The Comfort Zone

Once a month, age 12 Joshua and age 9 Abigail go to a drawing class. I send my Abigail because she loves to draw. I send my Joshua because he hates to draw is drawing-challenged.

My days are filled with me leading my children outside The Comfort Zone, firmly but gently encouraging them to rise to become more than they think they can be. It seems that parents continually walk a fine line as we try to discern when necessary testing might become unhealthy pushing or an unfruitful battleground.

The above situation is easy. Others not so much.

The culprit was not me when a different challenge was presented last week to my age 17 Michaelle, an accomplished classical pianist. This spring she received an unexpected opportunity to play with a philharmonic orchestra. One to shun the spotlight, she didn't mind in the least that the pianist sits far left upstage, behind a grand piano and the rest of the orchestra.

One of the pieces presented during this week's concert was the well known Pink Panther theme song. Moments before they were to go on stage, the conductor asked for a volunteer to walk a 4-foot stuffed Pink Panther to the conductor's podium just before the music started. Despite numerous other musicians' eager requests and Michaelle making herself as small as possible, she was selected.

(I shudder to think of the discussion if I'd have suggested her for the role.)

Bad enough that she had to emerge from her niche and walk across the stage in front of the entire audience in unfamiliar heels. The moment of truth arrived when she stepped forward to perform her unrehearsed part and suddenly realized that the musicians' chairs arranged along the front left only a tiny strip of stage for a person to walk.

Have I mentioned before that Michaelle is afraid of heights?

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
~ Isaiah 43:2-3 (NKJV)

There's no drama or disaster to report. When she had to do what she had to do, Michaelle simply did it. Everyone in our family was tickled ... pink, and I thanked the Lord for accomplishing what I would not have attempted.

(You may have already guessed where I'll take this ... )

God does the same thing all the time as He stretches us well beyond The Comfort Zone. He puts us in situations we'd never in a million years choose for ourselves so that we'll grow.

I know that. You know that.

But it never hurts to be reminded that wherever you and I are being stretched right now, it's all part of His good and perfect plan.

"Our prayers are answered not when we are given what we ask,
but when we are challenged to be what we can be."
~ Morris Adler

Note: Let the record show that Michaelle is not afraid of heights, she simply doesn't like them. [Does that work for you, baby?] ; )

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image source: decal-orations.com

Question of the Week: Curiosity

I'm calling in sick this week, and guess what would make me feel great?

Send more questions! My pile is getting low, and hearing about your curiosity in Christianity and the Bible is sure to provide a pick-me-up.

I plan to be back next week.

~ Anne

Goals and Purpose, Success and Significance

"Success is to reach a goal.
Significance is making a difference in the lives of others over time."
~ Chip MacGregor

Photo Credit: Dan Norcott

I work best on deadlines. When I hear the clock running, I push through distractions and stretch to reach a goal. Few things motivate like a goal within sight. Few things satisfy like the sense of completion when a goal is met.

But super-goals risk becoming gods, requiring all else be laid down before them. We admire the MVP athlete, the virtuoso musician, the best-selling author. We do not see what price they paid to reach their goals. We know that for too many superstars, all else in life has come second.

At some point, their goals became their purpose.

Life has taught me hard lessons about setting goals. Many goals prove unworthy. Others have merit but can interfere with purpose.

The most important goal there can be is to make sure our call and election to eternal life through Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:10). Having secured this goal, one can better understand one's purpose:

"But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
~ Exodus 9:16 (NKJV)

My purpose is to love and glorify God. Part of that purpose is making His glory known by sharing His love with others.

Goals motivate me to achieve my purpose. I pray for success as I stretch to meet those goals.

But if the goals become my purpose, I will find that I've settled for success rather than achieved significance.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest [others] mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
... So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."
~ Luke 14:28-33 (NKJV)

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This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by Peter Pollock. You're invited to visit his site and see what others are saying about today's theme: Goals.

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image source: dannorcott.co.uk

Continuum of the Prophets

"Eye of God" by Riek Jonker

Art Katz says of the prophets that they live in the eternal future while at the same time being in a clear continuum with the biblical past, and speak on truth and reality throughout all ages and the ages to come.

That actually makes sense to me without having to think about it. I watch the Middle East and the Pacific unravel while simultaneously studying Isaiah and Ezekiel, as well as writing about Samuel. I am willingly carried away on the continuum of the prophets between biblical past and eternal future.

The Old Testament prophecies feel as real and current to me as if I'm reading the newspaper. The prophets' words ebb and flow between their present and my present. When Isaiah jumps from speaking about King Hezekiah (eighth century B.C.) to discussing the last days (twenty-first century A.D.?), I scarcely feel the leap. When "thus saith the Lord" shifts from judgment to mercy, it feels as smooth to me as a transition into fifth gear after entering the freeway.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: "Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed ... butted all the weak ones ... and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock ... And I, the LORD, will be their God ... "
~ Ezekiel 34:20-24 (NKJV)

I had a general idea on Friday what I would write for this Sunday post. Even so, I was caught off guard during our Bible lesson on Saturday when I read the above passage, and then found myself completely choked up when we landed on the chapter's final verse:

"You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord GOD.
~ Ezekiel 34:31 (NKJV)

I began the day with Isaiah, reading of Jerusalem's horrific destruction, which is followed within a couple of verses by these words:

"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!"
Says your God.
~ Isaiah 40:1 (NKJV)

There is no doubt in my mind that the prophets were overwhelmed by the messages they were given to bear. In their words I feel the grief carried by them and by God. I cannot imagine how they would have continued without the embrace of His words as He speaks tenderly.

When I write biblical fiction late at night, I dim the lights, step back into another time and place, and enter into the lives of people inextricably connected to me by the same Spirit. On a good many days, I don't wholly re-enter the present, but part of me remains with the prophets ...

My continual prayer is that such travels bring the Word of God fully to life when I share it with others, and that I inspire them (you) to make the journey more often—and perhaps take it more slowly.

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Question of the Week: What is Biblical Reconciliation?

by Anne Lang Bundy

"Reconciliation"
Sculpted by Josefina de Vasconcellos
(image source: trinityfellowship.net)

What is the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, (in the sense of being available for further abuse)?
~ Anonymous

Last week's post provided some contrasts from the Bible about forgiveness, separation and accountability. This week offers some examples of how enmity, forgiveness and reconciliation might play out.

Three important notes in preface:

• if a Christian experiences enmity, relationship with Christ will bring the desire to eliminate it;

• the below examples of forgiveness and reconciliation are biblical ideals toward which God's Holy Spirit enables us to work, whether or not we reach them;

• the person who has been wronged should not only be ready to forgive and reconcile, but also ask God if there is anything for which he or she should repent and ask forgiveness.

"Love your enemies,
bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;
for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?
Do not even the [heathen] do the same?"
~ Jesus (Matthew 5:44-46)

EXAMPLES OF ENMITY:

You hurt me and I hope you suffer for it.

I want to hurt you back, whether I do it openly or secretly, with or without restraint.

I want you out of my life. Your death wouldn't bother me. Killing you myself isn't out of the question.


EXAMPLES OF FORGIVENESS:

If I hate you, it will hurt me more than it will hurt you, so I release my enmity. God's forgiveness and love enable me to forgive and love you, and I choose to do so.

I am willing to hold you accountable for your wrongdoing with the hope that your repentance will enable full reconciliation between you and God, between you and me.

I ask God to do good things for you. I seek opportunity to be an agent of His blessing. I wait for God to heal the injury you have done to me. I hope God will move you to become an agent of that healing by your right response to Him, expressed to me.


EXAMPLES OF RECONCILIATION:

Whether you and I associate peaceably or have no contact, your lack of repentance has prevented reconciliation between us. But my forgiveness prevents enmity toward you—even if circumstances prevent me from escaping further injury. Though I desire reconciliation with you, I instead reconcile myself to knowing I have done as much as I can. I am at peace.

Or:
You have repented—you have acknowledged your wrong against me, you have expressed remorse and apology, and you may have reconciled yourself to God through Jesus. Forgiveness and repentance enables you and I to experience reconciliation. But until your cooperation with God enables you to overcome the behavior which led you to hurt me, we cannot share the level of relationship I still hope for, which I pray God brings to pass. I am at peace.

Or:
Your thorough repentance and my thorough forgiveness have enabled our reconciliation to God and to each other. We are brother(s) and sister(s) through Jesus Christ and are free to enjoy that relationship in love. I am at peace.

Now all things are of God,
who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation ...
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NKJV)

Photo credit: Ed Gardener, Flickr.com

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This post originally appeared at Bullets & Butterflies. To see ongoing dialogue in comments posted there click here.

What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com.

© 2011 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.