Monday, August 15, 2011

Getting Real


I begin by sharing a snippet of one of my favorite stories:

Getting Real
Margery Williams

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real, you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
Source: The Velveteen Rabbit

There is great value in learning how to be real in one's life. I am seeing that it is not about measuring up to an obligation, appearing nice, conforming to an ideal or image I think is acceptable. Here, somehow obedience and being real work hand in hand, which builds a deeper intimacy with God and self. I am discovering that a huge part of learning to be real is to just be okay with being honest about my thoughts toward something. The best thing about being authentic is that I am able to realize my thoughts, feelings more readily. Without being real, I think it is easy to be stuck in a 'good place' when really there is so much more to behold than the status quo, or 'good.'

The Israelites in the time of the Judges ultimately needed a good king to rule, but without their participation of uniting, or obeying God, there was never going to be a good king established. They went in circles in their serving God, then disobeying, then they would cry out for a deliverer, so God would deliver and set them free so they could once again serve him. Over and over again they would find themselves in this cycle where they wouldn't be set free to love him fully unless they let him set them free from their slavery of sin. I believe that they revisited this over and over for the same reason that I revisit this progression.

I find myself in this place in my life often where I am not in the best place of freedom I was designed for...and it is a fight to guard intimacy with Christ that I may get back to that place. The thing is, is that I believe we are so prone to wander. Just as the doldrums are the dead zone, we too are susceptible to this same thing spiritually. In my crying out to God, he hears me and responds, but staying far away from slavery to sin in the first place is the best possible place to be in life. This is what we were designed for: freedom, and apart from being real, there is no freedom.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Share Love




Reflections on Miss Jackie Pullinger who graced us here with her presence this past week. She spoke at the community meeting and everyone pretty much got rocked by her beautiful simplicity of faith.

The time of singing was anointed and primed by an invitation for the children to come and be part of what was happening. They later were invited to come and lay their hands on the sick that they may be healed. She said that God reveals himself through his people and he always has a word for us, so we must expect this because he is a communicating God. We must ask, seek, knock.

It is incredible how much Father God wants to lavish his love on us, remind us that we belong to him, and love on us some more. Jackie spoke about approaching God to speak with him and it often is in these interactions that He reminds her of how much he loves her, how beautiful she is, and what his thoughts truly are about her. The way she told the story was quite humorous because it wasn't like there was much business done in these times, but mutual enjoyment of one anther. That is what relationship is all about isn't it? Yes yes.

This past week at another community meeting, I was walking to my seat, when a little girl who was about three, out of nowhere and of whom I didn't know, came and tugged on my hand to show me her picture of the water she just finished drawing. She was bursting with joy and led me to the place where she had set up her 'art station' on the cement floor in the back of the crowd. I sat with her and we made art together. She asked me to draw some water, so we drew water. She asked me to draw a shark, so we drew a shark. She asked me to draw a mermaid, so...I tried my best at a mermaid. The thrill in her eyes that she had when I told her I would draw with her was so precious and reminded me of what Jackie said happens when she and God talk. There is a mutual affection and enjoyment shared. This is what it means to be alive.

So, in reflection, in asking, one receives, in seeking, one finds, and in knocking, the door is opened and love is shared.