HAPPY NEW YEAR

“You will go out with joy and be led forth in peace.”

- The Bible, Isaiah 55

As 2011 draws to a close, I need to remember that I get to decide what heads into the next year with me and what doesn't. Like packing for an exotic trip to somewhere I've never been, some things will help me create a unique new experience. And some things are just plain old baggage. (I'm never gonna want to wear those old shoes!)  For a new year, joy and peace – good to bring. Blame and shame – not so much. Fresh hope and fresh faith – good to bring. Outdated ideas and beliefs, specific expectations of people – not so much. I get to decide what I'll bring to focus on, what I'll bring to think about, where I'll plan to spend my time. I am responsible for what I bring and what I leave behind. It's my choice. It's your choice too.  God says he can bring us out with joy and lead us forth in peace. 2012 could be the best year of our lives so far. Let's make it so.  

“Leave the Irreparable Past in His (God's) hands and step out into the

Irresistible Future with Him.” - Oswald Chambers (via my friend, Dave)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

FELIZ ANO NEUVO

Merry Christmas

As the night we celebrate Jesus' birth approaches, our sorrows and our capacity for joy increase.  The closer we get to enjoying what Jesus did for us, the more profound our personal woundedness appears.  Our hearts have fleeting glimpses of the perfection that we were created for, but our lives reflect our inability to live up  to our own ideals.  At my work we are slammed with phone calls and walk-ins.... "I need help".  "My daughter needs to talk to someone".  "My mother needs an assessment."  Our neediness becomes so apparent that it's like we're wearing it outside of our skin suddenly instead of just carrying it in our hearts.  "If only"....my mom hadn't done that. "If only"   .... my husband hadn't left me..  "If only".... I could have that one moment back when everything changed.


Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost.  You and me.  He came so that we would have LIFE and have it abundantly.  Not as the world around us says or does or gives back, but according His awesome power working in me to redeem and stabilize all the ups and down of living in a chaotic world.  


Jesus came to bring me into harmony and peace with God, my heavenly Father. To show and to state beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves me exactly as I am and all He wants from me is for me to love him back.  Exactly as I am.  And then he can take the most profound mess and restore beauty, wholeness, peace and yes, even happiness.  The absolute simplicity of it is almost too much to comprehend.  

BELIEVE IT!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

EMMANUEL!

JESUS IS BORN!  

Hope? .... or hype?

Last Sunday, Pastor Aaron introduced his sermon by asking, “Is hype hope?” “What's the difference?”   Hmmmm....... what  IS  the difference?

Hype says that if you buy a new car you'll drive (probably very fast) to places you've never been before and enter a whole new world of adventure, comfort and safety. (And in your  city commute, probably everybody will always let you in front of them.)

Hype says that if you buy a bigger house or upgrade your old one, you can impress your friends, maybe even make a whole new better class of friends, and increase your circle of influence.

Hype says that if you buy your kids the best toys and devices, dress them in Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch and send them to the best schools, you will raise stellar human beings.

Hype says that if you buy pricey beauty products and treatments, no one will believe your stated (or adjusted) age. And when you look younger, life will be better. (When you're in the over-50 crowd, does anybody really believe that you have naturally sun streaked voluminous hair? And perfect skin?  Or do you just look “high maintenance”?)  And do we really believe that wearing the right designer fragrance (priced per ounce) will tell our story better?

Happiness is hyped every day on TV and radio, in newspapers, magazines and on billboards, in computer pop-ups and Groupon deals, in political speeches and office presentations. And even though we might sometimes know better, we are actually caused to stop and wonder, what would my life be like if I had that? Or did that? And sometimes, to even invest before we figure it out.

One study says that if you earn approximately $40,000 a year you are comfortable. (Actually the study said $30,000 but can that be right?) After that, more money does not make you more happy but actually brings you more stress. You and I are in the top 10 wealthiest people in the world. All political and economic beliefs and concerns aside, am I really in the top ten happiest?

At this time of year in our North American world, every charity is collecting. Every brand name and every retailer is marketing. Every extra looney I give or spend could be given or spent 100 times over. I'm wondering, am I really investing in things that will make me happy? Or am I overtaken by hype?

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!   Jehovah Shalom has sent his Son!

Joy is peace dancing.  Peace is joy resting.

November 9, 2011

Last Thursday, November 4, a woman drove her car to the Port Mann bridge, stopped and stepped out into harm's way. In one instant she exchanged her earthly coat for her eternal one. No one will ever really know what she was thinking as she was deciding to stop. Is it possible she was feeling unimportant, that her life didn't matter, that no matter what she did, nothing would ever be any different?

She changed her life forever. And thousands of other lives were also changed. As the traffic snafu rolled out, multitudes of plans were altered: doctors appointments, auditions, interviews, dinner dates, legal consultations, banking transactions, daycare deadlines, workouts.... all changed and rearranged. Thousands of drivers spent four hours in their car instead of one hour, or an hour instead of five minutes. The chaos changed everybody's day, at least on the surface, for the worse.

We are all connected, intertwined, resonating together here in the world. We just don't always see it. "Everybody else" is affected by "everybody else". My actions change everything. When what I do is driven by a deep belief in my heart (the real me!) that I am loved magnificently by my Heavenly Father and that Jesus died, was buried and rose again to bring me into peace with such a magnificent God, everything changes for the better. When what I do is driven by fear, fatigue, sadness or discouragement , the changes I make in the world around me are not for the better. Thoughts become feelings and feelings become beliefs and beliefs become words and words become actions. Jesus said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. It's a lot to think about.

November 4, 2011

The place that I work is not peaceful. I would suppose that in nobody's workplace does peace really abound. That's why they call it “work”. I guess since the nature of “work” is to deliver a product or provide a service, somebody on each side always wants a little more for a little less.

Where I work, the customer is someone with an illness of the heart or mind shopping for peace. Their “real world” is one distorted by delusions, hallucinations, anxiety, mood disorders or cognitive disorganization. This sends them in search of medication, psychotherapy, treatment plans, groups, counseling and just plain friendship and support to help them move beyond their feelings and beliefs to function comfortably and happily and safely in society. Daily, every mood from hopeless depression or crippling anxiety to mania, anger or outrageous grandiosity swirl around our office. Sometimes, even we the so-called “normal” become vulnerable to unexpected moods or views and our own environment becomes temporarily disorganized, chaotic and unsafe. So no... there is no peace.

I have come to realize that this is a “real world” exercise in understanding what Jesus meant when He said, “Peace I leave with you.” The Bible says that the God of Peace sent Jesus, the Prince of Peace to create a Covenant of Peace and teach a Gospel of Peace. I'm learning.... excruciatingly slowly it seems ... that (just like he said) Jesus IS my peace. Peace is not a goal, it's a realm, and it can be my “real world”. It's a realm where I live and operate in love and am delivered from ideas of self-protection or fear. It's a realm where I don't work at being a peacemaker. Where I am just a peace carrier. Where my “work” is to accept Jesus' gift of peace with myself and just live there.

It's very hard work to enter into rest. There's a whole lot to let go of to get there. But whenever I AM there, even for brief moments, life is surprisingly easy. And whenever I am there...... I can pass it on.

Friday, October 21

Estes es un gran dia! This is a great day. And we are all so much better together.

Pastor Aaron has been saying that it's with “cautious excitement” we're beginning this journey of “better together”. How better? How together? Questions yet to be answered. It's a great start.

When Pastor Brian was speaking last Sunday, he said, “I've seen this before. I know how this feels. I've lived this”. In the truly factual sense he was saying, “I've done a project like this. I know how it feels to be you”. It's the best form of comfort and encouragement.   At the same time, I literally broke out in goosebump prickles as, in my heart, what I heard him say was, “I can see this done. It can be done and it's already done... I see it."  God was speaking.

God sees the end from the beginning. It must be one of the best and worst things about being God. In our human process we struggle to see even the next step and strain our eyes to try to maybe get a glimpse the middle. But when, with faith, we ask God to show us things through his eyes, we live and breathe and rejoice in the “finished” even as are making the journey.

“The fundamental fact of existence is that (this) trust in God .. this faith.. is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.” (Hebrews 11:1 from “The Message”.)

I am somebody's ancestor. My choice is to also be set above the crowd. So, I'm persuading my heart to believe that what I can't see truly exists in God's view. I'm committed to doing the work of believing. If we believe it, we will see it. When we see it, we will throw all caution to the wind and sing and rejoice with "unrestrained excitement" with the Author and Finisher.

Glory be to God. Alabar a Dios.