Going about life, day by day… sometimes we forget the important little things that actually make a big difference… Here are a few things I remembered today:
Tomorrow is a new day, full of freedom.
I’m reading this book The Shack, by William P. Young. The following section of quotes has spoken to me deeply recently as I think about the handful of people in my life that choose to live without love: Either because they don’t know how to receive it, or they are still struggling to understand it more fully. It makes me sad and makes me want to love each one more unconditionally. I want everyone to be able to fly.
My friend, Alex, just took his own life yesterday. His memory will not quickly fade from my heart. His life will challenge me to love more unconditionally and sit with others unconditionally for the rest of my life. I am so sorry he’s gone. I am sorry that he felt that this was his only choice. I miss him.
Here are some quotes from the book… A conversation between the main character and God…
Mack: “I feel totally lost”…
God: “Then let’s see if we can find you in this mess.”… “Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around… You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.”
God: “Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something I want for you.”
God: “Mack, pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly… And if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place.”
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Me: I pray that my life can be the kind of sacrifice needed for others to know, to see and to receive the fact that they were created to be loved… and to fly… God, let it be.
I really enjoyed reading your blog, Cyndee! Beautiful and informational comments.
Especially, re: the book you are reading by William Young “the Shack”. I will get it…It sounded so spirit filled and reflective.
The taking of one’s life is such a deep hurt to all his/her loved ones left behind…it is immeasurable…with the exception of the person who did the act…their heart too sensitive, too deep to live. No one in more pain than that dear soul. Most difficult to comprehend; but then at times, very very clear..as we learn more compassion for others, it is easier to understand the depth of one’s fear of yet one more day to try and endure the demons…hurts…sadness.
LIFE is so much more precious in the midst of someone’s taken away… It remains a constant effort to fight for the clarity of the real vs. surreal..only GOD can envelope our minds and hearts and elevate us out of this dark place.
WE MUST REMAIN IN THIS LIFE LIVED FOR OTHERS…IN GOD’S GOODNESS AND “HIS” EMBRACING ARMS..
Much love
Adelle xo
I’m studying at a bookstore/coffee shop today. As I got my coffee, I thanked the girl who gave it to me… “Thank you, Jamie.” I said. (spying her nametag) She stopped… made eye contact, smiled and said she liked my hat. I smiled back and told her I just got it! She told me to have a great night… “Same to you,” I said. We both moved on with the smile still lingering on our faces, because we had broken the norm… valued each other… and were satisfied by it.
I wonder what would have happened had I not used her name?
Just curious.
You made her feel special, you acknowledged her as a person, not just a waitress. We should acknowledge each other more as people, the world might become a better place to live in.
i love hearing about people that try to live like this. my wife & i always make a point to remember a waiter’s or waitresses name. it shows that you actually care about them enough to acknowledge them by their name.
thanks for finding my blog, commenting, and linking to me. thanks.
I have been thinking about forgiveness lately and how it makes everything so much better. One story I have not yet shared from Peru is one of forgiveness.For three days, we were able to do a camp for teenagers. They were from the same community that the elementary kids were from, so we had met some of them earlier in the week. There were 40 teenagers that were able to go to the camp; which was only a fraction of the ones that were in the community. But there were only 40 spaces, so these kids were chosen for their leadership, involvement, diligence, etc.
The theme for the camp was loving your neighbor. Our discussions revolved around three areas: self-esteem, gossip and forgiveness. The first day after we had introduced the topic, we had time for small group discussion and no one said a word except for the group leaders. It was all a bit awkward and you could cut the silence with a knife. The following days eased up as the kids were more comfortable sharing, and they opened up a bit more.
The last day, Angel, (the Peruvian leader in the community who works with Food for the Hungry) took some time to wrap-up all the topics of discussion for the whole camp and he encouraged the kids to go around and give hugs and ask for forgiveness. What happened next pretty much was all God… All the kids started seeking each other out and really asking forgiveness… pretty soon, everyone was crying, talking, hugging, praying and all of us leaders were hugging and supporting, yet really just standing back and seeing God heal a community of teenagers… It was all about Him and what these kids needed right then, it had nothing to do with us except that we were blessed to have the opportunity to see God move.
In that moment, I loved that I know Spanish, because I got to hear the kid’s hearts as to what they were expressing one to another. As hard as it is to ask for forgiveness and then to give forgiveness as well… It floored me that these kids were really getting things worked out with one another. It was also very evident that it wasn’t an emotional hype… It was a genuine time of forgiving one another. It was nothing short of beautiful.
The kids all expressed, later on, the importance of that time and how it affected them. It really blew me away. God made it so clear to those of us who were observing Him move… how forgiveness makes everything so much better.
I forgive you. Three beautiful words. 
My church has a blog and we discuss, all week, what we will be talking about in home groups and eventually on the following Sunday. This week we are looking at Jesus’ words in this passage: Luke 10:25-37. It has brought up some good discussion. Feel free to go there if you like. I wanted to share the following bit of thoughts that have really been on my mind lately. It just happens to be part of what we are talking about for the week as well…
…Modern day evangelism has changed in me over time. I have fully been in the place where I was “walking someone through the steps to salvation”. And to be honest with you, I felt like I was selling them something. I felt just like I do when I have a product and the goal is to have the other person purchase it. We all deal with that scenario in life because of jobs (because basically… we are all selling something, whatever it may be)… but I hate that feeling, especially if it comes to selling Jesus to people. I feel cheap, like I missed the person… just to get to the point.
I think Jesus pointed out Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind because that is where we learn what love is and who Love is. As we are steeped in that process, Love becomes more a part of us and we begin to exude what we are becoming… and people are surprisingly more drawn to us… Not because of US… but because Jesus is becoming in us… and Jesus is attractive.That’s where loving our neighbor comes in. As we are steeped in Love, we are more apt to love our neighbor. If we love our neighbor in a world where that doesn’t happen very often… people want to know why and if we are about telling the truth… that will eventually get us to sharing the source of our love. And by that time, we are not selling anything… we are giving it away because the seeker wants it.
My friend, Dean, said this once… “I never debated anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven.” I think this is so true. We have all been in the place where we have tried, or we thought that was the way to get them there… but time and again I see people jumping into the Kingdom not because of a lost debate, but because of a love desired.
Love God with all our heart, soul and mind… and love our neighbor as ourself… That’s simply what He said. We too often try to complicate things with our need for a definition; instead of just letting it be what it is.
These are good thoughts to consider. I too have changed in my view of evangelism, etc.
Have you read McLaren’s “More Ready Than You Realize”? I found it quite helpful. It is all about a new way to look at “evangelism.”
This is a beautiful blog. I enjoyed your views of evangelism. I have had some of the same feelings. One of my favorite sayings is “Live so that those who know you will come to know God.” I think that loving example is the best route.
Hey Adam, nice to hear your thoughts! I have not read that one, I will look into it! Thanks!! Thanks, Jenn, for your encouragement as well.
It’s crazy how when you think about it… someone who comes to know the Lord because they “prayed the sinner’s prayer” or they were walked through the steps… granted, sometimes a person is right there in their journey and that is just the natural next step and they DO come to know the Lord then…. But I have seen over and over how, many times that doesn’t stick…
And it fully makes sense, because if I am led into purchasing a product that sounds good at the moment, but I have no connection with or heart desire for it… I am more likely to be excited about it for a few days and then put it on the shelf.
However, with products as an example, if we see someone who has used a certain product and is changed by it… We want it, and we will go to lengths to get it!!
Same with Jesus, I believe. Those who believe in Jesus because they see Him in someone else… are usually the ones who last in their relationship with Him…
Just a few more thoughts…
Good points. I’ve never really felt comfortable with “selling” Jesus to people, and it often can come across that way.
I personally have very rarely sold someone to Christ. I have on many occasions had people come to Christ after they approached me wanting to know what caused me to be different.
It’s a good think to keep in mind, not only to keep from over zealously trying to evangelize, but also to realize that we represent God in everything we do. I know that I am often amazed at the things people see me do and ask me about.
If we can more consistantly (because really, we’re not going to be perfect) reflect God’s light to the world around us, I think we will make much more of an impact than we ever could by selling people.
Still I know I struggle with that. There are times when I look back and wince to think that someone looked at me and made a judgement about God based on what they saw. Hopefully I reflect Him clearly more often than I distort Him, but I know that I do the latter far to often.
Hey Aaron, thanks for your comments! I think we all mess up with this, that’s why we need a Savior. We are hopelessly flawed. However… I think living our life as who He has created us to be… really helps. Loving God and Loving our neighbor… that was His advice. As we focus more on that example, instead of our system of checks and balances… I think we will more readily see His point in the matter.
I don’t think we really have a clue as to the true nature of God. I long for the kingdom restored, just to get the full picture. But for now… struggle is good as we walk in the kingdom here on earth!
As your friend Adam mentioned, Brian McLaren’s book “More Ready Than You Realize” is really a good book. It helps re-define that old view on evangelism that we even experienced at CCI with Dargatz… door-to-door knocking evangelism… yikes. I am loving learning about what evangelism really is supposed to look like in relationships with people. Its a slower, more purposeful process. Its slowing building relationships with people until you get to that point where sharing life stories and experiences is natural and naturally brings God into the conversation rather than forcefully bringing Him into the conversation. I’m reading “A New Kind of Christian” by Brian McLaren now with my small group at church. I’m only 4 chapters into it but so far it is making a lot of sense.
Bonnie 9:06 am on November 14, 2008 Permalink |
Cyndee,
Hope all is well with you! Blessings. Bonnie
Good to see a post again. I can only imagine how busy you’ve been. Another good “thing to remember”… make sure you take time to rest. God did.
Cyndee 2:18 pm on December 27, 2008 Permalink |
Thanks, Bonnie!!
Jennifer Butts 2:03 pm on February 12, 2009 Permalink |
Hey MuHundy, funny to read from you again. It’s been a while since I read this webpage. Much love and blessings. Good to see you are still doing well! God is good. Jennifer