a drop of water

At small group there was this idea shared that what we do is often the best vision we have for our lives.  This is slightly different than what we would want to do with our lives (dreams) and more in touch with reality, dependent on our perception of the reality of our circumstances.  When we make a decision that someone else believes wrong or unwise, it is because they have a different vision, or perception the circumstances.  No one makes a wrong or unwise decision consciously.  I want to live under kingdom visions.  I want my decisions, my actions, my words to be based upon God’s understanding of my circumstances.  I’d like to read the Bible through, picking out visions (truth) about how life, is.

So here are a few familiar visions of what reality that I picked out from a scan of Galatians (just because it came to mind first):

• I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20 - I think that understanding this vision, of Christ living in me, is a life long journey, but its a vision that I want to keep at the forfront of my mind always.  I think that a lot of people sometimes wish they could live other people’s life and I believe that desire is partly rooted in our desire for self worth.  The fact that the reality of being a Christian is the that our self worth is rooted in Christ living in us, through us, and with us brings our focus back to what really matters.

• But now that you know God—or rather are known by God… Gal 4:9 - We always talk about wanting to get to know God more, when that is only half of the coin.  The reality is that maturing in faith is also about letting God know us more, about opening up the deepest part of ourselves so that God work, cleanup and restore us.

• For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6 [and] But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Gal 5:13-14 - Life, especially relationships to people, things, responsibilities, etc, gets complicated.  But the vision of the kingdom is that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”  Something I need to remember when I’m trying to figure out the best plan of action to fix this or fix that.

• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22-23 - Maybe the vision, the hope for life is that every one of my actions and responses to the circumstances and events of every day could be categorized into one of the these words.  Maybe not all actions and responses could be categorized in one of these words, but the world would significantly different if most did.

• Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Gal 6:2 - This vision is two fold, not only must I be more willing to carry others burdens in prayer, financially and through friendship, but I must also be willing to share my burdens in vulnerability, in humility and dependence.

This morning I was doing dishes and thinking about thanksgiving.  I was trying to start the day with the right attitude and not get overwhelmed with the days responsibilities and pressures.  In light of building rythym and habits into my life that engage and acknowledge God, in order to be more sensitive to his guiding, I realized that everytime I open up a chat window or send an email, I could take some time out to pray some thanksgiving for my relationship for that person.  It doesn’t need to be an hour long prayer (though it could if you feel its needed).  It is just a conscious acknowledgement that “God, you are in charge of this relationship, give me the words that will build up and not tear down, will encourage and edify, will be meaningful and not just passing.”  I send emails and open up chat windows with people all day, its a normal part of my life.  Redeeming, infusing and empowering that normal, pragmatic, part of my life with God is exciting!  It is not meant to just include God in the act, like fries is included with your burger.  More like replacing the frozen processed burger with a steak.

Praying with thanksgiving everytime I open up a compose email window or a chat window takes me out of the GTD mentality (definitely a good gesture, but maybe not the best posture) and puts me in a position to realize that my relationship with this person is an opportunity to be God’s hand and feet which is a blessing in and of itself!  It keeps me from writing or chatting retaliatory words, words that do no good and maybe just flail in an attempt to prove my own rightness, and reminds me that I need to build people up in a loving way.  It reminds me that I need to be sensitive both to God’s leading in how I communicate with everyone, and sensitive to what those people are trying to communicate to me.  It keeps me mindful that everything I do is an opportunity to respond consciously to God’s provision in my life.

No, I’m not talking about sadness :)

John Calvin, preaching to his congregation in Geneva, Switzerland, pointed out that we must develop better and deeper concepts of happiness than those held by the world, which makes a happy life to consist on “ease, honours, and great wealth”  Too much of the world’s happiness depends on taking from one to satisfy another.  To increase my standard of living, people in another part of the world must lower theirs. The worldwide crisis of hunger that we face today is a result of that method of pursuing happiness.”

This was a sobering quote from Eugene Peterson’s, A Long Obedience In the Same Direction.  We like to quantify what will make us happy by what we can receive (what can I get out of life), completely ignoring the form of happiness found in what we can give.  Happiness has an inherent power to be passed on; truly happy people are empowered to do what it takes to make those around them happy as well.  Happinesses’ longevity is stifled when it stops at consumption before it is passed on.  The mark of a joyful person is their ability to bring joy into someone elses life.

Johannes Pederson words it like this: ”Life consists in the constant meeting of souls, which must share their contents with each other.  The blessed gives to the others, because the strength instinctively pours from him and up around him . . . . The characteristic of blessing is to multiply.”

Black Friday (Black Saturday, Cyber Monday, etc), when retailers pull the hood over as many people as they can, turning the once thankful-for-what-they-already-have-thanksgiving-celebrators into crazed-employee-trampling-door-busting-ready-to-buy-stuff-they-already-have-consumers in a span of 24hrs (or less), so that they [the retailers] can get a jump on holiday revenue, seems a little silly [stronger word needed here] as they try to inject people with the fleeting idea that buying more stuff that they already have, for only slightly reduced prices, will bring them happiness.  What if, instead, we had a Free Friday where the massive institution of retailers tried to make a difference by giving to the people who couldn’t normally afford to be their customers?

Maybe not the “happiest” business model from a bottom line point of view, but maybe thats the point.  That the success, the happiness, etc of a business can not just be limited to an inward bottom line focus just like our own individual happiness can not be fully realized by an inward focus on what happens to us as individuals. The missing aspect of our happiness is the relational giving and passing on act that is rooted in the thanksgiving that we have in God’s provision.  So today, my challenge is, not just to be thankful for what I have, but to see if I can give a bit of that happiness to someone else.

In light of the ongoing financial crisis and economic mood, there seems to be a growing number of people  re-evaluating gift giving, i.e. the site: No Christmas Gifts This Year.  Gift giving is a lot of things for different people.  It can be a burden when you have no idea what to get your distant cousin.  It can be an expression of love for your significant other.  It can be a responsibility to meet the expectation of your child.  It can be an attempt to “keep up with the Jones” in the expense and magnitude of your generosity.  For me, I’ve been rethinking the pragmatism of gift giving.

I think the challenge this year for me is to give sustainable gifts that keep on giving.  I want to give a gift that just isn’t the proverbial fish, but teaches how to catch fish.  On NPR last weekend, a point was made by Chef Jamie Oliver, (most known for campaigning against processed foods in British Schools) that people [Americans] today are lacking when it comes to making tasty, lasting, nutritional meals at home on a budget and with what ever is available locally and seasonally.  He believes that most people today who are used to going out to eat for a good meal, lack knowledge of substitutions, have very little creativity when it comes to deciding what to make based on what is in their pantry, and have very little understanding of what is in season and what is out of season.  The importance of these skills and knowledge is even more important in light of the current economic atmosphere.

So maybe giving a cookbook to a loved one would be something along these lines, to get them started.  But don’t stop there.  Combine your gift of a cookbook with some IOU gifts of time to choose and prepare a recipe together.  Sharing a meal always provides the ground for deepening frienships, but preparing a meal together catalyzes the process.

I do not own these two books, but received recommendations for them, so for what its worth, here is something to get you started:

1. How to Cook Everything – [$18.10] (After $5 Rebate on Amazon.com)
2. The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper – [$23.10] (Amazon.com)

You can also check out some of the cooking adventures of a future trophy husband at my friends blog.