I enjoy writing this blog. I've been writing with nearly daily persistence for two years until a month or so ago when I just did not have much to say. My most persistent desire in writing is first and foremost to "do no harm" because I have myself been harmed by people who thought they were helping while inflicting rather a lot of pain.
That does not mean I don't understand that some of the things I have learned (with much pain, wrestling, and trial and error) are hard to hear or difficult to reconcile with the messages either of the World or of those "church" people who are inwardly focused and feel they must have everything conform to their own understanding in order to feel safe.
But the more non-conventional my understanding, the more carefully I tread. I also remind folks, no matter what commentary or blog or comments you are reading, always do so asking God for discernment and wisdom and don't get hung up on one small thing that feels "off" to you. I never claim to write by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, only to be trying to be the worker bee using the talents God has given me in ways that are His.
So a time of sporadic writing resulted recently, not because I could not find something to say, but because I was not finding anything worth the risk of spewing my own words rather than being patient and humble in trying to find words pleasing to God.
Now, today I'm excited about a new area of pondering that is giving me some ideas on how I can help the women and men who volunteer in my areas of prison ministry. We have this common problem in prison ministry: on the one hand we have very kind, wanting-to-help kinds of folks who need to be very clear about how they can help and how they can't help and how to stay on their own side of that equation. And on the other side we have a large population of folks who are frequently very experienced in (and sometimes unaware of) their habit of ignoring or not respecting
boundaries. Ironically, in prison where we think of the concrete and concertina wire and bars that form extreme boundaries, personal boundaries are all too frequently breached with impunity as part of a compulsion to control the being or personhood of another.
So for those of you who like to "study ahead" I'm adding the new book to the "books" tab above. Over the next several days (assuming I stay in God's zone on this) I'll be writing about how often we fail to truly honor those we love the most when we fail to keep our support on the "praying side," honoring their personal space, their right to learn from mistakes (that sometimes we realize later are not mistakes from God's larger perspective) and to be more God-like in our relationships in general....you may be surprised by what I mean by that!
That does not mean I don't understand that some of the things I have learned (with much pain, wrestling, and trial and error) are hard to hear or difficult to reconcile with the messages either of the World or of those "church" people who are inwardly focused and feel they must have everything conform to their own understanding in order to feel safe.
But the more non-conventional my understanding, the more carefully I tread. I also remind folks, no matter what commentary or blog or comments you are reading, always do so asking God for discernment and wisdom and don't get hung up on one small thing that feels "off" to you. I never claim to write by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, only to be trying to be the worker bee using the talents God has given me in ways that are His.
So a time of sporadic writing resulted recently, not because I could not find something to say, but because I was not finding anything worth the risk of spewing my own words rather than being patient and humble in trying to find words pleasing to God.
Now, today I'm excited about a new area of pondering that is giving me some ideas on how I can help the women and men who volunteer in my areas of prison ministry. We have this common problem in prison ministry: on the one hand we have very kind, wanting-to-help kinds of folks who need to be very clear about how they can help and how they can't help and how to stay on their own side of that equation. And on the other side we have a large population of folks who are frequently very experienced in (and sometimes unaware of) their habit of ignoring or not respecting
boundaries. Ironically, in prison where we think of the concrete and concertina wire and bars that form extreme boundaries, personal boundaries are all too frequently breached with impunity as part of a compulsion to control the being or personhood of another.
So for those of you who like to "study ahead" I'm adding the new book to the "books" tab above. Over the next several days (assuming I stay in God's zone on this) I'll be writing about how often we fail to truly honor those we love the most when we fail to keep our support on the "praying side," honoring their personal space, their right to learn from mistakes (that sometimes we realize later are not mistakes from God's larger perspective) and to be more God-like in our relationships in general....you may be surprised by what I mean by that!
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