Kick your boots off and come on in!
This time of year in the midwest is so beautiful and cozy. The trees are vibrant with changing colors. The quiet crunch of leaves under your feet brings a new energy. The fields are busy with the hurried labor of harvest. It has its own kind of magic. Let’s not forget to mention the fabulous potential for fashion in the fall. Boots and sweaters and layers
As I reflected on the concept of Unglued, I can’t help but wonder if “Mother Nature” shares our sentiments for fall. I mean her crops are being cut down, the ground is being turned over, the leaves are falling and branches drooping. Everything is getting kind of barren and ugly. To me it sort of reminds me of the times when we feel empty and change is making us uncomfortable, and sometimes we feel downright ugly.
“God gave me emotions so I could experience life, not destroy it” (Unglued). That’s both the positive and negative emotions. That’s the spring and it’s renewal and the fall and it’s change and loss. Why did God want us to have those emotions? So we can experience His life and love. He made us to be His companions. He could have made us perfect, but instead he gave us the ability to become “unglued” because He wants to be the glue that holds us together. He sent his Son Jesus to die so that his mercy and grace would hold us together.
I’ve been through times when I’ve learned to control my emotions. And CONTROL was just what I was after. Not freedom. When we are free we still feel. We feel pain, we feel frustration, we feel anger. We are not meant to become empty, stoic vessels. When we don’t feel those things, we are in a scary place. One that we’ve created to gain control rather than giving control to the One who made us.
It’s that ever difficult balance -- I must be actively involved in maintaining emotional balance, but I must not try to be the one in total control of emotions. I must look for patterns where I can use self-control that follow God’s design.
Romans 12 is so full of powerful messages for living. Verse 2 says,
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
There’s a lot of talk about mindset these days. Fixed mindset and growth mindset. God wired our brains to be trainable if you will. I can focus on all of the negative emotions and let them control me or “I can ask God for a better perspective to help me see good even when I don’t feel good” (Unglued).
I don’t have to be overtaken because I know that God is in control. We find comfort in the “unglued” state of nature in the fall because we know that it is necessary. It is part of the renewal process that allows spring to come again and for the ground to be fertile and ready to bare fresh life in the spring. Do we trust God with that same renewal process in our lives? When things start to fall off or feel empty, do we trust God that He is in control and that if we wait on Him to do his work that He will use the “falling apart” to bring new life in our lives and those of others?
Isn’t this really what we are talking about in Romans 8:28? Waiting for Him to do His work...
"And we know that all things work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose"
From R7 to you --
Be a blessing.
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