The Color of My World

Lately I've been captivated by a Hillsong United song Hosanna. By lately I mean since mid October. Here's the lyrics in which I've been caught up:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I have for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

These words have been a constant prayer for me over the last ~1.5 months. I listen to the song almost everyday (yes, I'm an addict) but I often find myself singing it in my head or the words traveling through my mind as I wander about day to day life. The line that's got the greatest grasp on me right now is "Break my heart for what breaks yours."
What breaks God's heart?
How does/do I let it affect me?
Am I thinking about things that concern God?
As this line tumbles around in my soul, I think about people who are suffering (basic needs, violence, abuse, oppression, disease, etc.), who feel out of place or misplaced, who have questions and no one to talk to about them and on and on and on...This is one thing that has been coloring my world lately.

The other thing that has been coloring my world is a book by one of my favorite authors Jim Palmer. I'll let his bio speak for itself, suffice to say he's learning about God's grace just by being Jim in this world called Earth. I'm reading his 2nd book Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-By-Number Christianity and LOVING it!! I only got to checking out his blog today, but I commend it to you to enjoy and give you a different perspective on things.

http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/

Taking Advantage

Here's a shout out to all the stores and consumer organizations that are marketing sales and great savings to everyone in a slow economy. As if materialism wasn't enticing enough, now we have found ever new ways to make buying sexy. For those with money to burn, enjoy the cheap prices. For those scraping to get by, don't count on your neighbor to help protect you from the seduction of the American Dream to have more, supersize it and then manage it at a local storage facility.

I fight the concept that Christmas music should be played before Thanksgiving Day. And now Thanksgiving Day sales are taking place 1-2 weeks before Black Friday. Is there anything else we need to rush through to try and get ahead? Illusion I say. What are we really earning and gaining by doing things before it's time to do them? Pretty soon we'll just have one massive holiday season. There will never be an end to the festivities because we will constantly need to satisfy the desire for more.

I even witnessed this enticement to get people to recycle in a Northeastern state. They earn reward points by the weight of their recycle bins. I guess everyone has a price. The question is, will anyone be able to afford the costs to get anything good and worthwhile accomplished in this world? Or will we continue to sell out for our seductive, self-gratifying craving to be filled???

Why Does Everything Seem To Be In Fast Forward?

Once again it's not even Thanksgiving and the economy and consumerism is pushing holiday shopping; more explicitly, Christmas. We haven't even given thanks for all the crap we've already accrued or even the blessings we've received and we're dead set on getting more--material goods, money, time, etc. I still have Halloween candy lying around!

Seriously. What's wrong with this picture? Isn't life changing fast enough for people? Or maybe we like the rush. We like not bothering to take time to reflect because then we might find out that we don't like how fast life is going and then we'll be responsible for doing something about it. We wouldn't want to dig up something from the past either because that would make us feel unsettled, uncomfortable and perhaps shamed/exposed. Remember when Christmas didn't start until after the Thanksgiving Day Parade? Yesterday I was in a cafe and heard at least 5 Christmas songs in the 5 hours I was there. Don't get me wrong. They were lovely songs and I'm excited to move into the season that celebrates life amidst death and light shining through darkness; just not at the expense of the present moment.

What ever happened to saying "thank you?" Isn't there a season for that anymore? What does that say about our lives and priorities?

Invitation To Rest

Whilst sitting in a Caribou café on a Sunday evening doing homework, I overheard two college aged women talking about their faith. One said to the other “I have been so amazed at the number of people God has been laying on my heart to pray for. Let me share them with you.” “Did you write all of them down?” “Of course! And where else but in the [inaudible] journal?”

The girl went on to talk about how God was calling her to pray for strength for some and spiritual awakening for others. There I sat in awe of what I was witnessing with my ears. Here were two people sharing prayer requests that had been derived from spending time in God’s presence listening. I began to long for the days when I used to do that; to sit and rest in God’s presence just to be with God and to hear what God had to say. That’s what you do in relationships that matter. You listen to each other. I’ve known that this has been lacking from my life for a while now. It’s all too easy to sellout and reprioritize other peoples’ priorities over time spent with God. There is work to be done: papers to be written, books to read and analyze, spreadsheets to be organized, mailings to be prepared, bills to pay, sermons to create, projects to be tended to and a long list of other things that are “important.” I’m reminded of the saying that one who is too busy to pray is too busy. Or the saying that “I have so much to do today I’ll have to pray twice as long!”

Perhaps that’s why I chose to spend time talking with a couple of people after church today and going to lunch with them instead of going straight to errands and doing homework. What’s more important—relationships with people or projects?; time listening to God or fretting over the long laundry list of things to be done?

Which reminds me: I need to do laundry tonight.