The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 24

LISTENING TO THE CLEANUP

When something comes to an end, there is often a wrap-up.  As this Advent season comes to an end, I am focusing on the cleanup.  It is my final gift to myself before I celebrate the offer of freedom of heart for which Jesus birthed Himself.

Jesus, please clean up:

          my heart, as it reels from hurt, the temptation to hold grudges, rejection, impurity;

          my prayer-life, as it frequently dodges the time and intention that You model in Your Word;

          my pursuits, as they deteriorate into self-designed operations that are without Your fruit and power.

We often imagine that the New Year is the time for a fresh start.  Perhaps tomorrow is the fresh start--the moment when we renew our passion for Christ and what He invites us into for the coming year:  loving and serving Him by loving and serving others.  

On this Eve, I wish you cleanup as an exquisite gift to yourself.

          

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 23

LISTENING TO SQUASHED

If you owned everything in the whole world, would you say yes to taking a journey into smelly, rejecting, conniving, and murderous?

If your genetic Self loved everyone who hated you, would You die on a cross so those haters could change and hang out with you...forever?

If you were God for heaven's sake, would You become us?

If you could hang out in heaven only, would You decide instead to spend thirty-some exceedingly tough years squashed into a human body?

All I can figure is...that IS love.

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 22

LISTENING TO GOD...IN A RECIPE?

I'm not kidding...I believe this.

I was fixing hot chocolate according to the recipe on the side of the cocoa tin.  It went something like this, the words in italics being the clear ideas that seemed silently spoken to me:

1/4 cup cocoa     That is God

1/4 cup sugar     That is Jesus

1/4 cup water     That is the Holy Spirit

Pinch salt           That is you--the believer

2 cups milk         That is the world who does not know Jesus

Mix the first three ingredients in a small saucepan.       

          God is Three Persons in One, each with distinct Personalities

Add a pinch of salt.

          Believers are salt to the world**

Bring to a boil.

          You will be refined with Us to go out into the world and share Our Truth

Add milk and stir until blended and heated through.

          Go into the world and live Our Truth--the Love and Hope of Jesus.  Do it

          by loving and serving others.

Does God speak through recipes?  I don't know for sure.  But this I know:   (1) He can speak any way He wants to, (2) this hugely impacted my life, and (3) every time I prepare it, I am reminded that I am strengthened by encountering daily God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, pursuing my relationship with Them so I can be salt to the world.  Listening to this role for my life is a precious gift to myself.

**Matthew 5:13  [Jesus speaking] "Let me tell you why you are here.  You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth." (Message translation)

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 21

LISTENING TO THAT GREENER GRASS

That greener grass is yours.

Or, better said, it is God's to give you.

Remember the story about the little girl and her costume pearls?  They were her most precious possession.  So dear, in fact, that she slept with them every night.

One night, her daddy told her he had a gift for her, but that she would need to give up her pearls to get his gift. She cried, "No, Daddy, please...I can't give them up."

Patiently at bedtime, night after night, he made the same offer:  a special gift in place of her favorite pearls.

One night, through tears, she held them up and said, "Okay, Daddy, here are my pearls, my most favorite thing in the world."

Carefully, her daddy pulled a string of real pearls from his pocket.  He said, "I've wanted to give you the real thing all along."

That greener grass we envy in someone else's life are those costume pearls--not for them, but for us.  You see, God has made YOU for the real thing--the real life--that fits you.  The problem is, we can't see the greener grass designed just for us if our viewfinder is filled with the view of that other person's seemingly greener grass.

How can we access the greener grass that is ours?  Okay, Daddy, here is my obsession with someone's seemingly greener grass.  I want the greener grass that is mine to have, designed just for me...by YOU.  Thank you for loving me so much that you made greener grass just for me.

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 20

LISTENING TO OUR OWN REFLECTION

Sometimes I wonder why God thought we were a good choice to be His reflected light.

In other words, people who know we hang out with God get some version of Who He is by our interaction with them.

Are we cheerful, giving, honest...or sullen, cranky and whiny?

Do we boast our own position or listen carefully to someone's heart?

Do we leave them thinking, "Wow, there's just something different about him/her?  Wonder if that Jesus thing has anything to do with it,"  or  "Whew, if that's where the God-thing takes you, I don't want any part of it!" ?

Maybe it's early in the morning when you are reading this...good!  You have a chance to impact what version of reflected light you are for this day.  If it's late, sleep sweetly and try for a great version tomorrow.

Either way, God thinks we are a good choice to be His reflected light...listen to this chance to bless God's heart by being a joyful reflection of His Light.

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 19

LISTENING TO THE LIGHT

The sun is the light.  

It is life-sustaining.  Without it, we perish.

It is God's paintbrush, the arcs of color blazing through sunsets, no two alike.

It is God's gentle admonishment to end a day in rest and let Him see you through the night.

The sun is light to live by.

The Son is the Light.

He is Life-sustaining.  Without Him, we perish.

He is God's paintbrush of Love, the arcs of color His relationship with each of us, no two alike.

He is God's gentle admonishment to end sin in rest with Him, so darkness can no longer prevail.

The Son is Love to live Life by.

The Advent Calendar of Listening--Day 18

LISTENING TO TWEAKING

I am in the seventh grade, and my best friend's mom is this cute, 5'2" golf mom, caring for her family, playing golf with her friends at the country club.  I tell my mom I want to grow up to be a cute little golf mom.  She says, "Is it time to tell you that you are 5'8"?"

Isn't it amazing how clearly we DON'T see ourselves?

My young mom friend is admiring another mom's productivity and saying how she wants to be accomplishing those same things.  I say, "But your accomplishments are in a completely different arena--would she be able to do what you do?"

What do we need to tweak when we don't see ourselves clearly?

We don't need to change our height (since we can't) or our life's calling (since we shouldn't).  We only need to tweak our thinking.  We can decide that the way we are is the way we are and that it is okay, in fact, more than okay--it is just right.

No one could fit into Cinderella's shoe except the one for whom it was designed.  God made a body for us to fit into and life for us to flourish within.  The tweaking is DECIDING that His job was making no mistakes, and that our job is to move toward that perfect fit in our mind.