Forgive me for the title of this post and let me say up front it is not directed at anyone. I actually wish I could remove it from every one's memory of the times it was said about them or when they feel it about themself and also keep it from ever being planted in another mind.
It seems funny to me the things God uses to teach us more and more of his character and how he feels about us as we live and breathe and move throughout our lives. We have a puppy in our home these days and have now since the spring. He is about 10 months old at this time and I have to fight the notion within myself that he should have his shit together by now. God is teaching me so many things through this puppy about accepting people where they are at. I know this all might sound strange but it's like I can see in his eyes the desire to get it together and please us all, but he knows he keeps messing up. And at the same time I see this little animal that is one of God's creatures and he is so precious. He is always so exited to see people and he always wants to be with us wherever we are in the house. As I am writing this he is sitting next to me whining because he wants to get upstairs to where my 12 year old is with some of her friends. But remember, he doesn't have his shit together yet so he is confined to the main floor and can't be upstairs running free.
Here is another strange way I have felt God teaching me through this dog. Every time I feel the urge to "go off" on him because of a mess he has just made or because I can't get him to do what I want him to do I hear these words.....He's bringing at this moment all he has Kent. Today I really believe that and yet I still have to stop myself at times from "going off" on him. In reality this little pup has learned so much since the day we brought him home with us. Isn't that what it is all about? Learning as he grows.
I'm learning Tucker isn't a screw up. He's a little dog that has been domesticated and forced to live in a way that isn't natural to animals. And he does not find himself in any different situation then we humans find ourselves in. We have been shaped and are in the process of being shaped by something that is not natural to us, that is unless we are resisting it and allowing God to (re)shape us. The surrounding culture only knows conformity to a way of living governed by the knowledge of good and evil. That is where the notion "You Little Screw up" comes from. This kind of thinking is so destructive and paralyzing. Father is using many things to set me free to new ways of thinking and seeing, one of them being this cute little puppy named Tucker.
When you feel the urge to think such a thing about yourself or of someone else, remember this way of thinking comes to us by way of the fruit of the knowelge of good and evil. The tree of life teaches us to process things differently and helps us learn to accept things and people as they really are. People are bringing all that they have to bring at every moment. I think God wants us to learn to give them a break and let them know they are special and loved.
The top picture is Tucker's first day in our home and the second one is of him taken today.
9 comments:
Great post!
I am guilty on all counts of thinking those things about a certain someone. It's judging them, isn't it? I have been finding it handy, when I realise that I am judging someone because they have hurt me, to realise that at this stage they are for all intents and purposes my enemy. And then I pray for them. And it helps.
Maybe so Sue, but all I feel Papa wants to remind you of even if that is so is, There is no condemnation. Live free of that my sister.
Hmmm, okay. I will thnk about that. I don't feel like I am feeling any condemnation from God ...
Time to pray (I just heard some pastor dude in my head say, "Let us pray". Ugh!)
awesome post kent!!!
Hi Kent,
enjoyed this post and I can relate to all the emotions and thoughts contained in it.....
I just got to thinking last night, how a lot of times I act like I don't mind the messiness of other people which at times is true and at times it's not, but what I was really faced with was the fact that I'm not comfortable when I'm the one exuding "the mess" ha ha! and though I don't think it'd be healthy to just hang there like a peretual basket case....I'm "bringing what I got" and I need to give myself some space to be loved as I am.....
thanks for sharing,
T
Todd, it seems like just about everything we do is focused on the flesh/performance. We are preoccupied with it when it comes to our selves and with others. It leaves us in an almost perpetual state of judging everything on the basis of good/bad and right/wrong behavior.
A life lived focused on the flesh is not ever going to get us to a place of freedom. Only the life focused on the spirit will do that.
The ridiculous voices of TRY HARDER or YOUR SUCH A SCREW UP (this one is usually unspoken but still there none the less) just leaves some people feeling helpless and other people feeling superior. The superior position is a more dangerous trap than the other. In my everyday life I am becoming so aware of the failures of forced conformity. Society as a whole is a great example of this not working.....and the failures of it on the religious community are as apparent and even more problematic.
Even when the language of grace and mercy is spoken freely it seems it is rarely understood.
Good self-advice, Todd. I might join you there :)
It's a good thing for us all to remember.
As I get ready to let my huge dog in and wash the mud off of his legs and stomach and then let him lick me and get dog hair all over my nice clean pants and make me smell like dog (I'm a cat person :)), and then clean up all of the fluff that he pulls out of his toy bear, and the treasures he finds when he sneaks a smidge from the kitchen trash....I'll be repeating that phrase!
Thanks for sharing that little truth. You meant it more universally, I know, but today I'm applying it to my dog as well.
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