by Sharon O | Mar 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
This verse has been a focus of mine for several days now.
The writer starts out with therefore. Most pastors say, whenever this word is written, it means ‘now listen’ it is important, it is not to be missed.
So we are not to miss the fact that we are God’s chosen people.
HOW awesome is that? HE chose us.
Not only did he choose us purposely, but we are set aside
as holy and dearly loved.
Doesn’t that just give you a warm wonderful feeling?
Then the writer says, as God’s chosen, holy and dearly loved people;
you are to clothe your selves in an appropriate way.
This is an action word, such as, putting on as a sweater over your shoulders when you are cold. Or a blanket on the couch when you are watching something.
I was thinking, so what does this mean for us?
As I get up in the morning and look into my closet and decide.
Do I want to wear the red sweater and the black pants,
OR do I put on compassion.
Do I want to wear the denim shirt with the denim pants,
OR do I put on kindness.
Do I want to wear the soft flannel shirt with the flannel pants,
OR do I put on humility.
Do I want to wear the frumpy pants with the frumpy shirt,
OR do I put on gentleness.
Do I want to wear something fancy and have a dress up day,
OR do I put on patience.
As we wrap the warmth of our Lord’s love around us.
We choose to wrap around his attributes also.
It is not natural for us to show compassion, be kind, be humble or gentle, and most of all to be patient.
So it must be a choice for us, an effort on our part.
Just as we get up in the morning and decide, what ‘look’ we are going to present for the day, for others to see. We also can get up and choose, what attribute we are going to present for others to be a part of.
I think it is an awesome thought.
One that I am going to work on, as I make a conscience choice of what I am going to wear.
by Sharon O | Mar 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
Psalm 101: 2 (English Standard Version)
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
What a statement, and what a test.
In our homes, we are private.
No one knows what we do but us and those who we live with.
Integrity;
Dictionary.com says:
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: preserve integrity
3. a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition:
The steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code a sense of “uncorrupted virtue”.
When the Psalmist says, I will walk with integrity in my home, it was a cry for a heart condition.
An ultimate personal test.
Where no one sees, no one observes, no one participates, but us.
As Christians we are accountable to ourselves and our God, for our integrity.
It is a choice.
What we read, what we watch on TV, what we subscribe to, what we view on the computer, even what we say to each other, it is all a part of the integrity process.
In our hearts..
yes in our hearts. It is a heart choice.
In our homes, in our families.
May we be true to the strict adherence of virtue and truth, so we may lead a life of integrity.
by Sharon O | Mar 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
I love the Psalms.
Psalm 90: vs 12
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
vs. 14
Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
vs. 15
Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.
Isn’t it just awesome, that God delights in teaching us new awareness’s,
so we can worship Him.
I love the thought of rising in the morning with singing.
I love the idea that ‘HE’ can satisfy us the way nothing else can, and the verse says ‘every morning’ so it is continual.
Daily growing in wisdom and love.
Teaching us that life is precious.
I challenge us today.
To open up the Psalms and reach into them, for encouragement, answers, direction, hope and growth.
In that process may we all become more wise, as we realize every day is a gift.
Our choice is how we open it and respond.
by Sharon O | Mar 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
“You have made us for yourself Oh Lord, Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
St. Augustine
As the Lord has been pressing me forward to share the journeys of brokenness that I had to walk through. He reminded me of something I had written down. I am not really sure where I got it from, a book or message from our Pastor, or a ladies meeting? “people won’t believe your message, until they know you are real.”
Reminding me of the childhood story, The Velveteen Rabbit.
The questions between the Skin horse and the rabbit in the nursery full of toys and blankets and childhood magic. Read with me:
“For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like Skin Horse understood all about it.”
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were laying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that go buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes.” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.
“When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or a bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse.
“You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
“The Boy’s Uncle made me Real.” he said. “That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”
I believe the only way to be real is to be transparent and open.
Allowing others to see us and love us, in and through our brokenness.
As the Lord dislodged the pain that I carried, my ‘real self’ began to emerge.
His love saturated my heart and the woundedness of my soul.
I could never go back, to where I was or who I was.
Just as the Rabbit said. When we know He loves us.
It frees us to be, ‘who we were meant to be’.
The restless heart that was within me for most of my young life, could only be filled and calmed by the Love of God.
Our Pastor once said; “It is not knowing about Jesus, it is understanding through Him.
Fully grasping His love for Us.”
So God is showing me through this new transition of my life, the need to allow Him to help me to become who I was created to be. If it is through my writing that I am able to bless others.
Then I will write. If it is in speaking and sharing my story. Then I will do that also.
He will give me the strength and the words when the time is right.
The Lord said,”I will show up in your midst, my presence will be upon you, as you follow me and encourage others.”
Psalm 101:1-3 “I will sing of your Love and justice Lord. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life – when will you come help me?
I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.” vs 6: “I will search for faithful people to be my companions”.
Psalm 95: 1 The psalmist says :”Come, let us Bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for HE is God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!”
I encourage us all… as we journey through this thing called life, may we earnestly seek to listen to his voice. We must stop, and listen, for it is often in the stillness of the moment when He will whisper.
by Sharon O | Mar 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
Our pastor challenged us yesterday.
It was awesome. Thought provoking.
He talked about Shame.
Just the very sound of the word, brings feelings.
Dictionary.com says it is the arising of painful feelings, brought on by yourself or others, dishonorable, disgrace, improper or ridiculous.
It is an internal feeling inside our heart, rather than an external feeling.
It is deep. A core truth that we have chosen to believe.
I am bad and unlovable.
Pastor said; shame is not guilt.
Shame is more about who you are, not what you did, it is personal.
Guilt is more action, it is embarrassment or a revelation of ‘I did wrong, I am sorry’.
Guilt is freeing, a way to repent and start over.
Shame says, ‘I am wrong, I am not worthy, there is no hope’.
He talked about Moses, when he was on the mountain receiving the ten commandments from God, he also received a ‘glowing’ countenance. It was radiant, bright.
When he walked away from the presence of God, the glow went away. Moses put a veil over his face so the ‘people’ couldn’t see the change.
Exodus 34:27-30 the story is told, how Moses covered his face, over and over, to cover the shame of the ‘dimming’ glow.
Pastor said ‘how is that different than what we do with each other’?
We cover ‘ourselves’ so others cannot see.
The real ME.
We hide.
We sometimes cover more than just our face. He showed the visual of ‘covering our entire body’, so others cannot see the real ‘inside self’ of who we are, as he wrapped himself in a dark piece of cloth.
When I began my recovery journey, I was hesitant to say, ‘I am in counseling’.
Why? I am not sure, maybe it was a concern about ‘what would others think?’. Maybe I was hiding, my truth so I didn’t appear less ‘together’, than what I was presenting. Maybe I didn’t want to explain why?
I don’t know, but I do know now, as I am more mature in the process. I find it to be as valuable as going to the dentist or doctor. It is a point of ‘checking in’… is my health OK? am I thinking clearly?
Recent news has stirred me.
I find it fascinating and sad this weekend to see on the Internet and news. The headline:
Marie Osmond devastated by her son’s death.
Why would that even appear in the news?
Wouldn’t that be normal to be devastated as a mother, as the news came to you, that your child is now gone?
Why would they be ‘surprised?’ Why is that even worth mentioning or writing about?
Then they go on and say, ‘he fought a life long battle with depression, and wrote about it in a letter which he left behind’. Then they write about her divorces and how he was one of her 5 adopted children. Then they go on to tell how he had been in a rehabilitation facility and how she as a mom, did not want to discuss or disclose the reason why.
I just couldn’t believe what I was reading and hearing. So now you have a grieving family, and you place on them the ‘shame’, that you should have loved more deeply or more intensely.
It was like they were saying, ‘she saw his pain and couldn’t fix it’.
The end result was ‘his shame, of who he was’ and he committed suicide.
How horrible. How awful. How devastating to all who are involved and knew him.
I pray we do not assume it was a mothers love, or lack of it, that caused the hurt in his heart.
I pray that we stop the talking and pray for her and her family.
Shame probably did play a role in his heart, to do something that drastic.
The shame of ‘who he was’ that he couldn’t over come.
The depression and feelings that would not leave.
It was a heart hurt.
Suicide is never the answer, there is always hope when we look deeply for it.
God in your wisdom and mercy, I pray that we as a people never say cruel or mean things to others in their deepest ‘grief’ moments.
The media should feel ‘guilt’ over what they said. The media is wrong.
I don’t know Marie Osmond, but I would guess she is a mother who loved with a mothers heart. We as a people need to be thoughtful and pray for her. The words, shame, and suicide are ‘like salt and pepper’. They so often go together.
I pray, I pray, for the these families right now.
I also pray the media will respect them and leave them alone. It is a very sad thing.
This is just ‘something for us to think about’ today, as we move into a new week.
