with violence. Jesus put himself out there for another person. He not only interacted with women who were considered lowly and without importance, but he treated both sexes with care and unbelievable compassion.

A second encounter worth mentioning is when Jesus heals the man born blind. Imagine being born without sight and a man comes up to you and puts mud on your eyes. In an instant, you are healed. Here, Jesus heals with a simple touch. Yet, this touch goes far beyond the physical healing of sight that this man longed for. This encounter was an expression of the Father's love through his son Jesus; a love that looked beyond social status, class, income, career, family, health, etc. straight to the heart of the person. Jesus had this innate ability to have compassion for anyone that he came into contact with. Jesus was able to look at a person and see a reflection of himself.

Which leads me to my third example. The one that is probably the most cliche of all in our culture yet the one loaded with meaning and significance. Jesus' crucifixion. Aside from the symboliism that the Gospel writers use to describe Jesus' death, the love, the kenosis, is found here. It is found in the blood that Jesus shed, in the words that he uttered, in the way that he lived his life not for himself, but for other people. Jesus was not a force to be reckoned with. He was a human with feelings, passions, desires, hopes and dreams just like all of us. He longed to be held, to be touched, to be told those three simple words that young lovers tell each other: "I love you."

So, how do we live the kenosis kind of love? It's not a simple, three step process. It is a daily reminder that without God, I cannot live this way on my own. It is a daily reminder that his grace is free and that I can do nothing to earn his gift of salvation. It is accepting that his death is already completed, and yet, it is a daily dying to myself; laying down the mindset that "It's my way." It's an outpouring of love that knows no limits and goes to the ends of the earth for a friend. It's a love that is a constant reminder of humility. It is a love that is similiar to that of an expecting mother. She loves her child though she has not seen him/her yet. As one of the writers in the Bible says: "You knew me before I was born. You knit me together in my mother's womb." It's loving another person not because of their college degree or lack thereof; its looking at a person, feeling that tug in your heart and seeing yourself in them.

That's the kind of kenosis love that Jesus gave.

For me, it is a daily struggle to love this way. It's giving up my impulses in order to see another fellow neighbor rise in the sunlight. By myself, its impossible to do this. But with God, I know its possible because everyday, I am experiencing a little bit more of this love that Jesus so often displayed and talked about. It is this love that is one of the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself." You can't have one without the other. You can't say that you love God and hate your neighbor (or visa - vis.) They are, indeed, mutually exclusive.

I'll leave you with one last thought from the Bible.

"Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends."

Imagine if we all loved in this way.
How different would our world be?

One World, One People

Even in the turmoil, God is at work.

Today, I picked up a book called Six Months in Sudan. Written by Dr. James Maskalyk, he tells of his journey to Sudan working with Doctors Without Borders. I have begun reading it and I encourage all of you to read it, too. His blog inspired this book. Check it out at http://www.sixmonthsinsudan.com/.

Despite the oppression, wars and disease there are people who are making a difference. Someday, I hope to serve as this man and many of my friends who are doing. Hats off to those serving here in the U.S. and around the world. To those serving in the army, on college campuses, in teaching children and in many other ways too numerous and beautiful to name, thank you for all that you do. You have impacted me and changed my life in extraordinary ways. 

a barefoot God

My heart is changing.

I know that is an unusual way to begin a sentence, but it is true. Often, I look inwardly, tending to my own house without taking a moment to look out the window. There is so much happening beyond the walls of my home. I take pride in making the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom look presentable. In some ways, I feel as though I am stuck in the 1920s, an era when women stayed home to care for the children and fulfill household chores. I am beginning to realize that if I embody such a lifestyle for myself, I will miss the delight of looking out my window.

You see, there is something spectacular about opening the door of my home to sit outside. There is something right about lying barefoot on the grass and watching the clouds pass by. This is my picture of the "perfect day." This is how I imagine God spending time with me. Lying next to me on the grass, looking up at the sky, oblivious of time, yet holding time in itself. Our lives revolve around scheduling whether its transporting our kids to their soccer practice, having lunch with the in-laws, or planning a wedding. Yet, God is teaching me to not rely on a schedule where I know what's coming in the next 5 minutes, in the next hour, in the next day or even in the next week. He's teaching me to rely on no schedule at all.

God speaks many times in the Bible about "community." But, there are times (even in the scheduling) where he calls me to "get away."

I recently saw the movie, "The Karate Kid." I'm not one for plots that involve fighting but there was something about the movie previews that intrigued me. In one part of the movie, Dre Parker (played by Will Smith's son Jaden Smith) asks Mr. Hun (Jackie Chan), "Are we going to train today?" Mr. Hun says "No." And twelve-year old Dre asks "Why?" Mr. Hun says "Because too much of something can be a bad thing."

Really? "Too much of something can be a bad thing?" Well, if I eat too much ice cream, or watch too much television, or stay up too late on the computer, then yes, too much of something is bad. We all need a break. In Pslam 23, David (the psalmist) paints this picture of God as a Shepherd. He writes that God will always be with us "even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death." I leave you with Psalm 23 and ask you to answer this question, Is God your Shepherd today?

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he lead me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

You don't always have to walk with your shoes on. Sometimes, God is completely content going barefoot; hangin' out beside you on the grass, staring up at the clouds as they effortlessly pass by.