wyhr.orgWendy’s World

“Growing up, everything is pushed on you,” she said. “You’re trying to be the smartest, trying to compete with everyone.

Heroin, she said, was an escape.”*

Escape is defined as getting free, freeing oneself.
Transcendence is defined as going beyond one’s self.

The two are very similar in my mind and it reminded me of what I read in The Sacred Romance. We are in fact seeking to transcend. We were made that way. We were designed with heaven in mind. We weren’t meant for this world and that’s why we constantly try to escape it via alcohol, love, food, drugs, work, sports…

It’s sad.

It’s sad because we don’t go to the only One who can curb our craving for escape, who can give us a taste of heaven. We don’t go to God and He’s the one we need.

*This quote was from a New York Times article titled Young and Suburban, and Falling for Heroin.

I know, I know. I finished this study up months ago. The thing is – there’s an epilogue. Since it was such a great study I felt compelled to complete the whole book (this is not a common occurence). I’m glad I did because I found this:

Were there but some deep, holy spell, whereby
Always I should remember thee…
Lord, see thou to it, take thou remembrance’s load:
Only when I bethink me can I cry;
Remember thou, and prick me with love’s goad.
When I can no more stir my soul to move,
And life is but the ashes of the fire;
When I can but remember that my heart
Once used to live and love, long and aspire–
Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;
Be thou the calling, before all answering love,
And in me wake hope, fear, and boundless desire.
~George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul

The Way of the Heart by Henri J.M. Nowen was recommended in last week’s chapter of The Sacred Romance. Today I read this and thought I would share:

(The false self) Whether I am a pianist, a businessman or a minister, what matters is how I am perceived by the world. If being busy is a good thing, then I must by busy. If having money is a sign of real freedom, then I must claim my money…The compulsion manifests itself in the lurking fear of failing and the steady urge to prevent this by gathering more of the same — more work, more money, more friends.

These very compulsions are at the basis of the two main enemies of the spiritual life: anger and greed. They are the inner side of a secular life, the sour fruits of our worldly dependencies.

So this week I was struck by another thing in The Sacred Romance. I know, shocker.

I think most of us read the temptation story of Jesus in the wilderness and think, How unfair. Satan hits him at his weakest moment, when there is no one and nothing around for Jesus to lean on. But we are quite mistaken. Dallas Willard points out in The Spirit of the Disciplines,

“Today, withdrawl from society into solitude seems to indicate weakness, suffering, flight, or failure rather than great strength, joy and effectiveness. Believing that, we, for instance, thoroughly misunderstand the context of Jesus’ temptations after his baptism (Matthew 4). The Spirit, we are told, led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Was this not to put Jesus in the weakest possible position before Satan, starving and alone in the wilds? Most to whom I have spoken about this matter are shocked at the suggestion that the ‘wilderness,’ the place of solitude and deprivation, was actually the place of strength and strengthening for our Lord and that the Spirit led him there–as he would lead us there–to ensure that Christ was in the best possible condition for the trial.”

In James 1 we read:

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

In The Sacred Romance the author interprets this passage like this:

James tells us in the introductory thoughts to his letter that we should count it all joy when we fall into various tirals because God will use them to make us substantive. He tells us that this will happen as we learn to trust totally in God rather than halfway counting on our own devices with God as a fallback (being double-minded).

I never thought of it in quite this way. I suppose I thought of perseverance as working harder, doing more. But that’s not what God asks for. God is asking for me, just as I am. It’s ok to admit I’m tired. It’s ok to say I cannot go further. It’s ok to rely on Him.

Unfortunately it’s all too easy for me to rely on myself, to be self-sufficient, to think I have to do it all on my own. <sigh>

This was a question that was recently asked on my journey through the book, The Sacred Romance.

I mean what is He thinking?

For those of you who don’t know, the group of 30+ people that I am part of will cease to exist on July 31. Until then, they’re trying to place us in new jobs within the company but there are no guarantees. Talk about a surprise. Talk about shaking things up.

It was during a conversation about my job situation that I realized that I am on an adventure. I mean a real-life, full-fledged, action-packed adventure. It’s what I thought I wanted. Turns out – adventures are scary! I mean I don’t know what’s next. I’m not sure if I’ll have a job in six weeks. Ack! God! What are you doing?!

Funny, huh?

I thought I wanted an adventure. I thought I was pretty wild my self. Turns out I like the simple life. I like the comforts of a paycheck and sitting on my couch. I like the merry-go-round.

Who knew?

So here I stand in the midst of an adventure. God has shaken things up for me. I have the opportunity to take His hand and go on a journey, an adventure with my God.

I’m going to do it.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in my adventure.

I’m still reading The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God. For a few chapters I’ve been wondering how the romance, i.e. the whispers of romantic adventure from God, appeals to men. In my latest readings I found an answer:

“The question every woman is asking goes something like, ‘Am I lovely? Do you want me?’ The question every man is asking is, ‘Do I have what it takes? Am I adequate?’ As men and women, we want to be chosen for different reasons, but we both want to be chosen, to be welcomed into the heart of things, invited into the Drama to live from our heart.”

This chapter was about recognizing that we were created by God and in His image. We are wanted. God doesn’t want the person we become, He doesn’t want the mask & costume we put on for the world. He wants us – naked and unmasked. But we all have been hurt before and so we’re afraid to be that vulnerable to someone again, even God. But we cannot have intimacy, the relationship that God wants with us, without being our true selves.

The quote above describes the questions we ask ourselves as men and women. It helped me to realize that the adventure God is calling us to appeals to men and women for different reasons. Men want to feel worthy and respected for who they truly are. Women want to know that they are beautiful without their mask and they want to feel pursued. As I’m writing this I also realized the words “romantic adventure” help to explain why both men and women are called in to this intimate relationship with God. In Wild at Heart, John Eldridge writes that men seek adventure. That’s why little boys play cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. As a woman, I know that I desire romance. Romantic adventure. It is in those words that God is calling both men and women to come to know Him fully, in a relationship unlike any other.

My soul was stirred by these excerpts in The Sacred Romance:

“In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a conceited weatherman covering the famous groundhog ceremony from a small town in Pennsylvania. He finds himself condemned to live the day over and over again, caught in a sort of time warp. Resigned to his fate, he tries every small story he can think of, living out every role he ever wanted. When they all fail him, he discovers the real meaning of life. It’s the book of Ecclesiastes in a modern film.”

This isn’t how life is supposed to be. Life isn’t meaningless. We were designed for more. We were designed for Sleeping Beauty:

“Notice the striking parllels to the gospel. The villain looks like a beautiful queen, but she turns into a dragon. Satan, we are told, comes as an angel of light, but is revealed as a dragon in Revelation 12. The hero is a prince who does who does battle for his bride. Has not Christ–the Prince of Peace–come to battle for us, the bride of Christ? And the kingdom is under a spell until it is broken by love.”

That love is the love spoken about in John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The spell of perfection, man trying desperately to be good, was broken when Jesus died for our sins on the cross.

He redeemed us. He paid the penalty.

We were supposed to be separated from God forever, but we’re not.

We are no longer slaves to sin or Satan.

We are free. Freed by love.

How awesome is that?