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Friday, February 14, 2014

Something I have never written about...

Before I had Millie, I used to tell people that My College Fantasy had become My Current Reality...but it was more of a nightmare.  I lived in a Boys Dormitory.  Noisy, chaotic, pranks constantly, running around in underwear, and of course...the smells.  Those smells that come from sweat, showering without using shampoo or soap, body changes and of course...excretion.

Excretion...yep, that's what this post is about.  Hang with me, I promise it will be worth it.

One of the tools that We teach people to asses the health of their spiritual life is affectionately called MRS.GREN.  It is the simple stages of life for any living organism.

  • Movement-Respiration-Sensitivity-Growth-Reproduction-Excretion-Nutrition

If it's good enough for 8th Grade Biology, it's surely good enough for me!
It's funny, having a room of grown men and women, many with advanced degrees, still snickering when we say the word Excretion...all the mom's usually roll their eyes!

What do we mean by Excretion?
Glad you asked. Simply this: The act of Lament and Repent

Simple?  HOW exact does one do this, well?

VERY GOOD QUESTION!  Here is my conclusion.  Lamenting is the act of grieving what we die to and Repentance is literally a change of mind, which changes the course of our actions.  Let's Break it down (yes, you may beat box if you'd like...ok, that's enough)

Lament
If lamenting would have been a course in College, I would have taken it.  A few times.  And then, I would've taught it.  I am, what some may call, an intense person.  I test as a Base Prophet on the Five Fold and am an INTP on the Meyers-Briggs.  {If that is all jibberish to you, then just believe me when I say I can be intense.}  Lamenting, is a learned art, it truly is.  I think I did it accidentally, or naturally for my whole life.  But it wasn't until I was 30 that I learned how to and the importance of Lamenting.  It is literally the act of Grieving.  Giving something it's due respect and the space to mourn that is required.  We do this for people, for animals, for tv shows!  Why then, do most of us not do it for relationships, dreams, personal desires, our hopes for our children?  Christ told us to "Pick up our cross daily and follow him".  Where do we think he's going with that cross?  The Mall?  Church? Bible Study?  He's going to DIE!  It is a daily call to die.  To our relationships, our dreams, our personal desires, our hopes for our children.  It is not up to us, nor about us, and we live in the tension of the in-between where bad things happen to all of us. And that, is painful.  You are lying, if you say it isn't.  You are delusional if you continually say it will only make you stronger ( which is true, but stop saying it...all the time...please).  We need to grieve the things that we die to.  They don't die, they aren't on that cross, we are.  We are choosing to die to those things.  Give yourself time to Grieve, I don't believe that God intended for us to ignore those feelings that he put inside of us.  I think it's a gift, so that we know how much it means to Him!

Repent
Now what?  Am I just supposed to Lament forever, become one of THOSE people?! (tempting) No, we are supposed to Repent.  Metanoia - a change of mind.  Before the Spine could be explained, physicians referred to the Noose Man.  Literally they pictured that there was a Noose around your neck with the knot at the base of the head and your body "hung" from it.  (Think more puppet that hanging death).  As the Knot was turned (by the decisions of the mind) the body had know choice to but to follow.  That is where the word Metanoia comes into play.  A changing of the mind, is not simply just that, it means that the body (life) will follow.  You change your direction, trajectory, way of life.  If that seems to be something that is easier said than done, we have another tool called the Learning Circle that we use to help people do just that, Hear from the Lord and Do something about it.  Repent and Believe.

You see, that is the Beauty and Joy of this whole process.  We are called to follow Christ into his death, which means that we get the resurrection too!  It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  Yes, you may be called to die to your own personal dreams, but He will raise into a dream that is more than you can imagine or hope for.  Yes, you may have to die what you hoped your children would become, but He has greater things for them, and He has what they need to bring those to reality.  We are called to die to ourselves and live a resurrected life in Him!  It's a beautiful exchange.

So here's the challenge:
-Do you need to lament an area in your life you have had to die to?  It may be something recent or something a long time ago?
-Do you need to repent?  Have you been lamenting long enough and need to have a change of mind, and hear where the Lord wants to lead you next?
-Do you need to make a choice to trust what He has for you, is better than anything we could want for ourselves?
-Do you need to Trust that if He started a Good Work in you, He will be Faithful to complete it?

You are loved.

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely LOVE your writing tone! Haha. Brilliant. No one ever talks about the Heptagon!

    ReplyDelete