Chapter 8 Lines

Chapter 8  Spiritual Surgery: Forgiveness

p 151  Community always involves a kind of promise, whether or not it ever gets stated out loud.  It is a promise of commitment and loyalty.  When that promise gets broken, so does someone's heart.

p 152  Forgiveness is the only force strong enough to heal relationships damaged by hatred and betrayal.

p 156   But forgiveness does not come cheap.

p 157   Some things forgiveness is NOT:
             1. Forgiving is not excusing - forgiving doesn't mean tolerating or pretending.  When an action is excusable - it doesn't require forgiveness.
             2. Forgiving is not forgetting - forgiving is what's required precisely when we can't forget.
             3. Forgiving is not the same thing as reconciling.

p 158   Forgiveness takes place in the heart of one human being. It can be granted even if the other person does not ask for it or deserve it.  Reconciliation requires the rebuilding of trust, and that means good faith on the part of both parties.

p 158   Forgiveness begins when we give up the quest to get even. This is difficult because getting even is the natural obsession of the wounded soul.

p 159  Of course, letting go of vengeance doesn't mean letting go of justice. Justice must still be honored.

p 159  The next stage of forgiveness involves a new way of seeing and feeling. When we forgive, we begin to see more clearly. We don't ignore the hurts, but we see beyond them. We rediscover the humanity of the one who hurt us.

p 160  The third stage of forgiving, the one that shows you have begun to make some real progress, is when you find yourself wishing the other person well. When you want good things for someone who hurt you badly, you can pretty much know that the Great Forgiver has been at work in your heart.

p 160  God commands us to forgive because it is the best way to live. God commands forgiving because to refuse to forgive means I allow the one who hurt me to keep me chained in a prison of bitterness and resentment.  No human beings are more miserable than the unforgiving.

p 164  If you don't forgive - if you let pride, resentment, stubbornness, and defensiveness stand in your way - you become a hard and bitter person.  You carry a burden that will crush the humanity out of your spirit.  You will grow a little colder every day.  You will die.

p 165  True forgiveness is never cheap.  Hurt is deep; hurt is unfair. ... only one thing costs more than forgiving someone - NOT forgiving them. Non-forgiveness costs your heart.

p 166  Don't forgive, and your anger will become your burden. Don't forgive, and bit by bit all the joy will be choked out of you. Don't forgive, and you will be unable to trust anybody, ever again. Don't forgive, and the bitterness will crowd the compassion out of your heart slowly, utterly, forever.

Chapter 5 - Lines

Chapter 5  Put Down Your Stones: Acceptance

p 89  You and I were made to be in the life-saving business. Mostly the life lines we have to offer are words.  Every word we speak has the power either to give a little life to people or to destroy a little bit of their spirit and vitality.

p 94  We are most scandalized by sins of the flesh.  Jesus was most scandalized by sins of the spirit.

p 99  Condemnation and judgement have become so deeply rooted in the human spirit that most of us can't imagine having to function without them.

p 101  People need more than toleration.  Bertrand Russell wrote, "A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relationships. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation."   (OUCH!)

p 101 Acceptance is an act of the heart. To accept someone is to affirm to them that you think it's a very good thing they are alive.

p 102  This is very important: acceptance is NOT the same thing as tolerating any behavior one chooses to indulge in. (emphasis mine) Accepting another human being does not mean we refuse to confront or challenge that in them which could harm others and damage their soul.
Failure to confront, to speak the truth in love, can ultimately be as fatal to community as judgementalism.

Pondering a Remark

Photo by Steve - because fall is my favorite

The photo has nothing to do with my post - I just love it.  Steve took it last week near our home.  He's amazing like that.

Anyway - I'm pondering a remark that someone made to me during a conversation this past weekend.  In one sense I find it amusing and in another, slightly terrifying.
The remark happened when I mentioned one of my favorite topics - home schooling.  For those of you who aren't aware, we home educate our children and are now in our 12th year of schooling at home,
I believe my children are bright and funny, well-read, articulate (usually) and thoughtful, caring, kind, generally responsible, etc, etc, etc.  Basically pretty great young adults that are seeking to follow Christ.  At this point I'm pretty close to feeling like - Lord willing and by God's amazing grace - they are going to be successful adults in whatever plans God has for their lives.

So - back to the conversation.  I was talking with someone who teaches public school for a living. 
I mentioned that we home school and nodded toward my daughter who is almost 16 now and a junior in high school. 
The other person looked at J and looked back at me and said "I don't think I could ever do that. I think I would put too much pressure on myself."
I replied that there are lots of resources for the academics, but our goal is to raise young adults in Christ for God's glory and it isn't really about the numbers at all.  I said that our primary academic goal is mastery/excellence and having them know how to learn and do things - not just perform on tests. Then I added my standard line - as a parent you teach your children a ton before they are 5 years old anyway (walking, talking, using the potty, eating with a fork, saying please/thank you and to not hit/bite their friends), the academics just build from there.  The other person just sort of looked at me stunned and shook their head.

I was amused because this person teaches other people's children for money.  It is their job. Yet they feel there would be too much pressure to teach their own child(ren)?  That seems funny to me.  Wouldn't you think the pressure would come from the fact that you take money from someone to do something well? 

The terrifying part is that this person teaches other people's children for money.  It is their job.  Yet they don't feel the same pressure for something that they do for a paycheck that they imagine would be there for their own child(ren)? 

Standard disclaimer - Given the nature of the topic - I always add this part:  I fully realize that not everyone feels called by God to home educate their children.  I also realize that there are good and bad home school parents and public school teachers alike.  I am NOT making a judgement of people who make a different choice from our family - only stating that this choice makes sense for our family and our situation and according to what we know God wants from us as parents and as a family.

Lines of Truth (7)

Chapter 7     Security    Psalm 125

pg 81  "Better than a city wall, better than a military fortification is the presence of the God of peace."

In all the ups and downs of Israel's history - they are always God's people.  God is there - always - regardless of how we feel or what we choose.  Our security lies in who God IS, not in what we feel.

pg 83  "Discipleship is a decision to live by what I know about God, not by what I feel about him or myself or my neighbors.

Evil is never permanent, it is always temporary.  It may be long in our view, but we have the promise of 1 Cor. 10:13.  God will not allow more than he will allow and He is always faithful and will provide for us.

pg 85  "Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement, he (God) is free to break his; it is a covenant in which he establishes the conditions and guarantees the results."

Matt 6: 25, 31, 34 - our life with God is secure.

Lines of Truth (6)

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (purchase here)

Chapter 6   Help

Psalm 124  (New International Version) 

 A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
² if the Lord had not been on our side
    when men attacked us,
³ when their anger flared against us,
    they would have swallowed us alive;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
    out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

p. 67  God is on our side, God is our help

p. 69  God's help is not a private experience, it is a corporate reality - not an exception among isolated strangers, but the norm among the people of God.

p. 70  Don't hesitate to ask hard questions of teh scriptures - doubts & questions must be asked & wrestled with in the light of disbelief & be overcome by the truth of God so we can believe solidly in the truth of God's word always.  The Psalms show us 'warts & all religion", not just the pretty surface stuff.

p. 74  "In the details of the conflict, the majestic greatness of God becomes revealed in the minuteness of a personal history.  Faith develops out of the most difficult aspects of our existence, not the easiest."

p. 75  "We are traveling in the light, toward God who is rich in mercy and strong to save.  It is Christ, not culture, that defines our lives.  It is the help we experience, not the hazards we risk, that shape our days."

Lines of Truth (5)

Chapter 5 - Service            

Psalm 123

To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us. 

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than enough
    of the scorn of those who are at ease,
    of the contempt of the proud.

p. 57  "A psalm is not a lecture; it is a song. In a psalm we have the observable evidence of what happens when a person of faith goes about the business of believing and loving and following God."

p. 60  We must look up to God to find ourselves in the proper position, the posture of servitude.  This is the beginning - we must realize our position in relation to the Creator of everything.  He is above.  Second comes our expectation in faith - that God means to transform us for our good.  He is the master potter at work on the clay that is our lives - until He has finally shaped a redeemed life - a vessel fit for His kingdom.


p. 63  There is an urgency to serve the Master instead of being enslaved by the things of this world.

p 64  We must learn to use our freedom appropriately - under the lordship of our merciful God.  A servant of Christ is the freest person on the planet.

Lines of Truth (4)

 Chapter 4   Worship                  Psalm 122

p 45  There is one sufficient reason for going to church - God.

p 46 talks about worship being the most popular thing that Christians do - I wonder about this -  I  suppose that he may be correct as you certainly see more bodies in church services than you do in bible study groups or serving in a mission context.

p 47  ".. the powerful history - shaping truth that God forgives our sins and makes it possible to live without guilt and with purpose."

p49  worship (corporate) provides a framework for how we are to do life - we know where we stand

p 49-50  worship is commanded in Scripture, we don't worship because 'we feel like it'.  "Feelings are completely unreliable in matters of faith"

"The Bible wastes very little time on the way we feel" ~Paul Scherer,
                                                                                The Word God Sent p166

 p 50  Worship centers us on the Word of God - the decisions of God.
The biblical word "judgement" means "the decisive word by which God straightens things out and puts things right."

p 51  The word "pray" in the Hebrew of Psalm 122 is the same as "ask" as we 'ask' for seconds at dinner or for directions when we are lost.

p 52  "Shalom, peace, is one of the richest words in the Bible"  "It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God's will being completed in us.  It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life."

p 52  Shalvah = security    the root meaning is leisure 
Security of being at home in a history that has the cross of Christ at its center.
"It is the leisure of the person who knows that everything is all right because God is over us, with us, and for us in Jesus Christ."
"It is the leisure of the person who knows that every moment of our existence is at the disposal of God, lived under the mercy of God."

Lines of Truth (3)

Chapter 3     Providence           Psalm 121

Times of trouble are inevitable - we will need help.

p.37  A look to the 'hills' ends in disappointment - help comes from the Creator... not the creation.

p 38  "No literature is more realistic and honest in facing the harsh facts of life than the Bible."

p 39  The only serious mistake we can make as Christians is the one Psalm 121 prevents - the mistake of supposing that God's interest in us waxes and wanes in response to our spiritual temperature.

p. 40  "Psalm 121 says that the same faith that works in the big things works in the little things."

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Lines of Truth (2)

  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson is a study through several Psalms that are known as "The Song of Ascents", specifically Psalm 120 through 134. 

Chapter 2 - Repentance - Psalm 120

p 21  A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way.
Psalm 120 is the song of such a person - the cry of pain that penetrates through despair & stimulates a new beginning ~ a journey to God which becomes a life of peace.

p 24  "The truth about what is wrong with the world is that I and the neighbor sitting beside me have sinned in refusing to let God be for us, over us and in us.  The truth about what is at the center of our lives and of our history is that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins and raised from the tomb for our salvation and that we can participate in new life as we believe in him, accept his mercy, respond to his love, attend to his commands."

p 25-26  Repentance is not an emotion.  It is not feeling sorry for your sins.  It is a decision.  Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become His pilgrim in the path of peace.

p 29  Repentance is the first word in Christian immigration and sets us on the way to traveling in the light. It is a rejection that is also an acceptance, a leaving that develops into an arriving, a no to the world that is a yes to God.

In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.  ~Psalm 120:1
If I am honest - I know that only the Lord will ALWAYS answer when I cry out to Him. 

Lines of Truth

I am a collector of words... I love books, and I love to make notes when I read especially marvelous books.  There is something about the copying or re-writing of things that strike a chord that seems almost impossible to resist.  As such, I have pages of notes, journal books, and random single sheets of paper floating about that contain words and phrases - snippets of wisdom - verses of scripture - lines from books - some verbatim quotes, some paraphrases. 
There are times when I am utterly convinced that the simple act of putting pen to paper to personally scribe the wisdom I hope to add to my already cluttered brain will make the difference.  Sometimes it does... sometimes it doesn't.  There are days when the scrawl is illegible and days when the loops and flow of ink are beautiful.  I've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

I have decided that I'm going to share my collected lines from  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson, as I go along through the book.  I failed when I attempted to blog through Ann Voskamp's book because I was attempting to answer questions in a reader's guide.  I think that it was because I wasn't simply going with what I felt was important - if God is dealing with me over something, or trying to teach me a lesson... that is what I will be drawn to write down.  In the act of typing/writing these again, perhaps they will etch deeper into my labyrinth of gray matter and remain.

Chapter 1 - Discipleship
**note - some things are directly quoted, others are paraphrased or my take - page #'s are noted where I have them in my notes.
- harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once - the assumption that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently  (pg 11)
- there is a great market for religious experience - but there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue and little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in holiness  (pg 12)
- "The essential thing 'in heave and earth' is... that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." ~Friedrich Nietzche (pg 13)

Disciple - people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ
Pilgrim - people who spend our lives going someplace ~ going to God by the path of Jesus.

Musing about life

I've been thinking a lot lately about life...specifically my life (and by extension my family's life).  I've also been doing a bit more reading than usual, even for me.  I have finished a few books in the last week or so, and am working through two different Bible study books right now.
I've also been spending some time poking around various blogs, some of the 'mommy' variety, a few homeschooling ones, the occasional sewing find, a bunch of 'frugal/money' type, and most importantly, several that are devoted to God's truth being shared for women specifically.
God is really speaking to me in a lot of areas right now and it feels a bit overwhelming and chaotic on the surface, but deep down in my heart I feel peaceful, loved and cared for ...like a small, beloved child being taught important things.
I have often felt that my life is sort of in a series of boxes.  Each related, but distinct and generally separated on some level from the rest.  I know this is not a truth per se, but just a general feeling of how things flow at various times and seasons for me.
I am first and foremost a follower of Christ.  Stumblingly, imperfectly, forgiven and starting again daily I seek to live in God's will for my life and bring Him glory.
This has not always been the case, even though I was saved (born again, redeemed, etc. choose your favorite term) as a child - I think I was about 8 or 10 years old - I have not always lived my faith.  This is not a fact I am proud of by any stretch, but it is a fact nonetheless.  By God's amazing grace and faithfulness, I found my way back about 9 or 10 years ago and have been blessed by a steady growth of my faith and strengthening of all I believe as I study the Bible and draw closer to my Savior.  I have also been blessed beyond measure to see 3 of our children and my husband come to faith in Christ during the last 9 years also.
Secondly I am a beloved wife to an awesome man and a (mostly) devoted mother to my terrific children.  These two roles are my highest calling and dearest ministry on the planet.
I also home educate our youngest two children, so I am a teacher.  I am a student in that I try to read/learn new things regularly.  I am a daughter.  I am a friend.  I am a quilter and seamstress.  I am an aspiring cook/baker.  I am the acting CFO of our family life.  I am generally the caretaker of the furry creatures that love us.  I am a less than stellar house-keeper (though I try to be better all the time).  I am passionately politically conservative and incorrect. I am a believer in absolute truth and see things very often in terms of right and wrong.  I am aspiring to become a better steward and more frugal in our finances and living.  I am a very slow and not very committed runner.
I am many things and yet I am just one.... me.
As random as all this may seem, it is all part of a process I am working through to attempt to un-compartmentalize (is that a word?) my life.  I don't like fragments generally.  I want to seamlessly live a life that is pleasing to God while fulfilling all the work He has set before me.   I don't want to miss His best for me because I am chasing loose ends flapping in the breeze of my life.
Much of my studies and reading lately have focused on truly trusting God...with everything.  I have a sense of being on the brink of something, yet have no idea what it may be.  Sort of like standing at a cross-road or at the edge of a staircase, but I can't see either road or step.  It's weird, exciting, terrifying, and yet I'm not scared.  I'm more anxiously excited to see what God is about to do.

I have learned a few things recently that struck me as profound.

• God has a perfect plan and it will not be thwarted by anything I do or do not do
• He can use me for His purposes if I am willing and obedient.
• His ways are not my ways and how He will accomplish something is probably not going to be the way I expect or would even choose.
• He can use something we see as dreadful to accomplish something wonderful.
• He sees what I will become and that is like Christ.  (How cool is THAT!?!)
• God loves me...completely... totally...unconditionally... now. (That one is really beyond amazing!)
• Jeremiah 29:11 is true even when I have no idea what is happening or will happen next.

 Blessings on the journey ~
  

Range of Emotion

I've been reading this site for a while ~ Holy Experience.  Ann makes me think, reflect, often cry.  God uses her words to strike deep chords that resonate.
Some people have such a gift with words.  There are so many words rushing about cyberspace and not all of them are worth the time to read, but Ann's words are worth the time and then some.