Food for thought: Doing vs. Being.

This is a quick, two-sentence excerpt from my spiritual and intellectual life: Through a variety of scripture, circumstances, and people, God is teaching me that now is not the time to focus on what I'm going to "do." Now is the time to focus on who I'm going to become. 

A Quick Word: Rest

"For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing." -Isaiah 30:15

God says this immediately after rebuking the Israelite people for turning to Egypt for deliverance from Assyria rather than having faith in God's protection. This is a powerful and moving verse, but one phrase stands out to me in particular: You will be delivered by returning and resting. We are designed to rest. God lays that out throughout scripture, yet I overlook that concept more often than not. We are meant to return to God and rest-spiritually, physically, and emotionally. If we try to fight our own battles and develop our own strategies, we fail. God, though, promises rest if we trust in Him and live by our faith. Help us, Lord, to remember to return to you and rest. 

A Quick Word: Love

Some thoughts sparked by a recent conversation. 

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” -C.S. Lewis

Love is a calculated risk. No matter what the relationship-romantic, close friend, family-both sides must accept the uncertainty of the human experience. Trust is therefore a foundational element  of any loving relationship. Without trust, intimacy never really exists. 

The same goes with our relationship with God. I see how I tend to shy away from giving my love completely to God, how I hold back because of my subconscious fear of risk. Denying Him that love, though, is a sure way to never fully realize the joy that God gives us through a relationship with Him. It's a calculated risk. When you factor in God's faithfulness, loving kindness, and selflessness, the answer seems pretty obvious. It's worth the risk.