The humor, wisdom, and music of Rich Mullins still mentors me even though he now sings in the courts of Heaven. This Monday’s Moment clip features that humor and wisdom as he discusses the Bible, church, and obedience.
If you received this clip via RSS or email, and cannot view it, please visit my Holy in the Daily blog to enjoy these Monday’s Moment comments.
Did you laugh? And what do you think about the things Rich shared?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
I live in a typical American small town with my house located in what used to be a rural part of our community. This house is situated so that large picture windows overlook oak covered hills off of our back deck, which is an extension of our living room. Highway 101 is my immediate neighbor across the street. During the weeks of the popular California Mid State Fair, just up the highway from us, the traffic noise can last until 2:00 in the morning.
This seems an odd location for a girl raised on a ranch—on one side I view the hills and quiet meadows, and on the other side, I view a steady parade of big rigs, RVs, and lots of cars. Obviously, I spend more time on the back deck than on the front porch. Yet, this is where God has placed me to live the life he has given me, and for that I am grateful.
This is the house where I have raised our six children, battled my private demons, and is the main spot of earth where God has shaped me. I can be fully human here—the good, bad, and ugly in me all meet here with the God who became human. This house has become my “thin place”—a sacred place where heaven and earth connect.
I think for a house to become such a place, a thin place, there has to the element of “real”—raw living that faces the struggles of life not with strength, but with the grace of God that teaches and molds us into his image—one living, eternal cell at a time.
Maybe becoming a thin place includes living in one location long enough to have the “real” permeate the foundations, walls, and rafters of the house. I’m not sure about that, but I wonder. Anyway, I’m glad walls can’t talk.
There have been many times in the past when I have wanted to move away—leave the bad memories along with the good—if it would help take pain away. But pain signals the need for healing and bad memories can become landmarks of the work of God in my life if I’m willing to go through the pain rather than escape it. This house has seen a lot of laughter, but a lot of pain and healing too. The laughter over shadows the pain and leaves a residue of joy.
Is your home a thin place? Has the element of “real” carried you through the painful times to where heaven and earth connect? Does your house contain the decorations of the Spirit obtained through time and struggle? Has your house become a home—a habitation for the God who became human?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
Sometimes I think God gets confused. Take a look at King David. The Lord called this king a man after his own heart, yet David committed adultery, lied to his people, murdered one of his men, and didn’t score too high for the Parent of the Year award.
According to God, Abraham stands as a man of unwavering faith, although Abraham looks pretty wavering to me—he fathered a son born of doubt, lied about his wife, and played the master deceiver when it suited his purposes.
Why on earth did Jesus leave the family business to twelve guys who fought among themselves, struggled with pride, and abandoned him when he needed their support the most?
If these guys were around today they would be discounted and disqualified by the rest of us—definitely not “spiritual” people. Yet in God’s book, they rank pretty high.
So what is it about our “people lens” that differs from God’s? Why do we tend to judge and devalue people when God doesn’t do that? Why do we focus on the negative in people rather than the positive? What does God see in people that we don’t? What does God see in us that we don’t?
I think it has a lot to do with love and grace. We value and appreciate these qualities, but we don’t understand them. Not only does God understand grace and love, but he is love and grace. Therefore, his “people lens” reflects who he is.
None of us likes to be on the receiving end of a person’s judgment, yet we do not hesitate to state our negative opinion of others—as if we understand their life and struggles! In the Backward Kingdom, people are viewed through the lens of love and grace, not the lens of how they are measuring up according to our expectations.
What are you missing in people by viewing them through the lens of expectations? What are you missing by viewing yourself this way? What might you see by looking through God’s lens of grace and love?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
Those of my heart, Lord,
Into your hands and into your keeping,
This day and this night,
In the name of the Father,
The Son, and the Spirit Holy.
I hold them before you, Lord,
In the tasks they have to do;
In the decisions they face;
In their worries and fears—
Be their Companion, Guide, and Best Friend.
I hold them before you, Lord,
In their joys and disappointments
In their successes and failures;
In their goings and their restings—
Be their Lord, their King, their God.
Those of my heart, Lord
Into your hands and into your keeping,
This day and this night,
In the name of the Father,
The Son, and the Spirit Holy.
Copyright 2009 by Susan Gaddis
One of the most important duties of grandmahood is to teach your granddaughters how to knit, or in my case, how to crochet. Whoever wrote this grandma rule was someone who understood the ways of the Lord.
Teaching my granddaughters the way I crochet insures that some part of who I am and how I do things will be passed on to succeeding generations. The companionship fostered as we learn how to hold a hook and weave the yarn through a post stitch binds our hearts together tighter than a phone conversation.
Teaching involves more than communicating instructions—doing the directions together is part of the mentoring. I wonder if I am as teachable as my granddaughters. “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name” (Psalm 86:11 NIV).
What has God been teaching you lately? How has that experience knit your heart to his?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
(If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to forward it to a friend.)
Getting out of my comfort zone to make Jesus real to others takes guts. I like my zone of comfort and I am not easily moved from a place of security, safety, and bonbons. I had a hard time letting go of my blankie as a kid, too.
Teresa of Avila knew that the only way to make Jesus famous was to be Jesus to those who had no concept of love in human form. She wrote “Christ’s Body” as a way to remind us that we have to be Jesus with skin on.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours; Yours are the only hands with which He can do his work, Yours are the only feet with which He can go about the world, Yours are the only eyes through which His compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. –Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
This weekend a group of women and I are headed up to San Francisco to share a small portion of God’s justice and love with “ladies of the night.” We’ll be working with the San Francisco Youth With A Mission base focusing on Because Justice Matters. This is our first all-women’s mission trip and I hope to see more of them launched from Father’s House in the coming days.
How’s your level of comfort? Mine is being challenged.
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
Most days my schedule doesn’t go as planned. Interruptions are normal, but I’m learning to embrace them rather than resent the disruption.
God takes great delight in ordinary people like me who live normal, everyday lives. He loves to participate with us in our routine activities. He enjoys dialoguing with us about our daily life. Often the Spirit Holy will interrupt our day to use us to bring his love to other ordinary people.
Knowing that the Lord is attracted to our daily routines can set the stage for ministry to flow out of us and to the people we encounter on a daily basis. Most of the miracles Jesus performed happened as interruptions as He was going about the daily activities of His life:
Attending a wedding—Jesus turns water into wine.
Waiting by a well for lunch—he speaks a word of knowledge to a Samaritan woman and a whole village gathers to hear him teach.
Fishing—Jesus interrupts an unproductive fishing trip to fill an empty boat with fish.
Lunch break at a meeting—Jesus multiplies some bread and fish to feed thousands of hungry people.
Traveling from one place to another—Jesus heals a demoniac, heals 10 lepers, raises a widow’s son from the dead, and calms a storm.
During a home meeting—Jesus heals a man when the man’s friends lower him through the ceiling and into the meeting.
During a meal—Jesus forgives a woman who has committed a great wrong, heals a woman’s child, teaches, and dialogues with Zacchaeus who is so changed by the conversation that he gives his money to the poor.
We are simply ordinary people living everyday lives who impact our commonplace world because we know an extraordinary God.
How have you been alert to the interruptions of God in your daily routine?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
What is the one thing that captured your wonder yesterday? Was it the fresh air that blew across your face as you stepped out your front door? Was it the quiet of the house as you went to bed? Did you encounter any wonder in your day?
So much of life is our handiwork—our accomplishments—our successes. We often miss the wonder tucked within our schedule and busy lives:
Psalm 89:5 reminds us that the heavens praise the wonders of the Lord. Why don’t we? The heavens will give way to a new heaven and earth one day, but we will live for all eternity future. Why should the heavens be more proficient at praising the wonder of the Lord than we are?
I have decided that the heavens aren’t going to be the only thing praising the wonders of the Creator. I’m determined to write one wonder each day in my journal. Care to join me? I dare you to say, “Wow God, you rock!” out loud each time you see a wonder this week.
What has captured your wonder today?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
Aging well, like fine wine, happens slowly and with deliberate intent. Most people just grow old. Not me. I want to grow older with a sweet, mellow aroma.
In her book, The Gift of Years, Joan Chittister tells the story of Margaret. Still a master seamstress at ninety-five, Margaret reads, listens to music, seeks out friends, and listens to lectures. “She lives. There is something about her that sanctifies time, makes it creative rather than stale. She gives me insight into the part of my own life that I cannot yet see. She tells me that life is not measured by years.”
Life is measured by what we are becoming. Since I am an eternal person, I have a lot to become. I appreciate George MacDonald’s comment, “Age is not all decay. It is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within that withers and bursts the husk.”
This body may be withering and a time will come to burst the husk, but when that moment arrives it will be because the person inside grew too big to live in anything other than a new body designed to hold a growing, vibrant spirit named Susan.
Today is my birthday and I plan to age like fine wine.
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
Adelaide Ayers
Shortly after her birthday, my little granddaughter, Adelaide, asked, “Grandma, are you old?”
Smiling, I replied, “Yes, I am old. I am over 50 years old. How old are you?”
Her answer was swift, sweet, and bouncy like a three year old, “I’m not old. I’m new.”
Life in the Backward Kingdom views its citizens as always new—never young or old—just new. What a freeing thought for those of us encumbered with aging bodies, misplaced memories, or festering wounds that create age lines sooner than expected.
I find it interesting that God calls us “new creatures” in Christ. That conveys two things to me:
First, I’m not old; I’m new. The parts of me that still appear old are in transition as I change from glory to glory in ways I do not comprehend. I am totally new and totally in transition from old to new.
Go figure—if I can’t understand Quantum Physics, I’m never going to grasp this one. That’s the good part. My comprehension is not required for me to be totally new and totally in transition from oldness to newness all at the same time.
Second, I am a new type of being altogether different than I was before this transformation began. I am human, but not in the old sense of being human. I am some type of creature that takes its form and identity from the One who is called the Word and spoke me into being the first time I was created.
This second creation will be complete when I receive a new body to go with the new me inside this old body. Again, most stuff in the Backward Kingdom makes no sense this side of the new heaven and new earth.
My joints groan, my mind forgets, and text messaging confuses me. Yet, I am not really old inside—I’m totally new and growing newer and newer. Like God’s mercy, I’m new every morning. It feels good to recall this principle of the Backward Kingdom and to remember that it was my wise granddaughter who brought it to my attention.
So, here’s today’s question: How old are you? Please share your answer and thoughts in the comment section below.
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
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