-- Richard Rohr
This quote is great
counsel for the art of dying daily...the process of sanctification--being
filled with the fruit of the Spirit--recognizing and accepting the gift of God
to us. We do all sorts of things to
dress up our feelings to justify our position on things. People may use ideas that sound good and even
Scripture to pamper feelings. Any time
we are catering to feelings, we are invested in outcome.
Often when our feelings surface,
we move into the realm of "our rights." We want to justify our position and how wrong
it is that we are not be treated fairly or the way we think we deserve to be
treated. This is so human, and even
taught and promoted in the world. Jesus
never talked about "rights" or "fairness." He actually said that in this world we would
have trouble, be persecuted and misunderstood.
I had an experience that
taught me a great deal about this dynamic.
Someone jumped all over me attacking me for things that had nothing to
do with me. When it was all over, I
asked the Lord about it. I have always
looked for a "knight in shining armor" to rescue me. This being attacked had become a repeating
pattern in my life. I wanted a
defender. He acknowledged that I was
waiting for human intervention. He said
that in order that I be defended, the person who wounded me would have to have
someone judging them as wrong. He asked
me if I wanted to take part in judging this person. Quickly, I said that I did not want that on
me or anyone else.
He said that I needed to
turn it over to Him and let Him heal the abused, wounded child that had always
waited for someone to defend and rescue me.
In prayer, the Lord healed that wounded child. It felt wonderful. I no longer needed any defender except the
Lord. The interesting thing about this
was that when I no longer was working from the place of "feeling"
abused and accused, those situations no longer were a part of my experience. Job says: that which you fear comes upon
you. I saw this work out in my
life. And I saw it stop in my life.
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