I'm down to my last three days in my series...and there is still so much left unsaid.
One consistent theme that has God keeps bringing back to is suffering. Another beheading was broadcast yesterday. A couple was burned in a kiln as they were falsely accused of blasphemy for desecrating the Quran. An off-duty policeman and father was shot and killed down the road.
And I have a very very dear friend who is experiencing multiple losses...
I sit here in my living room. Ed is reading humorous emails and watching Monday Night Football. And I contemplate how short life is...and how little time we really have to make a difference. In light of that, what is really important about a football game or all the trinkets waved before our face during the commercials? To coin a phrase in the news of late: What difference does it make?
I remember a book written by Max Lucado called Traveling Light. I've never read it but the title is intriguing. I wonder how much we carry around or we allow to drag us around, because we refuse to let go. This year has been about letting go...releasing...and practicing humility. Trust me, I'm still in the beginner's class...
So what have I been learning to unload?
- Judgment and resentment
- Self-reliance
- A critical spirit
- The burden of others' opinions
- Irrational guilt, perfectionism, and legalism
- My idols (which I have to do daily...sometimes moment by moment...trying not to fondle them)
And how can I do this? Only by grace...grace that comes from renewing the mind. Reminding myself that I have blind spots and faults of my own that I cannot see. By praying Psalm 19:12-14:
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (ESV)
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (ESV)
Denise,,,,,,thanks so much for sharing from your heart,,,,,your "unload" list is one we could all use! Sometimes we unload and then load them right back up!!
ReplyDeleteHave a good week,,,,, hugs
Oh, the Spirit is willing...but the flesh is so weak. You don't even have an awareness of the heaviness of these things until you let it go.
DeleteI can certainly identify with your unload list. This year as been one of loss for us, but God uses these losses to expose things that we are holding on more tightly than we should. It has been a learning process for me as well, yes sometimes moment by moment.
ReplyDeleteWhat did C. S. Lewis say? Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world... Yep, that's us!
DeleteThis makes me think of a song by Rachel Kurtz called "Make a Difference." "I want my life to make a difference. I want my life to take a change."
ReplyDeleteTara - I'll have to check out that song! Thanks for sharing it.
DeleteYou are so right. I'm currently reading Safely Home by Randy Alcorn, and it's a fictional book about Christians in China. It has me thinking about what is really important in life and questioning what I need to let go of.
ReplyDeleteI am stopping by from our 31Dayers fb group and I love this post... it's so true - we carry with us so much that weighs us down and I have to wonder if He is not just shaking his head wondering why we won't just let Him have it/keep it! Great post!
ReplyDeleteCleaning out my closets is like losing weight. Letting go of Spiritual weight is even more liberating. Thanks for sharing. Great reminder.
ReplyDeleteGod has also been working on my heart about letting some things go in this season of my life. I have been challenged on the need to let go of some good things as well as negative to allow more of what God wants me to pick up. A great proverb to keep in mind! Thanks for your openness in sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both.
ReplyDeletexoxo