Loose the Change

Benjamin Franklin once said that there are only two things in this world that will never change – death and taxes.  It is true that these things will always be with us and that they are constant, but they do change – taxes change, death happens to us all but not at the same time.  There is really only one thing that will never change – God.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

For I, the Lord, do not change
~ Malachi 3:6

There is constant change in our own life, our home, our community and our workplace. It is comforting to know that we can hang our faith on the one thing that will never change. 

When we really think about it, none of us mind change as long as we are in control.  We happily buy and sell houses, change jobs, add children to our family, lose weight, go to a new church, get involved in the community.  As long as we are doing the change and are in control we are happy to change.  

Some people believe that going through change is something that happens to them, like a cork bobbing up and down in the ocean.  It’s expected and part of life.

The years are rolling by me and they are rockin’ evenly
And I am older than I once was and younger than I’ll be
That’s not unusual
~ Simon and Garfunkel

This should not be unusual. What is difficult and challenging about change is when we are not in control, when our house is sold in a mortgagee sale, when we get laid off, when children leave home, when we gain weight, when our church splits, and our community changes.  This is when we choose to either resist, or accept change.  This is a process.

If change is a house and the stages of change are rooms in the house, they could be, in no particular order, described like this:

·         The contentment room
·         The sun lounge
·         The renewal room
·         The denial room
·         The confusion room
·         Wrong direction door – leaving the house
·         Paralysis pit
·         The dungeon of deniel

Have you spent anytime in these rooms when you were going through change?  Depending on whether you accept or resist change will depend which room you choose to spend your time in. 

Resisting change for too long ends up in bondage and chains.  Accepting change is all about loosing chains and choosing to be free.  This too is a process.  We cannot force the change process. We need to cultivate an attitude of acceptance and ownership.  It is up to us and it is our choice.  It is us that must change first, not others.

Be the change that you want to see in the world ~ Gandhi

So what about you my friend?  What changes are you facing?  Which room will you choose to spend time in?  Here or somewhere this week share your story, you may just be able to be the change that others are desperate to see in the world. 

 

Loose the change

Yesterday you were
The Immortal God
While mortality rises
In the land of the lost

Today you are
The invisible being
That we can just glimpse
In our dim reflection

Tomorrow you will
Be our wise hope in ages past
And today in your unchanged presence
You shape our future

Lord Save Us From Your Followers

Out of the blue it came, like a lightening bolt.  They had prepared their slings and arrows fashioned from their outrageous fortune and had used them with intentional force.  It was premeditated.  It was a set move.  It was nasty. 

Unless you have been living in the Amazon jungle for the last month, you may have noticed that I have published a book. I’m no marketer and you may have already been the subject of my social networking book promotion more than once. Sorry about that, but this is all new to me. You’ll see a copy of the book if you glance quickly to the right. Have a browse later on and buy one.  All the proceeds go to a micro financing project in Cambodia.

In this book I describe my journey of faith through poetry.  It is my story and it is personal.  I had expected some criticism and some push back from those who just don’t get why I would do this.  Why I would bear my soul in a book, then promote it and sell it for a worthy cause.  I get why people wouldn’t get this.  I also get that they would share there opinions – some more directly than others.  I expected this and I was prepared. 

I have often been persecuted and insulted for my faith.  Mainly the subtle stuff – the blank looks, the whispers, people apologizing for swearing in front of me (what’s with that?) and the scattering of people when I walk in the room.  All this is good.  Really.  It means that people maybe just recognize something in me that looks a bit like Jesus.  This is what I’m aiming for and it helps me to know that I’m on the right track.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
~ Matthew 5:11

What I was totally unprepared for was a trident of three premeditated and planned attacks from people I had a huge amount of respect for.  These people are Christians, followers of Jesus.  We have similar beliefs and values.  We are all writers and express our faith and actions using words.  I admire these people.  These are the people who sent me separate but clearly joint attacks about my book, about my over promotion of it, attacks about me as a person, and that I should just go back to where I have come from and be quiet. All of this of course, they claimed was in love.  Strange way to show love. 

Initially I was stunned.  Then I slowly began to recognize this for what it was.  The messages, not the people, were the evil one’s attempt to derail me, doubt myself and my God, and doubt what I was doing. 

It. Did. Not. Work. 

Sometimes as a Christian I despair, I think we need saving from ourselves. No wonder people don’t see the point of going to church. No wonder they see such hypocrisy.  It’s because it’s there and it’s real. None of us are perfect, I’m sure not.   I really believe that Christianity needs saving from religion.  I have prayed for these people, that they would see through their words and use the eyes of their heart.  This is what Jesus calls us to do.

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ~ Matthew 5:44

Will they be on my Christmas Card list?  Probably not.  Do I still admire their work and think they are great writers?  Absolutely.  Do I or should you be surrounded by these type of people? No.

What I do know is this.  We are blessed when we are persecuted – it means that we are on the right track.  We are blessed because we serve a very big God.  We are loved by God and that is all that matters.

So what about you my friend?  Have you been persecuted lately?  Here’s a harder question. Are you a follower that people need saving from? If you are, what will you do? Maybe sometime this week, here or somewhere share your story, it may just help someone recognize that they are blessed and that they are on the right road – just maybe with the wrong people.  Perhaps you could pray for those who you know that are on this journey.

Lord, Save us from your Followers

I expected persecution
From those who have no tomorrows
But not from those who shoot their arrows
Lord, save me from your followers

I expected misunderstanding
From those trapped inside their sorrows
But not from those who sling their stones
Lord, save me from your followers

I expected slings and arrows
From those with who never lend nor borrow
But not from those who serve you God
Lord, save me from your followers

Seventy Times Seven

It occurred to me the other day that I had been harbouring some unforgiveness for some time, in fact a long time, actually for over 20 years. I recall an incident with a friend of mine almost three decades ago that ended our friendship abruptly. I’m not sure who was at fault or who was to blame. It was probably me – I started it. I’ve noticed over the years how this unforgiveness, this unwillingness to let go has shaped my thinking about friendships. It’s faulty thinking. Like a short-circuit. Through a series of recent events I now recognize this for what it is. I recognize that I need to forgive, let go, and move on. It’s a gift I need to give to them and myself.

Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself
~Suzanne Somers

Forgiveness is no small thing. It is a brave thing to do. It requires courage, facing fears, feeling the flawed thinking and reaching out. Reaching out to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. With forgiveness comes healing, insight and understanding. This is what I hope and what I’m looking forward to. So today I’m asking for forgiveness from an old friend. I’ll be sending my friend a link to this post. In this act I hope that the cost and waste of time will be no more.

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart… forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits. ~ Hannah More

This story may be mine. You may see yourself or a friend in this story. We are all faulty, flawed and forgiven because Jesus paid the price on the cross. You can do the maths as well as me: 1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given.  So what about you? Do you need to forgive, do you need to let go and move on? Here or somewhere this week be real – it may just help someone break free from their faulty and flawed thinking. Will you?

Forgiven

Forgive me
I never knew
How much our friendship
Meant to you

I never knew
How much your thought
For many years
The cost I bought

How much our friendship
Meant to me
More than you know
But now I see

Meant for you
This I know
Will your forgive
How much I owe

Doubly Good To You

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. So said Albert Schweitzer, theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. Albert may just have been on to something here. Gratitude or being thankful is a necessary posture in order to see who we really are and how we are affected by others.

We can be thankful for lots of things, we should be thankful for a whole lot more, and a lot of us take a lot of things for granted. Why should we stop? Why do we need to slow down and be thankful? I would suggest that only from a place of rest can we be thankful. Thankfulness is a reflective activity – it requires us to stop, think and reflect. It requires a great level of thought. Being thankful does something to us. It increases our happiness and it creates possibilities and opportunities. It is a wonderful thing to do.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
~G.K. Chesterton

I have a lot to be thankful for, and I’m lousy at it. Why? Because I take too much for granted.

Here’s what I’m thankful for:

• I’m thankful for my beautiful wife, that she stills loves me despite and because of myself. I love her so much
• I’m thankful for my amazing and talented children, for their joy and laughter. I love them deeply, despite being a grump.
• I’m thankful that we can eat food – regularly, and that we can continue to do this. I love to eat!
• I’m thankful that we live in New Zealand, a beautiful paradise. I love the autumn sunsets and sunrises
• I’m thankful that I can share my faith, and that God uses me to make a difference, I love that about God.
• I’m thankful that you have got this far and are still reading this, I love how you reading this brings these words to life.

Now, I feel different. I feel happy. I feel a warm glow. Why do I not do this more often? I may just do this more regularly. I think we were designed to be thankful, it is our answer in a world of questions.

If you see the moon,
Rising gently on your fields.
If the wind blows softly on your face.
If the sunset lingers,
While cathedral bells peal,
And the moon has risen to her place,

You can thank the Father
For the things that He has done.
And thank Him for the things he’s yet to do.
~ Amy Grant, Doubly Good To You

So what about you my friend? What to you need to be thankful for? Have you been thankful? Will you set aside five minutes now to make a list – your list. Here or somewhere this week, be bold, be thankful. It may just help someone – someone who you need to thank. Perhaps by being thankful your happiness will be doubled by wonder. So here are some words to you, for you – thank you.

Gratitude

Thank you for the music
Your words and notes
Create loving harmony
In way you may not realise

Thank you for your comments
Yours words give life
To my dreams in the
Sunset of my rhyme

Thank you for sharing
As these words are not mine
But part of a greater message
That needs to be heard

Thank you my friend
May God whisper words
To you, of life, light,
Hope, faith and love.

The Book – Beautiful Mystery

Once upon a time a family of letters were walking along and tripped over a mis-related participle that someone had just left lying around. The letters fell onto a fresh clean sheet of paper. It so happened that on this day they formed words – lots of words. It just happened that they all fell into line – stanzas to be precise. The words, by chance, formed poetry and all those who read were amazed, but not at all surprised at the evolution of the poetry book. It really was no mystery.

Nice story, but a bit of a fairy tale. Books are created, written by a creator and an author. Art imitates life and in this process ideas are formed. Ideas are the content of the creative process. Some form and structure is required to ever get words, ideas, and thoughts into a book. This is also a creative process. It is sometimes a painful process.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
~Ernest Hemingway.

Today is a bit of a milestone for me. Today by the world’s standard is the day I have become an author as I have published my first book. The truth is I became an author a long time ago because I believed in a dream, a dream that God placed in my heart so many years ago. I had the faith to become an author because of the author who created this process in me, the author and perfector of my faith – Jesus.

All of this is a bit of a mystery to me, an enigma wrapped inside a riddle, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. It’s a beautiful mystery and yet at the same time very elusive. This week I launch my book – Beautiful Mystery. Actually, God is the one who will launch it, I am just privileged to hold the pen. I am no different to you. You each have your own beautiful mystery, because God placed it there in your heart. If you haven’t found it you can if you choose to believe and dream.

This book will help you believe and dream. This book describes elements of this beautiful mystery. It is a roadmap. You will be able to use it to plot your course, but God is the only one who can determine your steps. In that gap between planning and waiting is where you will find your desire – your beautiful mystery. This is God’s desire for you – to find it and then go and do it.

So what about you my friend? You may be living your beautiful mystery. You may still be on a journey to find it. Will you share your story? Here or somewhere this week be real, you may just find what you are looking for.

If you would like to preview the book – Beautiful Mystery click anywhere in this sentence. Proceeds from the sale of this book support The Rock Church’s (Wellington, New Zealand) mission programme in Cambodia.

Beautiful Mystery

Take me into your perfect love
The love that never ends
Take me back to your mystery
Where we were forever friends

Take me into you mercy
Where its whiter than the snow
Take me into the beautiful
Where your living waters flow

Take me into your perfect grace
And remind me I am free
Take me back to your mystery
Lift the fog so I may see

Take me into your presence
Here I stand with open arms
Take me into the beautiful
And protect me from all harm

Consume me in your perfect love
The love that casts out all my fear
Take me back to your mystery
With arms wide open I am here

In your beautiful mystery
In faith we walked before
In your beautiful mystery
Lead me back to you once more

True Identity

The woman approached the mirror with fear and trepidation. Will the truth show on her face this time, or will she continue to believe the lie. The one whispered to her long ago that she took to heart.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Once again the mirror lied, “You, my queen are fair, it is true, but Snow White is a thousand times fairer”.

I’m no Snow White, I have been known to be Grumpy, Sleepy, Bashful and Dopey though. Usually not at the same time or on the same day. I wonder what Snow White saw when she looked in the mirror? Someone of significance and purpose, someone of divine intrigue and destiny? Did she perhaps glimpse this and then somehow decide that she looked more plain, mostly vanilla, and just like the rest of the girls. Snow White was a thousand times fairer than the wicked queen, but did Snow White believe this? What about us? How do we stack up in the ‘fairest in all the land’ stakes? God knows I guess.

Actually it’s not a guess – it’s a fact. God does know. God knows that He created us in His image, male and female he created us. The bible tells us a lot about our image. We are wonderfully and fearfully made. It says that God knitted us together in our Mother’s womb. God designed us for a purpose and for a destiny.

The trouble is, we generally don’t believe it, we discount it and we discount God. We are satisfied with a marked down, cut price, shop soiled image of ourself. This is the lie that we believe. This is never what God intended.

Too often we see ourselves with the eyes in our head, not with the eyes of our heart. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians about this. He wrote them a prayer. A prayer about seeing ourselves as God sees us:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
~ Ephesians 1:18-21

This is how God wants us to see ourselves, and others – with the eyes of our heart. This is not just Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians 2000 years ago. It’s his prayer for us – you and me, today.

Do you believe this – this prayer from Paul? Do you dare to look at yourself in the mirror with the eyes of your heart? What does this mean? What does it change? Sometime this week – be real, share your story here or somewhere. It may just help someone see themselves as God sees them – someone of purpose and significance. Made in His image – imagine that. You don’t have to image it, it’s no fairy tale – it’s the truth.

Mirror Mirror

In your mirror
What do you see
A reflection of how
Things used to be?

As you stare back
Through the years
Do your memories
Overtake your fears?

In the mirror
What do you see
An image of what
You ought to be?

As your eyes
Stare back at you
Do you see who
Has created you?

In His image
We find identity
His work of art
Priceless and free

Ode to Joy

Joy is the net of love by which you can catch souls. I love this quote by Mother Teresa. It describes exactly what I believe joy is and should be. In the pursuit of happiness we seem to have lost the idea of joy. If we don’t have joy what are we using for a net?

Some people have told me that I can get a bit excitable. I often overdo things. My friends tell me that I’m always on Facebook, commenting on everything and anything that moves on my news feed. I post a lot of comments, perhaps I feel I have a lot to say. Perhaps I need the approval of others.  Either way, I feel the need to spread joy. A lot of what I post are pictures and quotes that I think may be helpful for people. I like to think this is one way I can spread joy. Joy can go viral, it is contagious and more people need to catch it.

Interestingly, in the process of joy spreading, I can annoy people. I can be irritating, flippant, and just, well, a real pain in the butt. I know this – I get feedback. I have lost friends for doing this. Why don’t I stop? You would think that I would have learnt by now. The problem I have is that I have joy running through my veins – the joy of the Lord. It doesn’t look like it, it doesn’t show on my face, I keep it in check, most of the time. Every now and then though I let it rip – usually in social networking circles, commenting on posts, blogs and other stuff. Some people find this encouraging and uplifting, some find it irritating, and some probably just wish I would go away. I dance with joy on the inside.

Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.
~ Melba Colgrove

In the bible in Isaiah 55:12 it tells us to go out with joy and that the mountains and the hills will break forth before us in song and clapping. This is the joy of the Lord – pure joy. Often we don’t feel joyful, particularly when we are going through hard times – it is the last thing we feel like doing or being – joyful.

I haven’t always been joyful, just ask those close to me. I’ve been negative, grumpy, irritating and generally morose for long periods of time. I’m trying to change – it’s fun, and I like it. In the process I have found peace – just like it says in Isaiah 55:12. Having joy is not dependent on things or situations. In fact the bible says that we are to consider it pure joy in our sufferings. I have finally found this joy, it is what I have been looking for.

So what about you my friend? Are you missing out on joy and peace? Do you know what the joy of the Lord feels like? Perhaps you could share your story here or somewhere this week. Why don’t you take a chance and be real? You may just help someone to find a seed of joy in their garden of suffering. Will you?

Pure Joy

You shall go out with joy
Like a fire in the wind
Like a storm closing in
It is my joy says the Lord

You shall be led forth with peace
Like a dance in the rain
Like the sun streaming in
It is my peace I leave with you

You will move your mountains
Like a mighty explosion
Like a burning breakthrough
It is your mustard seed of faith

Even the trees will clap their hands
For my joy is yours
My everlasting peace is yours
And your faith completes my joy

For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
~ Isaiah 55:12