Wrapping Up the Year

After weeks of suspense and drama, my blog has been added to The Daily Scribe, “a growing compendium of exceptional Christian expression.”

I am not too proud to admit that I was likely accepted on the coattails of my gifted friends, Sonja, Brother Maynard, Makeesha, Bob, and Julie.

However, now that I’ve arrived I’ve been accepted, I look forward to getting to know this new group of deep thinkers and talented writers. It is nice to meet those of you who have already stopped by.

I will be away from the blog for a few more days while we travel to finish celebrating the holidays with our families. I will be leaving the laptop at home (along with my right arm). Assuming I survive, I will return next year.

Stuff in the works:

Another post about leadership is pretty much written and ready to post.

2 book reviews that I would like to get posted soon, one book that I am struggling through and another that I really like.

A couple of books that I would like to blog through more extensively with a series of posts. I am always hesitant to start a blog series because I usually develop mid-series ADD, but we’ll see.

I would like to do some early spring cleaning of my clip-blog file and my draft posts. Many of the posts that are saved in there have something to do with how we do church together, and I saved them because of concepts or ideas that I wanted to remember or explore.

When I switched to wordpress, I lost some of the links from my blogroll. Most of you that comment here end up in my blogreader, but if your name is missing from the blogroll, take a minute to let me know, and I will be updating it for the new year.

And I am debating about whether to share my secret fantasy…

Stay tuned!

Treasuring and Pondering Christmas

Christmas morning. With older teenagers, we no longer have the urgency to start early in the morning. The first person up turned on the Christmas lights. I put on a Christmas worship CD, but it was soon drowned out by the noise of family life. The showers are busy, the coffeepot is started. My second son decides it is time to wrap his gifts. The kids give the dog their gift of dog biscuits which causes him to suspect that all of the packages under the tree might contain treats.

Relaxing over coffee, my thoughts are filled with memories of all of our Christmases with children. The pictures flash by like a movie on fast forward. The early Christmases, when they were toddlers, and we taught them to sit and wait for us to give them a gift and to take turns, interrupted sometimes by a tantrum or meltdown. A few years later, our floundering attempts to teach them the Christmas story while their imaginations were more focused on the presents stacked under the tree. The elementary age children sneaking down Christmas morning to discover that the number of gifts had miraculously multiplied while they slept. Then the joy of watching them learn to give gifts to others, small surprises thoughtfully considered for each other and for us. So many Christmases that went by so quickly.

Today I will savor our time together. Friends have tried to warn me that things will change, but I am not yet ready to hear their warnings. For now, I am happy to cover my ears to the rumblings of my children’s subversive plans to grow up and leave. I know that eventually I will have to gracefully release them, but for today, I will indulge my need to clutch their childhood with greedy hands, not yet willing to let go.

Rather than attempting to create a special experience, I find myself simply sitting back and treasuring the amazingly special ordinariness of being “us” together. In the setting of a holiday meal and the space of a day with no other obligations, we enjoy moments of togetherness that are all too rare in the hustle bustle of our everyday lives.

There is laughter and teasing amidst an excessive amount of popcorn tins, peanut M&M’s, and new DVD’s – Ratatouille, Evan Almighty, and Live Free, Die Hard – to name a few. I remind everyone to pace themselves with the candy and to not spoil their dinner, knowing no one is really listening, but I still have to say it. My husband is busy finding ways to pester everyone with his telescopic squeegee, one of his favorite gifts. My daughters each knit me a scarf, my favorite gifts.

After dinner we will play games together. My oldest votes for anything but Pictionary. My cold and calculating second son would like to play Risk. My husband refuses to play Monopoly with me. Although with a little Christmas wine, I might mellow out and let someone else win. Once we figure out what to play, I’m sure we will have a good time.

This coming weekend we will be traveling to spend time with our parents. We will cherish our time with them also. My mother survived stomach cancer this year. My father-in-law is recovering from a heart attack that he had a week ago. My husband’s sister is faltering in her long battle with a rare type of lung cancer. Time together, precious and much too short.

When we were younger, time together looked like it stretched out in front of us generously, year after year. But all too quickly, the years become scarce.  We suddenly find ourselves looking back at the last time we spent together with someone we love, unable to turn back time. Not all of the changes are losses. Some of them are simply changes in the seasons of life. This year, I am surrounded by the people that I love. I can not take for granted that I will have these special moments every year with my parents, my sisters, or my children. And so for today, I will treasure the moments and the memories.

Merry Christmas to my friends and readers here at the blog. May you experience the treasure of amazingly ordinary moments with the people you love.

Christmas Joy

Advent Blogging 2007

Many of us were raised with the understanding that Christmas joy comes in the form of presents, believing that a certain special gift was the key to our happiness, the fulfillment of our wishes. Someone was going to know us well enough and care about us enough that the deepest desires of our heart would be realized.

I Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to “be joyful always.”

That seems a bit unrealistic, maybe overly optimistic.

Interesting that in context, it is paired with the command to pray continuously.

“Be joyful always, pray continuously.” Hmmm.

Seeing this actually helped me to understand how we could be expected to be joyful always. To pray continuously requires that we grow in our understanding of God’s presence, no longer segregating our lives into compartments of sacred and secular activities. In order to pray continuously, we embrace an underlying frequency of God’s presence that is constant, whether we are tuned in or not.

Likewise, the scriptures tell us that our joy is made complete and that we experience fullness of joy in God’s presence. So rather than working at being joyful, experiencing joy is an awareness of the constance of God’s presence in our life which we can access at any time. His presence isn’t something we have to work up, but instead it is a constant reality that we simply open ourselves up to.

Joy isn’t a happy feeling that happens to us when everything is going right or when we get all of the things that we want. It also isn’t a fake happiness that we are expected to drum up in spite of our circumstances. It is a gift given to us by His Spirit as we experience God’s presence.

They were wrong. Christmas joy isn’t about presents. It’s all about Presence.

~

Other advent bloggers:

Brother Maynard

Adam Copeland

Lori Bjerkander

Robin Dugall

Julie Clawson

Lainie Petersen

John the Shepherd

Glenn Jordan

Lyn Hallewell

Matt Stone

Peggy Brown

Rob Robinson

J. Michael Matkin

Sonja

Christine Sine

Cindy Bryan

Eric G.

Inspired to Rant

For as long as I’ve been blogging, I have had very few rude comments. However, the profiles of rude comments are similar. They are typically on an older post, and, big surprise, they are usually anonymous or link back to a page that is unavailable. Somehow anonymity allows commenters to believe that they can set aside basic courtesy.

So here is the latest which was left in response to my leadership articles. The leadership articles are linked on the *Recommended* page of this blog.

My response to the comment is in green.

“Tyler” says:

I have a problem with the statement: “I don’t believe in positional authority within the body of Christ.”

So far so good. I don’t have a problem with well-stated disagreement or differences of opinion. I am quite solidly committed to my beliefs on this particular topic. I didn’t arrive at them lightly.

To quote my article, ” Understanding the equality of our relationship as brothers in the body of Christ is essential in understanding spiritual leadership.”

That’s not scripture.

You know I’m going to say it –

“You know how the kings of the nations show their power to the people. Important leaders use their power over the people. It must not be that way with you.” — Matthew 20:25-26 (NLV)

Eph 4:11-12 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Apparently this is his argument for positional authority. These are gifts within the body, not positions of authority. In scripture, they are not referred to as offices or titles. They are gifts meant to be stewarded to empower and serve the body.

If you feel gifted in any of these areas, serve the body. If others recognize these giftings in you, keep serving the body. As soon as you attempt to wrap your identity around the gift or attempt to command others out of that gift, you are headed down a wrong path.

Here’s a quick tip. If you want to know how to identify a false apostle, he is often the guy using “Apostle” in front of his name as a title.

Quit whining.

Pffftttt!

Submit to your pastor

I respect the guy at our church who goes by the title “senior pastor,” but he doesn’t pastor me. He doesn’t really know me (not whining) and with a congregation of 1,000, he can’t be expected to know everyone.  I understand that he needs to spend his limited time with people who are organizationally a priority.

To be honest, even if we had a relationship, I don’t believe in one-sided submission. I have several mutually submissive relationships in my life that I draw on for wisdom, guidance, and accountability.

Most people don’t understand or believe that relationships with pastors, apostles, elders, and mentors can be mutually submissive. Should we honor, respect, and receive from the gifts of others? Absolutely! However, let’s realize that even (or perhaps especially) the least among us has something to contribute.

and prove yourself worthy of being a worthy.

I’m guessing perhaps he meant “prove yourself worthy of being a leader.”

Nope, I don’t have anything to prove, and people who believe they are worthy of being a leader scare me.

Go start a church of your own,

I don’t think so.

and then you may learn why there has to be somebody in change,

or perhaps somebody in charge, although I prefer the idea of somebody in change. I agree that organizational leadership can sometimes be helpful to serving and maintaining the life of a group. However, people who need to be in charge scare me too.

and why there are those who aren’t given leadership.

I agree that not everyone is suited for leadership. In fact, many of the people unsuited for leadership carry titles of positonal authority, yet they have no understanding of humility or serving but are instead focused on their own importance.

REALITY!

Perhaps we need a better reality. This would be a good place for a recent quote by Andrew Jones describing a different reality of church that is more organic than organizational:

“They start small and grow [emerge] in an organic fashion without transfer growth and certainly not with a chunk of people handed over from another church to kick-start them. These churches don’t have pastors or paid leaders and they generally don’t own buildings but sometimes they do rent space for communal gatherings, or residential communities, or art-space, or business enterprise, but not necessarily a ‘worship service’. These groups are usually local, small, integrated in the community [missional], and not always visible to the public as an official group or organization. Their goal is not to attract people to an event but rather to penetrate the community with the love of God and embody the gospel as well as communicate it.”

The Bad Seed

The last couple of days I have been following the story of the Colorado shooter.  There is an extensive trail of postings from various forums written by him.  You can find them if you are interested.  I don’t know if I would recommend reading them.  There is a part of me that wanted to understand what led to his actions. 

My initial impression was that he was the typical outcast, rejected, bullied, and abused.  He was bitter toward YWAM because he wasn’t allowed to go on an outreach trip.  He also spewed with anger about Christianity because he believed that his upbringing was excessively restrictive.

Due to his online activities, his writing gives some insight into his perceptions.  Matthew’s perception was that of a victim.  Everything and everyone opposed his chances for happiness and success.  His perception was of victimization and self-pity.  Was that his reality? 

In spite of the fact that he chose YWAM and New Life as the targets of his attack, it appears that, more likely, they were a scapegoat for his anger.  Neither do his parents appear to be the monsters he describes.  I couldn’t help but wonder about his family, especially his mother.

Sometimes siblings in a family give vastly different reports of the same experiences simply because of differences in how they perceive themselves and others.  It isn’t likely that Matthew’s life was perfect, but I believe his accusations should be taken with some reservation. 

Typically after such tragedies, there are widespread attempts to understand why such a thing could happen and what contributed to the motives of the shooters.  This often leads to pinning blame somewhere. 

This morning the mother of the Omaha mall shooter was also interviewed on TV. 

In every one of these tragedies, there is a mother.  

As I thought about some of these rampage shooters, I couldn’t help but imagine the horror of this experience in the hearts of their mothers.  People tend to blame mothers, and moms tend to blame themselves.  The current in the river of mom-guilt runs deep and wide.

Were these bad seeds born or bred?

With many of these shooters, while there isn’t a consistent profile, there often is a lethal combination of factors that add up to devastating results.   

The fact is, clinical research clearly demonstrates that psychopathy does not spring unannounced into existence in adulthood. The symptoms reveal themselves in early life. It seems to be true that parents of psychopaths KNOW something is dreadfully wrong even before the child starts school. Such children are stubbornly immune to socializing pressures. They are “different” from other children in inexplicable ways. They are more “difficult,” or “willful,” or aggressive, or hard to “relate to.” They are difficult to get close to, cold and distant and self-sufficient.  (The Psychopath – The Mask of Sanity)

Psychopathy is frequently linked to attachment issues in early childhood.  Sometimes there are obvious issues of abandonment or lack of bonding between parent and child contributing to the problem.  In other circumstances, well-meaning parents struggle in their attempts to connect with a child who is extremely difficult to parent.  It is possible that deficiencies in neural processing actually hinder the child’s ability to attach.

Victimization, frequently sexual, at an early age will also set the course of a child’s life spiraling down a destructive path.  Often these kids are unaware or confused about the root of their destructive behaviors and choices.

It is not likely we will know all of the factors that contributed to the shooters’ motives. However, I can almost guarantee that there will be mothers wrestling over the question of why long after others have forgotten.

Let Peace Begin With Me

Advent Blogging 2007

9 Killed in Shooting at Omaha Mall
5 Killed in New Life Church, YWAM Attacks
6 Shot After Leaving Vegas School Bus

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Today I was thinking about my advent post on peace.  I was thinking about shalom and the restoration of all things to the way that they were intended to be.  God’s intentional restoration is so amazing.

Yet this evening as I read the headlines and grieved for the families of those who lost loved ones, I also wondered about the lost and wounded souls who committed these violent acts.  They seemed so far away from even beginning to grasp the love that could heal them.

In particular, I read about the young man from the Colorado shootings, wondering what caused him to target Christian groups.  Apparently he was raised in a religious family that went to church.  However, somewhere along the way the message of God’s love was distorted to him. 

Ideally for each of us, as we grow in our relationship with the Father, the sins and wounds from our past are dealt with, and we grow in our experience of peace.  But what happens when the very thing that has the power to heal and save is presented as abuse, shame, and control? 

Yes, the killers are responsible, but what evil influenced them to the point of becoming the twisted and angry people they were?  Virginia Tech, Columbine, and so many more.  Would Jesus have recognized these outcasts hovering at the brink of despair and violence?  Could they have been reachable? 

Global peace, national peace, peace in our cities and streets, peace in our relationships and families – all of these are important.  We are to be peacemakers, but in order to do that, we must experience peace ourselves.  

As long as we act out of our brokenness, we will inflict pain on others, both intentionally and unintentionally.  Of course not to the degree of these tragedies.  Just the little things, like impatience with our children, criticism of our spouse, angry words to the store clerk, gestures to stupid drivers, all the little things that show our lack of peace oozing out the cracks of our vessel.

Peace doesn’t just happen.  We all know the broken parts of our own lives – the areas where we struggle, where we feel ashamed of who we are, the things we are most afraid are true about ourselves.  Quite often, these are the areas where we over-react.  We sometimes become angry or anxious when others trigger our weaknesses.  This is usually a big clue that there is an underlying issue that needs healing.

We will begin to experience wholeness when we bring these issues before the Father, one by one, for however long is necessary, allowing Him to reveal whatever is necessary to heal our hearts and minds.   Our relationship with the Father can and should be one of progressive peace and wholeness. 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Other Advent Bloggers: 

Brother Maynard

Adam Copeland

Lori Bjerkander

Robin Dugall

Julie Clawson

Lainie Petersen

John the Shepherd

Glenn Jordan

Lyn Hallewell

Matt Stone

Peggy Brown

Rob Robinson

J. Michael Matkin

Sonja

Christine Sine

Cindy Bryan

Eric G.

The Gender Issue

I wanted to respond to the Sally Morgenthaler article since I first read it, but I have been frustrated with a lack of time to write.

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you may have noticed that this isn’t a topic I bring up often. I will admit that sometimes I feel guilty that, as a representative of the female gender, I have not taken up the cause for inclusion and equality more forcefully.

Before I say anything else, let me be very clear that I respect every woman who has had to and still does fight for this cause, not only for herself but also for others, and for the very real situations in their lives and ministries where they have struggled and persevered.

I wrote this in an e-mail to some friends a couple of months ago:

This isn’t a hot-button issue for me. In saying that, I don’t want to invalidate others who feel strongly about it. Maybe I should care more, but I don’t. Perhaps it’s my age or perhaps a difference in life experiences.

I am not interested in being involved in power structures, regardless of the gender. I also don’t want to be included in groups that don’t want me. There are enough situations and relationships in my life where my participation is valued to keep me busy and content.

I am not interested in focusing my time or attention to fighting for my inclusion. Again, I’m not saying it isn’t important and that someone shouldn’t do it, but my heart isn’t there.

Sally’s article helped me to identify why my personal feelings are conflicted on how I approach this issue. It isn’t because I don’t care about fairness and inclusion of women in ministry. To be honest, I have very firmly established beliefs about equality and mutual submission in the relationships of believers.

However, those beliefs are not specific to the gender issue. They extend to all of our relationships with each other and specifically to how we relate to one another within the church, especially in regard to church government and leadership. My thoughts about leadership and hierarchical church structures overshadow the gender question, and in some ways preclude its importance.

Sally brings up these questions:

“What is it to lead the church in the postmodern context?” and then, more specifically, “What is it for women to lead in the postmodern context?”

The underlying interpretation of these questions in discussion becomes apparent when leadership is reflected upon in terms of servanthood and rulership. If we are actually negotiating for control of power within leadership, something central to understanding the true nature of church leadership is already skewed.

While many talk a good talk about leading as serving, their real beliefs and prejudices sometimes become obvious when the role of women is brought into the picture. There has never been a question about what women are allowed to do in the realm of serving in the church. They have been unhindered in their ministry of service to children, kitchen work, hospitality, janitorial duties, and other less-esteemed roles.

As Sally said, women have been required to be “as organizationally impotent as possible.” In general, the spiritual journey of women is defined by being placed in an inferior status. Women have typically already been required to learn the lessons of descent and marginalization.

The gender issue only becomes important to the discussion when the conversation concerns rulership and government. In that perspective, the true position about leading, whether it is seen as ruling or serving, becomes apparent. Let’s be clear. In that case, the real question is, “who will rule?” I believe that is an invalid question in regard to leadership within the church, regardless of gender.

According to the article, perhaps we are not asking the right questions. Sally said, “Could it be that women have spent so long trying to climb the ladder inside old church and leadership systems that the very questions they’re asking about gender equality, opportunity, and power are stuck?”

Perhaps the real questions go more like this:

What does it mean to seek biblical equality if the Church itself is no longer functioning in biblical ways?

What does it mean for women to pursue the full use of their gifts in the Church if western Christianity has lost its missional purpose?

What does it mean to hitch one’s star to the Christian status quo, especially if that status quo is a narcissistic, capitalistic perversion of the Gospel?

In summary, what does it really mean for a woman to be released into her potential, to be trusted with a ministry role, or to secure a salaried ministry position only to find that, for all her new-found freedom, authority, and seeming equality, she is only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?

Whether male or female, our questions must ultimately move beyond power and equality to those of ecclesiastical integrity. As important as mutuality is in the kingdom of God, it is quite conceivable to be mutually and equally participating in a failing and misguided enterprise.

For me, this is the most controversial aspect of Sally’s article, way beyond the gender issue. Is this too radical? When I first entered the conversation, this was my impulse. Yet I became convinced that to expect ecclesiological change of this degree was extreme and reactionary. You know, the whole baby/bathwater scenario. How do you feel about her diagnosis of the situation?

She goes on to describe a new conversation that reframes the gender question outside of traditional institutional church systems. 

…the focus must move to the people of God dispersed, a displacement more absolute than that of the first century. And in this new landscape of radical dispersion – beyond buildings, beyond programs, beyond pedestal personalities – what leadership qualities are most needed?

What are the practices and gifts of those who minister well within such a context of deconstruction, chaos, and uncertainty?

To be certain, this reframed conversation is not for the faint of heart or closed of mind…traditional gender conversations in the Church – the inclusion of women in essentially male systems – will seem like pre-school banter compared to what it means to shift out of those systems altogether.

Because, in the end, ministry effectiveness in the postmodern turn is not the result of a leader’s gender, but the degree to which they are embedded in the new world, how little their personal identity is tied to power and position, and how clearly they get what needs to happen now that the show is over.

Ultimately what one believes about the dynamics of power and equality in the  kingdom will eventually be contextualized in all of their relationships.  This will necessitate a radical shift in ecclesiology.  Do you see this as being a shift completey out of existing systems?

In conclusion, the real issue isn’t the exclusion of women. It also isn’t the feminization of the church. The ultimate issue is whether we are ready and willing to embody mutual submission in all of our relationships with one another to the degree that we are even willing to address the structural systems of church and the use of power and position within those structures.

Women are in many ways uniquely situated to recognize imbalances of power and the lack of authentic shifts toward inclusion and also to respond to the shift toward more participatory styles of leadership and ministry.

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions about this, both about the gender issue and about the degree of ecclesiological deconstruction that Sally suggests.

Time to Read?

John Frye has been going to the gym with me. Sue Monk Kidd was going, but I made her wait in the van for a few days.

I just finished John’s book, Out of Print. I am going to write a very brief review because I dislike fiction reviews which give away too much of the story.

First, I already told you the book would be wonderful, and it was. The general idea of the story has to do with the disappearing of the written Scriptures.

John does a brilliant job of carefully dissecting the God of the Word from the Word of God without diminishing either, but rather leaving the reader with a greater appreciation for both – God beyond the written Word and the Word itself written on the hearts of His people.

He also does a masterful job of “fleshing out” the concept of incarnation. While he weaves various theological ideas throughout an interesting story, I believe the picture of incarnation that he depicts is most valuable. During this season of focusing on the Word made flesh, I especially appreciated the nuance and clarity with which John describes incarnation.

John, I enjoyed your story and smiled at the surprising little twist at the end. Of course I would have loved a few hundred more pages. Thank you!

————

As long as I am writing about books, I thought I would write about the books I have open at the moment. Some of you may remember my scattered style of reading multiple books.

As I said, I just finished John’s book, and now going to the gym with me is God’s Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd. This is an older book that I happened to pick up somewhere. It is the right book at the right time for me today.

On the night stand is Living in Dependency and Wonder by Graham Cooke.

In the living room, Everything Must Change by Brian McClaren. I will post a review of this some time after the holidays.

In the kitchen, Unveiled at Last by Bob Sjogren. I’m not sure how that one ended up there. I must have been carrying it around with me and stopped for a minute. It’s not likely to get read much in the kitchen.

Finally, as a PDF on my computer with a hard copy on its way in the mail, That You Might Believe by Brother Maynard.

So how about you? Read any good books lately?

Like, right on man!

This seems to fit the theme of this week, of following the leading of the Spirit in recognizing opportunities to love and to serve.

So let’s start at step one. Ask God to reveal his heart to you. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to serve, keep works in mind, and maybe even keep serving wherever you may be, but make the love of God, his will, and his desires the center.

Just like, ask the great spirit to guide you, and like whatever, and then you’ll be like “Whoah,” and others will be like, “right on man.”

(Ed C. – In a Mirror Dimly)

An Ordinary Calling

I usually try to take note when certain themes come from several sources in my blogreader, or perhaps it is in my noticing that a common theme develops.

Last week the post, Once Was An Evangelist, by Andrew Hamilton caught my attention because I could relate to what he described.

As a senior pastor I had influence with those in the church sphere when it came to issues of spirituality. People would listen to me, sometimes defer to me and again I was able to influence some towards faith…Minus the position and status accorded to me as a pastor, I don’t seem to have the same influence…

I have a wonderful family, my life is pretty rosy in many ways, but I live with an ongoing sense of disappointment that I haven’t been able to accomplish what I had hoped and I am not sure if I ever will.

This was a difficult adjustment for me in leaving our former church. Suddenly, I was aware of how much of the respect that I was accustomed to was dependent on my title and position. The position had automatically created ministry opportunities for me. Apart from the position, people were not seeking out ministry, advice, or counsel from me.

If I wanted to be involved in ministry now, it would have to occur in the realm of ordinary life in whatever means I could find to give and serve. This kind of serving not only doesn’t have the prestige of church ministry, it also doesn’t have the stamp of legitimacy that comes with ministry in a church setting.

Some beautiful words from my good friend Pam:

There is power and beauty in being ordinary. I don’t need to discover a grand, spectacular plan for my life that will demonstrate the razzle-dazzle of Jesus. The loveliness of Christ is found in the everydayness of regular people like me.

For so long I have been waiting for something to happen, for my true spiritual calling to manifest so I can at long last be all that I am meant to be for Jesus. Years have rolled by as I’ve waited to mature and transform into the woman of faith I know I am not.

Echoed again in this post by Paul Viera in his post, Embracing the Ordinary:

I wanted my life to count, to be great, to make a difference. I never dreamed that I would find the meaning of life in the ordinary. Embracing the ordinary has changed my entire outlook on life. I think I will still do the things that are in my heart to do. However, my obsession to be “great” was sabotaging those dreams by causing me to miss the moment, to not live and enjoy the present.

These everyday encounters make life real and it’s through loving and enjoying the people around us that our life becomes great. Our lofty pursuits often become meaningless efforts at chasing the wind, while our kids stand on the side lines wishing that they had our affection and attention.

Is there destiny, fulfillment, and purpose for those who are called to ordinary life? I hope so.

Finally this poem to wrap it all up:

THE GREAT REVERSAL

Walking with the crowds
Carried along by the pressing forward.

Each one eager to get ahead
But each one starting the same:
Born as a baby, and from then on, struggling towards
meaning, power and influence.

Be someone
Be remembered
Make a big impression
Leave some indelible mark in your 3 score years and 10

From birth, a struggle to find eternity, to burst
through life with such dazzling intensity, that
everyone will remember forever.

But walking the other way, picking out a route
against the crowds, a solitary figure passes me…
passes all of us – all straining away innocence, to be someone,
And he passes us, a quiet chaos in the crowd.

Christ, eternal, omniscient, creator, beyond time,
source of wisdom and beyond petty claims of influence…
in very nature God, slips into reverse
and walks back past us -

away from Kingship, away from power,
away from influence, away from eternity,
away from wisdom… towards infancy.

Calmly stepping into the body of a tiny child.

And even as this baby grows,
figuring out how to control the body he himself designed,
he still walks the other way,
realizing that life cannot be found in the struggle for permanence,
but in giving it up.

This Great Reversal subverts me.

Tired of pressing forward,
I realize I need to turn,
for what I have been searching for
has just walked past me the other way.

Kester Brewin – Signs of Emergence
(ht JR Woodward)