Walk with P & me
11
It’s Saturday and we’re at the Bou. My “Mary” and “Martha” (Patti and Gloria) and
I were going over the Us in Him plans and just encouraging one another.
What’s is interesting is though we all know the task is
daunting, when we’re together and trusting Him, is seems less daunting. There was a serious joyfulness as we
discussed the “stuff” we needed to and the personal sharing that flowed through
the conversation was a real blessing.
We realized that when we were focused on Him and honoring
Him and serving Him a great deal of the tension and anxiety about our
circumstances seemed to melt away. Some
might call it simply a distraction but in my experience distractions are not so,
well, comforting.
I realized how blessed I am to have brothers and sisters who
are supportive and willing to express their views honestly and lovingly. Patti, Glo, Sinclair, Jim and Bruce are just
a few of those He has brought alongside to help craft the work He has for us to
do. Many others, in various ways, also
provide griss for the mill even though I don’t think they are aware of it. It is a real blessing and comfort to not be
alone or even “in charge” of this.
One of the things that came to mind from our talk was that
we need to leave time and space for God to work among us. Sure, you need order and some kind of form
but sometimes that can hinder or inhibit attention to Him. I don’t want there to be a need for Him to
“intrude” if you will – rather I want there to be ample opportunity for Him to
do whatever He wants to do.
I am learning my limits and interestingly enough I am
learning that although I am capable and skilled in doing this or that – He has
this or that for others to do – not me.
Even when it comes to the “vision” for the group I am learning to shut
up and listen and wait. That used to
frustrate me because I was the “man with the plan.” Now, I am just “a man in the plan” and it is
nothing short of wonderful.
I got some good feedback from one of the “come alongside to
help” people that made me aware of being too definitive and too narrow about
some things. Not doctrinal essentials
but other peripheral stuff. Re-reading
what I sent him to review I saw his point.
It wasn’t that what I had written was not right – rather it was not
written well. It built a fence that
didn’t need to be there.
I am drawn to think about what the Lord said:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light." (Mat
11:29-30)
There is a certain legalism that can creep into any work –
even for Him. It’s that hellish demand
that one get everything right, that one be successful. It’s that carnal legalism that imposes the
criteria of the culture upon the work of the Kingdom. That’s the ungainly and oppressing “burden”
that keeps wantng to climb on your back.
Just before verse 29 in Matt. 11 the Lord says:
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no
one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Mat 11:27)
What I have to keep in mind is that when the Lord says, “all
things,” He means all things. Not just
cosmic things, not just theological things, not just high and lofty things –
but “all things” like Us in Him – and every detail in and of it.
I don’t have a sense of “letting let go,” which is
nice. I do have a sense of, “let someone
else.” I wonder if in this type of
effort what we come to see as “my problem,” isn’t simply that we are
doing what He has prepared someone else to do.
It’s only a problem because we’re trying to do it and keeping His guy or
gal from their work.
That moves my mind to Paul’s teaching:
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who
apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one
and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one
body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should
say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that
would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say,
"Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would
not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where
would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be
the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each
one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?
(1Co 12:11-19)
Pray that this lesson will not be lost on any of us. Pray that we will celebrate, be grateful for
and make use of all the body parts He provides.
Pray especially that we each remember and comfort each other with, “If
all were a single member, where would the body be?”
Patti and Michael Sanders
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