Today’s Wardrobe

I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.

Job 29:14

Definitions of justice that I like: to appreciate properly, or, to acquit in accordance with one’s abilities or potentialities (dictionary.com)

The mop is gone!

We are Family

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"Some years ago I was preaching in Africa, in the cathedral of Nairobi. The people listened to me for hours and at the end I was invited to pray with them. They gathered in the sanctuary and sat down on the floor. An old black man prayed, "Lord, never let us move into stone houses." And I nodded and said, "Yes, Lord," though I had no idea what this prayer actually meant. The praying lasted more than an hour. Then I went into the sacristy and asked the priest why the man had said this prayer. The priest answered,"You know our country. People here live in little huts, and huts have no doors. That's why your family is my family, an my family is your family. The only family is the extended family. But as soon as you move into a stone house, you build a door. And on the door you put a lock. And behind this door you begin to collect your belongings, and then you have to spend the rest of your life defending those belongings." Thus the world is divided for all time into "mine" and "thine." "

-R. Rohr The Freedom of Letting Go

Wealth and Fulfillment (do these words go together?)

I’ve been reading Luke 12: 22-34 for the last number of weeks, wishing & hoping that some day I will get it. I wish so badly that I would “not be so preoccupied with getting so that I could respond to God’s giving.” I wish I didn’t fuss about the clothes in my closet & that I would be more concerned with “a bank that can’t go bankrupt” that is more concerned with making kingdom deposits rather than storing up material goods.

Jesus’ audience in this passage is his disciples, who are not the wealthy-type as far as I know. A lot of the gospels are written to the poor so I was trying to hear this passage imagining I didn’t know where I would get my next meal from tomorrow. “Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink,” This to me, would sound either ludicrous or wonderful if I were poor. Jesus then encourages them to look at the lifestyle of birds who are “carefree in the care of God [and we] count far more to him than the sparrows.” A call to trust. I feel I don’t even have this opportunity to trust b/c I pretty much know I will be fed today and tomorrow.

If I was dirt poor (like the majority of the world) I would not have the option of making myself happy by buying new clothes, spending all day on the internet, going out to a restaurants, joining a yoga class, travelling, or cooking just for the heck of it. I would not have the option of finding fulfillment or enjoyment in these things. So where must they find their fulfillment?? I’m guessing within their relationships & within themselves rather than searching externally for fulfillment. Thus, I have heard that the poor have a headstart over us wealthy people when it comes to trusting God! And so I understand Matt 5:3 which states “blessed are the poor..”

“The poor of the world do not have the luxury of assuming that external things will offer them fulfillment. They don’t have access to them so they have to find life at a deeper, immediate, and more simple level.” (Rohr)

And so I struggle. I want to know the unshakable riches of being RICH in relationships, RICH in knowing Christ dwells within and that He is enough. But I fear what it may take to get there.

Content

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Your blessed when you're content with just who you are -- no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

The Mystery that Holds our Marriages Together

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Today as I was praying for my marriage I ended up praying universally for marriages. Like a scroll in my mind, couple after couple unfolded in my minds eye as I stamped Truth's transformative words over them.

Unifier of Marriages, would you properly fix and fit together all the broken and dislocated pieces of our marriages. Would you redeem them into vibrant harmonies. We know you can do this b/c of your death and blood that was poured out for us on the cross. We remember that you have said that you go before all the things, our marriages, and YOU are the one who holds them together, not us [how ludicrous to think that we have this ultimate power!!].

We know you are on our side, alongside us, we are not alone.

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the riches treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in this mystery.

(Based on Colossians 1)

So be it.

Measuring Success

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Observation#1: I often catch myself measuring my life-progress or lack there-of. Not that measuring progress is always a bad thing, but I try to keep a tight grasp on measuring myself so that I can feel in control.

Observation #2: I have been chatting with some friends who are disappointed in their "lack of success" and are frustrated that they are not "further along" in life.

Quote: Success has very little to teach us in the spiritual life, but failure and fiascoes (disaster, catastrophe, debacle, flop, bomb) are great teachers...sin is a great instructor. We learn much more from our pain than from our pleasure. We learn much more from letting go than from holding tight. (Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go)

Now, that makes a lot of sense to me as I look back over the things that have transformed me. Mainly, they were experiences that I did not welcome.

Thank-you Great Teacher for revealing Truth to us in our failures and transforming us through pain.