Whose life have you tried to make better today?
Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
How Yesterday I Acted Like A Five Year Old (And Not In A Good Way)...
Barak and I had a moment yesterday when I am pretty sure he was being an average 5 year old and I was willing to act like one even though I know better (or at least I should). I will spare you and me the embarrassment of a long drawn out story other than to say I was trying to use a moment to teach something important and instead allowed a small chilish tantrum to take control as if that was going to speak to Barak in a profound way.
It was one of those moments I am sure you have experienced. While doing it you know this is not the best way to handle the situation. But for some reason the voice telling you to stop or slow down is drowned out. Then sometimes God will use the voice of a 5 year old to really bring attention to your dysfunction "DDDAAAAAADDDD, is that how we are suppose to treat the things we have?????"
BUSTED!!!!!
Because of pride I found myself in the office working on justifying my actions and minimizing them as if they were no big deal. Truth is, I knew I had dropped the ball. I knew I had allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I knew that the example I just set for my son would get him a spanking if he followed in my footsteps. So I did something that I thought would be painful but actually turned out to bring a smile on my face and I think God's.
I called Barak into the office and asked for his hands (this my way of knowing that I have his attention. He thought he was in trouble because we use this move then as well.) I looked him in the eyes and said,
"Barak, I am not proud of how I handled that situation back there. I am not proud that was upset with you. I wish I could do it over again and do it differently but I won't have that opportunity. I wanted to say I am sorry and I hope the next time we will both do things differently."
You want to know what he did? He looked at me in the eyes and said, "O.K., sounds fair." Gave me a hug and went back to the living room.
The truth is, we will all blow it relationally in some form or fashion and there will be a moment when you feel that the right thing to do is apologize for your actions (even if you feel you were right, you may be willing to admit that there was a better way to prove it).
Then you will more than likely feel that tension between wanting to make it right and wanting to be comfortable. What you must decide is if you want to be the best version of you or the version of you that is still willing to throw temper tantrums like a 5 year old.
I think when we stretch out to be the best version of ourselves we can be and are willing to embrace the discomfort for the sake of growth, our Heavenly Father looks at us with a smile and speaks words into our soul that makes a great difference, "Look at you, you are growing. I am so proud of you."
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
It was one of those moments I am sure you have experienced. While doing it you know this is not the best way to handle the situation. But for some reason the voice telling you to stop or slow down is drowned out. Then sometimes God will use the voice of a 5 year old to really bring attention to your dysfunction "DDDAAAAAADDDD, is that how we are suppose to treat the things we have?????"
BUSTED!!!!!
Because of pride I found myself in the office working on justifying my actions and minimizing them as if they were no big deal. Truth is, I knew I had dropped the ball. I knew I had allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I knew that the example I just set for my son would get him a spanking if he followed in my footsteps. So I did something that I thought would be painful but actually turned out to bring a smile on my face and I think God's.
I called Barak into the office and asked for his hands (this my way of knowing that I have his attention. He thought he was in trouble because we use this move then as well.) I looked him in the eyes and said,
"Barak, I am not proud of how I handled that situation back there. I am not proud that was upset with you. I wish I could do it over again and do it differently but I won't have that opportunity. I wanted to say I am sorry and I hope the next time we will both do things differently."
You want to know what he did? He looked at me in the eyes and said, "O.K., sounds fair." Gave me a hug and went back to the living room.
The truth is, we will all blow it relationally in some form or fashion and there will be a moment when you feel that the right thing to do is apologize for your actions (even if you feel you were right, you may be willing to admit that there was a better way to prove it).
Then you will more than likely feel that tension between wanting to make it right and wanting to be comfortable. What you must decide is if you want to be the best version of you or the version of you that is still willing to throw temper tantrums like a 5 year old.
I think when we stretch out to be the best version of ourselves we can be and are willing to embrace the discomfort for the sake of growth, our Heavenly Father looks at us with a smile and speaks words into our soul that makes a great difference, "Look at you, you are growing. I am so proud of you."
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What To Do When God Says To Marry A Whore...
It's not everyday that the Bible makes me laugh out loud (though you would be surprised just how often it happens). I have been journeying through the Bible with my best friend and this morning started reading the Old Testament book of Hosea. Check out what God tells this great prophet to do right out of the gate:
How would like it for one of the first things God says to you be something that seems so random and so controversial? How would you like to be Hosea introducing her to his parents or at the family reunion? "Mom, Dad this is Gomer, she works on the corner of whore and dom but you should get used to calling her daughter."
But right out of the gate, God says to Hosea, "We are going to shake things up around here and to do this you are going to do something that won't make sense anywhere but in your heart."
Truth is, God was using Hosea's marriage as an illustration for how His children (the Israelites) were treating Him and if you keep reading you get to see God's heart for those that are His and what He desires for us. But that is not what has been striking me today.
What is grabbing hold of my heart since this morning is where in my life is God wanting to shake things up by doing something as crazy as this in order to show the world His great love? Most of us want the benefits of life with God as long as it doesn't cause friction or discomfort in our lives. I dare say that if God told 98% of us to do something as ludicrous as what He told Hosea, we would walk away laughing.
Truth is, He has asked us for the ludicrous. He has told us to lay our lives at the foot of the Cross so that we can experience freedom and love and true living. He has said that as we do life with each other His work in us should be what is noticed as light invades the darkness. We must decrease so Christ can increase all the more.
What we have to come to grips with is whether or not we will "marry the whore" (men I would not recommend trying to crack a joke about your wife here. That probably won't end well:)) or "walk away laughing". Doing one will lead to freedom and an abundant life; the other will lead to oppression and boredom.
So what if all believers lived on this plane, where when God calls us to do things that the rest of the world wouldn't understand we do them because we are living for the applause of the One who made us, saved us and knows how we can live up to our full potential?
What if the children of God lived in such a way that it was obvious we are His?
Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV)
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. How would like it for one of the first things God says to you be something that seems so random and so controversial? How would you like to be Hosea introducing her to his parents or at the family reunion? "Mom, Dad this is Gomer, she works on the corner of whore and dom but you should get used to calling her daughter."
But right out of the gate, God says to Hosea, "We are going to shake things up around here and to do this you are going to do something that won't make sense anywhere but in your heart."
Truth is, God was using Hosea's marriage as an illustration for how His children (the Israelites) were treating Him and if you keep reading you get to see God's heart for those that are His and what He desires for us. But that is not what has been striking me today.
What is grabbing hold of my heart since this morning is where in my life is God wanting to shake things up by doing something as crazy as this in order to show the world His great love? Most of us want the benefits of life with God as long as it doesn't cause friction or discomfort in our lives. I dare say that if God told 98% of us to do something as ludicrous as what He told Hosea, we would walk away laughing.
Truth is, He has asked us for the ludicrous. He has told us to lay our lives at the foot of the Cross so that we can experience freedom and love and true living. He has said that as we do life with each other His work in us should be what is noticed as light invades the darkness. We must decrease so Christ can increase all the more.
What we have to come to grips with is whether or not we will "marry the whore" (men I would not recommend trying to crack a joke about your wife here. That probably won't end well:)) or "walk away laughing". Doing one will lead to freedom and an abundant life; the other will lead to oppression and boredom.
So what if all believers lived on this plane, where when God calls us to do things that the rest of the world wouldn't understand we do them because we are living for the applause of the One who made us, saved us and knows how we can live up to our full potential?
What if the children of God lived in such a way that it was obvious we are His?
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
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