I was on a drive today realizing I need to quit losing. I need to quit losing my vision by my own limitations. You've heard the sound biblical advice "not my will but yours be done", well let's also say it is just as applicable to say "not my sight but yours be won" in my life. I need to stop seeing things so differently than you see them, Lord. I need to see heaven on earth and be aware of your heart. There are those in this life that have the eyeglasses of heaven or if you prefer contacts, then they can have the contacts of heaven (no, this kind do not pop out and you have to dig one out of the questionably clean sink and ponder if it is a good idea to put it back in---where?). Those that have this heaven vision shine it in their writing, in their choices, in their faces, they act different, they sound different. When they do something it is new. When they say something it makes you stop and listen. They have wisdom and counsel as if they are learning right from heaven's teaching. Why do we think this is not possible for all? It is attainable depending on what our "seekers seek".
For me to become a seeker of sight, I need to let go of anxiety and the need to be in control.
There was a book written in the 1960's about two social groups and their status, do remember it? Both cliques were at odds with each other over their perceived status. Both groups had their turf and their status and both were trying to figure out who they really were. There is one character who was different and tried to help both sides and be fair to both. She was even misunderstood but her intent was genuine. This story could probably be written about many high schools across the ages and the country, however.
What if we forgot about these unwritten social rules and just were free to be? Why do we have to have such an "outside dominant" focus anyway? What is real and what is truth, who knows unless we act real. Our vision get's muddled by slop on our windshields. Like the poor soul walking in some really nice clean outfit and a truck powers by hitting a mud puddle spraying the poor one completely from head to toe...life dictates to us how we should be in much the same way. This slopping effect in life "teaches" us not to do_____ anymore, not to wear_____ anymore, not to _____...you name it, we are encouraged negatively by others just as we are positively supported. Some teaching by group is good; we learn that our friends are not always right. We learn not to eat with our mouths open, we learn that gossip keeps us from being trusted, but we can also learn how to hide the genuine out of exclusion or fear and lack of acceptance.
What rubs off from others can build us up with new skills, encouragement and knowledge but it also has the potential to undo the best of us if we let it in a negative sense become a measuring bar.
Many are the punishments and tactics charged of us for not fitting into the mold, that was meant to be broken.
If the rules are unwritten and not "golden" maybe they were meant to be broken.
What I mean by the above is that people are meant for people, we are meant to help each other, lift each other, two are better than one because they can keep warm, catch each other when they fall and fight back to back against adversaries. However, if the influence is not genuine what rubs off can remove what is good in us, it can shut down the good in us meant to be uncovered. There is a cost and a punishment some groups of people or persons dish out if we try to be ourselves, whether teasing, holding back some treatment, words or thing to influence something from within us. This kind of behavior comes from weakness and not strength and these people are not being genuine. The golden rule is to treat others as we would want to be treated, if a rule or standard someone is holding you to or judging you by is not of life importance, a value or a biblical truth it probably is not worth worrying about. For example, in my high school certain brand names were the rule, if you didn't wear them you were not "in". Who cares, I don't see their status better off now for the jeans they wore then...it didn't carry them anywhere better now.
But when we learn to somehow measure ourselves by what "they" say, think or believe and we start to make little neat piles arranged for others and not ourselves, that becomes a problem. When we cannot remember what we love, that becomes the problem. When we are so lost within ourselves that we forget reasons, that becomes the problem. We cannot believe lies. We were meant to excel in truth. We were created to be real and be unique. Cookie cutters are not unique. Gingerbread men are all baked at 350 for 10-12 min. and they get frosted and end with the same fate, getting ingested. We are not cookie cutter people. Why is it some in the "limelight" do something crazy different and it is the acceptable but in small town USA someone tried to be themselves and they are made fun of, tormented in their own minds for not measuring up or even cast away?
The first time I heard Jesus died for the likes of me I was one confused girl who was in hiding and not wanting to be found. Please know if you are reading this and feeling stuck in a one size, cookie cutter world- that was not the Creators intent. You were created to be uniquely you, one of a kind, worth dying for. Yes, the Creator sent His one and only son so you might live and live abundantly. This I have seen with my own eyes and it is truth. Chains are broken in Christ if we trust Him and ask Him for His life and His eyes...this vision He has which is beautiful, amazing and worth waiting and living for is available for everyone.
If you would like, pray this prayer with me:
Lord,
My life feels dry like leaves scattered everywhere...there are always reminders swirling around me that make me feel brittle, I am reminded of my failures, my limitations and my hindrances. However, I hear that you want more for me. I can believe with my mind and heart that you are different and you are not like this world and it's works. I submit my life to you and your ways, to your creative power and Holy Spirit. Lord, take my life and blow it all apart! Take the dry places and remove them in your majestic power. I confess I will stop the work of my arranging and striving to make something out of what I have and I chose to surrender it all; good, bad and beautiful to you. You can make me whole, You can restore the truth. Take all the negative words spoken to me and blow them away in your truth, take all the negative deeds done to me and mightily strike them down in your breath, speak your beautiful words of adoration so I can hear them, let me accept the gift of your life given for me. Take what I see and remove the pieces so that I see heavens view on earth as you see it. Let me stop judging myself and submit my heart to your processes. After all I can never measure up but I can trust you, and I simply gain your acceptance by believing in you, (not by doing or being anything more than what I am right this second). Lord your promises are true and I choose to lean on them and not my own understanding. Take what I have known apart and rebuild me according to the beauty you promise, I choose to believe.
Amen.
If you prayed this prayer feel free to comment.
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