Loving the Life You Have: Managing to Grumble a Hallelujah

I just finished reading a good book. It's called Grumble Hallelujah: Learning to Love Your Life Even When it Lets You Down by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira. How would I describe it? Witty, insightful, and packed with so much wisdom and insight that she could have probably written several books on each chapter. But Caryn comes off as a trustworthy older sister that you could sit and converse with for hours. In this book, she is transparent, self-deprecating, and convicting all at the same time. I should also mention that she's laugh out loud hilarious. I found myself having to turn back to different chapters in order to contemplate the truths she communicated so well in popular jargon. I underlined to death. I am still thinking about them.

Caryn talks about everything from letting go of jealousy and comparison, to letting go of our expectations of how God should work and learning to live a satisfied life. In doing these things, we learn to trust God and love the life he has given us. The book is geared toward women, but I think men can learn from it, too. It's a book that'd be great to use individually, but would go a long way in a group study. In reading and discussing it in a group setting, I think you'd find that you are not all alone, that you too struggle with the things Caryn speaks of and it'd be good to reflect on that in your group. It's definitely a book I recommend.

I wanted to include a sample of her writing goodness. It was hard to pick which section to highlight, but I thought that the chapter entitled Living Dead: Letting Go of Your Own Life would be a good choice.

"Matthew 10:39 says, 'If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give your life up for me, you will find it.' I was clinging while asking God to help me find my life in him. It's no supposed to work that way....

I've come to realize that John 12:25 means that we can't love our lives in ways that make us grip and cling to the lives we imagined or as our world, our families, or our churches led us to expect them to be. We need to be willing to let go of our own understanding of what's supposed to be and grab hold of what God has in store. We need to die to this life. We need to live dead. Cheery, huh? But look at how The Message translates John 12:25:

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.

This offers us the truth and the blessing and the hope of living dead. Of laying down and burying our expectations, our worldly desires, our lusts and longings, our fears and failures, our triumphs, our successes, our wealth, our dreams, our ideas, our everything. When they die as they are--as we have created them--and we bury them, burn them, and offer them to God, we get to see God doing his thing. We get to see resurrections. We get to see new life--in him. We get to see  God raise up our expectations, our worldly desires, our lusts and longings, our fears and failures, our triumphs, our successes, our wealth, our dreams, our ideas, our everything. We get to see God in all of them. As he defines them. As he would have them."

~ Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira in Grumble Hallelujah: Learning to Love Your Life Even When it Lets You Down pp. 146, 148-149

* Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

How To Receive Abundant Life

This comes from Sarah Young's 40 Days With Jesus: Celebrating His Presence

"I AM PERPETUALLY WITH YOU, taking care of you. That is the most important fact of your existence. I am not limited by time or space; My Presence with you is a forever-promise. You need not fear the future, for I am already there. When you make that quantum leap into eternity, you will find me awaiting you in heaven. Your future is in My hands; I release it to you day by day, moment by moment. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.

I want you to live this day abundantly, seeing all there is to see, doing all there is to do. Don't be distracted by future concerns. Leave them to Me! Each day of life is a glorious gift, but so few people know how to live within the confines of today. Much of their energy for abundant living spills over the time line into tomorrow's worries or past regrets. Their remaining energy is sufficient only for limping through the day, not for living it to the full. I am training you to keep your focus on My Presence in the present. This is how to receive abundant Life, which flows freely from my throne of grace."

Matthew 6:34, James 4:13-15.

Stealing Praises

"One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?' Then he said to him, 'Rise and go; your faith has made you well.'" Luke 17:15-19

Have you ever had someone take your idea and run with it? Or perhaps a boss/supervisor take credit for your ideas and work? I have. It is so frustrating.  Perhaps you've labored for other's behalf, for their good without receiving so much as a thank you. Maybe like me, if you think about it too long, a twinge of bitterness unfolds within.

I think of Jesus healing the ten lepers. Not only did he heal them from sickness, but he delivered them from insults hurled at them, from begging, from societal shame. Once they were considered nobodies, pariahs, by those around them. Daily dehumanization. Now, because of Jesus' touch, they were normal. They treasured normal. Normal meant they could now work to provide for themselves and family. Normal meant they could go wherever they wanted--from the village market, to the temple, to visit family without having to yell, "Unclean! Unclean!"

Only one, a Samaritan at that, returned to heap thanks and praise upon Jesus. Jesus notices him and publicly applauds his act of faith.

Recently, when I was overlooked, I thought to myself, "Well really Lord, the glory is supposed to go to you. Really."  I remembered that he notices what we do in secret. I also remembered Colossians 3 where Paul admonishes us to do all for the glory of God, not for our own glory.

It should be enough for us to get our reward in heaven, even if we don't get it in this life. And many who get acknowledgment in this life--if they've done acts of righteousness for the wrong motives--may not get acknowledgment in the life to come.

God sees us though. God sees, even if no one else does. And if our obedience and love bring him joy and glory, let us be content that one day we'll get acknowledgment, we'll get a pat on the back from him. This is what we must tell ourselves for it is true and it will squelch bitterness.

Hell & Contentment

Merriam-Webster

blessings plural of bless·ing (Noun)

1. God's favor and protection.

2. A prayer asking for such favor and protection.

This is hell: to not see or refuse to see God right in front of us. To be ungrateful for his millions of blessings all around us. Surrounded by God but not seeing him. Surrounded by God but having contempt for him because he is the potter and we are the clay when really we live like we wish the opposite to be true.

This is hell: to think badly and rudely and harshly of God when he is full of love, joy, grace, and compassion and will freely give us all things. He is a just judge.

We must think magnificently of God. He is more magnificent and good then we can imagine.

This is hell: to have eternal treasures before us--all goodness--all beauty--all truth and to refuse it. That is what Satan did. And what we do time after time.

God help us to see and be grateful.



Flourishing Where You Are Planted.

"From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:26-27.

Maybe you are in a job (or lacking a job) and are dejected. Perhaps your misery stems from the relationship you are in (or not in). Or maybe it comes from relocation to a new area and having to leave your friends (or perhaps you wish you could escape your family and social circles). Then again, it is possible you feel like you are drowning in an almost inexplicable loneliness and emptiness; you have this nagging sense that your life matters not. You are depressed. You are living a life of quiet desperation.

I don't know the reasons, but I do know what it is like to feel miserable because of less than ideal circumstances. What's worse is feeling despondent when you are convinced that you are exactly where God has placed your for now.

Several years ago I worked in a place where I was miserable. I loved my job; but gloom and negativity seemed to reside in my work environment and have a stranglehold on my coworkers. I tried to overcome evil with gospel good, but it seemed like I was fighting a losing battle. For a very long time I cried every day after work. I begged God to give me another job. But he didn't right away. I couldn't understand it. I was right where God wanted me and I was obeying Jesus--so what was the problem? Was it that I just worked in really good places before? 

There is much more to this story but I don't think this is the place to flesh it out. However, I realized that if God had me there, then I was going to have to make the best of it and depend on Christ and his body to uphold me as I went to work every day (or perhaps I should say, as I entered a spiritual battle every day).  Over and over again at that time, I read the story of Joseph's life and found great comfort (I've written about that elsewhere on this site). Joseph tremendously suffered many injustices. For some reason, God didn't immediately remove him from his suffering.

But he was to be the person God called him to be within his prison cell--within captivity. This reminds me of the story of King Midas who possessed the golden touch--whatever he touched turned to gold. While in the story, this proves to be a curse, I can't help but think about how whatever Joseph's life touched prospered and what life would be like if everything and everyone touched by the lives of Jesus' followers prospered (not necessarily or even financially). It's not a direct parallel, but that's what I've been thinking about lately.

Joseph was a blessing to all those who crossed his path. And of course Jesus was although he suffered like none other and because of us! But if we are sure God has placed us where we are, isn't it to be a blessing to others and to him--sort of like Abraham the great Patriarch? Can not the power of the Holy Spirit give us the strength and love and the manna we need for each new day as we live within the Christian community?

We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others, to everything  and everyone our lives touch.

Again, though life is not free of difficulties nor unforeseen tragedies, can we not bless everything we touch with our lives because we follow Jesus? As Acts 17:26-27 tell us, God has marked out our times and places in history, the very place we find ourselves in right now (I am not talking about abusive situations) so that we would seek him and find him. And I believe this is the case so that we might be a blessing to others.

God is using these situations and circumstances we find ourselves in, hard though they may be, to make us like Jesus. He desires that we be transformed from the inside out into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).  And in that we can rejoice (see James 1).

Could it be that he turns this barren and depressing wilderness land we find ourselves in into an oasis? Can he not bring forth streams in the desert (Isaiah 35)? I think so. I believe so. He has done so for me innumerable times in my life, even in the situation mentioned above.

Maybe he is going to use us to cultivate a garden in the barren land we now find ourselves in--right in this very spot. As we take our cue from him and joyfully follow him (obey him) it will transpire. Perhaps we will see seeds sprout sooner than we imagined. May we ask for eyes to see!

God wants us to trust him so that we can flourish where we are planted...so that everything our lives touch is blessed. In turn, we will be blessed in ways we cannot right now imagine. Isn't interesting how God used Joseph's captivity to bless him?

With Dallas Willard I say:

"First we must accept the circusmtances we constantly find oursleves in as the place of God's kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are, and if we faithlessly discard situation after situation, moment after moment, as not being 'right,' we will have no place to receive his kingdom into our life. For those situations and moments are our life."

Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering the Hidden Life in God. pp.348-349

Contentment

"But godliness with contentment is great gain." -- I Timothy 6:6

Do we despise what we have because of what we don't have? That's wrong. But isn't it funny how the lack of one thing--a certain deprivation can discolor our world so that we are ungrateful? We become depressed. We hate our lives.

If we go on depressed because of that one thing that we do not have, we are wasting our lives. We are wasting moments of joy. We can be pretty godly--with little contentment. So in that way we're not as godly as we could be.

Are we going to be miserable the rest of our lives because we don't have that job, look, weight, virtue, relationship, money or success? Life is too short for that.

If we find ourselves steeped in a discolored negative world, let us begin to thank God for everything we can possibly think of. When we have a daily posture of gratitude, we begin to see millions of things all around us to thank God for.