Transformed Changes and changing

Just a note to inform you that I will be taking an extended hiatus from writing this blog.

You can find me at: http://synergysg.wordpress.com/

God bless
DW

Posted under Transformation

There is a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach each time I come face to face with my own vanity. I may state that I am good with dying to my self, living entirely for my Creator, but when I look around at the “relatively small” (please forgive my vulnerably honest, albeit repulsive perception) price that I perceive others to be paying, my emotions betray my heart: I feel ripped off.

I would be better off, in humility, expressing words such as Jacob did in his prayer recorded in Genesis 32: 10…

“I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick.”

What do I have, that the Creator has not given me, either directly or indirectly?  Who am I but what He has gifted me to be? Who am I to launch a grievance about what I have accomplished, or what I must surrender?

“Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”
Romans 9: 21 (NIV)

In the end, I have only a hope: Jesus Christ. That is all. I have made mistakes, but I don’t trust my ability to know or judge all of which may be deemed a “mistake”.

“To live is Christ, to die is gain…” versus “unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot live…”

Dying once seems easy…but to live dead is to die a thousand times each day.

“Living Dead”…how hard should it be to die?

How hard is this for you? Is it just me?

Posted under Transformation

Today I am going to let Henri Nouwen share most of the content

“You are facing constant choices…you know what the right choice is, but your emotions, passions and feelings keep suggesting that you choose the self-rejecting way…(these) emotions might say, ‘It isn’t going to work. I am still suffering the same anguish I did six months ago. I will probably fall back into the old depressive patterns of acting and reacting. I haven’t really changed’. These are not God’s voice…God says to you, ‘I love you, I am with you, I want to see you come closer to me, and experience the joy and peace of my presence. I want to give you a new heart and a new spirit. I want you to speak with my mouth, see with my eyes, hear with my ears, touch with my hands. All that is mine if yours. Just trust in me and let me be your God.’ (The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen)

Now a little from Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now my part: “There is no failure, unless I choose it: to quit”

Posted under Transformation

The neighbour has a dog. I like the dog. The dog is tethered out front all day…alone. I don’t like the feeling that comes with knowing that. The dog is getting a bad rap from other neighbours…it is a rottweiler. I don’t like the feeling that comes with knowing that either. So…I have volunteered to take the dog along on my hikes across the lake in the park.

First trip revealed the lack of discipline in the dog. All pup…no restraint. Too big to get away with that. So I started watching dog training videos. On one of the videos the trainer says, “If you can teach the dog to ’stay’ reliably, you can be confident in taking them anywhere”.

“Hmmm”…says me. Maybe that is what my life is about right now. “Stay”.

There are MANY scriptures that speak to “abiding” and “waiting” …with our eyes fixed on Jesus, and our hope placed in him alone. How does this get developed within us if not through learning to “stay”…and that within an environment of distraction…

Maybe if I can eventually learn this, God can be confident to take me anywhere…

Posted under Transformation

Ecclesiaties 7:29 “This alone is my conclusion: God has created man straightforward, and human artifices are human inventions.” (The Jerusalem Translation)

According to Merriam-Webster an artifice is:

1 a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity <believing that characters had to be created from within rather than with artifice — Garson Kanin> b : an ingenious device or expedient
2 a : an artful stratagem : trick b : false or insincere behavior <social artifice>

Maybe a David E translation of this passage would be…”life is simple, but we complicate it.”

Transformation then, must be a return to the simple.

I think the simplest way to understand life is that it is not ours. We did not create it. We are dependent for birth, breath, heartbeat…and when we move away from an understanding of dependence…things get complicated.

Posted under Transformation

“I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened… Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn’t see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out. Soften up, God, and intervene…” (Psalm 40 MSG)

It feels like it has been a long time since I have “heard” from God. OR…maybe I am just more contented in knowing who I am to Him…less fearful…less in need of His constant intervention…more willing to simply walk with Him…even in silence.
Surely He owes me nothing. Life is difficult, for various reasons, for all of us. Most self-employed people either don’t make it at all, or find themselves with negative bank balances perpetually. Not every venture will succeed…though I am not sure that I even know what success truly is. My whole world is about words, and I have experienced how perspectives are revolutionized with a simple re-ordering of word sequence. One word change, or even a single comma, can make all the difference. How do you measure the impact one positive word in the life of another, and what price is acceptable?

As David said in Ps 39:5… “You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.”

One key to transformation must be an arrival at this understanding: If my life is but a breath, there is much more at play here than me.

Posted under Transformation

Recent ponderings…a merger of a two principles:

1. The Golden Rule (proactive) – do unto others as you would have them do to you
2. As you think you become…(proactive, +/or cause & effect)

As I have been studying the enneagram of late, I have been arriving at a few conclusions. If I am heading in the direction of disintegration…I need to turn around and head the other way! Simple enough.

If I fear abandonment, what is the opposite direction? Become loyal to others.
If I fear ridicule, what is the opposite direction? Respect others.
If I fear judgment, what is the opposite direction? Extend grace.
If I feel unloved / unwanted…be loving & helpful.

Crazy…

Luke 6: ^43-45“You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. (MSG)

How easy it is to come to believe that our lives are at the mercy of those in relationship around us…and how wrong. Thanks be to God’s grace…we are not left alone in our change, but we must acknowledge (confess) our sin, and turn from our ways (repent)…then rest as He transforms. (Isaiah 30:15 / Phil 2:13)

Posted under Transformation

I have written under this title before, but I found my thoughts returning to this simple concept as I walked the trail across the lake from our house on Saturday afternoon.

Change and challenge are givens in life. There are times when we may choose to initiate change or undertake a new challenge, but there are also times when either one will rudely force their way into our lives. Sometimes we see the next step clearly, other times our eyes are blinded by obstruction. Emotions can be self-imposed obstruction. Like fog or darkness, they can keep us from seeing clearly. The path may actually be free of obstruction, but we can end up inhibited or  even paralyzed, experiencing little forward progress.

Conversely, if the fog lifts and sun shines brightly, we can pick our way through the complexity of many obstructions, and even find ourselves enjoying the journey.

Posted under Transformation

Transformation is partly about deliverance, partly about trust, and ultimately about entering into rest. It is a journey, and the story of the people of Israel leaving Egypt for the promised land is a great example of this journey.

DELIVERANCE

As God leads the people out of Egypt, they are delivered from bondage. It is easy to see the bondage of the Israelites as they were actual physical slaves to the Egyptians. What is more difficult is to see how we are slaves to sin (Romans 6), and how desperately we all are in need of deliverance. We have long understood that Christ came to set us free, but we barely understand our bondage. The Israelites often wanted to go back to Egypt as the journeyed through the wilderness, implying that they forgot the hopelessness of their former condition. So to we.

I fear that we have become anesthetized to the reality of our human our condition, that we have been deluded into feeling that we are actually well, implying the Jesus may have sacrificed himself needlessly.

TRUST

As the Israelites enter the wilderness they are challenged to trust God. He constantly reveals Himself to them, in fire and cloud, parting the sea, the provision of manna, water from rocks, victories…on and on it goes. Still they do not trust Him, for sadly, they have not come to know Him. (You cannot trust a God you do not know – who trusts anyone they do not know?!) This lack of knowing Him is a fatal error. The whole generation is prohibited from entering the promised land; from entering their rest. At one point, God brings them right to the threshold, the could enter the promised land, and sadly they turn away in disbelief. (Numbers 14)

Like the Israelites, we have received out deliverance, yet we wander in the wilderness, refusing to trust God with our jobs, families, friendships, finances, or our hearts.

REST

Finally the Israelites enter their rest: the promised land. We could see this as our “Heaven”…but another interpretation would be the peaceful rest of complete trust in and surrender to God.

We must come to know Him so well that trust becomes an automatic response. As this is accomplished in us, peace flows freely into our hearts and minds as we understand more of (though never the full magnitude) the capacity, competency, and HEART of our sovereign Creator.

Trust is not the mission, knowing God is. Challenge and trust are just points along our journey; our Transformation.

Posted under Transformation

A very good friend of mine learned this past week that he may have cancer. Maye hearing this news should have sent me reeling, but instead I felt numb. It is not that I am insensitive to my friend, or his family and friends…when we love deeply it is logical to assume that we would mourn deeply as well. In any event, many people recover from cancer, and this whole situation could go several directions from here…still…death makes us think about life.

I am only 44, and yet I have outlived both of my parents. My dad actually didn’t die until he was 68, but he was permanently disabled (mentally & physically) from an accident when he was just 42, and mom passed away suddenly at the age of 37. Periodically I am acutely aware that each day is a bonus…I could already be gone.

When I reflect on Isaiah 57:1 (The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.) I am struck by the impression that death is relief…simply the end of the curse (see Genesis 3)…and not tragedy. (1 Cor 15:55)

Now, I am not advocating self-initiated premature death…quite the opposite.

Could the reality of death not propel us in the direction of  a more fulfilled life?

What fear could possibly hold us if we actually understood the true implications of what I have stated above? How much differently would we live, if we rose each morning with this truth firmly entrenched,directing all of our thoughts and actions with steadfast consistency? Would we actually consider that trusting God for anything…anything(!)…was a risk?

Faith that God exists is quite easy to establish…however, trusting Him is another issue. Trusting Him to provide whatever we need for our future…or forgiveness for our past; to be our healer, or our comforter.

I don’t wish for my friend to be gone early, but I am reminded that we are all on the same journey…and none of us knows the day or hour of our passing. If we feel that our time has come too soon, then maybe we should consider why we would want an extension. What are we engaged in that we must continue…something so eternally impacting that we must see it  through to completion?

Given that we are not indispensable, and that God can raise up others to carry on…let me propose that there is only one thing that simply must continue…one thing that only we have the power to initiate; to request: our own personal surrender to the transforming work of God within us.

Let me also suggest that since we do not know the day or hour, we had better get on with making the request.

Posted under Transformation