Live So simple, yet so hard sometimes. I have been asked to choose, to accept what is already mine, what has already been given to me, all that I need to do is reach out and accept it. Life... Life in the here and now. No worries about tomorrow, no stressing the past. Just LIVE.
Our small group will be looking at Jeremiah 29: 4-14 this week, and if I am honest I will tell you that up until this week I have been irritated with this passage (or more specifically, verse 11). It's often handed out in bad times as 'Read Jeremiah 29:11' for the promise that no matter what bad situation you are in, God has a plan for our welfare, hope and a future. This is I admit is a comforting thought, however, taken out of context by so many. This is from passage where God is speaking through his prophet to Jews who were sent into exile. He is asking them to build houses, to enter relationship with the people in their new city, to have children, in essence... he is asking them to LIVE. I imagine that they must have been thinking, this is temporary, this won't last forever, why settle down here? Why build relationships? We we will be going home soon... but then God steps in.
'When 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me, and find Me when you search with your whole heart. I will be found by you'.I have been reading this passage once a day since last week... because it's one that I have always been irritated by. This is not God saying to us 'I have a plan for YOU, to prosper YOU, to give YOU a hope and a future... This is God saying, I have a plan for my people, and it struck me this week, that I am a part of his people, I am a citizen of his Kingdom, he has a plan to give my Kingdom a hope and a future. Let's not kid ourselves, during that 70 years did no one die? Did no one suffer? How can we hold onto a promise that is not really a promise for our own welfare but for the welfare of the Kingdom? God has a plan for us as his people, he has a plan to prosper his people and give his people a hope and a future... does that mean that part of his plan isn't going to mean pain for me? I don't know. Could the life of my son better serve the Kingdom if he is taken from me too early? His plan, his ways are not always our own... therefore, the promise, can not mean me personally. His plan for our prosperity cannot be for me, BUT, his plan, his ultimate plan will be fulfilled and be for good and hope and a future. This we can hold onto... this we know, that if we give it up, follow him, ultimately, no matter what happens to us here on earth, he has our best interests at heart. He has a plan for us, for his people, for His Kingdom that lives for eternity. Does this sometimes mean suffering? Yeah, sadly that is a part of life here on earth since Genesis 3. What he asks of us during our time here, our time in exile so to speak, it to LIVE, to move in, build homes, relationships, to pray for the place we live, to care for the people around us, to look after the place where we are. To Live...
I have not been 'living'... I have been stressing the past, worrying about the future, bemoaning the burdens placed on us, and somewhere in there I have ceased to LIVE. So, I will give it up... all of it... I will let go, and I will trust that God knows where we are going and all I need to do is follow him.
I made this decision a few years ago, too. When dealing with the likelihood of losing Malcolm. Every day you wake up and, after reassuring yourself that your child is still alive, worry that today might be the last. And in my case I had the lovely 'help' of doctors feeling it was their duty to remind me that my child was probably going to die soon and had outlived any reasonable life span anyway. Maybe they felt I was in denial because I was enjoying having him alive. Anyway, I read blogs of friends who had lost their children with similar issues, and it was a wake up call for me. Yes, Malcolm was going to be sick. Yes, some day (Unknown to me or anyone else) God would take him home I would be shattered and empty) but I wasn't going to live in my mourning clothes every day. I was going to go back to enjoying Malcolm and not finding new ways to say goodbye to him or cling with desperation to every memory, terrified I would forget. It has been such a relief. Thank you for your insights, Laurie, and for the reminder especially that God has bigger plans and we are a small part of his Kingdom. Starting with this coffee in my hand, my messy house, and plans for "Tiny Twirlers" this morning, picking up Dana's replacement glasses this afternoon, checking mail and facebook, guiding the girls' education, planning for Hannah Joy's birthday which is FINALLY coming close (she's only planned for it for 12 months), and drinking more coffee, I'll live WITH ya. OK? :+)
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie;
ReplyDeleteI read this last week and have had to take time to think about my reply. Since I found you on facebook last fall I have been following your life. We had no idea little Josh had health problems until he was going into surgery. I still get a lump in my throat when I think about it. Be assured we were praying for you all but I didn't have words to say, not ever having to go through what you were going through...
I want you to know how proud I am of who you are today.
When I think of the adorable little girl I taught in junior church running around with Michael, or flying through the air off the desk, hoping my son Steve would catch you. [Praise God he always did] I think it was called playing 'airplane'
Now all grown up, married to a pastor, mother of two and a successful career, LIVING through the all the things we go through in this fallen world.
I can identify your questioning those 'promises'. I remember being told to claim certain scripture passages for my situations [Prov.22:6,etc.] But as I learned more about God and matured in my understanding of His Word I realize,like you, they are not always 'promises' for me personally. What I am trying to say is, it has taken me sooo much longer to learn these things. Wish I had learned them when I was young, but maybe you are learning this because of the suffering you are going through.
We have just finished Discipleship Explored and it is basically a study on Philipians. There are so many things in this small epistle that Paul wrote from prison. He says we should rejoice..
chap 3:1 & 4:4.] Rejoice in the Lord! not in our circumstances... but because of what Christ has done for us now.. and in our future.
There is much more if you have time, read it. I hope I am not sounding 'preachy' because I haven't walked in your shoes but just want to encourage you to keep on Living. Chapter 4:9 the God of Peace will be with you and [v 19] He will meet all your needs. I know these promise
Ken just called me to look at our neighbours yard. Seven deer.. You could come and bring your camera...
Luv and prayers
Mary Salzman