Do not be deceived

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." James 1:16

One of the things I love about the Christian life is that God has given us a very broad land to live in.  He has definite boundaries, but in between he gives us a lot of latitude.  What has brought peace and joy in my life during one season, will lack luster later on.  It will be replaced by something new, which will teach me more about God and how He has ordered my world.  It can be scary at times, like learning to ski, but once you master it you discover the infinite joy of sailing gracefully down slopes covered in white powder.  Our lives can feel out of control, which they are, even in the midst of being faithful to what God has called us to.

Fear comes in and tries to rob us of joy.  I'm not sure how it manages to sneak up on us so often, but for me it is a constant battle.  Am I doing the right thing?  What if I'm not and God is going to punish me for this?  What if...  Then my mind creates all kinds of fruitless noise that keeps me from doing what I should be doing.  My tendency is to pull in, cancel meetings with friends, skip events, I try to hide and get myself together.  It makes me laugh to type this out.  Don't worry friends who I have missed appointments with lately, sometimes I'm just double booked.  The thought of getting myself together is too absurd to consider.

I happened upon this little verse in James several weeks ago.  "Do not be deceived..."  What does that mean?  As I dug deeper into what it meant, I discovered that it meant to know God.  The deception is that I can get myself together.  The truth is that I need to know God.  I need to know the God of the Bible that chooses the weak and ugly things of the world to humiliate the wise.  I need to know God who created all things by His Word.  God is infinite, eternal, personal, holy, almighty, steadfast, love, covenantal, so many adjectives that I'm a little fuzzy on.  This winter I want to dig in deeper.  I want to be a student of God.  Yes, I will read and study His word, I will pray, I will worship, I will stick close to the many godly people that He has surrounded me with, I will watch and see what He is doing all around me every day.  I will grow, and it will be painful.

God snatched my from the pit of life on my own 20 some years ago.  I will say that one of the things that I have done wrong consistently during those years is to try to figure out the right way to do things.  I like to "give an answer," very biblical type of language to anyone who asks about the hope I have in me.  Funny that isn't usually the question that I like to "give an answer" to.  Which is probably why the theme lately has been that I need to be "quick to listen and slow to speak."  I want to know what all the big theological words mean and to be able to tell everyone how to do life God's way.  What I have noticed over the years is that God's way can look very different from family to family, and year to year, and community to community.  God likes to surprise us with good things, and we as a rule hate surprises.  We like the predictable and orderly.  We like to know what's on the test and to have the study sheet pretty much look exactly like the test.  I have not found that to be God's way at all.  He is definitely more a "know everything I said" kind of tester.  My advice to my kids is that they be students of the people in their lives.  When God brings someone special that you think might be "the one," don't try to make them look the way you think you want them to.  Study them.  What do they love?  Who are their people?  What is God doing in their lives?  As you get to know new people listen to them, don't be so quick to categorize and label them.  (And don't roll your eyes at me, I know I suck at this, I'm trying to cement it in my brain so that I will get better at it.  Consider this permission to hold me accountable.)  People are definitely not simple and straightforward, they are complicated and wonderful, and God is more so.  The answer to all of our questions are found in Him.

Thankful list:
~ snow, it's still early in the season
~The Bible, love it more and more each day
~fireplaces
~artwork sprawled all over my house, very messy and very beautiful
~spelling lists, challenge accepted, failed and accepted again, every.single.week.
~Bible study groups, women of all different backgrounds meeting about what matters most
~rest, it seems so easy and yet is so hard