Driven Out
I appreciate Sarah Parsons' thought that we don't have to want to go into the wilderness...we just have to "open [ourselves] to the possibility that some chaos, some wild energy, lives within [us], and God will show [us] how to find it." (p. 18)
It is when I'm pushed out of my comfort zone that I discover new things about myself, some welcome, some that are not so welcome. But then I have the opportunity to grow, and learn to trust God more with my life. I can't say that I'm always good at trusting God with these things though. Maybe Lent is a good thing for me, like it or not. Where are the places you are being pushed out of your comfort zone?
Brian
It is when I'm pushed out of my comfort zone that I discover new things about myself, some welcome, some that are not so welcome. But then I have the opportunity to grow, and learn to trust God more with my life. I can't say that I'm always good at trusting God with these things though. Maybe Lent is a good thing for me, like it or not. Where are the places you are being pushed out of your comfort zone?
Brian
posted by Melanie at 3:48 PM
3 Comments:
Q: Where are the places I am being pushed out of my comfort zone?
A: Writing my comments is way out of my comfort zone.
Comment: It forces me to organize my thought and put them into written words.
I have recently been investing in a community of homeless men and women. When visiting them this weekend, I came across one of my new friends who was badly beaten. He may no longer have vision out of his left eye. When we asked him about the incident that caused this beating, he shared with us that the very people we had just been hanging out with and offering our books and food to were the ones who had hurt him.
It has caused a tension in me. How do you love those who are hurting others? How do you show equality in hospitality to those who are aggressive and those who are taken advantage of. I thought that spending time with the homeless would put me out of my comfort zone, but I'm learning that loving others...really loving them, is the thing that is the most difficult. Our humanness lends itself to favoritism. I'm so thankful that God is not a God of "favorites." May we all learn to love like that.
Sitting still for 15 minutes! I took the phone off the hook and popped on the fire... I sat up so I wouldn't doze off... I love what Sarah writes about taking it one day at a time... Not expecting something profound the first few times...just listening, and then thinking about what kinds of thoughts come to mind...
I find life is Chaotic, and I think I have ADD, because my thoughts just whirl around (tornado was a good analogy, Bonnie) (You can see that in all my random comments and ellipses...) and Christ needs to be the center of that...that stillness at the vortex of a tornado...
So after 15 minutes, I felt the peacefulness I knew Christ would bring, but I also sensed being confronted with a new door that I'm opening, looking at something beyond...
I'm excited to give God this time for 40 days and see what He'll do with it! I'm excited to try this as a challenge, and am reading the scriptures also... not that I'm thrilled with Numbers :P
I've never "practiced" lent before...God wants this time from me... I know it! I need it! I know he will bless me for it in some way, but also make me see something I hadn't seen before...
Now I just need to remember to put the phone back on the hook!
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