Within..

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,  nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17

I pray the Lords prayer often for the simple reason that often times I have no idea how or what to pray.  It is my template to work from, to work around, to work through.  These days I am praying the Lords prayer often because I have no idea how to pray for all that is going on around me. 
Our Father...Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done...here like it is there. 
Funny, in Luke, Jesus tells us that it isn't a matter of here or there but within. The kingdom of God is within you...His will is within you...I know what the pharisees were asking...they wanted to know when the physical rule of God would come. When would the physical rule of God come and make all things right...
Lately, it seems that God's physical rule is the only thing that will work anywhere. The idea that the Kingdom of God is within me does not give me comfort because I can't seem to make anything right.  I can't erase the bad, the ruined, the destroyed, the wounded, the broken. 
Yet...as plain as day Jesus says to me, the Kingdom of God is within you. So does that mean when I pray Thy Kingdom come, I am asking for His will to be done through me not in spite of me or through others? That He limits Himself again to the outworking of His kingdom through the cracked and broken vessel called Heidi, or George, or Harold, or Jane etc. 
 Boy, I wish He didn't or wouldn't...I would rather He take it upon Himself to work outside all of us because we are soooooo not doing any of His kingdom good enough. 

So, practically speaking..today I need to live out His Kingdom that dwells within. 
How do I do that?
Kind words...practically speaking.

Purses

33Sell what you own. Give to those who are poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out. Put away riches in heaven that will not be used up. There, no thief can come near it. There, no moth can destroy it.

 

34Your heart will be where your riches are.  In this section of Luke 12 , Jesus says a lot of things we would rather ignore. Things like not to worry, sell what we own, he did not come to earth to bring peace...which seems in contradiction to the Angels song at Christmas. Little nuggets like what we say in secret will be proclaimed from the mountain top, he comes to bring fire to this earth...persecution and pain and ...get a good purse. I love purses, maybe that is why this verse speaks to me. Of course it speaks to me because it says what I want to hear. If I love purses...Jesus is telling me to provide myself with what I love.  What I carry in my purse is a bit like an emergency kit...it is a 'what if ' kind of purse. What if I find myself in a once in life time situation...I will have something in my purse to carry the day. Like our shoes and our hair...purses proclaim to the world in a oh so subtle way what we want to project about ourselves. A non-verbal expression of our very personalities. The bigger , the more prepared..or the pain in the shoulder.    BUT..Why would Jesus after telling everyone to get rid of everything then tell them to make sure they have purses that will not wear out?  Wouldn't the purses be that very thing that carries our treasures?  The treasure that is supposed to be somewhere less permanent?  Here they are to have purses but a few passages before, they weren't allowed to carry purses. These 'purses' the men carried was for their money...they were the original wallets. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I think it is the same reason we carry small purses when we know we have errands to run. Jesus speaks in parables to confuse, he speaks clearly to convict, he speaks tenderly to comfort and sometimes he speaks practically to calm.  I think the latter is what he is saying. Maybe something like..."Stuff, money and things are a spiders web that will entangle you and give you a false confidence. You will keep thinking that the more you have the safer you will be and I am telling you the opposite is true. Carry what you need...because for all practicalities, people need to be paid for the necessities. But in this small but tough purse carry what you need to do what I ask. The bigger the purse does not mean the better prepared but the more encumbered. Careful the spiderweb of imagined need or imagined confidence. Riches are bigger than any purse can carry...so let your treasures be unconfined and your necessary money where it belongs, in a simple bag." When I am running errands...I carry my wallet and phone. It keeps me focused on the task at hand, unencumbered. If I am in need...I call/pray.

Forfeit: A game of penalties

for·feit

/ˈfɔr fɪt/ Show Spelled 

noun

1.a fine; penalty.

2. an act of forfeiting; forfeiture.

3. something to which the right is lost, as for commission of a crime or misdeed, neglect of duty, or violation of a contract.

4. an article deposited in a game because of a mistake and redeemable by a fine or penalty.

5. forfeits, ( used with a singular verb ) a game in which such articles are taken from the players.

 

In Luke 9 Jesus says to his disciples..."For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?"      So I wonder several things; why this word forfeit, what does it mean to lose and how can this soul be redeemable, and what is the fine?

Profit

gain

lose

forfeit...it all seems very practical if it didn't have to do with oneself or in other translations...ones soul.

It is most often seen in light of salvation and that makes sense, what would you gain if everything you work for and everything you become is a penalty?  Like in a football game of which I have been watching a lot...it doesn't matter how perfect the touchdown if a flag is thrown.

 

I maybe see this in a different light...absolutely salvation, but what about wanting to control everything?  Gaining is also controlling...so if we said, What does it profit a woman if she thinks she can control everything and everyone around to her benefit and happiness but while she works and worries and wonders, she is forfeiting herself...her soul...her peace. For in the verse previous Jesus says as passionately...you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up the cross...follow.

 

I think we women seek control more then we seek God. I think there are flags all over our perfect fields ! 

2013....day 2

I made a resolution to run at least 30 minutes straight without stopping ,outside in the great outdoors...Yesterday, I did just that and now I am done.
I either underestimated my running ability or I was strangely motivated by the resolution.
Maybe the key is to resolve to only do what you know you can do without much effort.
I resolve to wake up and go to work.
I resolve to eat meals
I resolve to continue everything I did last year and not change a thing....
That would be sad, to stay the same year after year after year.

I am to speak in chapel tomorrow to our student body. I want to talk to them about changing who we are and to make efforts to change the perception people have about our school.  I am nervous, unusually so. I want to challenge them to have the resolve to change behavior and that is always a hard hard thing to talk about. But, we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and just hope that somehow we will be different....INSANE...or as a friend so readily says..it is just crazy making. 

I have a few more resolutions...may they be accomplished with as much zeal !