Free To Be Second

“Know that you are loved and live out of that.”

Loren Thornburg

Video chat is the next best thing to being in person.  Yet, what I find is so often I am looking at me in the small box rather than the person I am talking to in the full screen.  It seems it would be easier to keep my eyes on the other person in the bigger picture, yet I seem to drift back down to me in the small view.  If I’m honest it’s not just on video chat.  Even when I’m with people my focus can end up on me in my thoughts and direction of conversation.  We all have these tendencies.  We gravitate towards thinking about ourselves, wondering how others perceive us, and planning how we can get what we need.  What if we could keep others in our view rather than ourselves?  I don’t mean that we neglect ourselves but that we keep ourselves in proper perspective.  It’s easy to let ourselves become the full screen.  Yet, then we miss the joy of community and the freedom of not needing to be the focus.   Live free to come second.  There’s more joy there than you think.  

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Philippians 2:1-4 Message

We can’t give what we don’t have.  It’s hard to give love we haven’t received.  We love best when it’s an outflow of the love we have been given and oh what overflow of love comes from knowing Jesus.  His love makes all the difference.  It’s because of how He has loved us that we can love God and others.  We can forget ourselves because we know He never forgets us.  We can lend a helping hand because He has brought to Him, a to a place we never deserved to be.  Sometimes we get this out of order and try to give without receiving.  Spend time in His love.  Receive the ways He is loving you through others.  Then, you can let His love compel you to put yourself aside and see those around you.  Then you can be okay with being second.  You might be surprised how freeing it really becomes.  Let God be first and see how He takes care of you.  You may find being first is not as necessary as you once thought.  Embrace the freedom of being second.  

Check out the I AM Second videos.  Here is one from hip hop artist Lecrae:

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/lecrae/

Just Around the Corner

“When we most want to quit is when we most need is to stick it out.”

Loren Thornburg

Have you ever noticed that just before a breakthrough is when things got the hardest? It’s in our nature.  A moth  becomes a butterfly by the pressure from the cocoon before release, a mom giving birth has to push the hardest just before the birth, or even a slingshot shoots the farthest when you pull it to its greatest tension.  Yet, as much as we all want to achieve great things and go far, we don’t like the tension needed to get there.  Which is why many of us stop.  Often when we stop is the very moment that we need to hold on, for breakthrough is just around the corner.  It seems to be how it works.  I wish it weren’t so.  I wish it were easy.  However, if we can see the tension as a sign of a breakthrough that’s coming maybe we can hold on long enough for the joy that is near.  Hold on, breakthrough is just around the corner. 

“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”

1 Peter 4:12-13 Message

We are so quick to associate things that are easy with God’s hand in it and assume that when it’s hard His hand is gone.  I’m not sure how we got to that assumption for when we look at Jesus’ life we see God’s hand all over it and yet His life was far from easy.  Just after His moment of greatest pain bearing the weight of our sin in His death on the cross, comes the moment that He fulfills His purpose.  He defeated sin so that we could have access to intimate relationship with the Father.  We see it all throughout scripture where the greatest tension comes just before a breakthrough and He does the same in our lives.  The tension is never wasted.  God is using it to prepare you for what awaits you beyond the breakthrough.  So although it’s never easy or fun, it’s far from true that God is off the job.  He is very much in the thick of it, sometimes so much so that’s it’s hard to see Him because He is so in the midst of it all.  Look again.  Can you see Him there?  He is refining you there for the glory just around the corner.  

Check out this song about the verge of a breakthrough:

(it's #2 on the link below)

On A Verge Of A Breakthrough

The Ineloquent

Trapped in this cocoon like a moth I'm growing like I should.

This process hurts more than I ever thought it could.

I hear it's normal to feel the way I distinctively do when you're on the verge of a break, of a breakthrough

I can see my wings already waiting just around the corner 

and I can feel my heart racing is this waiting to no where. 

I can hear deliverance screaming my name over and over, It's so close, It's so close

Wounds like a ballon stretching pressure and it hurts the most

But when Im at my worst I know that freedom is close. 

I hear that a cocoon is necessary for your wings to bloom. 

I think I'm ready to be on the verge of a break, of a break, of a breakthrough.

I can see my wings already waiting just around the corner 

and I can feel my heart racing is this waiting to no where. 

I can hear deliverance screaming my name over and over, It's so close, It's so close

The Beautiful Change

“Change brings beauty in more than the leaves.”

Loren Thornburg

This time of the year is so fun to get out and see the leaves.  Here in Colorado all of the aspens are changing and coloring the mountainsides.  It’s fun to see.  It’s also fun to see the process.  There’s an anticipation in the gradual color change.  Somehow I don’t always feel the same about change in my own life.  I can sometimes see it on the fun things but not always the hard stuff.  I agree that some change is really hard to see any beauty in it.  Yet, what if I started to look for it?  I wonder what I might find.  I just might start to see that the transitions that seem so hard are yielding colors of gold across my life.  

“They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage.  They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.”

Isaiah 61:4 Message

Nothing in your life is out of reach of God’s capacity to make it beautiful.  God loves to rebuild, restore and renew His people. With God it’s never too late.  We’re never too old, too far from hope or beyond help.  He can rebuild any amount of ruins.  Even what’s been completely wrecked He can make new.  Whatever your ruins or rubble God can make it new if you will let Him.  That means even the thing that seems beyond restorable, that very thing He can restore: the broken marriage, the deep hurt of a friend, the addiction that keeps coming back, the years lost, and whatever seemingly impossible situation you find yourself in.  He can make the change and make it beautiful.  Let Him take the wreckage of your life and make it into something new.  He can make the beautiful change no matter how lost it seems. 

Great Illusion

“Our lives are not to be compared, but to be held in gratitude for the wonder that each holds.”

Loren Thornburg

If the light hits at the right angle it appears as if there is a pool of water on the road.  Yet, what happens as you get closer is this illusion fades.  I find this to be true in our roads of life.  We often look around and think someone else has it better than we do, wanting what they have until we get closer and realize they have hard things too, they just look different than ours.  You can only see this when you get up close to someone’s life.  From far away things can look great.  From Facebook it’s hard not to think less of your own life and more of what you see.  The illusion is to believe that it’s better somewhere else, but the truth is it’s better where you allow it to be better.  You must choose to accept where you are and let it be enough for right now.  Your life is a gift unlike any other.  Take another look at it and see the wonder that it holds.    

 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’ Matthew 20: 13-15 Message

Although we may not all have had a situation of wage differences we can all relate to this story.  The feeling that it’s unfair that someone else has more or has it easier than we have is universal.  Yet what the Lord says to us is He hasn’t been unfair or as it reads in another translation, “I am doing you no wrong.”  I tend to argue with Him on this until I read the question that follows, “Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?”  The Lord is so generous.  He has been so generous to us in ways we don’t deserve.  Yet, we take His generosity and rather than respond in gratitude we tell Him it’s not enough.  Oh we may not say that but we might as well be saying it by the way we respond.  Let Him do what He wants with those around you, thankful that He is generous with them and with you.  It’s not a competition, it’s a family.  Celebrate the Lord’s generosity wherever it may fall.  For the truth remains He is most generous with you.  Don’t fall for any other illusion.  

Soaked

“We can’t help but be changed when we are soaked.  The question becomes what are we soaking in?”

Loren Thornburg

Sometimes dishes won’t come clean.  Even with heavy scrubbing and hot water the food remnants seem to be stuck there forever.  However, after soaking the dish in water for an extended period of time the remnants begin to dislodge and the dish is able to come clean again.  You and I are like that too.  We can’t help but be changed by the thoughts we are soaking in.  It’s like a marinade.  The taste of the meal becomes that which you marinate it in.  So then we too become that which we marinate in.  When we think about truth we reflect that in our life, however when we think about lies or fears our whole life is affected.  Therefore we need to marinate in things that are true for when we do it becomes like the dish that has been soaked; the lies begin to come off easily for they can’t remain when soaked in truth.  Let's get soaking in truth. 

“For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].”

Philippians 4:8 Amplified

God knows us.  He created us and so He knows what we need.  God knows how important our thoughts are to our life and relationship with Him.  Paul is relaying that message to the Philippians and to us.  Though years and cultures apart our issues are the same.  What we think about matters.  The thoughts that are minds are soaked in make a difference.  Yet, even if we have soaked in thoughts that are not true, honorable, pure and lovely still we can return.  For in soaking in thoughts that are worthy of reverence they become like the water in the dirty dish and dislodge the lies and fears.  So then let us continually fix our minds on these things.  The soaking of our hearts takes time, even more than the dishes.  It’s not a quick fix.  It takes more than hearing once to change, but it is the continual soaking in the truth that brings the freedom our hearts need.  Start soaking in Him.  It changes things. 

Allow for Healing

“We have in us the tools to heal, if only we would give ourselves the space to use them.”

Loren Thornburg

It wasn’t until I scraped the top of my knuckle that I realized how often that area rubs up against things.  Even the simple act of putting my hands in my pockets has the potential to open up the cut again.  I am reminded with this cut that I can’t operate in the ways that I am used to operating.  I have to approach things more carefully.  In seeing the space my body needs to heal I am reminded that our hearts needs that same space.  In the times and places of hurting we can’t expect to do things as we’ve always done.  When we are sick we don’t expect ourselves to be able to do the same amount in our day because we recognize our need for healing.  In knowing this let’s carry that same approach to the places of our hearts.  When we’ve been hurt, when we’re grieving loss, when we’re facing hardship let us remember we need space.  We can heal in all these places but it means giving ourselves the grace and space we need to allow healing to happen. 

“My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

Proverbs 4:20-22 NLT

The Lord loves to brings life and healing.  Here in Proverbs there is an invitation to let Him do what He is capable of doing.  In order to experience this life and healing we have to listen to the Lord and His truth and let them penetrate our hearts.  He never forces His way into our places in need of healing.  Yet, with even a small turn towards Him He is there ready and willing to penetrate the truth deep into our hearts so that we may experience life.  We can’t do it on our own, but His spirit within us, when invited to the hurt, brings healing.  It takes time and space just as our physical wounds do, but we can rest in Him.  Give God space and allow Him to heal.  He loves to bring life deep into your heart!

Cultivating Heart

“Everything in our lives grows out of our heart.  So then that is where in everything we must begin.”
Loren Thornburg

Those who garden are very familiar with the cultivation process.  It involves preparing and working on land by labor and attention to raise a plant or crop.  Note two of the words in that definition: labor and attention.  Cultivation is not something that comes easily or quickly, but takes work and hours of attending to that which you want to cultivate.  Whether this takes place in our gardens or in our lives we all have roots that need cultivation.  Growth will be hindered if the roots are not in an environment that fosters growth.  In our lives everything grows out of our hearts.  This is the soil where our roots are planted.  So then we must be attentive to work at the things of our hearts.  If you don’t like what’s growing in your life it’s best to go to the roots as you would a plant, or weed.   Often we try to cut it off from the outside, creating an endless cycle of growth and need for cutting.  Until eventually we give up trying, giving our lives the potential to be filled with weeds and other unwanted growth.   What is your life cultivating?  It came from the heart and that is where you must go.  

“I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart, like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.”
Psalm 131:2 Message

These words of David’s about a life of contentment are so inviting.  I don’t mean a life of settling but one of peace and enjoyment where what you have and where you are is enough.  Oh how much pain and harm could be avoided if our hearts could find themselves content.  in a culture that says more is better is it seems this can only happen by labor and attention.  We have to be intentional to cultivate a quiet heart and contentment.  A quiet heart means we’ve removed all the noise.  I don’t mean avoiding all the noise but rather giving it to the Lord piece by piece.  In order to give it to Him we must stop long enough to see it and be aware of it.  We can’t give what we don’t know we have.  Often It’s easier to avoid because we don’t like what we see.  Yet, it’s the only way to a quiet heart.  So let’s start looking and cultivating hearts that are quiet and content.  It’s takes work and time, but the pain of those things is worth the freedom of a content life.  You won’t want to miss it...no matter what time and painful work it requires.