Your Grace-Full Christmas Present # 10 is The Hand that leads All! By All I mean All – this is the reason why the Grace-Full can sleep at night! It’s the reason why Jesus first words after being awaken during a terrible storm at sea was, “Oh you of little Faith!” and why Paul was asking for food during a storm while everyone was praying to every god they could because death was imminent to them!
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.” – Luke 2:1-3
Faith = rest!
Faith = your ability to rest in the knowledge that God Is and that The God that Is, Is Radically and Madly in Love with you and The God that Is Love Is In Control of All things!
There are so many side roads that the devil provides for us to miss this that it will blow your mind but let me share some of the ones that I took.
“I have to make more money to be more secure and have a better future” – Rest in Him and Love All His creations!
“I have to work harder to do more to be better or more than I am” – Rest in Him and Love All His creations!
“The news is bad, the politicians are bad, the situation is bad, I must fix it” – Rest in Him and Love All His creations!
EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE! HE IS IN CONTROL! FOCUS ON LOVE!
If we look at the life of Jesus – the above all capitalized statement was His mantra, His radical understanding of Who God was, Is and Always will Be – Even when Jesus struggled to make sense of the cross – He Never struggled to make sense of one abiding Faith-Full Fact – GOD IS IN CONTROL!
The reason I don’t watch the news or have a TV other than one hooked up to a DvD player is simple – societies mantra and religious rhetoric is opposite of the one Jesus followed. The press seeks to have us all worried and if they don’t others do because by worrying we are dependent, we spend more, we work harder and in a nutshell fear and sex sells! The single greatest freeing element in my life has been Grace and Grace in me has grown by leaps and bounds the less news I watched and the less I let other things control me – this is why I practice meditation. In learning to listen to the voices that naturally and un-naturally reverberate in my head and soul I can make wiser decisions.
Here are two meditations that I hope you will practice and I pray will create a healthy, healing sound in your soul. Find a time and a place where you can sit still for a few moments and just close your eyes and breathe. Your eyes don’t have to be closed but it helps to cut down on the disturbances around you. Sit up in a relaxed but attentive position and:
Breathe in and say:
“God Is”
Breathe out and say:
“In Complete Control”
Breathe in and say:
“All Things work”
Breathe out and say:
“Together for Good”
Another Great meditation that I got from Brennan Manning’s book “Abbas Child” goes like this:
Breathe in and say:
“Abba”
Breathe out and say:
“I belong to You”
Mix and match and find your favorite scripture – the key is not the words but the Faith it builds which is the rest you can live in!
