Dear Friends,
This week's thought is entitled: "Resiliency, or The Art of Bouncing Back" and comes to you from a man named Mike Glenn (written July 24, 2020). In a fallen world that is far from perfect, and where none of us are ever entirely safe from sickness, suffering, trials and struggles, his words hit home. The Bible calls it endurance. But resilience and endurance don't just happen. Resilient people have learned helpful ways to view difficulties, prepare themselves for difficulties, and walk through difficulties. Glenn is no different. The following excerpt tells what he learned. Enjoy.
"...We live in one of three places: we are either in the storm, just coming out of a storm, or about to go into a storm. That’s it. How we get through the moments of challenge depends on what we do in those moments of quiet between the storms of our lives.
You hear it all of the time. If you attend church at all, you’ve heard someone talk about the necessity of private worship and private Bible study. These ancient spiritual practices are talked about like they are merit badges to be earned by the super-spiritual among us. We’re never told the hard truth – these are the things we have to do to keep our soul’s psi where it needs to be, so that like a ball rightly inflated we’ll bounce back when life kicks us. And it will kick us.
How do we prepare? Worship. Worship is the moment when we realize the universe doesn’t depend on us. The sun will come up in the morning and not ask our permission, and it will set in the evening without ever explaining one thing to us. There is a God in heaven who rules from His throne. Worship is that moment when the bigness of God fills our souls and swells our lives to their maximum limits. “Christ in you,” according to the Apostle Paul, is the great mystery of God that is now being revealed to us. Our soul swells with every hymn of worship and whisper of praise.
And when our lives get too full of God, we use that overflow to serve each other. As hard as your day has been, someone around you has it harder. Give them a call. Have a cup of coffee with them. Buy them groceries. Pay their light bill. Do it just because you can. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the answers, and truthfully, your friend isn’t expecting any answers. Most of the time, they know there aren’t any answers to some of the mysteries of life we deal with.
Here’s the only thing they want to know – will you walk with me? It seems we fear loneliness more than anything else in life. If I just know I have a friend who’s there for me, then, I will be OK. Walking with a friend fills your soul to your maximum psi.
So, let me ask you. When life kicks you – and it will – will you bounce back? Are you resilient enough to stay in the game? That depends on what you’re filling your life with right now. When you get kicked, there won’t be time to get filled up. Flat balls don’t bounce. Neither do flat souls.”
Sometimes in our struggles we can become too self-focused. It's hard to keep from going there when one is in pain. Yet, part of the lesson we can learn is that when we are most focused on ourselves, a glance outside the window of our own soul, followed by acts of love toward others, may be exactly what we need to sedate the pain or give us the resilience to make it through the pain.
I went to a Chinese Buffet last week (my favorite)! And with the bill came my usual "fortune cookie." Some are pretty lame, but this particular one made me think. It said, "Perhaps you've been focusing too much on yourself." Did someone sneak that one in there for me?! Did God guide the hand of the waitress to pick that one for me, as if to say, "The guy over there at Table 9 needs this one." Anyway, however it came to my hand it did -- and I stuck it in my wallet as a reminder for the future.
How can we get through trials? Worship that fills us despite the fact that it does not necessarily provide answers. Better yet, maybe it IS the answer. Worship that fills me up and moves me to reach out to my neighbor who is in a worse place than me.
Living in His Grace, Pastor Jeff
This week's thought is entitled: "Resiliency, or The Art of Bouncing Back" and comes to you from a man named Mike Glenn (written July 24, 2020). In a fallen world that is far from perfect, and where none of us are ever entirely safe from sickness, suffering, trials and struggles, his words hit home. The Bible calls it endurance. But resilience and endurance don't just happen. Resilient people have learned helpful ways to view difficulties, prepare themselves for difficulties, and walk through difficulties. Glenn is no different. The following excerpt tells what he learned. Enjoy.
"...We live in one of three places: we are either in the storm, just coming out of a storm, or about to go into a storm. That’s it. How we get through the moments of challenge depends on what we do in those moments of quiet between the storms of our lives.
You hear it all of the time. If you attend church at all, you’ve heard someone talk about the necessity of private worship and private Bible study. These ancient spiritual practices are talked about like they are merit badges to be earned by the super-spiritual among us. We’re never told the hard truth – these are the things we have to do to keep our soul’s psi where it needs to be, so that like a ball rightly inflated we’ll bounce back when life kicks us. And it will kick us.
How do we prepare? Worship. Worship is the moment when we realize the universe doesn’t depend on us. The sun will come up in the morning and not ask our permission, and it will set in the evening without ever explaining one thing to us. There is a God in heaven who rules from His throne. Worship is that moment when the bigness of God fills our souls and swells our lives to their maximum limits. “Christ in you,” according to the Apostle Paul, is the great mystery of God that is now being revealed to us. Our soul swells with every hymn of worship and whisper of praise.
And when our lives get too full of God, we use that overflow to serve each other. As hard as your day has been, someone around you has it harder. Give them a call. Have a cup of coffee with them. Buy them groceries. Pay their light bill. Do it just because you can. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the answers, and truthfully, your friend isn’t expecting any answers. Most of the time, they know there aren’t any answers to some of the mysteries of life we deal with.
Here’s the only thing they want to know – will you walk with me? It seems we fear loneliness more than anything else in life. If I just know I have a friend who’s there for me, then, I will be OK. Walking with a friend fills your soul to your maximum psi.
So, let me ask you. When life kicks you – and it will – will you bounce back? Are you resilient enough to stay in the game? That depends on what you’re filling your life with right now. When you get kicked, there won’t be time to get filled up. Flat balls don’t bounce. Neither do flat souls.”
Sometimes in our struggles we can become too self-focused. It's hard to keep from going there when one is in pain. Yet, part of the lesson we can learn is that when we are most focused on ourselves, a glance outside the window of our own soul, followed by acts of love toward others, may be exactly what we need to sedate the pain or give us the resilience to make it through the pain.
I went to a Chinese Buffet last week (my favorite)! And with the bill came my usual "fortune cookie." Some are pretty lame, but this particular one made me think. It said, "Perhaps you've been focusing too much on yourself." Did someone sneak that one in there for me?! Did God guide the hand of the waitress to pick that one for me, as if to say, "The guy over there at Table 9 needs this one." Anyway, however it came to my hand it did -- and I stuck it in my wallet as a reminder for the future.
How can we get through trials? Worship that fills us despite the fact that it does not necessarily provide answers. Better yet, maybe it IS the answer. Worship that fills me up and moves me to reach out to my neighbor who is in a worse place than me.
Living in His Grace, Pastor Jeff
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