More hand-written scraps from late Winter / Early Spring 2006
God – I’m going to have to be changed at a very deep level (big surprise) regarding motivation. I realized that I was thrilled when an item got checked off my prayer list, not because you did something cool – but because I got something “off” my prayer list!
I confess: I am still deeply motivated by the idea that there is a destination; a completeness on this side of Heaven, that frankly doesn’t “require” you.
It would seem that I am more concerned with achieving than with being with you.
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Man, was that last entry the truth or what?!
God, I am angered and frustrated at the depth to which my selfishness runs…more than selfishness: Megalomania!
It seems that my ‘self” will seize upon anything to feed. It feasts on the corpses of innocent victims swept away by a wave. It salivates at the failure of a colleague because it can stand upon their failure and in doing so, claim higher ground.
It is more important to me to be right than to live in the truth. I want personal success more than I want the Kingdom of God to advance.
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Napolean Dynamite: GAMBLING FOR ACCEPTANCE
He is always shooting for the big pay-off, the big win. I have stopped looking for the BIG pay-off, but I’m still gambling with the same goal in mind: approval, attention, affection; I’m just more conservative about my bets. I’ve learned to play the odds.
Pretending to have all the answers (which is what I used to do, and Napolean so aptly demonstrates with his “Wolverine hunting” story) is a BIG risk. If just ONE person were to actually buy into his story telling, they would be a nearly un-limited source of approval for him. Jackpot!
Back to me: Just because I can now acknowledge that I do not have all the answers (I’ve stopped telling my own versions of the Wolverine hunting story) does not automatically mean I’m not looking for a pay-off; that I’ve given up on gambling for approval. It might mean I’m just more conservative. I’ve left the high-stakes poker game and I’m just playing the penny-slots now.
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How can we be authentic if we don’t know who we are?
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I am content with human approval, food, sleep admiration, quantity, activity, being fat, being tired, a reputation, noise, weeping and slavery when I COULD have perfect love, fullness rest, adoration, quality, adventure, strength, power, play, music, dancing and freedom.
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Repentance vs. Penance. There’s not much said in the Bible about penance.
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Longing/Desire 1Peter 2:2,
Holy Dis-satisfaction. Pslam 63 Luke 22:14 The Last Supper
Romans 8:2-25 Creation groans with anticipation
Philippians 3:12-21 Press on eagerly await.
“Cloud of Un-knowing” pp 12-13 “Look ahead now and never mind what is behind; see what you still need, and not what you have, for this is how meekness is most quickly won and defended. Now you have to stand in desire all your life long if you are to make progress in the way of perfection. This desire must always be at work in your will by the power of almighty God and by your own consent.”
Pslam 18 – I’m constantly inserting some kind of insulation between me and god. While contemplating the March services I think about the experience people will have, the feelings, significance, transformation, word upon word, upon word…not until God’s Spirit spoke did I consciencely consider introducing people directly to God.
I keep putting a washer, a condom, a lubricant, a bearing between me and the person of God.
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Simple Living: We are beginning to purposely impoverish ourselves as the promised fullness of a busy life turns out to be hollow. The “better life” that previous generations worked so hard to give us was void of Christ, and therefore was void.