Identity crises are caused when we are told that we must act a certain way or believe certain things. Conform or be cast out of the community. What happens when the cognitive dissonance is just too great to pretend anymore? We either get asked to leave, or we walk away.
This is the beginning of a death. A death of what we tried to embrace. A death of the relationships. A death of the dreams we had while still in that community. But this death is needed if we are to remember who we really are.
After death comes (re)birth. A (re)birth of wonder, curiosity, and fearlessness. The worst of it has passed, and joy and peace are to be found in the unknown, the places yet to be explored.
We were always meant to die before we could truly live. This is the mystery of the ages. That through one man death entered the world and through one man life was offered freely to all. For how could we know what is Life without first walking through the valley of death?
“You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” John 8:15
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Release yourself from the bondage of judgement–judgement of yourself and of others. The Father judges no one; the Son judges no one; the Spirit judges no one. Since we have been made in His likeness and image, we are also not meant to judge.
Judgement is fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
“A bad tree cannot bear good fruit, nor can a good tree bear bad fruit.”
You are a Tree of Life, so there is nothing left to do but Live.
I name the darkness, and my chains along with their power fall to the ground where they are trodden underfoot. Nothing hidden will not be brought into the light. Nothing that is false will not be burned up in the Holy Fire of Love. O Divine, I am Yours and You are mine. I find myself and there You are too, You have been here all along. You, a believer, when I could not believe.
The moon walks in faithfulness. Returning, renewing, month after month back to her place of closeness with the sun. Each time she obscures herself in darkness from the eyes of the world, her hidden nature is bathed in the light of that radiant star. Though her way appears inconstant to those who live on the earth, from the viewpoint of the shining luminary, a part of her Always reflects his glory.
You don’t see me. You cannot know me. You see the effects of my presence. You can see the things I do, but you don’t really understand me or have me figured out at all. I’m hidden under flesh and bone, behind words and actions– forms, constructs, labels– created things. I AM. nothingness, spaciousness, emptiness, the Mystery or Mysteries, the Great Unknown. Underneath it all I have no name. I AM ineffable. I AM.
Do not think that you are standing on the bank of the river. You are and always have been in the river. You are part of the river, and the river is part of you. When you think you are separate, you fight the current. You get so exhausted From the work of going against the flow. Better to lay on your back and float downstream. Let yourself be carried away. The river will take you where you need to go. There is nothing to fear. You are held by the river. It supports you to your final destination where the river meets the great sea.
The temptation for the believer is to look without instead of within. Biographies of great saints are great. Sermons are great. They become a problem when we take what is said and try to apply it to our life like plugging in numbers to a formula in order to solve a physics equation. Life in the Spirit is not like this.
I am not you, and you are not me. I have a different daily routine, different responsibilities, different human relationships, different resources all specific to me, and so do you.
We can go after God trying to make Him do for us as we would like. Or we can sit and wait for Him to come to us. Pursue us. Lead us. Guide us.
This takes trust. And I have to admit, I am not there–yet. I want to be there. Sometimes I think I am, but sometimes I fall back into the religious mindset of cause and effect–sowing and reaping. But if that is religion, then what does life in the Spirit look like?
I think it looks more like Sonship. It looks like resting in the knowledge that I am a Son, that I am loved unconditionally. My only responsibilities are to do as I see my Father doing and speak only as my Father speaks. My privilege is His provision for all my needs, for all that belongs to the Father is mine.
You are a new creation, He has made you brand new. You are who He says you are. And to Him you are beloved, you are precious, you are holy, you are righteous, you are blameless, you are enough. You don’t need to do anything to gain approval from Abba. He approved of you from the foundation of the world. You are the apple of His eye. You are the child He always wanted. You are beautiful, compassionate, tender-hearted, faithful, and kind. You are all these things because He made you so. He made you to be like Him, in His image and likeness. He declared that you are very good from the beginning. He is well pleased with you.
The Father is well pleased with you, and requires nothing of you but to rest in His love. You could never write another word, you could not give another penny, you could never keep another feast day, and He would love you just the same. He loves you, not because of the things you do or don’t do, but because He loves. Love does not live at the expense of others. Love is not self-serving. This is the premise from which we must read everything from Scripture, especially the words of Jesus. Jesus came to show us the Father’s love.
The Father much like the father in the prodigal son parable has been misunderstood. The Father of fathers, the best one of all, has been rejected by His sons. They have not seen His goodness, His unconditional love, His mercy, His generosity. Humanity has either gone away from Him and lived a hedonistic lifestyle or we’ve placed burdens on ourselves that He never required of us–seeing ourselves as no better than servants, when He has always loved us and seen us as sons. “My son you have always been with me and all I have is yours.”
This is a Father who loves and does not pick favorites. He has never withheld anything from the eldest son; the eldest son never considered himself worthy enough to ask. Do you see? It’s not how God perceives us, it’s how we’ve perceived ourselves–that was the dysfunction we got from Adam, a dysfunction that Jesus came to correct.
You are to die for! You are worth laying down His own life in order to show you the extent of His love. He has placed no other burden, no command but to Shema! Hear with your heart all the love He has for you; believe and be transformed in the renewing of your mind by this truth that He has said about you! Then you will be free to love as you have been loved–not the love that expects love in return, but love for its own sake.
You do not have to do anything special to have an encounter with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just being open to hearing from Him and to seeing Him is enough for Him to show up in the simplest and sweetest of ways.
Most often He comes to me when I am with my children and holds me as I hold them. He speaks to me as I speak to them. He is loving me as I am loving others.
He is everywhere and in everything if we will let Him be. There is no greater place we can dwell than in the eternal today with the Lover of our Soul.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.” John 1:5
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises on you!” Is. 60:1
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the Sons of God.” Romans 8:19
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26
“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You: as You have given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” John 17:1-2
“And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together,for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Is. 40:5
A Bell and a Pomegranate 