WWJDWTC – Week 7
Haven’t updated much about this. Fellow syncrobloggers have posted about what Jesus would do with the church- and then go out and do it. Glen Hagger on his blog Re-dreaming the Dream, asked today to share our reflections on this time we have spent. I started here on October 15th with my first post. Mostly about walking away from the wreck and walking out into the unknown of what my life is going to be now. You can link to my past posts if you want to read about this portion of my life. Just click on the WWJDWTC link at the bottom of this post.
So my reflections: I could say that it has been a wonderful, spinning, fast, miracle laden, signs and wonders kind of existence since then.
But I would be lying.
The truth is that it has been mind numbingly slow. We have had a few wonderful kingdom-kind-of-conversations with friends and our children. I got to feed a few of my daughters friends one evening. Some encouraging posts from the blogging world came in the past weeks. I got to sit by the ocean for a few days. But that is it. Looking back I can see bits of Father’s grace weaving their way in and out of our lives. Slow. Almost seemingly deliberate. No hurry. No immediacy.
See, in my old church (CLB) we were busy. We were always going to this or that. Most nights were full. Some with good things – I’m not discounting those. But some of it was sorely un-needed. But we were busy and I got used to feeling good about being busy. We were all about “Building the Kingdom of God”(you have to say it in your best impression of Sponge Bob Hall Monitor voice). There were prophecies about it each new year how this New Year would be AMAZING. But it never turned amazing. Just the weaving of God through our lives. But that never seemed enough. So the next year we just moved on to “Another Amazing Year Where God Would Do Amazing Things.” (come on – do it in the right voice). Trouble is that no one had the guts to ask what had happened to the previous year and why it mostly sucked with regard to the prophecies and except for the weaving of Father’s thread of grace that always prevailed we would be lost.
I grew tired of the “Another Amazing Year” prophecies even before we left. But I did not know what to believe in their place.
Until now.
Now with this mind numbingly slow season of life in the Kingdom of Father I find that the bits of threads of his grace being woven in and out of my life and the lives of those around me are precious. They are really what it is all about. They are the “What Would Jesus Do With the Church” and what He has always done with the Church - lived his life in and through us.
Maybe at the end we will see the tapestry of our lives….and the thing that will stand out – the thing that we will probably miss if we don’t pay attention to it now – is the brilliant hand of Father as he weaves.
And that is what I believe now.
Friday, November 30, 2007
WWJDWTC - Week 7 Threads of Grace
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6 comments:
Have you read Wayne's blog today? He's talking about the slowness of things too. It gets a bit tedious sometimes, doesn't it. Sometimes, when I'm feeling overwhelmed and fed up to the back teeth, and having one of those blow-out kinda moments that take a few hours to recover from (thankfully they don't happen very often anymore), I will shake my fist at God and accuse him of just sitting on his behind and not doing anything. As if he's doing it to annoy me or something :) He just takes so long to do everything sometimes!
But it's worth it. But still ... doesn't he know how much in a hurry we are ?? ;)
Sue, I had been so busy that I had not gotten to Wayne's blog yet. Was kind of saving the best for last last night when the niquil kicked in. Will read it today though. We were talking at the table last night with two good friends about what the great commission means in our lives. How do we go about making disciples. Are we all to be Paul's or does Jesus only call a few Paul's and the rest of us "as we are going" which is the real reading of "Go and make disciples" that Jesus gave the 12? And then what does that really look like when you both work a 40 hour work week and have kids and no church to make it easy? Another blog I think.
for those of you who don't subscribe to Wayne's blog, Sue was refering to this post: http://lifestream.org/blog/?p=487
Tapestry is precisely the way to convey this in my view. When my family and I lived in the Middle East we often had the opportunity of watching weavers make the beautiful Persian carpets. It is a slow and painstaking process of one individual thread at a time. When it begins there is no pattern, there is no color, no depth of imagery, nothing. But over time the weaver turns these individual strands of wool, silk, and cotton into an elaborate and beautiful carpet that has warm colors, a lovely pattern and an almost three dimensional look.
I believe our lives are the same. It is the slow weaving of Father, one strand of sorrow along with another strand of joy with yet again another strand of brokenness until ultimately we look like Jesus. Many carpets take years to make, so for humans the process is years long....our life time.
Good thoughts on your post. Thanks.
Barb~ Thanks for writing so eloquently on this journey that so many of us share. It seems like you have been reading my mail!"
I have been reading your blog over the last few days. Although I am still "in church" I have experienced some of the same things over the years and I am determined not to ever fall back into that same trap of trying to make God more pleased with me by the things I do. I am convinced that grace is just as important in the day-to-day as it is in our salvation.
I am thankful that the Father is not in a hurry in forming me into the image of Jesus. Knowing this helps me when I get impatient with myself or with others. I see it as being on a journey, taking the back roads where I can see all the interesting things along the way. Sometimes the road winds, sometimes it's straight, and sometimes it gets so dark I can barely see. But I know that my Abba is with me on this adventure.
May the Father bless you on your journey.
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