November 20, 2015 by cindigale

When Confounded Is Good

An old post with a new application. The issue of Syrian immigration and asylum has divided people across the world. Who is right? Who is wrong? God will reveal his thoughts on the issue, if we are willing ask and listen to his answer. What then becomes of our beliefs if he shows us that it is our thinking that is in error? Will we stubbornly cling to our thinking just to be “right”, or to stay aligned with our religious group, or because we prefer our stance to God’s? Or will we let go, and let him replace our thinking with his?

Cindi Gale

Sometimes our beliefs fail us. Sometimes that’s a good thing.

If we consider all our current views or theologies solid but God disagrees, it’s an improvement to be confounded. When our old patterns of thinking are disrupted, it’s an opportunity for God to show us his thoughts. While we’re grappling with uncertainty, our understanding can be corrected.

The Apostle Paul wrote: Romans 12: ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

When we become flustered by life; when we are confused, agitated, and wish we could feel solid again, let God be the one to solidify those rattled foundations. Rather than return to the old, allow his Holy Spirit and Word to instruct instead.

What if we still don’t get it? — We try but…

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November 18, 2015 by cindigale

You Have My Respect

People are complex beings. Yet we catch mere glimpses of another’s life and draw conclusions about him.

Only by knowing the mind of God about a person, can we be accurate in understanding him. Or let a person who knows himself inform us, as long as he is self-aware and willing to confide.

We have another option to gain insight: observing behavior. Religious people call it “judging others by their fruit”. But be careful — if we’re not mindful of the environment a person is in, their “fruit” can mislead. What if he is in a God-appointed time of winter, wartime, or injustice?

Is it possible for him to satisfy our need or desire to judge? A person in winter is struggling to survive, not bearing tasty fruit. He is wrapped up and withdrawn to survive the frigid, dangerous climate. He will only open up and bloom when the climate is warm, welcoming and safe.

If a person must judge blindly, why not assume the best-case scenario instead of the worst? When somebody is in winter, war, or mistreatment, why assume that if he isn’t “bearing fruit” he must have lost contact with God? We could assume instead, that he is so dependent on the vine of God that he is digging deeply to stay connected. Deep calls to deep. He is relying less and less and less on things of this earth, (easy to do if nothing on earth is satisfying) and more and more on God alone.

As a person emerges from winter, war, or a season of injustice, do we presume his wants and needs? He doesn’t want pity. He certainly doesn’t want judgment, suspicion, or diminished status in society. He won’t re-enter relationships with people who make him feel “dirty” or unsavory because of the unsavory climate he was in. It’s no reflection on HIM that life was very tough. He may have been a victim of unrighteous peoples’ rights to exercise free will. Yet many people judge a victim as if he is tainted. He’s not “clean” enough. He’s inferior to their “morally superior” position. Religious people can be the harshest of critics.

Survivors of injustice want and need one thing: respect. Respect for not giving up, for having stayed with God when the temptation to bail was a daily threat. Respect for having assumed the ways of God throughout his troubles. Respect for not selling his soul during his agony. Respect for being faithful to God no matter the severity of his conditions. Respect for facing truth, including truths of evil he never wanted to see. Respect for choosing courage and trust instead of escape and denial. Respect for accepting the long season of winter that God controlled.

People who have not been there do not understand. They cannot. They are in no position to believe they do. If they take action without understanding, they are likely to further wrong the sufferer. If curious onlookers would just withhold judgment, they may be fortunate to in time hear about what happened in the suffering.

A person who endured years of injustice while dependent on God, no doubt has accumulated overflowing barns of God-given understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. What he gained can’t be summed up in an hour, a day, a week, a month, or even a year. When he shares his experiences, it will be when he is willing and inspired to. If outsiders are patient and nurturing, they may be allowed inside the sufferer’s overflowing barns of treasures from God. But it is never to be taken. It is for the one who suffered and endured to share as he wants.

His bountiful harvest is from God as a reward for a faithful life. He has finally reaped what he sowed. His harvest does not belong to anyone else. It is his. His barns are overflowing because he farmed diligently and tirelessly, even while alone and cold, scorned and unrewarded. When God determined it was spring and then summer and finally harvest time, he filled the barns of his servant.

It is the servant’s right to determine if and when he shares from his harvest. A wise servant will distribute it the same way he acquired it: with God’s training, direction, teaching, and approval. It is a completely private thing, between God and the individual — the only way it can be, this “knowing Him in His suffering” — it’s not even for a spouse to bear or fully comprehend.

We’re each the owners of our own soul and will. It is alone that we reach out to God from the depths of our soul, and alone that we experience his response to us. If our personal experiences with God don’t fit into somebody else’s theology or belief system, firsthand experience wins the debate. He is who he is, regardless of what anyone argues to the contrary. Maybe if life were easy, one might trade what God has been to you for the approval of people. But when you’ve suffered, you become unwilling to do so.

If you are in a season of severity or injustice, let God be your life and breath. Cling to him and do not let go. Don’t worry when you are incapable of displaying vibrant leaves or tasty fruit. It is alright if your usual, lively spirit is dormant. It’s winter. The branch is intent on clinging to the vine. Life for a branch in winter is not reaching out and distal in direction, but drawing in and proximal in direction. Proximally is where God is.

Remain faithful to God. Be as righteous as possible in your circumstances. Always take the high road. Hold on and know that your winter will pass. And be certain of this … you have my respect.

November 14, 2015 by cindigale

About God

I have thought about God and my own life’s existence
And it’s not like I’ve not been on my knees in repentance
Bigger than life and out on my own
I’ve come to these conclusions about God

I have thought about God when searching for solutions
Disappointment and cost birthing such confusion
Surrendered my trust to the truth, not a system
And to God

How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God?

I had thought about God when my own father was dying
I thought the idea of death and its timing
I turned the other cheek only because I was crying
Out to God

How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God? What about God?

How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God? Do you think about God?

You can look through the windows of a stained-glass cathedral
You can speak in tongues in a church with a steeple
Who holds the keys to your own heart’s temple
I wonder if it’s God, I wonder if it’s God

Do you ever think about God?
Do you ever think about God?

Written and performed by Rita Springer, “About God” from the album “Effortless”.

November 4, 2015 by cindigale

He Blesses

Why is it that negative circumstances so often speak more loudly than positive ones? It’s as if they hoist megaphones to gleefully scream: TROUBLE! FAILURE! IMPOSSIBLE! LACK! RUIN! DISASTER! DEFEAT!

Their goal is to kill your hope, your faith, your expectations of good on this Earth we share, and thereby extinguish the life that could be yours.

On discouraging days, tune out the voices of cruel, mocking, arrogant circumstances — they are the words of an assassin — and refute deceptive rhetoric with truth:

God is a shepherd to the sheep. His ferocity is directed at marauding wolves, not his dependent charges.

To the vulnerable, he is gentle. He does not scream, he whispers. He does not accuse, he commends. He does not deprecate, he encourages. To the defenseless, he does not destroy, he builds. He does not take, he gives. He does not smother, he preserves. God does not kill, he creates. He does not defeat, he gives victory. He does not curse, he blesses.

Isaiah 44

²This is what the Lord says—

³ I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants.
⁴They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
    like poplar trees by flowing streams.

²⁴“This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,
    who spreads out the earth by myself,

… who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’
of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’

… he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

October 21, 2015 by cindigale

Taming God

Throughout history men and women have tried to tame God. I liken it to damming a river to control the normal flow of the water. What’s possible with rivers is also possible in religion. A group of people can claim that a portion of the river is theirs. They construct dams to control the living water, pave a parking lot, pop up a building, and hoist a sign with a catchy company name. Let’s call ours Choppy River Church. The river is real, but already altered by the dam. Domesticated. Cultivated. Tamed.

Choppy River Church advertises, “Come whitewater rafting on God’s true river of life!” When you arrive, you’re handed a life jacket with the company logo, then shuffled to the formal boarding area where you step into a raft emblazoned with the brand name. Reps from the company man the rafts and guard the shorelines. If your raft catches an unexpected rapid and sends you off the man-made course, workers on the shore use long poles to push you back where they want you. The river is so controlled it no longer represents who God is.

When your ride on that short section of the river is over, you are expected to gratefully disembark and say complimentary things about the company. And its management. And the exciting river. Any honest reactions to the adulteration of the river are quickly met with disapproval from peers or company leadership. If you still don’t comply with the unspoken codes of behavior, you are summoned to a meeting for a stern rebuke. Those inclined to question or resist further find themselves evicted from Choppy River Church.

If that sounds familiar, you might think you were rejected from the river of God BY God. But that’s not the case. Not at all.

There is a river that extends far beyond the trifling range of Choppy River Church. There his river is unaltered by man. The water is unrestrained. Exhilarating. Powerful. Potent. Anyone is welcome at any time. People who gravitate to it are inclined to respect, love, and treasure the river. They bring rafts and ride the waters at will. Rafters come and go much like nature lovers come and go from the earth’s forests, deserts, and mountains—they leave it like they found it. Spotless. Pristine. Natural. Wild.

The river is available for all, but owned by none. Even those who work there full-time as whitewater rafting instructors don’t assert it’s theirs. Those who choose to frequent riverside buildings do so to exalt God together. And to support each other. Nobody aspires to subdue the river. They wouldn’t dream of exploiting it for profit or power.

They value it for what it is: Bigger than man. Mightier than man. Unpredictable and fearsome. But, paradoxically, also soothing. Calming. Restful. Healing.

Choppy River Church does not equate to God. They are not one and the same. A place that claims his name might be contrived, but he is not. He is infinitely more than a controlled, tamed, ineffectual river, and yours for the asking.

References: 1. http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Vision-River-Life

2. http://www.gotquestions.org/living-water.html

October 14, 2015 by cindigale

Planted Near A Stream

October 10, 2015 by cindigale

Good Soil

From seed …

To harvest …

Between the planting of the seed and maturation of the crop, there were adequate growing conditions: sun, warmth, and water. But it’s what the seeds were planted in that was also crucial.

The soil …

It must be “good soil” to produce a “good crop”. Rocks must be removed, the earth cultivated, and weeds eradicated. Plants require nutrients, so it needs to be fertile.

In Matthew 13, Jesus said, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

After his disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables, he explained the parable of the soil.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Since the seed is God’s word, it is definitely good seed. From seeds of corn a crop of corn will grow; from seeds of wheat will come a crop of wheat — from the seed of God’s word, will grow a crop of God-likeness.

But as the parable teaches, there is no guarantee that we will produce a crop. It is contingent on the condition of our “soil”. Our hearts might be “along the wayside”, “rocky”, or “thorny”. Only if our hearts are “good”, will our lives produce an abundant crop from the seed. A good heart doesn’t just happen — it is made. It takes work. It must be prepared, tilled (open and teachable); void of rocks and weeds (requiring work and diligence); and fertile (kept rich in God-approved nutrients).

If we do those things, we will ultimately reap what we sow.

If your field looks otherwise at this point, despite doing everything commendably, don’t be discouraged. Sometimes people have excellent soil and are deserving farmers, but their crops are sparse and withered. It happened to Job, and Joseph, and David. Wind, hail, frost, drought, pests, diseases, and floods can decimate crops.

Don’t assess yourself by conditions beyond your control. Stay the course. Be far-sighted and diligent in farming your soil, and expect your bountiful crop will yet come to fruition.

^{23 “}But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

October 4, 2015 by cindigale

You Belong

***

“Behold, I belong to God like you;

I too have been formed out of the clay.”

Job 33:6

***

DSCN1961.cropped and framed for blog jpg

***

“But now, O LORD, You are our Father,

We are the clay, and You our potter;

And all of us are the work of Your hand.”

Isaiah 64:8

***

Photography by Lou Lourdeau, August 2014. Images of ceramic artists shown with their permission. Many thanks to each of you.

September 30, 2015 by cindigale

Your Biography

Just before the financial crisis of 2008, I decided it was time to consult a financial planner. I rolled all my old retirement accounts to his company and chose the most aggressive growth strategy. It was terrible timing. I lost 35% of my hard-earned savings in mere months. I understood the Sunday morning quarterbacking that was rampant at the time, the wish to have safely invested if I’d known what was coming. It seemed everyone was spooked. Many delayed retirement. Some believed their losses would never be recouped.

Widespread fear would have pulled me down with it, had I not summoned the effort to ignore alarmists. It required a conscious choice to think spiritually. I made myself trust God. I didn’t consider Him as just a recipient of tithes, I wanted Him in control of all my resources. If that meant living in a tent subsisting on rice and beans, so be it.

(* In hindsight, the decision to trust spared me needless worry. By 2012 my funds had recovered and they continue to amass.)

Curious about how I was faring in the midst of that market crash, one of my sons asked about my investments. While he was at it, he also wondered about my long term plans with my job as a physical therapist, remaining in our home or moving, and whether or not I thought I would ever remarry. I told him I had learned to be content being single but always felt it was temporary. I might stay with my job or do something entirely different. I might stay in my home or end up moving far away.

I must have sounded noncommittal to my son that day, but the truth is I don’t make important decisions without guidance from God, and I didn’t have it yet. I’m all too aware of my very limited understanding. I want His direction regarding finances, vocation, health, where to live, the people in my life … everything.

(* In 2011, I did leave my job to do something entirely different — writing. What next? I don’t know yet. He is a light unto our paths. As mine becomes illuminated, I’ll walk forward on it.)

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Several years ago, I met a young man who expressed his deep regret for not patiently following God after a divorce. He’d quickly remarried, and had just been left by his second unfaithful wife. He felt like a failure, was deeply depressed and without hope in himself. In his view, divorcing twice was proof that he was the cause and destined for failure. Buried under his demolished dreams, he was convinced that this was who he was, this was what he deserved.

I saw it much differently. I agreed with him that his humanity and weaknesses contributed to getting into something that God likely didn’t want for him, but he wasn’t the cause or doomed to failure. If he trusted God and followed Him, he would be led through and out of crises, and as a bonus, would extract benefits from his troubles.

(* He has since married a wonderful woman. They have a baby now and a happy, secure life together. The guy radiates joy and gratitude!)

Romans 8:28 – And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

While we are overwhelmed by troubles, God is up to complex designs behind the scenes. We may be miserable and suffering from injustices or our own wrongdoing, but He is shaping and molding us at the same time. He is creating possibilities for us. We usually aren’t even aware of His tireless work to give us a hope and a future.

John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The enemy of us all intends harm. One effective scheme is to convince us that our current sub-par life is the end of the story. Those who rely on God and keep expecting good things from Him will be positively affected even by evil in the end. From the rubble of our demolition arises patience, wisdom, desire for righteousness, hope, and ambition to live fully and meaningfully if given another chance to do so.

Romans 5:3-5 – We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

All those good things happen in the suffering. Whether it’s suffering we did nothing to deserve, or suffering we caused, it doesn’t matter — suffering is useful to shape qualities within us for a better future.

What a tragedy it would be to voluntarily stop the story of our lives in the middle of our most pitiful chapters. We shouldn’t accept that our biographies will conclude in defeat. The ending needn’t be “my losses will never be recouped”. If God has His way, those painful chapters will be exploited to ultimately adorn us with splendor. If we expect and allow it, our worst chapters can yet be converted to exceptional, satisfying, victorious biographies.

Isaiah 61:3 … to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

When we’re in chapters of discouragement and lack, we must look for our future chapters to improve, and realize God wants to illuminate extraordinary paths to each of us. We need to discern when a devil’s advocate is at work, claiming our biography will close in depressing style without ever arriving at happiness and excellence. Devil’s advocates come in the form of unsuspecting or willing human vessels of harm, or as unwanted circumstances that are thrust on us. Sometimes it inhabits our own thinking.

The man in his second divorce temporarily believed that he deserved a minimal life. He thought that his life was at odds with God’s nature and ways. Based on his punishing circumstances, he expected more of the same ahead. Had his errant self-condemnation persisted, he would have written the final chapters of his own biography far short of the enviable life he now has.

When my son was home from college one holiday, he told me, “When I’m away, I feel like I won’t get a job, and can’t manage simple chores even. When I’m at home, I feel like I can do anything … I’ll go to grad school in Berlin! Or I can find a great job anywhere right now!” I don’t know how or when self-doubt and defeatism came to obscure his thinking. It wasn’t rational. He was in the top 15% of his college class and had a great work ethic. How did the truth of his potential get buried under a dark blanket of lies?

1 Corinthians 4:5 – Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness …

I’m grateful the light displaces the blanket of darkness for my kids, even if only intermittently for now. I expect it to shine increasingly brighter for them over time. What a shame if they were permanently deceived into expecting their life stories to be of defeat, apathy, underachievement and non-effectiveness, when all along God had opportunities reserved for them to enjoy the opposite.

What if God has unwritten pages of everyone’s biographies reserved for the fulfillment of their desires, expectations, and needs, but most life stories read as nothing more than mundane existences? What a shame!

1 John 1:5 … God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

When all we can see is darkness, we have to seek God’s light in our lives. Equally crucial, we must pursue total light when we’re in dim light. We’re being fooled to the point that we’re satisfied because “it could be worse”. We’re living in gray, when all along we could have lived in vivid colors had we only kept expecting it.

God alone knows how our futures will be written, but we do the writing. He doesn’t coerce. He gives each of us free choice. I want mine to be penned the way He hopes for it. I don’t want him sadly saying, “What a shame,” when he thinks of me. As a parent, I want as much for my sons. As a parent to all, God’s desires for us exceed our imaginations.

I hope for light to dispel others’ darkness, and to witness God’s delight as their lives take a turn to the vivid, colorful, expansive lives He intended. I want Him satisfied that biographies were averted from sagas of turmoil and defeat, to accounts of maximized lives — impacting, purposeful, unique, joyful lives lived to the utmost.

September 25, 2015 by cindigale

In Times Of Trouble

Isaiah 40:29-31

He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Don’t be alarmed when God leads through horrendous conditions instead of routing away from trouble. Keep the faith. It may not look like a good thing while we’re in it, but the training ground will result in good things in time. He has a gain in store — those are the conditions in which we develop command over trouble.

After the “gain from the pain”, we find ourselves elevated a bit more from the earthly plane of living. We are able to more quickly understand God and His ways. We can look back and see how He orchestrated events and caused us to will and to act according to His good purpose. We are different, changed; more equipped for His purposes. We are less subject to concerns and troubles in this world, and increasingly victorious over them.

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