Through it All (and a bit of random)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Today, I did dishes and stew and biscuits and laundry, and I made up a blog header for a friend and mother of two who blogs about being strong through it all - military life, parenting, and everything else. Stop over and check out her blog!


And my friend Lynette sent me a terrific article about why NOT to do the 25 Things Facebook meme that I have been putting off because I don't have time to *think* of my random. I tell my friends that I'm usually not able to be shallow until I have been deep, and deep hasn't been my specialty over the last couple of weeks when I have gotten about 25 tags for the 25 things thing. I am refusing to cave at the moment. I have enough random stuff to keep me busy!

So now that I've established that, I shall note that I also did a bit of revamping on this blog today so I could post larger images and make it a bit easier to read and access.

And I was thinking a bit while doing dishes this morning and came up with some blog post ideas that I know I won't have time to flesh out, so I'll tease your imaginations and see what you think:

I think that Christians have a tendency to look at one another for what God wants. The community He gave us in one another was for encouragement, for us to share what we know of Him with each other. Sometimes, I think He gives us different convictions that challenge others' perspectives on Him. Sometimes, I think He calls us out to be alone with Him, to find Him. Sometimes, He asks us to believe something that no one else believes. Just because no one else believes is doesn't mean He doesn't want us to believe it. Too often, we set aside our faith in HIM and our pursuit of this very unsafe God for creeds and doctrinal statements and "agreement" that is really just a defining box to help us feel safe. If you clicked on that link, you'll see what community is meant to be - going together to give ourselves into His hands.

(And actually, that was more of a blog post than I intended, and I'm leaving it in one paragraph, and this is that for today!)

(Oh, and be sure and stop by my photography blog to see my photo of the day. It's nothing terribly special, but I liked it and I am too tired to go find something else.)

(And I actually have to add another parenthetical for my wonderful husband the Jeopardy whiz who came home on time tonight and made dinner for us and isn't minding my taking time here to put up a post for you. At some point, I really need to get him to blog HIS 25 things idea... Anyway, he's awesome and I'm gonna say it, and if I wanted to get romantic, I'd post a photo, but you won't see me doing that here, now will you?)

8 comments:

Melissa Stover said...

i like the new header! i like to frequently change my header too and today i was driving myself nuts trying to come up with a blog button that people could add to their sites that sort of sums up my blog in spite of frequent header changes. i never quite came up with anything before supper had to be cooked.

Heidi said...

Love the new header - and the one you made for my sis-n-law. ;)

I LOVE your paragraph that starts "I think that Christians have a tendency to look at one another for what God wants." Especially the bit about believing things no one else does, since that seems to be my lot in life. :-P So true.

sunmamma said...

Gorgeous header!!

the Joneses said...

I'd want to see you expand on the "believing what no one else does" part, because on the one hand doctrinal statements, etc. could be chains that keep us in place; but on the other hand they're safety harnesses that keep us from plunging over the cliff.

That paragraph would have been a good enough blog post for anyone else, but I defy any paragraph to capture the scope of what you're thinking.

I found two more photos of yours that I'm going to order one day. Including the one that Daphne says is Puddles. :)

-- SJ

Alison said...

Love the spacious, new look! And I'm challenged by the community statement. However, I wonder if the same can be said by people who want to justify their actions without the support of community? For instance, I had a friend say that no one was supporting her in a very unsafe mission and that maybe God was calling her to step out in spite of their discouragement. This made me feel uneasy. We shouldn't wait around for others to accept our steps of faith, but God does use the Body to admonish and rebuke when we need it.

Kelly Sauer said...

To expand a little bit on the "believing what no one else does" part, and in short response to Alison's comment, I think that there is among believers a virulent distrust of the Holy Spirit, due largely to the misuse of "spiritual power" and the absolutely human fear of losing control.

SJ, I think we forget that God Himself is our safety to keep us from falling. Alison, how often does that admonishment and rebuke from other believers come after they have tested every spirit? Too, too often, we release our individual focus on knowing God ourselves and focus on fixing other people's perspective on Him, and we end up quenching the Spirit(and let me note here that I grew up VERY conservative).

We are all human. We are all prone to self-justification. Yet if His Spirit is in us, we are accountable to Him for our actions. I believe that our responsibility to one another as a community is to a) live in such a way as to encourage others to love God with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength, b) unashamedly love one another deeply, and c) in loving one another, offer one another the grace and mercy that God offers us every moment as He Himself completes the work He began in us.

I believe God is strong enough to do His work in us. It is "Scripture" you will note that is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. I'm a naturally critical person, and I can go to Scripture and find a million things to throw at someone else about what they're not doing right. But the more I come to know my Lord, the more I see that the Word is a Person who loved and lived and died to bring us into relationship with Him. My calling is to be an ambassador to encourage others into this relationship.

My desire in sharing these thoughts is to encourage you to dialogue a bit with Him! See what He says! I'm not trying to be right... I'm just thinking out loud. Thanks for thinking back!

dancebythelight said...

LOVE the new blog header and look.

As to the comment: "Sometimes, He asks us to believe something that no one else believes."

As long as that belief lines up with Scripture, that's true. You seem to be talking about that in the realm of convictions: those gray areas in our Christian freedom that we have to be discerning about. If so, then I'd agree with you.

However, sometimes people claim to have "spirit led" convictions about things that slap in the face of Scripture. And you're right, it is "Scripture" that is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. But it is Scripture that we as believers are to reproof each other with too. God calls us to do that at times. Not in self-righteousness, but love. It's hard to walk the balance. People usually fall too hard on the reproofing side or the let's just all love each other side. We want to be careful not to just point out what's wrong in each other's lives without pointing out the grace that's there too.

An extreme (or not so extreme) example would be my in-laws' pastors, who felt that although my father-in-law was a member of their church and committing adultery (and he had Scriptural reasons for it too!), they were not to go confront him on this. This was their conclusion despite the urging of my mother-in-law and my husband.

As I said, some may see this as an extreme example, but I sometimes look back sadly and think that maybe my father-in-law and father would have been "saved" from their mistakes if someone in our Christian communities had actually had the guts to confront them with God's word and lovingly call them to repentance from a pattern of sin that had a strong hold in their life. God can still work miracles, and I still pray that God would do a work in the hearts of our fathers. But at one time their hearts were not as cold and distant as they are now and they may have actually listened to someone reminding of what God's word REALLY says and challenged their deluded beliefs.

I hope all of that made sense and I was able to connect all together! :)

~Me said...

Thank you again for the header (and the plug). I LOVE what you did with your blog too!

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