Trapped

Welcome to Unseen today. I got bogged down on this story last week. We all know enough not to pray for patience. Apparently, if you are going to write about forgiveness you get to take a refresher course. read on to see what I learned in my "mini forgiveness boot camp."


TRAPPED

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

I cut my teeth on stories. Mom read to us from before I could remember. I remember my brother and I sitting on Dad’s chest as he lay on the floor making up silly stories as he went. Grandpa Carver loved to tell me stories, from Going’ on a Bear Hunt to Bible stories to Irish fables from Henry Lauder. Is it any wonder that I became the “Story Keeper” for our family? Some of my favorite stories were those of Uncle Remus.  First published in 1879, they have brought laughter and lessons to generations. My favorite is the story of Tar Baby. Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Bear were after the wily Bre’r Rabbit. Thinking they had a sure fire plan, they took some sticky, smelly tar and made a Tar Baby. They put a shirt on it and a hat and left it in the road where Bre’r Rabbit lived.  Bre’r Rabbit saw the Tar Baby and said good morning. Tar Baby said nothing, being made of tar. Bre’r Rabbit repeated his good morning and tar Baby still said nothing. Getting angry he informed Tar Baby that if he didn’t say good morning by the count of three he was going to knock him to Kingdom Come. When he got no answer, he drew back his fist and got it stuck fast in the sticky tar. He repeated this with his other hand and both feet, until he was hopelessly stuck. At this point Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Bear come out from their hiding place and grab him, informing him that he is invited to be dinner. In the version I heard he got away by tricking the tricksters, but in other versions he has to be rescued.

When is the last time you felt like poor Bre’r Rabbit? Are you stuck in a situation or a habit that has you unable to move forward with God?   Do you feel like the harder you try to pull yourself out the worse you get entangled?  You are probably right.The biggest culprit is resentment. It would be great if we reserved resentment for people outside our circle. Unfortunately, we most often get angry with those closest to us, because we care what they think. This is true of our families and it is true of our churches. We allow differences within both to undermine two of the most important sources of strength we have.  We are not fighting story book characters. We are fighting a cunning and cruel enemy who is desperate to keep us from fulfilling our purpose. If we are focused on hurts and offenses of those closest to us, we have no energy or resources left to fight him. We become as trapped as poor Bre'r Rabbit. Unlike Bre’r Rabbit, we cannot defeat our adversary by tricks. We are dependent on the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. These give us the power to forgive that we can never have on our own.

We read so much about forgiveness in the Bible. Micah 7:18 is one of many verses that gives us the basis for forgiveness. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. Then Jesus from the cross in Matthew 26 looks down at the people crucifying him and says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.  That is quite a standard. In Matthew 18 Peter thought he had a handle on forgiveness, asking if he should forgive his brother 7 times ( the number of completion or perfection) Jesus said no, he should forgive 70 times 7. He tells the story of the man forgiven a huge amount by the king, then unwilling to forgive his neighbor a small debt. I am prone to go to one extreme or the other. I may resist forgiving someone so they don't "get away with it", especially if their offense was against my family members. I may also try to dredge up forgiveness from my own resources. Neither is a good plan. In Galatians 5:22 Paul tells us about the fruit of the Spirit, or what the spirit of God can give to us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
USe the power you have at your disposal to forgive. We need not stay in the trap set by our enemy.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Welcome to unseen today. See what we can learn from our ancestors this week.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

 

All things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Our grandparents were experts at making the most out of what they had. They went through difficult times and learned how to use as much as they could out of something. A turkey would be killed and the feathers were used for stuffing. The meat was cooked and eaten with leftovers going for sandwiches and then the bones and fat used for soup. A dress was used until it was worn out and then cut down to make and apron and maybe clothes for a child. When that wore out it was torn into rags and used for cleaning or quilting. With our throwaway mentality we have lost the art of appreciating and using what we have. Signs and commercials encourage us to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

                The same thing is true of our spiritual lives. Pain is a part of life and we can’t escape from all of it. There are things we can do, though.

REDUCE

                Much of our pain is brought about through our own stubbornness and/or stupidity. As we grow in the Lord, we can reduce the amount of pain we encounter by making “good choices” and learning what God wants for us through his word and other believers. We also have the power of the Holy Spirit. In psalms David says, Keep watch over the door of my mouth (Psalms 143:11) and Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.(Psalms 119:11) As we become willing to be led by the Spirit, we can reduce the amount of pain we face.

REUSE

Some pain comes from thing outside our control, but we are not without help. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are saved. (Proverbs 18:10) In Genesis 15:1 God tells Abraham, I am your shield and your very great reward. If I am honest, though, even though I know these things, I am still in danger of forgetting them In the middle of a hard time. Roman soldiers put a notch in their helmets every time they won a victory. Imagine sitting in a foxhole and wondering how you are going to get past this enemy. Then you look down at your helmet and see the notches from the past victories, which encourages you.I have often thought that  I need a way to notch the helmet in my spiritual armor, so I can remember the hard times that God has brought me through. That way I can reuse the lessons that He has taught me in the past.

RECYCLE

Whether our pain comes from decisions we make or things beyond our control, Go d can use it for his Glory. James 1 says My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We get stuck wondering if the trial is a punishment from God or an attack of the enemy. In reality, either way he can use it to for our good and to help others. He did it for Joseph, for Moses, for Daniel, for Stephen and for Paul and he can certainly do it for you. He can take the lessons we learn from our pain and let us help someone else. When I had a miscarriage, I swore there was no way God could use it, but it has given me compassion for women in the same situation and taught me the value of silently being there when there is nothing to say. While I would rather my child had never stumbled in sobriety, he has learned how to get back up and can help others coming behind him. Many times I would like to put on my “holy face” when I write so you won’t think less of me for my struggles. I have learned though that God would rather have me be real than be an expert.  This is part of how he recycles my hurts to help others.

What do we do with pain? Reduce it when we can by making wise decisions, Reuse the lessons we have learned and Recycle it to help someone else.

 

You're not he boss of me!

Welcome to unseen. whether we live unseen or are just human, we have trouble being submissive to authority. Read on for a funny way God showed me where I need to change.

You’re Not the Boss of Me!

I was walking back to my apartment from the laundry room when I heard it. Two little boys were doing their best imitation of a swagger. One said, “She’s not the boss of us!” The other agreed. “Yeah, she thinks she’s the boss of us, but she’s not. “ It made me think about obedience and who is “the boss of us”. Let’s start with the dog. While my husband was in the hospital the last couple of weeks, he decided that he was the alpha dog, not me. On walks he would put on the brakes and I would nearly trip. I would stop and strongly encourage him to come on. He might, but he also might lean the other way and throw his head like a mustang, or plant his feet and not budge. Then he came up with a new trick. He was behind me walking on the leash and people started laughing and pointing. I turned around and saw why. He had straddled the leash and was his feet were moving the same direction I was, but he was facing the other way.  I believe this is the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

Now for the hard part. Let’s leave the dog alone and look at ourselves. We have trouble at work. It is hard to have the right attitude at work, sometimes more than others. In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the habits is “Begin with the end in mind.” The rough translation of this is “Deal with it. This is a temporary situation filled with flawed people. Use some grace and do your job.” True, but very difficult.  This is a challenge but we do know who is in charge at work. More difficult is with the people we live with. Whether with small children, teenagers, grown children, spouses or aging parents, it is often difficult to navigate changing roles and changing rules. More important than either of these, though, is our relationship with GOD. We know the rules that God has given us to live by and we know the work he has planned for us.  We still might say no to them. We might just refuse to budge and we might lean as hard as we can in the other direction. Much more dangerous, perhaps is that we might act like the dog. We might technically be doing the right thing but not doing it with our whole heart. We might be singing during worship while thinking about what we want to do after our nap. I confess. I had to take Candy Crush off of my phone because the temptation to play instead of listen to the preacher was too much. Even when we are doing ministry, we may have our heart in the wrong place.

If we are walking with God he has done two things for us. He has given us guidelines (rules) and he has given us his spirit. It takes both to accomplish what he has planned for us.  He does have a lot to say about work and our attitudes. For example in Colossians 3:23, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. He has more to say about how we worship him. In Isaiah 29:13, he grieves, saying, The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. This is the root of the problems we have at work and at home. This week use the tools he has given you to do the work he has given you in the manner he wants. By sacrificing his only son, he has earned the right to be the boss of us.