The days of small change turns out to be the very necessary incremental changes that make up this process of transformation. To think it happens all the sudden is as silly as attempting to leap across the Grand Canyon.
Here's where I see the importance of alternate thinking at work. In the beginning of us seeing something new, that new thing we are seeing seems impossible and down right unreasonable. Flat out stupid sometimes. The tendency is to do what this world has shaped us to do...push it aside and say it is not rational. The outcome is we remain stuck.
Fear keeps us in the mindset that spins the idea of power and violence in such a way to where we are faked into thinking it actually makes sense. Or at least that we have to keep the option in our back pocket as a necessity for survival. We are then left in a condition that makes it necessary to put aside many of the things Jesus said. This is where learning to occupy the new space that he has shown us today is so important. Day by day, moment by moment he invites us to go a little farther with him into deeper wider freedoms. There is more than enough grace that is given to us for each day and each moment if we learn to stay there with him.
I chose to use power and violence in this post because that just happens to be something that God has been walking me through for a few years now. It applies to every aspect of fear in our lives though. To think back on how disorienting this was for me back when this process began and how things have changed so much for me in regards to these things is certainly nothing but stunning. The moment Father begins to deliver us from fear is the moment prison doors begin to open in our lives that have held us captive. Prisons of our own making that we constructed thinking they would protect us. The power of God to break the chains of fear that hold us is his love for us. He genuinly wants to be with us and wants us to feel safe to be with him.
Fear is a powerful controlling force in our lives yet it is no match for Father's love. To walk out into the new space his loves opens up to us might not seem rational...but it is real. The spaces we have spent most of our lifes and that we spend so much time protecting are lies.
I'm reminded of this from The Shack.
"There are times when you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn't mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in."
Here's where I see the importance of alternate thinking at work. In the beginning of us seeing something new, that new thing we are seeing seems impossible and down right unreasonable. Flat out stupid sometimes. The tendency is to do what this world has shaped us to do...push it aside and say it is not rational. The outcome is we remain stuck.
Fear keeps us in the mindset that spins the idea of power and violence in such a way to where we are faked into thinking it actually makes sense. Or at least that we have to keep the option in our back pocket as a necessity for survival. We are then left in a condition that makes it necessary to put aside many of the things Jesus said. This is where learning to occupy the new space that he has shown us today is so important. Day by day, moment by moment he invites us to go a little farther with him into deeper wider freedoms. There is more than enough grace that is given to us for each day and each moment if we learn to stay there with him.
I chose to use power and violence in this post because that just happens to be something that God has been walking me through for a few years now. It applies to every aspect of fear in our lives though. To think back on how disorienting this was for me back when this process began and how things have changed so much for me in regards to these things is certainly nothing but stunning. The moment Father begins to deliver us from fear is the moment prison doors begin to open in our lives that have held us captive. Prisons of our own making that we constructed thinking they would protect us. The power of God to break the chains of fear that hold us is his love for us. He genuinly wants to be with us and wants us to feel safe to be with him.
Fear is a powerful controlling force in our lives yet it is no match for Father's love. To walk out into the new space his loves opens up to us might not seem rational...but it is real. The spaces we have spent most of our lifes and that we spend so much time protecting are lies.
I'm reminded of this from The Shack.
"There are times when you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn't mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in."
4 comments:
"There are times when you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn't mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in."
That reminded me of this from "The Heart of Chrisitanity" by Marcus Borg
"Prior to the seventeenth century. [...][g]rammatically, the object of believing was[...]a person. [...] Most simply, "to believe" meant "to love." [...] Faith is about beloving God." pg 40
Wow, Kent, this is great stuff, and so relates to things I'm working out in my own life at the moment (especially due to creativity and walking forward into that and all those paper tiger fears that are holding me back).
It's funny how even when you have achieved a measure of freedom in this area - and I have; looking back, like you, I can say that the only word for God's work is 'stunning' - it is still so difficult having it ironed out in other areas. You would think that knowing the process and knowing his stunning work would make it easier - and it does, in the way that I am much more inclined to just THROW myself into his hands and trust his workings no matter how dark they look. But it doesn't make the process any less confusing or disorienting. But that's just par for the course, I guess.
That's so good. "Suprarationality" is perfect!
Okdiane...do you think you may start a blog one day? I'd love to read it if you do.
Yes, Diane, I'd read it too if you started it. You are a thoughtful one.
:) (No peer group pressure)
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