3 a: to put into the possession of another for his or her use b (1): to administer as a sacrament (2): to administer as a medicine c: to commit to another as a trust or responsibility and usually for an expressed reason
I've been thinking about what responsibilities we have to use the gifts we are given. In the passage I am studying this week in Philippians, there is a lengthy passage that amounts to an If/Then statement. My own summary of the passage to help me remember it was If Received, Then Give.
If you receive kindness, give it to someone else for his or her use. If someone overlooks your hasty tone of voice and gives you a smile, respond in kind. I've found this works in a negative way as well. This afternoon, B did not want to get dressed for soccer. While she loves sports, the only time she wears shorts or pants is when required. To say that she prefers skirts and skorts is an understatement. Today it was cold enough that she needed to not only wear the detested shorts, but two shirts as well to practice. As my tension escalated, so did hers. Soon, our emotions were high and our voices were raised. When I asked her to stop yelling at me, she asked me to stop yelling at her. While I wasn't actually yelling at that moment, she had a point. She had been giving me exactly what she received. What a poor example I set sometimes.
Yet the proverb tells us to train a child in the way she should go and when she is old, she will not depart from it. I once heard someone point out that this proverb does say she won't depart from it in high school - it says when she is OLD. So I'm hopeful that when I give my daughters kind words, a well-cooked meal, a hug when they come home from school (things that they each take for granted right now), that one day they will give these gifts - or others - to someone they know and love.
About this time last year, I was talking with A about our gifts and how she uses the gifts she has to bless other people. She and I talked about how great it would be if when she gets to heaven and God asks for her box of gifts, she's able to hand over an empty box because she's used up all of her gifts by pouring them out for other people. I hope that image stays with her like it has stayed with me.
I hope A is not the only one to arrive in heaven with her box of gifts empty. I hope I won't hoard my gifts out of fear of using them. I've spent some time this week contemplating my weaknesses. It's hard to assess them objectively, but it's perhaps even harder to assess my gifts objectively. So I'll just try for now to give back what I've received, starting with words.
Showing posts with label philippians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philippians. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
POINT
1 a (1): an individual detail : item (2): a distinguishing detail (tact is one of her strong points) b: the most important essential in a discussion or matter (missed the whole point of the joke) c: cogency
It's funny how God will use whatever means necessary to drive a point home. I am participating in an art group that is designed to bring out creativity. We met for the first time two weeks ago and were encouraged then to journal as a part of this process. I've not been doing that regularly, unless you count blogging (which I do). But I have done my assignment for the first week, which was to create an invitation from God. I get the feeling these invitations have most often taken the form of visual art in past groups, but as I thought about how God would invite me to do this study, a short story was what emerged. I could very clearly see myself being taken through a series of rooms, so I wrote about that experience. The last room I was taken to and through was fear. It was the most difficult room to leave and it was the final step of the invitation. In order to make sure I was clear on this detail of leaving fear behind, God has used another venue to hammer this home.
I'm also studying the book of Philippians with a group of women. It's an inductive Bible study, and I love seeing God lead me to the point he wants to make with me, not the point he made with someone else when they read the passage before they wrote their book. Last week was a shining example of that when what I learned was all about being bold and courageous, even if I couldn't work my way up to fearless and another friend's takeaway was about how to be joyful in a peaceful and calm manner, no matter what binds you.
Even though I haven't been journaling explicitly about creativity in my life, I think my recent posts are telling. Most of them describe something that would fit in one of the rooms I walked through in my invitation.
In my room of comfort, you'd find me reading like I described inFRIEND.
In my room of busyness, you'd find me stressed about wasted TIME and fuming at myself over a LOST letter.
In my room of knowledge, you'd find me examining a time of TRANSITION, while not willing to plunge headlong into it.
In my room of fear, you might find me trying to move FORWARD in the right DIRECTION, fueled by REST and hoping there was strength, boldness and creativity within me waiting to MANIFEST.
As always, God's been at work on me whether I'm aware of it or not and he's doing a good job of driving this particular point home. As I worked on my Bible study today, the word I spent my time on was hope. Let's see where he takes me with that one...
It's funny how God will use whatever means necessary to drive a point home. I am participating in an art group that is designed to bring out creativity. We met for the first time two weeks ago and were encouraged then to journal as a part of this process. I've not been doing that regularly, unless you count blogging (which I do). But I have done my assignment for the first week, which was to create an invitation from God. I get the feeling these invitations have most often taken the form of visual art in past groups, but as I thought about how God would invite me to do this study, a short story was what emerged. I could very clearly see myself being taken through a series of rooms, so I wrote about that experience. The last room I was taken to and through was fear. It was the most difficult room to leave and it was the final step of the invitation. In order to make sure I was clear on this detail of leaving fear behind, God has used another venue to hammer this home.
I'm also studying the book of Philippians with a group of women. It's an inductive Bible study, and I love seeing God lead me to the point he wants to make with me, not the point he made with someone else when they read the passage before they wrote their book. Last week was a shining example of that when what I learned was all about being bold and courageous, even if I couldn't work my way up to fearless and another friend's takeaway was about how to be joyful in a peaceful and calm manner, no matter what binds you.
Even though I haven't been journaling explicitly about creativity in my life, I think my recent posts are telling. Most of them describe something that would fit in one of the rooms I walked through in my invitation.
In my room of comfort, you'd find me reading like I described in
In my room of busyness, you'd find me stressed about wasted TIME and fuming at myself over a LOST letter.
In my room of knowledge, you'd find me examining a time of TRANSITION, while not willing to plunge headlong into it.
In my room of fear, you might find me trying to move FORWARD in the right DIRECTION, fueled by REST and hoping there was strength, boldness and creativity within me waiting to MANIFEST.
As always, God's been at work on me whether I'm aware of it or not and he's doing a good job of driving this particular point home. As I worked on my Bible study today, the word I spent my time on was hope. Let's see where he takes me with that one...
Monday, February 9, 2009
MANIFEST
: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying
Some words have a way of settling into my heart and taking root there. Last week, the three words that spent time weaving themselves into my thoughts were manifest, bold and courageous. (I'm studying Philippians and Paul talks about how his imprisonment has made the gospel manifest through other Christians who have become bold and courageous after seeing him.)
I like the verb manifest. To me, it implies something that is already there, but works its way out and becomes visible, like a genetic trait that manifests itself at a certain age. I like the words bold and courageous as well. One translation used the word fearless instead of bold. That word doesn't appeal to me as much because it feels so unattainable. I can be bold in spite of being fearful. I can act courageous even if I don't feel it. But being fearless means an absence of fear - that's a tough one. It's not just acting a certain way, but feeling an absence of something.
So while I'd like to imagine boldness and courage manifesting themselves naturally from who I am, I don't think it's quite that simple. I'm not sure those two traits are buried deep within me, waiting to become evident. Instead, I have to cultivate these two traits like they are a precious and rare seed that has been planted and may not survive without the proper care. It shouldn't really be that hard. Boldness and courage are traits I see and love in my daughters. B's been bold from the day she was born and K is bold to the point of disrespect (something we're working on). A's courage was evident in her willingness to try out for The Nutcracker - she feared failing, but wanted it badly enough to try. I love this about them and want them to always be bold in being who they were made to be.
I wonder if, like my daughters, I once had seeds of boldness and courage within me. Did I hide them from the light and starve them of food and water? Or were they never there? It seems like it will be harder to plant them in the fallow field of my heart than in the fertile heart of a young girl. But maybe if I water them and tend them daily, they will eventually become present enough to be manifest in my life.
Some words have a way of settling into my heart and taking root there. Last week, the three words that spent time weaving themselves into my thoughts were manifest, bold and courageous. (I'm studying Philippians and Paul talks about how his imprisonment has made the gospel manifest through other Christians who have become bold and courageous after seeing him.)
I like the verb manifest. To me, it implies something that is already there, but works its way out and becomes visible, like a genetic trait that manifests itself at a certain age. I like the words bold and courageous as well. One translation used the word fearless instead of bold. That word doesn't appeal to me as much because it feels so unattainable. I can be bold in spite of being fearful. I can act courageous even if I don't feel it. But being fearless means an absence of fear - that's a tough one. It's not just acting a certain way, but feeling an absence of something.
So while I'd like to imagine boldness and courage manifesting themselves naturally from who I am, I don't think it's quite that simple. I'm not sure those two traits are buried deep within me, waiting to become evident. Instead, I have to cultivate these two traits like they are a precious and rare seed that has been planted and may not survive without the proper care. It shouldn't really be that hard. Boldness and courage are traits I see and love in my daughters. B's been bold from the day she was born and K is bold to the point of disrespect (something we're working on). A's courage was evident in her willingness to try out for The Nutcracker - she feared failing, but wanted it badly enough to try. I love this about them and want them to always be bold in being who they were made to be.
I wonder if, like my daughters, I once had seeds of boldness and courage within me. Did I hide them from the light and starve them of food and water? Or were they never there? It seems like it will be harder to plant them in the fallow field of my heart than in the fertile heart of a young girl. But maybe if I water them and tend them daily, they will eventually become present enough to be manifest in my life.
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