Sacred Mundane: The Blog

The first time she found it, I cheered. When she was two months old I was thrilled she’d learned the age-old self-soothe method that enabled her to fall asleep on her own: Sucking her thumb.

But now she’s 3. Almost 3 1/2. I don’t mind that it goes in when she needs to fall asleep. Fine. But I noticed now it goes in when she’s stressed. Or upset. Or if she needs to be particularly quiet or patient.  I know this is a ridiculous exaggeration but sometimes I think she draws on that thumb like a chain smoker on a cigarette.

Unfortunately, sometimes I recognize that same behavior in myself. The other day I finished a stressful situation, walked into the kitchen, and opened the fridge. Then I stopped and thought: Why? It wasn’t mealtime and I wasn’t hungry.

I was sucking my thumb.

There’s nothing wrong with a toddler sucking her thumb. In fact, as an infant it’s a helpful behavior. But there’s a time when the toddler must grow up, right?

Right.

And whether it’s a thumb, a carrot stick, or a cigarette — all can be self-soothe methods we might need to outgrow. 

Because maturity is learning to quit sucking our thumbs and start depending on God. Maturity is when we leave behind our childish ways–that of leaning on status, substances, and self–and begin letting every stressful situation drive us to the throne of grace, drive us to our knees in prayer, drive us to a greater and greater dependency on the power of God’s Spirit to rule our life.

Almost anything can be our “thumb” — social media, entertainment, phones, food, alcohol, attention, exercise, self-focus. I’m sure you could add a few to the list from your own experience.

But what if we quit self-soothing and started throwing ourselves at His feet?

What if we let ourselves “fall apart” a bit more so that God’s Spirit could actually come and make us whole? Put us back together, better than ever before?

There are absolutely helpful behaviors that help us work through stress. I’m not implying that any of those are wrong. A great choice might be a  good run where you can listen to worship music, or a long walk where you can pour my heart out to God. Things that help us engage in, turn to God, and work through a situation are great; but behaviors that make us escape a situation and turn away from God will never help us work through it and find growth, healing, wholeness.

I always say to Heidi, gently but firmly pulling down her hand, with a smile and a kiss: “Sweetie-girl, you don’t need your thumb.”

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves too. When we find ourselves turning back to that thumb of self-soothing …

Sweetie-girl, you don’t need ______ _____________.

Instead, perhaps lift your hands (and thumbs) to Jesus and find mercy and grace in our time of need.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)

Thanks for reading. (PS We discovered a thumb-sucking remedy from a friend…trying it today!)

{Reading the most challenging, convicting, and inspiring book right now: Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb. This man Howells, in the 1800s, gave his life to the Lord in service, and Grubb recounts the process of surrender and sanctification that marked his days; it is truly humbling and inspiring all at once. All His money and possessions were considered God’s, used for the common good. This one paragraph gripped me yesterday …}

“…All his (Howell’s) money had actually been spent in the Lord’s work. But it was still his money and he had the joy of giving it, and the right to give or withhold. ‘In the future, as a steward,” the Lord said, “you will not have the right even to give without My permission. And not a penny of My money will be spent except on essentials.” Explaining what He meant by this, the Lord asked him, “If you had a family of children who were without food or clothing, would you spend a penny on a daily paper, or on any non-essential?”  “No.”  “Well, the world is My parish, and while there is one person needing the necessities of life you will not spend a penny on anything else.” 

After Howells obeyed God and surrendered all that he had to Him, he heard:

“Tonight I have grafted you into the Vine, and all the sap can flow through you. You are a branch in the Savior. The branch gets nothing — it is the  needy that get the fruit. But after tonight, from this place of abiding, whatever the Father wants to pour out to the world through you, He can do so. ‘In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”  

What if God knew that whatever He wanted to give the world through you, He could do? What if He knew that He could call on you to do and give whatever He desired? How crazy would that be? What if we saw the world as His parish? His family? If we saw the needs of those around us with the same keen sensitivity as the needs or our own dear babes?

We have all heard stories of these amazing saints, men and women who God was able to use in order to literally change the course of history and bring multitudes to Himself. What if He wanted to use YOU to do that? Or me? Would He be able to?

Can the sap flow through?

Wrestling through this today, with you. There is much to wrestle through in this book. No easy answers, no easy surrender, no easy death. Praying today that God is gracious and puts His finger on whatever He’s wanting to do in your life. Thanks so much for wrestling … and reading. 

We sat in her kitchen sipping coffee. She was walking through a trial–a long one–and didn’t have a clear end in sight.

“It’s like we started out, and all these people were at our side. I could see them all around. I could hear them cheering. They all seemed to be on board, running beside us. But as the months have drawn on, I find myself looking around … and can’t see anyone anymore. We’ve made some hard choices to obey what we feel God has called us to do, and for whatever reason, I just can’t see anyone around us anymore. It feels so lonely, and makes me wonder if we’re doing the right thing.”

Have you been there too? I know I have. Although it’s critical that we surround ourselves with like-minded people and learn to run together, it’s equally important that we know how to run alone. Why?

Because we’re bound to spend a lot of time doing just that.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been praying, planning, and preparing for embarking on the adventure of RENEW. We’ve met with lots of people who are considering whether or not to join this venture. And even though I pray every single day that only those who God is calling to join would come, I still find myself–in my flesh–craving a nice-sized crowd around me. Sure, it’s partly because I’m genuinely excited for what God is doing and want as many people as possible to be involved.

But also because it’s just so much more comfortable when a bunch of other people are around. If a whole bunch of us are running this direction then it must be God, right?

Right?

But what if we’re called to run alone? Or with only a few? Does that mean we’re going the wrong direction? Does a crowd = God’s blessing?

Does popularity prove it’s the hand of God?

Oh, friends, these lessons are not easy, and chances are we must learn them again and again. Even though we are wise to consider the wise counsel of others, We cannot determine God’s will based on popular opinion. Crowd-theology will never bring us to God. If we only run as far as everyone else is willing to go, we’ll never really see His kingdom come.

We must learn to run alone. How?

By remembering that we never actually run alone. No matter who is with us and who is not, If we are walking with Jesus we are never running alone.

And as long as we crave the company of man more than the company of God, we will never go far in our Christian walk.  Just this morning in my quiet time I read:

“Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:23-26

There is none on earth I desire besides You.

It is awesome when a crowd gathers around. When many are there to cheer us on. It’s such a gift to have people are your right and left, running beside.

But we must be a people who run with God. 

HE must be who is at our right hand. Who we desire fellowship with more than anyone or anything else. No matter who comes and goes in our life, who starts with us or ends with us or comes just for a while. We must run with God. Our Source, our Joy, our Strength.

How can you run with Him this week? Thanks for reading. 

I stared down at the 50-lb. box of apples I had picked from the tree in our yard.

Maybe I could just give them away?

No, I needed to do something with them.  Core, slice, freeze in ziplock bags, ready for applesauce all winter. I knew what needed to be done, but it was 90-degrees outside and I’d already run 7 miles and cleaned the house and spent hours preparing for the first RENEW BBQ the next day.

Then I opened the fridge: Beets from the garden needing to the roasted, beans needing to be washed and eaten, lettuce needed to be washed (over and over and over). There were still more apples on the tree waiting to be picked and dealt with.

Harvest actually takes a lot of work. 

It struck me (God?) while running. You’re part of the harvest. How interesting that while working hard on the season of food-harvest we were also working hard on this church-plant; which hopefully will be, Lord willing, a harvest of souls.  The little things like praying, forming 34 hamburgers, making Costco runs for food, cleaning, organizing toys, setting up tables. All those little jobs are part of the harvest. Just like the little stuff of washing, slicing and coring apples — it’s all harvest stuff.

What is harvest anyway?

Physically, we don’t “make” the harvest. We don’t control it, or determine when it will come. It’s not up to us. We simply work, water, weed, watch, and wait. We work the ground and plant seeds, we water faithfully little by little, over time, we weed whenever we see something harmful spring up (or in the case of our garden, our friends weed it…which is convenient!), and then we watch and wait. It is up to God, not us, when He chooses to bring fruit. But when He does, it is our job to harvest. And for all of us non-farmers out there, just in case we didn’t know — harvesting it actually a lot of work. 

But. It’s worth it.

When, come November, you open that freezer and take out a snack of frozen blueberries. When your kids sit over bowls of steaming applesauce, freshly made from frozen apples. When you pull a hot blackberry cobbler from the oven. When you watch your kids chomp on fresh green beans from the garden. The joy, the warmth, the nourishment, the strength.

The fruit. Their little bodies grow all because you took the time and energy to harvest.

I’m freshly reminded that spiritual harvesting is worth it too.  As I sat around last night, surrounded by saints eager to see God’s Kingdom come, eager to grow and be challenged. I was overwhelmed by God’s goodness, grace, generosity toward us as we had our first Renew Church gathering. And the best part–seeing the fellow harvesters around us. Workers, laborers, normal people who live normal lives and hold normal jobs — but who belong to the un-normal upside down kingdom and are willing to lay down their lives to harvest. To be part of the harvest by washing dishes or grilling burgers, by living below their means and giving their excess away. There’s a million ways to be part of the harvest (and thousands of local church bodies where this harvest takes place) and it’s hard work that’s for sure … but it’s worth it.

So let’s keep harvesting and praying for harvesters. Jesus said this:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus is saying, “The harvest is now.” This is the season. Now is the time. The apple trees are full of fruit. The green beans are ready. The tomatoes are bright red. Spiritually, people are hurting, hungering, needing.

But there’s no way to harvest without work. 

So this week instead of asking God for more time to relax, I’m just asking Him for strength to harvest. In the natural and the spiritual. Strength to clean this house and train these kids and run the miles and keep picking apples and blackberries. And strength to spend time with Him and love people and ask Him for ways to show His truth, love, light to the world. This week my kids are in swim lessons every day. I’m asking Jesus to bring ripe people across my path as I sit at that pool. Lord, let me harvest. Give me eyes to see where you are working, and the strength to go there and work alongside You. For Your harvest, for Your glory. Amen? 

Where are you harvesting this week? Let us know. Praying for strength for you too. Thanks for reading.