My husband and I traveled to the Rocky Mountains
to see family and friends and to celebrate our 25th wedding
anniversary last summer. The experience
of being in the splendor of the mountains was refreshing and invigorating, yet
following the continental divide down from Montana, we also found a tragedy taking
place within this landscape. The pine
forests are stained red, dying from the inhabitation of the pine tree
beetle. Mountainsides of trees have been
infiltrated with beetles without the long periods of freezing temperatures
needed to stop their spread. The blight
caused by the beetles has contributed to the recent spread of fire there. Upon
reflection, I have found similarities between myself and these vulnerable trees
under invasion by the pine beetle, though my enemy goes by a different name.
The discrepancy between what I offer to others and what I
live out runs deep. As one who longs to
love God with my heart, mind, soul and strength and to encourage others on this
path, I acknowledge that I have an impure heart – though with the depth of my
soul, I long for a pure one. I have
ungodly attitudes in deep need of Christ’s perspective, with longings that
aren’t steadfast on God, though I beg for immovable desire for Him alone. I live with failure in not giving my life and
strength fully for God’s glory. How
desperately I require a Redeemer.
Isn’t it amazing how in the midst of our death and
fallenness, God’s love prevails - not only for others - but also for ourselves? Not only does He continue to draw us closer
to Himself, He also entrusts us with His divine purposes.
During an evening gathering I attended, author and spiritual
director Jeanette Bakke spoke on the theme of entrustment. An example given was
of the entrustment that God the Father gave to Jesus His Son. God entrusted Jesus to be the Savior of the
world through His birth, growth, baptism, ministry, suffering, death and
resurrection. He entrusted Him to save
humanity from their sinful nature and to bring God glory. The question that
Jeanette left us with from her presentation was, "What is it that we are
entrusted with by God?"
I believe the answer to that question lies in Jesus’ words
contained in John 13:34, where he says, "a
new command I give you: love one another, as I have loved you, so you must love
one another." In our work as counselors, pastors, academicians and
sisters and brothers in Christ, we are entrusted with loving one another as
Jesus has so willingly done and continues to do through us. As Christ followers, we are called to live
out life with the possibility of some level of anguish; and we are called to a
place of sacrificial love in Christ’s stead.
This sacrificial love compels us, at the very least, to set aside our
own drives and agendas in order to listen and attune ourselves in new ways to
the life challenges people bring to us.
At the beginning of Jeanette’s presentation, she had invited
us to listen to others with three ears: one ear listening to the Holy Spirit,
the second ear listening to our inner selves; and the third ear listening to
the content of the messages we receive. As we walk alongside our clients,
parishioners, and students, as family in Christ, let us consider how we attune
ourselves to what God is doing in them. From my small perspective, this means
attuning ourselves to the Holy Spirit with DILIGENCE; attuning ourselves to our
own inner movements with DISCRETION; attuning ourselves to messages we receive
with DISCERNMENT; and attuning ourselves to God’s calling upon us when we are
to walk in self-DENIAL and sacrificial love.
DILIGENCE, as applied here, is a heart commitment to seeking
God's kingdom first in opening ourselves up to Him. As we meditate on the living Word, the life
of Christ, the lives of God's saints, and the wonders of creation, we become
more and more attuned to God's truth indwelling in us. With this knowledge
(beyond thinking to truly knowing), there is increasing capacity for His
kingdom to be lived out through the Holy Spirit working within us.
Our journey of DISCRETION is a sifting of our own internal
state. Here, we seek an awareness of the anxiety, anger or accusatory stances with
which we battle. At the other extreme, we uncover the defensive,
self-justifying, self interested movements that get in the way of the truth of
our love relationship with God, our love of self, and our love of others. These
tender places are to be acknowledged before God and surrendered to Him. His
call is to have neither an inadequate low view of self or others, nor an idealized
high view of self or others. God calls us to a discretionary balance of His
perspectives of who we are and who our sisters and brothers in Christ truly
are, in the midst of the implanted lies that the enemy would want us to believe.
DISCERNMENT of truth comes by sifting external messages
through God’s Word, truth in the world, and discovering and uncovering truth in
our lives and in the lives of others.
This sifting process is essential to our on-going call of loving God,
loving self and loving others. God’s vision is often not what we see. Our own visions can blind us to what is true.
Discernment enables us to encourage the uncovering and releasing of the broken
pieces of peoples’ lives to the truth-giving redemption of Jesus Christ. For this, we need God's eyes and God's
counsel through the Holy Spirit, and through the body of Christ, so that we
share and acknowledge His truth and His truth alone.
Furthermore, our calling for our ministries and as fellow
Christians is a call to DENIAL of self. This is not a denial of our true value
or true identity, but rather knowing more and more who we truly are, and then
making the choice, as Christ did, to lay down our lives in sacrificial love.
This is the way that Christ loves His church, and the way Christ ministers to
her and encourages her. Ultimately, this is His call on our lives as we care
for one another. Our prayer is that we
find this journey of DILIGENCE, DISCRETION, DISCERNMENT and Self-DENIAL a
blessing as we follow in His footsteps, entrusted to bring His blessings to
others.
As for the death caused by the pine beetle and the burned
forests along the Continental Divide, it is also the ground for new life. Only with extreme heat do the pine trees on
these mountain slopes release their seeds to spread rebirth. New growth blossoms up under death.
During our travels, we were witness to God’s glory in
this. He revitalized our prayer life
with a message from a dear friend. He opened church doors for my sister that
had been closed for a decade. He
redeemed broken relationships with Michael’s two sons and, in that, he tore
down the walls of separation and opened a garden of acceptance for us as
grandparents to the eldest son’s new baby boy.
New Life, New Growth, New Creation, even in the driest of times.
Valerie Murphy is a
licensed counselor and spiritual director whose life work is focused on the
building up of those she serves through encouraging holistic loving of God with
all one’s heart, mind, soul and strength and the loving of others and ourselves
as Christ loved us. The grounding of her
work comes from a Genesis-based world view. She serves as founder and director
of Foundation Counseling and Training.
Valerie Murphy, LCPC,
SD, BCPCC
Licensed Counselor and Spiritual Director
Foundation Counseling and Training
No comments:
Post a Comment