For most of my life I have been a responder. I was well into adulthood when I realized this about myself, and was horrified by the realization. I suddenly began to see myself laughing at things I didn't truly find funny, simply because it was expected that I would laugh. I heard myself saying things to other people that I did not feel, simply because it was what I believed they wanted to hear. I realized that I had been like this from the time I was a little girl.
Since that dawn of realization I have worked diligently to not be a responder. It has been hard work. At times I still see the roots of the responder mentality at work in my personality. So it is a regular prayer of mine that I will have a discerning mind and truthful words with which to answer when I find myself on the verge of responding in a specific manner simply because I believe that response is what is expected in that particular situation.
However, I have recently had a thought that makes me wonder if being a responder is a wholly unhealthy thing, or if it may be that this bent can be turned toward good. This paradigm shift began the other day as I read Revelation 2:19, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance..." This verse, which iterates the goodnesses that He recognized in the people there, is part of the message from Jesus to the Church at Thyatira. The good thing that Jesus saw and that is here rendered "service" stood out to me. Curiosity led me to a study of the word and I found that a literal translation would be something like, attendance as a servant.
Okay.
So, how does a servant attend?
Servants are a somewhat foreign concept to those of my acquaintance. However, I have read literature from other times and places, so I at least have an idea of how a servant ought to attend. The picture I have is of one who is observant of his or her master at all times. One who anticipates the master's need and provides it before being asked. One who is cognizant of the slightest motion of the master's hand, a raised eyebrow, or a simple glance and, upon notice of that motion, responds to the master's command. A good servant does not question the command; he simply responds in the manner he is expected to respond because it has become his nature to do so. A servant, then, is a person who has made it a habit to respond, without thought or question, to what he or she knows another desires.
In Thyatira we see a group of people who respond with the same diligence that a well-trained servant would respond to his or her master or mistress. But to whom or what are they responding? When one looks at the other goodnesses that are listed in this verse, love, faith and patient endurance, it becomes fairly apparent that their service was toward God. It may very well be that the service was in the form of services rendered to their fellow man. The point here, though, is not what those services were, but that they were rendered with an unquestioning response to what these people knew was God's will. They had trained themselves to be responders to the known will of God.
Jesus taught that we should do to others as we would like to have done to us. He said that we are to love each other in the same way that He loves us. The obvious follow-up to that is, and He loved us so much He died for us. True. However, before He showed us how to die for others, He first demonstrated how to live for others. What was it that He said over and over? "I came to do the will of my Father." And in those teaching moments that we so often overlook because we think He is talking about some special mystical union between He and Father God, we miss the lesson.
He came to do the will of the Father.
He taught us to do what He did.
Our purpose is to do the will of the Father.
I think the Thyatirans understood this lesson. The list of goodnesses that Jesus saw in them is couched between two phrases that tell us of a journey on which the Thyatirans had been. I know your works... and that your latter works exceed the first. These people were not natural responders to God. These were people who, through prayer, study of God's Word and practice of what they learned, had trained themselves to become responders to what they knew was God's will. These were people who had learned to love others; they had learned to become true servants of God by serving others in His name.
Jesus went on with some pretty severe admonishment for a specific group of people within the church at Thyatira. Then afterward, He turned back to those who had remained faithful. He said to them, "Hold fast what you have until I come." If Jesus says to hold tightly to something, then it's a sure bet that we want to hold tightly to it.
So...
maybe being a responder isn't such a bad thing after all. Maybe that characteristic is the one through which God will channel a stream of Living Water for the nourishment of others' souls. Maybe, just maybe, as I spend time in scripture, spend time in prayer, and practice those things I know to be God's will -- loving others, being faithful, giving generously, sharing the good that He has done in my life -- maybe as I do these things as a service to God, then He will take my character flaw, repair and remake it, then use it for the betterment of others and for His Glory. I have a prayerful and expectant hope that He will.
"For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." 2 Corinthians 4:15
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Cherry Pits, Tangerine Seeds, and Worship
I am taking a class on the book of Revelation. One aspect of the homework for this class is to read through the entire book each week. While reading this week I have been struck by the worship that is described throughout the book. Once the intro and the messages to the churches have been given, the opening scene is a description of God's throne room in Heaven, where we see four rather strange looking creatures who continually offer praises to God...
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"
In response to this offering of worship twenty-four elders, who sit on thrones encircling God's throne, come out of their seats, fall down in obeisance, and offer up their own words of praise...
"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."
Turn the page, and there we see the four creatures and the twenty-four elders worshiping the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is also the Lamb that was slain, because He alone is worthy to open the scroll that the Almighty holds in His hand.
From this point, things get a little scary. There are earthquakes and famines and death and destruction everywhere. Yet interspersed, here and there, in the midst of all the carnage are moments where time seems to stop. The noise and the smells and the sights fade away, and worship comes from the hearts and voices of those around the throne (the size of the crowd seems to grow with each scene). Sometimes the worship is simply adoration of God for who He is. Other times the worship is because of what He has done. But it is not the reason for the worship that has struck me.
What has struck me is the fact that the worship comes in the middle of, sometimes in spite of and other times because of, all the terrible things that are happening. So I have to stop and ask myself a question.
Do I worship God in the midst of the terrible things in my life?
On the other hand, while most of us have had moments or seasons of life to which the label "terrible" could be appropriately attached, I think that maybe I should ask a question that is more mundane, more to the tune of everyday life.
Do I worship God in the midst of the inconvenient things in my life?
Here is the U.S. we tend to view those things that make us uncomfortable as though they are beneath us, as if we deserve something better. If what makes us uncomfortable is another person, we want to remove that person from our lives. If what makes us uncomfortable is a situation or circumstance in which we find ourselves, then we work diligently to extract ourselves from that situation or circumstance. We really think that life should be a bowl of cherries. We believe those cherries should be pitted for us so we don't have to deal with the mess of doing it ourselves. We may even go so far as to think that the cherries should be pitted outside of our view so we never even have to be cognizant of the fact that the cherries ever had such things as pits in them.
Unfortunately, life is not a bowl of pitted cherries. Generally, we not only have to pit the cherries, we have to go to the orchard, pick the cherries, bring them home and wash them first. And sometimes, they even have worms in them.
So how do I handle life when it has wormy cherries? Do I have a heart of worship toward my Creator because of Who He is and for all He has done? Am I thankful that He created cherries? Am I honored that He loves us, His creation, enough that He would give us the sense of taste? Am I grateful that cherries taste so good?
The other day I had a honey tangerine for lunch. Honey tangerines are possibly the sweetest citrus fruit on the face of the planet. Their name is an apt description of their flavor.
They also have seeds. Lots of them. And, the skin around each section is a little tough, so it is not overly easy to get the seeds out.
So, as I seeded the tangerine, one of my co-workers walked through the lunchroom. I looked up at her and said, "You know, I love the flavor of these things, but it's a royal pain to get the seeds out." In the back of my mind I was beginning to think that maybe we should just stick with navel oranges. After all, they don't have seeds. Okay, they are not as sweet either, but they are so much easier to eat.
Now, until last fall, I had never heard of honey tangerines. But they have been in the produce section of our local grocery store for several months. We buy a few every payday when we do our semi-monthly tour through that store. For months I have been willingly taking seeds out of honey tangerines so that I can enjoy their flavor. Suddenly, the task of removing seeds seems like more work than the flavor of the fruit is worth. Why is that?
I hate to admit it, but I think the reason is that I have become focused on the seeding of the tangerine rather than on the eating of the tangerine. I have allowed the drive-through mentality of my society color my vision regarding honey tangerines.
Granted, honey tangerines are not a an issue of gargantuan proportion, but what about the rest of my life? Am I always looking for the easy way to do things, getting irritated at inconveniences, feeling as though life should be easier? Have I lost the attitude of worship?
Did I ever really have an attitude of worship?
When I look back at the worship scenes in the book of Revelation, I am struck again with wonder at how worship forces the horrendous into the background. How much more would it cause the inconvenient to become small and inconsequential? It is so much easier to view the world through the filter of gratefulness than through the filter of entitlement. Entitlement, believing that I deserve something or that things should be made easy for me, makes every aspect of my life heavy and difficult to bear. Worship, on the other hand, makes my life seem so much better, so much easier to handle. Entitlement encloses me in the grey clouds of self-centered thoughts. Worship opens the doors and windows and welcomes the sun's rays as they warm and cheer me from the inside out.
Yes, I've had some terrible moments in my life, and I have inconveniences on a daily basis. But I think I will choose the sunshine. I will enjoy my cherries and honey tangerines in spite of pits and seeds. I will be thankful for the sweetness of their flavors. I will worship God because He has given me the sense of taste, whereby I get to enjoy that which is required for the continued nourishment of my body. I will delight in the color that my eyes see around me, thankful that, while He could have made the world black and white, He chose to give us colors and eyes that see them. I will delight in the smoothness of finely polished wood, and also at the texture of fresh tilled earth beneath my bare feet. I will enjoy the smell of wood burning in the stove in winter, and savor the scent of rose and lavender wafting on the breeze in summer. I will listen with delight as the birds sing on the morning air and fall asleep to the thrumming of rain on the roof at night. With my own heart, and with my own voice, I will join those around God's throne as they sing...
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"
In response to this offering of worship twenty-four elders, who sit on thrones encircling God's throne, come out of their seats, fall down in obeisance, and offer up their own words of praise...
"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."
Turn the page, and there we see the four creatures and the twenty-four elders worshiping the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is also the Lamb that was slain, because He alone is worthy to open the scroll that the Almighty holds in His hand.
From this point, things get a little scary. There are earthquakes and famines and death and destruction everywhere. Yet interspersed, here and there, in the midst of all the carnage are moments where time seems to stop. The noise and the smells and the sights fade away, and worship comes from the hearts and voices of those around the throne (the size of the crowd seems to grow with each scene). Sometimes the worship is simply adoration of God for who He is. Other times the worship is because of what He has done. But it is not the reason for the worship that has struck me.
What has struck me is the fact that the worship comes in the middle of, sometimes in spite of and other times because of, all the terrible things that are happening. So I have to stop and ask myself a question.
Do I worship God in the midst of the terrible things in my life?
On the other hand, while most of us have had moments or seasons of life to which the label "terrible" could be appropriately attached, I think that maybe I should ask a question that is more mundane, more to the tune of everyday life.
Do I worship God in the midst of the inconvenient things in my life?
Here is the U.S. we tend to view those things that make us uncomfortable as though they are beneath us, as if we deserve something better. If what makes us uncomfortable is another person, we want to remove that person from our lives. If what makes us uncomfortable is a situation or circumstance in which we find ourselves, then we work diligently to extract ourselves from that situation or circumstance. We really think that life should be a bowl of cherries. We believe those cherries should be pitted for us so we don't have to deal with the mess of doing it ourselves. We may even go so far as to think that the cherries should be pitted outside of our view so we never even have to be cognizant of the fact that the cherries ever had such things as pits in them.
Unfortunately, life is not a bowl of pitted cherries. Generally, we not only have to pit the cherries, we have to go to the orchard, pick the cherries, bring them home and wash them first. And sometimes, they even have worms in them.
So how do I handle life when it has wormy cherries? Do I have a heart of worship toward my Creator because of Who He is and for all He has done? Am I thankful that He created cherries? Am I honored that He loves us, His creation, enough that He would give us the sense of taste? Am I grateful that cherries taste so good?
The other day I had a honey tangerine for lunch. Honey tangerines are possibly the sweetest citrus fruit on the face of the planet. Their name is an apt description of their flavor.
They also have seeds. Lots of them. And, the skin around each section is a little tough, so it is not overly easy to get the seeds out.
So, as I seeded the tangerine, one of my co-workers walked through the lunchroom. I looked up at her and said, "You know, I love the flavor of these things, but it's a royal pain to get the seeds out." In the back of my mind I was beginning to think that maybe we should just stick with navel oranges. After all, they don't have seeds. Okay, they are not as sweet either, but they are so much easier to eat.
Now, until last fall, I had never heard of honey tangerines. But they have been in the produce section of our local grocery store for several months. We buy a few every payday when we do our semi-monthly tour through that store. For months I have been willingly taking seeds out of honey tangerines so that I can enjoy their flavor. Suddenly, the task of removing seeds seems like more work than the flavor of the fruit is worth. Why is that?
I hate to admit it, but I think the reason is that I have become focused on the seeding of the tangerine rather than on the eating of the tangerine. I have allowed the drive-through mentality of my society color my vision regarding honey tangerines.
Granted, honey tangerines are not a an issue of gargantuan proportion, but what about the rest of my life? Am I always looking for the easy way to do things, getting irritated at inconveniences, feeling as though life should be easier? Have I lost the attitude of worship?
Did I ever really have an attitude of worship?
When I look back at the worship scenes in the book of Revelation, I am struck again with wonder at how worship forces the horrendous into the background. How much more would it cause the inconvenient to become small and inconsequential? It is so much easier to view the world through the filter of gratefulness than through the filter of entitlement. Entitlement, believing that I deserve something or that things should be made easy for me, makes every aspect of my life heavy and difficult to bear. Worship, on the other hand, makes my life seem so much better, so much easier to handle. Entitlement encloses me in the grey clouds of self-centered thoughts. Worship opens the doors and windows and welcomes the sun's rays as they warm and cheer me from the inside out.
Yes, I've had some terrible moments in my life, and I have inconveniences on a daily basis. But I think I will choose the sunshine. I will enjoy my cherries and honey tangerines in spite of pits and seeds. I will be thankful for the sweetness of their flavors. I will worship God because He has given me the sense of taste, whereby I get to enjoy that which is required for the continued nourishment of my body. I will delight in the color that my eyes see around me, thankful that, while He could have made the world black and white, He chose to give us colors and eyes that see them. I will delight in the smoothness of finely polished wood, and also at the texture of fresh tilled earth beneath my bare feet. I will enjoy the smell of wood burning in the stove in winter, and savor the scent of rose and lavender wafting on the breeze in summer. I will listen with delight as the birds sing on the morning air and fall asleep to the thrumming of rain on the roof at night. With my own heart, and with my own voice, I will join those around God's throne as they sing...
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Thinks
I have thought for sometime that I should start a blog.
Why?
For several reasons.
-- I often want to share things just because I think they are worth sharing.
-- Sometimes it helps me to better formulate my thoughts if I am writing them down for others.
-- It sounds like a good idea... and it has sounded like a good idea long enough that I have decided that it must be one.
So, what am I going to put in this blog?
Dr. Suess wrote, "Oh, the Thinks you can think!"
That is what I am going to put here ... my Thinks.
I suppose a caveat might be in order.
I am a Christian. My faith is very important to me. My God, my Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are very important to me. I think about them a lot. Expect to hear about them as I write my Thinks.
I love people - mostly. There are a few individuals who bother me from time to time. But for the most part, I like folks. Even the ones who are sometimes inconvenient. I'm learning that most inconveniences are short-lived and not worth getting upset about.
I do get upset sometimes, though. And it's usually at inconveniences.
(I DID say I am learning)
Because I have yet to fully learn, some of my Thinks may be in the form of rants.
I apologize in advance.
I can be very opinionated.
Who am I?
Oh, well, I guess an introduction is in order.
I am . . .
A mom to 3 grown children.
A grandma to one wonderful little Sweet Pea.
A wife to a the man I married almost 27 years ago, and with whom I hope to spend at least another 27 years.
I was working before I finished high school and then I fulfilled my life-long dream by marrying young and becoming a mother. Now that my children are all grown, I am pursuing a "higher" education. My goal is to someday be in full time ministry teaching the Bible on an adult level, and also helping women who have been hurt realize the freedom of no longer living in the pain of the past. I know the phrase is overused, but I have been there and done that. It is so much better to be here, doing this. I want everyone to know that freedom.
Well, these are enough Thinks for this evening. Morning comes early around here.
Why?
For several reasons.
-- I often want to share things just because I think they are worth sharing.
-- Sometimes it helps me to better formulate my thoughts if I am writing them down for others.
-- It sounds like a good idea... and it has sounded like a good idea long enough that I have decided that it must be one.
So, what am I going to put in this blog?
Dr. Suess wrote, "Oh, the Thinks you can think!"
That is what I am going to put here ... my Thinks.
I suppose a caveat might be in order.
I am a Christian. My faith is very important to me. My God, my Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are very important to me. I think about them a lot. Expect to hear about them as I write my Thinks.
I love people - mostly. There are a few individuals who bother me from time to time. But for the most part, I like folks. Even the ones who are sometimes inconvenient. I'm learning that most inconveniences are short-lived and not worth getting upset about.
I do get upset sometimes, though. And it's usually at inconveniences.
(I DID say I am learning)
Because I have yet to fully learn, some of my Thinks may be in the form of rants.
I apologize in advance.
I can be very opinionated.
Who am I?
Oh, well, I guess an introduction is in order.
I am . . .
A mom to 3 grown children.
A grandma to one wonderful little Sweet Pea.
A wife to a the man I married almost 27 years ago, and with whom I hope to spend at least another 27 years.
I was working before I finished high school and then I fulfilled my life-long dream by marrying young and becoming a mother. Now that my children are all grown, I am pursuing a "higher" education. My goal is to someday be in full time ministry teaching the Bible on an adult level, and also helping women who have been hurt realize the freedom of no longer living in the pain of the past. I know the phrase is overused, but I have been there and done that. It is so much better to be here, doing this. I want everyone to know that freedom.
Well, these are enough Thinks for this evening. Morning comes early around here.
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