Like a race we all want to finish well requires training, these questions and a host of others come and go in life and require purpose for the asking. We find our answers at times and at others we may never really know. Some answers come much later in life. The seasons are all an instrument of this walk. I believe the seasons are our purpose. We cannot finish well unless we watch where we are going and we cannot watch where we are going with out understanding the signs.
Let's search out some signs, shall we?
Genesis 1
[ The Creation of the World ] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ...
In the very beginning God was there, and He is there with you and with your struggle or pain or joy whatever it be God IS there. It may seem as a singularly present place but God knows why we need these times. If we can but for a minute focus on Him we will there in Him find our questions answers, resources and therefore purposes.
Just think, as God hovered over the face of the waters, what do you think His reflection looked like? Did He speak the very thing He saw reflecting, "let there be light"? We speak what we see far to often; despair, depression, pain, greed, foolishness, hurt, anger, contempt, distention, bickering, division. We do this for many reasons...sometimes it is an all consuming view. It may be all we know and all we have seen modeled to us. It may just have slowly snuck in on our race and taken over due to disappointments and failures either perceived or real. There is a truth we were meant to listen to that displaces even the darkest of points in our lives. Even in those hard times that do not end, nor will they ever, there can be hope. In his book called, "Autism Breakthrough" by: Raun Kaufman, he says the following about hope, "The bottom line is this: hope leads to action. Without action, none of our children can be helped. I hear people complaining of false hope, but I never hear anyone worrying about false pessimism."
This belief in false hope paralyzes all chance of doing something meaningful, whether related to autistic children or any other area of concern in this life. Hope is meant to be pursued not cast off to the side like an unneeded garment. A friend of mine and I joke about the human condition and that we would all too often take up our "bag lady clothes of the past," the garbage that is unneeded and unbecoming and put it on, gussy ourselves up with these items; past regrets, denials, failures, these things we think worked well but we really know down deep they do not. We just wear them because they are comfy like a nice sweater or sweatpants, we recognize ourselves in them. Why not wear them to own it, right? Why try the same and expect a new result as the saying goes. No, why not try on hope instead, have a hope makeover. Isn't it better to try hope and fail (if it be possible) than to keep the same old attire on that we know looks drab and gives us no light? I would rather wear light in my attitude, heart and mind than to feel the weight and hopelessness that carrying and maintain the old garbage requires. My petition is to change minds to get us to look at what light looks like on, reflected in a life. We are in control of what we wear and what others have to gaze upon.
Finally, I'd like to leave you with Psalm 8 and some closing thoughts about control.
Psalm 8 New International Version (NIV)
This belief in false hope paralyzes all chance of doing something meaningful, whether related to autistic children or any other area of concern in this life. Hope is meant to be pursued not cast off to the side like an unneeded garment. A friend of mine and I joke about the human condition and that we would all too often take up our "bag lady clothes of the past," the garbage that is unneeded and unbecoming and put it on, gussy ourselves up with these items; past regrets, denials, failures, these things we think worked well but we really know down deep they do not. We just wear them because they are comfy like a nice sweater or sweatpants, we recognize ourselves in them. Why not wear them to own it, right? Why try the same and expect a new result as the saying goes. No, why not try on hope instead, have a hope makeover. Isn't it better to try hope and fail (if it be possible) than to keep the same old attire on that we know looks drab and gives us no light? I would rather wear light in my attitude, heart and mind than to feel the weight and hopelessness that carrying and maintain the old garbage requires. My petition is to change minds to get us to look at what light looks like on, reflected in a life. We are in control of what we wear and what others have to gaze upon.
Finally, I'd like to leave you with Psalm 8 and some closing thoughts about control.
Psalm 8 New International Version (NIV)
Psalm 8[a]
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Notice some interesting things in this Psalm, the Lord uses His name as "majestic in all the earth", and it certainly is! His name is at stake.
Next, He establishes strength against the very enemy through children and babes...innocence conquers the greatest enemy (not harshness, getting even or building walls to protect us from more hurts).
Finally, His creation, made by His fingers, formed with thought and purpose wait for it...
He makes man ruler over it all.
Not only that but over all the living things- we are simply put in charge over them. I have read this for what feels like hundreds of times but never have I heard (thank-you Holy Spirit for speaking so I can hear) before the fact that God gave up control and handed over His very majesty, His heart's work, His creation, His artistry, His business per say...to man- but a breath. We are a little lower than angels in His good way because He placed it all under our feet, entrusted, loved, called.
The God of the universe gave us His business...His successful, beautiful, rich business called creation....He just handed it over. Does anyone else see a struggle as I see in this? God seems to just finesse right past this struggle (of course He's God!). I struggle to let go, daily. I struggle to trust that my kids will do what I said they should without repeating myself multiple times. The conversation goes something like this, pick up your garbage by the chair where you sat today, do your web design project for school and call so and so all before I get home, ok...Did you hear me? I ask them to repeat what I said usually something or 100% is omitted and so this cycle repeats. Then most often I come home and maybe one thing is just being done as I walk in. Can anyone relate?
How daddy God can just hand it all over and trust us so, to follow His instructions is awesome. Wow, is that loving and amazing, isn't it? He doesn't get uptight about us doing it "His way or the highway", He doesn't stare over us and harp on us when we blow it. He is not a control freak. Now I am not saying we shouldn't care how things are done, there is being a good steward with what we are entrusted with and training our children in the way we should go. I am speaking to this release of control that God (who is amazing, astounding and beautiful) just releases...it is so awesome really.
When I fail at something I don't need to hyper-analyze it a million ways to apologize to everything, yes I mean everything, possible that I blew it 700 ways. I don't need to tie myself to the guilt train tracks and wait for the next over analytic-express to take care of me. I definitely do not need to let my mind rehearse all the ways something could have been better. Do you see where I am going with this? The peace that God let's go and gives is valorous, it is amazing. It melts my heart.
When I fail at something I don't need to hyper-analyze it a million ways to apologize to everything, yes I mean everything, possible that I blew it 700 ways. I don't need to tie myself to the guilt train tracks and wait for the next over analytic-express to take care of me. I definitely do not need to let my mind rehearse all the ways something could have been better. Do you see where I am going with this? The peace that God let's go and gives is valorous, it is amazing. It melts my heart.
If you are living in a day to day life where it feels like you need the world to stop and give you a break, this message is for you. What shocked me was for my world to stop, as my world stopped everything else I was trying to keep going and keep in the air stopped too. Suddenly people had to pick up for me, this drives me nuts. Even when I know I cannot do it all- I want to, I cannot bear the thought of someone having to deal with my work or stuff. I had too. Simply put, I had to. Crisis called and I had to pick up and in picking up the call other things of importance had to get dropped. In this moment I could have gotten all out of control or thank God He showed me this verse. I need to let go and just see the reflection of His light in the day while I am around to see it. Instead of putting on my old garbage I will walk out in light and trust He has it under control and if not He will help me do what I need when I need to. It is ok to give up some of the beauty, creation and projects in our hands to others- after all they can handle it, don't we believe in them? When someone believes in us is calls us higher.
All Scripture copied from www.BibleGateway.com
