Transfer Here for Peace.

Exiting the grocery store, there was a car pulled next to the curb... an older lady was trying to help an even older lady out of her wheelchair and into the vehicle.  Their driver, a man bigger than both of them put together and much younger, looked on, without offering any assistance whatsoever.  You can picture this, right? 

(kinda captured in the closest photo I could find)

http://files.constantcontact.com/b4297a65501/f78b3576-cd9c-4252-b339-47c8845222e4.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" tabindex="0" />

The one gray-haired lady attempting to use the thick belt around the middle of the disabled lady, and lift her enough to pivot her (completely dead weight) into the front seat of the car.   'Danger, Will Robinson!'  the outcome later in this piece.

 

Segue . . .   As we endeavor to live in Shalom, a state of inner peace and serenity, we must figure out 'the transfer'. [Shalom referenced in last Morning Briefing:  http://pastorwoman.com/ReadArchive.aspx?id=2879]

Jesus offers true peace, Paul says 'don't worry-instead, pray...' what then?  We transfer the weight of burdens, trials and/or the anxieties that press in to God.  "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."1  Anxiety is the natural enemy of peace.  But it can be erased as we release our anxieties, cares and worries upon the Lord.2    Ah, the transfer.  Give.All.To.God.

 

  "If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire:

   if you want to be wet you must get in the water.

   If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to,

       or even into, the thing that has them.

   They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, 

        just hand out to anyone.

   They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at 

        the very centre of reality.

   If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, 

        you will remain dry.

   Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?"3  C.S. Lewis

 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.4

 

But wait, there's more!  Our part is working on a mental environment that makes peace possible.  For instance, I recently became aware that I was harboring some unforgiveness in my heart toward someone who hurt me deeply; time to dig it out, and dispense with it!  If I want God to forgive me of all of my sin, all of my stuff, I had better do it too.  It seems that Jesus teaches that I will be forgiven by God in proportion to how I forgive others.  Forgiveness does not mean overlooking or forgetting a wrong. To me, it means giving it to God, asking him to take the pain and also the bitterness away, and letting myself out of jail.  (Truthfully, the other person is secondary.  Sometimes our 'offender' is not even alive, sometimes she could care less, and sometimes he does not even understand why his actions wounded us so deeply.)  

      Our part: clean up our mind - render forgiveness . . . heal.

 

Illustration: After noticing that the various vines in my backyard had grown thicker, deeper and longer, threatening to bring the old wooden fence down, I decided to pick up sheers, pull them down, and cut them back.  Morning Glories, Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, and Black-Eyed Susan vines, though pretty - were out of control.  A strange thing happened-when I got to the inside, I discovered that there were pounds and mounds of old dead leaves trapped near the top.  I reached in and began pulling them out, while of course the old leaves and dirt landed in my hair and on my face, and pretty much all over me!  Even as I worked, I knew it was another illustration from the land/from my garden, symbolizing my life. 

http://files.constantcontact.com/b4297a65501/cb55fb4a-afd9-4444-912e-23e2cbda4980.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" tabindex="0" />

 

Though things can often be dressed up to look pleasing on the outside, what lurks beneath may just bring life crashing to the ground.  While I can smile, trust God and even recite Scripture to address my mental/spiritual/emotional condition, it might just be what is piled up inside that is my real problem, such as unforgiveness or bitterness. What do you think?  Time to transfer the pile of dead leaves and dirt over to God.

 

As for my story about exiting the grocery store and watching the struggle with the transfer of the dear lady . . . well, I jumped in.  While I did successfully land her rump on the seat of the car, I also landed hard on my knee...she was heavy!  But then, dead weight is always heavy-whether from dead leaves and dirt or the stuff we carry around inside of our hearts and mind that brings us anything but life. 

 

                        Time to transfer, and let God give us peace.

 

 

This is #11 in a series "Holy Spirit: Who or What?"  This third person of the Trinity inhabits the life of the believer, and changes her from the inside out!  He leads, guides, instructs, encourages, gives gifts and enables us to have peace ... and of course, so much more which has been described in the previous 10 Morning Briefings, all archived at http://pastorwoman.com/FTBAll.aspx Check them out!

 

 

1 - 1 Peter 5.7

2 - You Were Made for More, Jim Cymbala

3 - Mere Christianity

4 - Philippians 4.6, NIV