I have been a little proud of my faith at times (OK, a lot proud), like an Olympic athlete or first round draft choice whose thousands of hours of practice and work have paid off in a big way. But faith really does not work like that. Imagine that, it is not really about me!
God pours faith and love and hope and joy into my life and too I often ignore it or even become a hybrid of a six armed goddess and the three "See No, Hear No, Speak No" chimps, stubbornly taking credit for all I do well and blaming others when things go wrong. Or I look in a mirror and tell lies about the beloved child of God who looks back. God IS love and always has plans for us to heal and grow, to give us the life God created us to live, a life of redemption, rehabilitation and restoration.
So faith is really not about what I do, but rather about who God is.
This is unlike nearly everything in the World so it takes some getting used to. But it is really very wonderful and freeing. I'm not regular in my devotional and prayer life: God helps with that (but gets all the credit!) I'm so busy I miss folks who need a few kind words or or help getting their jacket on: God helps with that. I'm so angry it is making my life miserable: God helps with that.
God does not ping me over the head with a celestial baseball bat to get my attention or sit me in corner with a dunce cap for all to see, because that is not God's nature. But God IS always attuned to the longings of our heart and our softest prayers (and our loudest prayers of despair and fear and even prayers we don't realize we are praying). So our smallest willingness to welcome God into our heart gets translated to little cracks where God's love pours in and expands.
We all have hearts four sizes too small, but God's love is our Miracle Grow. God has all we need and is all we need and provides all we need to begin the journey to recover from our pain and suffering, our lost and lonely condition. The Spirit of God teaches to embrace the person we were created to be: loved and loving, peace-filled and peaceful, cheerful and cheering, contented and hopeful, kind to ourselves and others, and daily fulfilling our purpose.
No earthly person needs to give us permission, no earthly power has authority over our soul, not any one of us is excluded from this amazing love. God loves you so very much!
Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. Romans 12:3
God pours faith and love and hope and joy into my life and too I often ignore it or even become a hybrid of a six armed goddess and the three "See No, Hear No, Speak No" chimps, stubbornly taking credit for all I do well and blaming others when things go wrong. Or I look in a mirror and tell lies about the beloved child of God who looks back. God IS love and always has plans for us to heal and grow, to give us the life God created us to live, a life of redemption, rehabilitation and restoration.
So faith is really not about what I do, but rather about who God is.
This is unlike nearly everything in the World so it takes some getting used to. But it is really very wonderful and freeing. I'm not regular in my devotional and prayer life: God helps with that (but gets all the credit!) I'm so busy I miss folks who need a few kind words or or help getting their jacket on: God helps with that. I'm so angry it is making my life miserable: God helps with that.
God does not ping me over the head with a celestial baseball bat to get my attention or sit me in corner with a dunce cap for all to see, because that is not God's nature. But God IS always attuned to the longings of our heart and our softest prayers (and our loudest prayers of despair and fear and even prayers we don't realize we are praying). So our smallest willingness to welcome God into our heart gets translated to little cracks where God's love pours in and expands.
We all have hearts four sizes too small, but God's love is our Miracle Grow. God has all we need and is all we need and provides all we need to begin the journey to recover from our pain and suffering, our lost and lonely condition. The Spirit of God teaches to embrace the person we were created to be: loved and loving, peace-filled and peaceful, cheerful and cheering, contented and hopeful, kind to ourselves and others, and daily fulfilling our purpose.
No earthly person needs to give us permission, no earthly power has authority over our soul, not any one of us is excluded from this amazing love. God loves you so very much!
Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. Romans 12:3
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