Writing Quote

"To write spiritually is to engage in a search for authentic language. You’ll find your truth by writing your way to it."
-- Patrice Vecchione

Submit!

I remember reading Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People many years ago. I always remember the part where Covey writes that a man came up to him after a presentation and stated that he no longer loved his wife. Covey told them man “then you should love your wife.” The man, thinking Covey misunderstood stated, “no, you don’t understand, I no longer love my wife.” Covey insisted “then you should LOVE your wife” and what Covey was wanting the gentleman to grasp is that love requires action. He indicated to the man that if he would do things such as bring flowers, greet his wife warmly, embrace his wife and listen to her conversation then the old feeling of “love” would return. Covey’s point was that love is about action and respect not about a giddy feeling.

To tell me to submit tends to make me bristle. However Paul begins this passage, Ephesians 5: 21-33 with a disarming statement: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So, out of my respect and love for the Lord, I should submit to others. I can handle that.

F. F. Bruce writes :

“Christians should not be self-assertive, each insisting on getting his or her own way. As the Philipian believers were told, they should be humble enough to count others better than themselves and put the interests of others before theor own, following the example of Christ, who “emptied himself,” “humbled himself,” and “became obedient,” even when the path of obedience led to death on the cross. Out of reverence for their Lord, who set such a precedent, his followers should place themselves at one another’s disposal living so that their forbearance is a matter of public knowledge.”

Ok, I get that……but living it and SUBMITTING. Wow that’s a tall order.

Being submissive today’s is something you'll read in any business success book! Yet, I think about all the other things I submit to: traffic speed, standard dress expectations, and so why wouldn’t I then submit to other human being, especially submit to my husband. I have the most love and respect for my husband so why wouldn’t I spend my time behaving in a way that adheres to F. F. Bruce’s statement!

After a week of wrestling with “submit” I have become friends with the concept and found that as a Christian I am willing to be submissive and to submit to not only my husband but to others out of reverence for Christ. Christ set the example and I choose to follow His example. I will continue working on not bristling when someone brings up the concept of submission!

Mind Gardening

N.T. Wright writes the following passage:

Paul doesn’t see these hymns and songs as simply decorative, a pleasant aural embroidery around Christian faith and practice. Singing, whether aloud or in your heart , was, he thought, an excellent way of actually practicing the faith. If you don’t want your garden to grow weeds, one of the best ways is to keep it well stocked with strong, sturdy flowers and shrubs. (2002, p. 63)

Gardening the Mind

I have often thought of how much the mind is like a garden. You have to work to make sure it is productive, prepare the soil by pulling the weeds, plant seeds you want to grow whether flowers or vegetables, and you have to nurture or fertilize the garden. In order to have a thriving garden you need to prepare the soil by pulling the weeds and clearing a spot to welcome the seeds. Our minds are very much the same because we can have weeds in our minds which are negative thoughts or habits that do not serve us well. Negative self-talk negatively impacts our self-esteem and continuing to have negative thoughts simply fuels one’s low self-esteem.

Plantings Seeds to Produce

As a Christian I have chosen to plant the seed by accepting Christ as my Savior and accepting the Holy Spirit into my soul. This “seed” is like the seed of a beautiful flower. It’s a simple seed that with the correct nurturing can bloom into a beautiful bouquet or without nurturing with fail to thrive and simply shrivel up and lie dormant.

Nurturing the Seed

As a gardener you have a choice of how to fertilize the garden. Today there are organic options or traditional chemical options. The purpose of fertilize is to enrich the soil, providing needed nutrients to help the seed produce at its highest level. If you ignore the need to nurture the seed the weeds will become overgrown and choke the seed. No matter how much the seed wants to produce if it isn’t nurtured the weeds can choke and steal the valuable nutrients from the soil and leave the seed unhealthy. With nurturing, fertilizer the weeds are killed off and the seed produces its blooms over and over. The mind is the same way, if we constantly fill our minds with thoughts that are “impure” as Paul notes, our the “bad” side of the human will can choke the fruit from coming to its highest yield. However if we fill our minds with positivity, kindness, and focus on the Lord, we can produce our at highest level.

Based upon this weeks reading, Ephesians 5: 1-20, Paul provides guidelines for living in a way that nurtures the seed of the Holy Spirit and for behaving in a way that brings blessings to others. Of the types of behavior that will allow weeds to grow and choke the positive fruit of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes that these behaviors are: sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking. To bring forth fruit and hold back weeds, Paul writes that as a Christian we should “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Scrapbooking For Myself

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Ephesians 4: 17-32

New International Version for Verse 23: to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

New Living Translation

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Verse 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

The MessageV 29 29Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

This week the passage was rich with instruction for living a life honorable as a Christian. I particularly enjoyed meditating on Verse 23 and Verse 29. Verse 23 spoke to me in a personal way and renewed my spirit, keeping me in a positive mindset reminding me of the joy that is mind as God’s child. Verse 29 reminded me how to behave and that my own words should be positive and honorable-speaking in a way that my words are a gift to others.

When I began this study, I did not expect to find the joy I’ve received from being in God’s Word that I’ve found. I have never spent this much time just ruminating on passages, saturating myself with God’s instruction through Paul so that I can live more Christ-like. Living in this manner has always been one of the things to do but Paul’s instructions give specific and pointed behaviors that are to be chosen over certain other behavior. I have found that Paul is focused on being positive and living in a way that makes a positive contribution. Whereas some may find the “rules” for living to be prescriptive I find them to be broad and allowing for much latitude within a context of knowing we should live in community with one another sharing our giftedness and making others’ lives better because of our presence and words.

This week I shared with a friend how much she makes me a better person and that her being her makes a positive contribution to my life. After spending time in Paul’s instructions and feeling the sense of urgency to make a positive contribution and live a life worthy of the Christian calling I felt I should use my words to let her know how much of a blessing she is to me. I hope that she was uplifted by my words and that I honored Paul’s instructions through this choice.

I often pray that Christ will guide my words and my choices. Often I open my mouth and the words that come forth have to be blessed by God because they are more wise than I am and they provide information that is beyond my own capacity. I am thankful that I can turn to Christ and allow myself to be used in a way that positively impacts other people. I know I’m far, far from even good at this and I hope that I can continue to improve at being uplifting to others and that I can continue to improve at being a blessing to be around.

Laurie Beth Jones' Blog-Good Posting

A neat little (short) story about finding the work God has for you (fits nicely with Paul's discussion of the two callings)

http://thepathleader.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/finding-the-valuable-work-god-has-for-you/

Ephesians 4: 1-16

When I look back at what made my heart sing with joy as a child I remember pretend playing school. I would literally pours hours of WORK into pretend play. In order to be a good teacher, I would spend time drawing up worksheets for my “student” who just happened to be my cousin. When I could convince my cousin to play my way, I never understood why he didn’t enjoy playing school as much as I did. I loved reading things and thinking aloud with others to get to the meaning of something, I loved note taking and overall I just loved the classroom environment.

It is time spend remembering how much I loved “teaching” as a child and combining it with my classroom time at Baylor that I know someday I must involve myself with teaching. Paul discusses two callings in this week’s reading. The first calling is a call to Christianity. Paul writes “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. This calling is that of following Jesus. Others should be able to tell we are a Christian by the way we treat others-with love and peace. Paul challenges Christians to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Paul goes on to discuss that Christ has given a second calling and that is a gift to each person according to God’s grace. Paul provide some examples of this second call as preachers, teachers, and prophets. In an earlier reading Paul discussed the body and that there are different parts of the body but it is still one body. Thus our two callings-we are all called to be God’s children, Christians, and within that body of Christians we each have a different role to fulfill.

I’m not currently a teacher but I feel a calling to share in a way a teacher would so I wait and honor God with my current work knowing that in God’s time all things come forth so if I am meant to fulfill the role of an educator, God will provide that opportunity for me. In my days though, I spend time deepening my walk with Christ through studying the word more thoroughly and finding peace in all that I do. I am thankful to have an opportunity to consider the Calls of which Paul writes and seek daily to live my life in a way that is worthy of such honorable calls.

Great Posts on Followership

I saw this post on http://bobsutton.typepad.com/

The Power of the First Follower

Check out this fantastic 3 minute TED video. Derek Sivers provides a brilliant brief conceptual analysis, touching on points including:

1. Leaders are over-rated, if someone does not follow, they are just lone nuts.

2. The first follower is the one who creates a leader.

3. The leader had the wisdom to treat the first follower as an equal, which encouraged him to join and stay.

4. The people who come after everyone's doing it are interesting, as they rush to get there soon enough when it is still cool but safe because a lot of people are doing it.

5. At some point, it may spread so far that people will risk ridicule for not joining.

6. Leaders are over-rated, early -- especially first followers -- followers provide an underrated form of leadership.

I would add, as a small addition, that another way to think about the leader here is he succeeded because he was sensitive to what would motivate the first follower and the other early followers.


This is a case of influence by someone without authority. But just think if you had authority and also applied these principles. That is what great leaders -- and first followers -- do, it seems.

P.S. A big thanks to Scott for sending this my way.