Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Break from Writing Here
I'm currently taking a break from writing posts for here for a few weeks. Some time to refresh and plan for some new posts here. I will be back with new posts on June 8.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Deal With It, or It Will Stay with You
"What you resist, persists. Until you deal with your feelings, you will be stuck with them." (Ken Blanchard)
This is a quote from a leadership book I was reading. The author was talking specifically about dealing with change in an organization or a team, but the thought stuck with me. The longer I've thought about it, the more I've realized how true this is for all of life - not just dealing with change.
And this is especially true when it comes to our spiritual lives. When God wants to work in our lives, we always have a choice. We can choose to go where God is taking us or we can choose to resist it all. If we choose to resist the things God is showing us or prompting us to do, then the feelings and struggles we are currently having will persist.
We have to choose to go where God is taking us and deal with what He is asking us to deal with, for them to go away. Until we do that, our feelings and struggles will remain with us. Even those things that we wish weren't a part of our lives any more. We have to face and deal with them, for them to go away.
This is a quote from a leadership book I was reading. The author was talking specifically about dealing with change in an organization or a team, but the thought stuck with me. The longer I've thought about it, the more I've realized how true this is for all of life - not just dealing with change.
And this is especially true when it comes to our spiritual lives. When God wants to work in our lives, we always have a choice. We can choose to go where God is taking us or we can choose to resist it all. If we choose to resist the things God is showing us or prompting us to do, then the feelings and struggles we are currently having will persist.
We have to choose to go where God is taking us and deal with what He is asking us to deal with, for them to go away. Until we do that, our feelings and struggles will remain with us. Even those things that we wish weren't a part of our lives any more. We have to face and deal with them, for them to go away.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
But, it's Just so Small!
Our culture tells us that bigger is better. That more spectacular is better. That we need to always be looking for the next big thing.
In the midst of that we usually miss the small things. We may talk about needing to pay attention to the small things, but the truth is that it's almost always just talk. We don't just miss seeing the small things, we often come to despise them.
Despising the small things doesn't go well in any of life, but it is especially dangerous in our spiritual lives. It's dangerous because the small things is how God often works.
Yes, God does the big and spectacular sometimes. But, I would say that those times are the exceptions. God works through the small things far more often. Sometimes we might not notice the small things He is doing in the moment, but when we look back they become clear.
Sometimes when we look back, we see how the accumulation of small things led to a big change over time. A change we would miss if we were looking for something big to happen in an instant.
Last week, I was reading in the writing of the prophet Zechariah when I was challenged on this. Zechariah 4:4 begins this way, "Who dares despise the day of small things . . . ?"
When I read that God pointed out to me that I had despised the small things, by getting caught up in looking for the big things, in looking for the spectacular. Then He showed me how the small things I was despising added up to be bigger than the big things I was looking for. I've had to allow God to change my view of the small things and learn to love and celebrate, rather than despise, them.
What are you usually looking for God to do? Are you caught up in looking for just big things?
Or are you allowing God to teach you to really pay attention to and celebrate the small things?
In the midst of that we usually miss the small things. We may talk about needing to pay attention to the small things, but the truth is that it's almost always just talk. We don't just miss seeing the small things, we often come to despise them.
Despising the small things doesn't go well in any of life, but it is especially dangerous in our spiritual lives. It's dangerous because the small things is how God often works.
Yes, God does the big and spectacular sometimes. But, I would say that those times are the exceptions. God works through the small things far more often. Sometimes we might not notice the small things He is doing in the moment, but when we look back they become clear.
Sometimes when we look back, we see how the accumulation of small things led to a big change over time. A change we would miss if we were looking for something big to happen in an instant.
Last week, I was reading in the writing of the prophet Zechariah when I was challenged on this. Zechariah 4:4 begins this way, "Who dares despise the day of small things . . . ?"
When I read that God pointed out to me that I had despised the small things, by getting caught up in looking for the big things, in looking for the spectacular. Then He showed me how the small things I was despising added up to be bigger than the big things I was looking for. I've had to allow God to change my view of the small things and learn to love and celebrate, rather than despise, them.
What are you usually looking for God to do? Are you caught up in looking for just big things?
Or are you allowing God to teach you to really pay attention to and celebrate the small things?
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