All my life I feel like I have been
living to do. Do my chores, do my school work, do the right thing, do
more, do better, do to please, do your best, do...do...do...do...I
must admit that living like this becomes tiring and I always feel
like there's still so much I need to do.....it never seems to be
finished. I sit back and look at my life and see all I've 'done' and
find myself wondering, what has it amounted to? Is any of it of
consequence? Has the world really been a better place because of all
my doing? My pessimistic side looks at the past and says that I
haven't really done much with my life. Society looks at my days gone
by and says that I haven't really been successful, I haven't risen to
the occasion, I set the bar too low.
Where do I look?
I must admit that lately I've been
facing a bit of a mid-life crisis.....call it what you
want....however, I find myself feeling that I haven't done enough,
that I haven't left my mark on this world, that I haven't made a
difference and that I need to hurry up and get busy doing more,
something of significance, because my time is running out...
Yet my physical body, my tiredness, my
daily headaches, my lack of energy....make me wonder how am I going
to do more when I already feel overwhelmed and unable to keep up with
what I'm presently doing?
It's a conundrum. Any where I look, I
find myself lacking. Until today, when I took the time to look at
what He had to say. I gained new insight and found a better lens to
view past days...through the eyes of my Heavenly Father.
“You are the light of the world –
like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp
and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a
stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same
way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone
will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16 NLT
What do lights do? Actually, in and of
themselves they really don't do much at all. To be a light is to
shine. That's it. Simple. Being.
Being made...Lights don't make
themselves. Light bulbs are manufactured in factories where someone
puts the pieces together.
Being bought...They are boxed up and
sold in stores.
Being used...They are inserted into
sockets by those who buy them.
Being filled...And they shine only
because someone flicks a switch and electricity courses through them.
Lights can't work harder to shine
brighter or stronger. They can't work at trying to light up the
entire world, they just wait to be turned on and then they shine and
illuminate their space. They exist only because someone made them and
they shine only because the electricity flowing through them enables
them to be what they were created to be. A light....shining in the
darkness.
When it comes to the life of a
lightbulb....there's not a lot of doing, just a lot of being.
Matthew says that believers are suppose
to be to shining lights to the world. But when I look at my life I
don't see a lot of being and shinning, I just see a lot of doing.
Doing chores and to-do lists
Doing wifely responsibilities
Doing parenting
Doing friendship
Doing mission work
Doing correspondence
Doing expectations
Doing, doing, doing, doing.........just
leads to being tired, overwhelmed and disappointed.
What if I modeled my life after the
simple and unassuming lightbulb? What if I was living “to be”
instead of living “to do”? What does it really mean to be a light
on a stand, just shining....a simple light being simply what it was
created to be?
How would my life and outlook on life
be different if I set aside doing and lived in the realm of being...
Being
made...”For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully
made...” Ps 139:13-14
Being bought...”Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are
not your own; you were bought at a price.” 1 Cor. 6:19-20
Being filled...”Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the
Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will
ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit...” Eph.
5:17-18
Being used...“You are the light of
the world...a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to
everyone in the house....let your good deeds shine out...” Matthew
5:14-16 NLT
This all sounds great but the revolving
question for me is, “how do I do this?”
Ironic, isn't it?
How 'do' I 'do' this?
What does being look like?
In the lesson of the lightbulb I find
myself realizing that I can't work harder to shine brighter or
stronger. I can't light up the entire world by myself. I only exist
because God made me and I can only shine if I am filled with the Holy
Spirit flowing through me, enabling me to be who I was created to be.
It's at this time that the opposition
arises within me to say, but if I live to be, then how will anything
get done? Yet, I realize my mindset, is backwards. What if being
replaced doing as the first priority in my life? What would my life
look like then?
Yeah but...
“The world values action....”
Yeah? But what does God value?
And who's value carries more weight,
more pull, more sway, more importance in my life?
“The world values action, but the
Father prioritizes relationship
– specifically a right relationship
with Him. ”
- Charles Stanley
- Charles Stanley
And there's the crux of it all....the
whole doing versus being debate. The questions, the wonderings, the
flawed outlook on life...all circle around and come back to one thing
and one thing only. Am I in right relationship with my Father?
Being
restful in His presence...”Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of
you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you
rest...” Matthew 11:28 “Be still, and know that I am God! Ps
46:10
Being who God made me to
be...”Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved...”
1Cor. 3:12 “...be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live
in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God.” Eph 5:1-2
Being is abiding...
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower...Abide in me
as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in
them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing...As
the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If
you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said
these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete.” Excerpts from John 15:1-11
Now before frustration rises at the
above verses....let me say that I have been there numerous times!
What does it mean to be? What does it mean to be still? To imitate
God? To live in love? What does it mean to abide??????
I want tangible. I want neat words and
phrases and formulas to follow. I want a list of dos and don'ts. I
want easy.
But God never said that being was easy.
Look what being cost him! His very life. And that's what being is
going to cost me.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
The daily dying to self so that I can
be. The moment by moment, minute by minute surrender in all kinds of
situations and circumstances and roles and responsibilities. For me
to live is Christ or at least it's suppose to be.
“Christ in my everything.
God in my living, there in my
breathing
God in my waking, God in my sleeping
God in my resting, there in my working
God in my thinking, God in my speaking
God in my waking, God in my sleeping
God in my resting, there in my working
God in my thinking, God in my speaking
God in my
hoping, there in my dreaming
God in my watching, God in my waiting
God in my laughing, there in my weeping
God in my hurting, God in my healing
God in my watching, God in my waiting
God in my laughing, there in my weeping
God in my hurting, God in my healing
Christ in me, the hope of glory
Be my everything, be my everything
Jesus, everything.” ~ Tim Hughes
It's all about a right relationship
with Him. Putting Him first and foremost.
To do or not to do, isn't the question.
Nor is it the answer.
Being is the best way forward. Doing
must come second and only as an outflowing of my right relationship
with Him.
It's not easy. It's hard. But it's
being and being is a whole lot better than just doing.
~ Karlene
“The world values action, but the
Father prioritizes relationship
(Pictures taken by and property of Karlene Thiessen)
Doing something is better than doing nothing, that's all I can say.
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