Thoughts on Faith

I adore Anne Lamott’s writing.  She’s gutsy, clear, unashamed, and she tells truth.  I recently read something incredible that Anne wrote, “Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”

That statement is so totally true that I was “taken aback” by her insight.

We do first need to see the mess.

We do need to sit with our emptiness.

That makes us realize we NEED God.

Then we discover our discomfort.  If we do NOT discover our discomfort, we will NOT change.  Change is so difficult that we have to be convinced that we will continue to grow more and MORE uncomfortable unless we change.  We have to be like a tiger backed into a corner before we will change. 

That’s why we have to let it be uncomfortable for a good while.

At that point, because we have felt and experienced our discomfort, we look for a solution.  We decide to act.  We turn TO God. 

Then we see…

LIGHT.

God must think, “Aren’t these funny creatures? I was here all along but they can’t see me until they get to the point where they are miserable.” 

Too bad we don’t turn to God when we first notice the mess.

Making Space

A journey of faith is warm and wonderful, and sometimes scary.  Why scary?  Because growing in faith means we need to risk letting go of old habits.  We have to let go in order to make room for new growth in our hearts.

I call it "making space".

As we let go of old habits, we make space so God can move in with more of His love.

The problem is, anytime we let go of a comfortable habit we experience loss.  Replacing that with God's love will feel a little different at first, but when we relax and let God's Spirit take root we begin experiencing the warm and wonderful feeling that God's love offers.

What's remarkable about this journey is that God's love is not fleeting, or temporary.

It's eternal.

Kingdom stuff.

Forever.

Gratitude

This week I’ve been filled with a sense of gratitude for my life.

It kinda started when my oldest child (my only daughter) turned 36.  I started realizing how very grateful I am that she’s part of my life. 

Then I remembered all the funny stuff we’ve gone through with “the boys”.  After I had my daughter I was sure I would have another girl (because all of my friends had all girls).  I decided I was going to dress them alike they would be really close.  Instead, I had a boy – which was cool.  Then I had another boy and another.  All of that was really cool, but as the boys grew up I realized sometimes it was “us” against “them”. 

My sons are VERY creative.  I’m talking V-E-R-Y and because there were three of them they were everywhere.  What one couldn’t figure out how to do, three COULD!

My daughter was a great help to me when it came to:

1)      Knowing where they were

2)      Knowing if what they were doing was dangerous to themselves or to others

3)      Knowing if their most recent fight involved blood (I had a no blood rule)

4)      Knowing if they were getting ready to “blow something up”

No, I am NOT making this up. 

This is real.

This is life.

Looking back, I realized this week how grateful I am for all of the escapades…fun…adventure. 

God certainly knew what he was doing when he sent me a daughter, then three sons.

God is GOOD.

ALL THE TIME!