truth | Russellings of the Spirit

Posts Tagged ‘truth

Mar

Abandoned

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: God, love, Jesus Christ, truth, wisdom, John 14:6, experience, abandoned, kept, conviction, evidence, creative power

I am a guy who likes to keep score. Which probably explains my attraction to nearly every sport under the sun… every sport, that is, except golf.

(Low score wins? Wait, WHAT??? How messed up is that?)

Besides keeping track of those myriad officially sanctioned events, I routinely keep score for all manner of mundane activities around our house. For example, I race Joan to see who can brush their teeth the fastest. I compare this week’s number of Diet Coke cans in the recycling bin to last week’s total. I try to set new land speed records for mowing my lawn, or (as is the case this week) shoveling my driveway. I count to see how many consecutive wadded up paper towels I can shoot into the wastebasket.

However, I realized earlier today there is one area of life for which I absolutely HATE – or violently detest – keeping score. And that is the area of ABANDONED CONVICTIONS. What I mean by “abandoned convictions” is this: those areas of life where I once had a firm, ironclad conviction about what was right and what was wrong, only to find out later that I was COMPLETELY off-base, necessitating the embarrassed abandonment of that conviction.

As I stop and think back on some of those, I am more than a bit mortified to see how many “ACs” (as I call them) are stacked up there at my doorstep. This is the kind of scorekeeping I would love to avoid at all costs.

For example, growing up, I was absolutely convinced that…

… Hilliard, Ohio was the best possible place in the world to live.
… Hilliard, Ohio was the worst possible place in the world to live.
… men were better at everything than women.
… “tag” was a better game than “hide-and-go-seek.”
… liver, olives, Brussel sprouts, and mushrooms were all poisonous and should never – under ANYcircumstances! – be put into one’s mouth. (I’m still not convinced that isn’t true about olives, by the way.)
… math was only invented to make my life miserable.
… people who drank alcohol of any kind – but especially beer – were degenerate miscreants.
… everything I was taught in school was the 100%, bonafide, unvarnished TRUTH.
… that my parents were good, upright, morally flawless people.
- Mind you, mom and dad were/are really incredibly good people, on the whole. But as we all discover at some point, even good people stumble occasionally.

As I matured, these convictions were examined under the twin microscopes of Wisdom and Experience and eventually abandoned. (All, that is, except for the olive conviction). But that did not prevent a new set of convictions from rising up and taking their place.

Some of those new convictions included my heartfelt belief(s) that…

… my country – the good, ol’ USA – is the most morally upright, blemish-free nation on earth.
… being gay is something people choose to do to be outrageous.
… every person would be better off and happier if they were married.
… people espousing staunch religious beliefs are probably doing so to hard truths about the difficulties of life.
… Jesus Christ was a wise moral teacher. Nothing more. Nothing less.
… baseball is the highest form of sport known to humankind.
… discipline and consistency are BORING!
… the important thing in deciding on your life’s work is accurately answering the question, “What seems like a COOL career?”
… all it takes to succeed in life is charm and a winsome smile.

As was the case with the aforementioned childhood convictions, each of these – when studied under the harsh light of Reason and Evidence – also came crashing to earth and incinerated in a smoldering pile, before my eyes.

I could continue this exercise and list all the later-in-life convictions I have held, only to abandon them later under closer scrutiny…

… but I think you get the picture.

As I look back on that track record, printed there in black and white, it makes me look like the biggest flip-flopper in the history of flip-flopping. It almost prompts me to ask questions like, “Dude… if you keep having to abandon your tightly held convictions, why do you bother even HAVING them in the first place?” and, “Is there really any such thing as an Ultimate and Unshakable Truth that withstands every challenge of Evidence, Reason, Wisdom, and Experience?”

The answer to the first question is easy. That’s because we each need convictions. Convictions are the anchors that keep us from blowing away with the next gust of wind. They help us make decisions. Convictions form the guardrails that keep our Car of Life on the road.

The second question sounds tougher, but it really isn’t. The answer – for me – is an emphatic YES! The U.U.T. (Ultimate, Unshakable Truth) is that God (a.k.a., the power that created and continues to sustain all that was, is, and ever will be) is LOVE. And because LOVE is that kind of primal and generative force of the universe, NOTHING – not evil, not greed, not hate, not darkness, not prejudice, not political power, not ANYTHING – will ever ultimately triumph over it.

And THAT is a conviction I will never abandon.

Abundant blessings;

P.S. This might be a fun exercise for you, too. What are YOUR current convictions? Where did they come from? How firm are they? What would have to happen to convince you to abandon them?

Feb

My Saturday Self

By revruss1220 5 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: beloved, creation, flawed, God, intricate, personality, Saturday, truth

I have a question: Which of your many “selves” is your truest self?

To clarify, I am not suggesting that you necessarily suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder. But if you do, God bless you.

I’m just saying that most of us have different “faces” we choose to wear in different settings.

Back in the WD (Working Days, that is), there was definitely a “home Russell” and a “work Russell.” Yes, certainly, those two shared a lot of traits in common, but they were seismically and humungously different. For starters, Home Russell was a lot more laid back, jovial, and fun to be around than Work Russell.

But if you were to plop Home Russell down in the workplace, he would not have accomplished much at all. He’d be napping, checking sports scores (or events), or snacking. That is, when he wasn’t tidying something up or wasting time on social media.

Similarly, Work Russell wouldn’t have been much fun around the home on evenings and weekends.

I also noticed that different days of the week also seemed to give birth to different selves. Monday me was a very different character from Friday me. The former was not someone you’d want to spend a lot of time with, whereas the Friday version was a pretty happy-go-lucky dude.

[That is, unless there was a project with a Friday deadline that wasn’t quite finished yet. In which case, it was “Katie bar the door,” if anyone actually says that anymore.]

After sorting through all these personas one day, I concluded that my Saturday Self was the truest, most honest, most authentic expression of the human being God created me to be. Saturday me didn’t have any performance anxiety. Saturday me wasn’t under any particular gun. He was free to organize his day and come and go as he pleased.

I mean, sure, there were lawns to be mowed, weeds to be pulled, soccer games to be watched, and Home Depot trips to be made. But all of that happened in a relaxed, fluid, stressless way that made Saturday Russella joy to be around…

… unless, of course, there was a plumbing project to be done.

But now, here in Retiredsville, I have discovered that EVERY day is Saturday. Kicking back and relaxing isn’t nearly as much fun when it is something I can do every single moment of every single day. Didn’t finish painting the trim in the guest bathroom today? No problem! You can always do it tomorrow!

Theoretically then, since every day is now Saturday, I should be my best and truest self all day EVERY day here in the land of retirement. Right?

As Joan can verify from first-hand experience, sadly, that is not the case. There are still ups and downs through the week. There are still some Russells that are much more enjoyable to be around than other Russells. There are some that are really sharp, “on the ball,” raring to go, and others that struggle to tie their shoes correctly.

Sometimes, however, in the midst of my attempts to sort through the mysteries of the human psyche and its infinite manifestations, I am abruptly stopped.

Something somehow reminds me of what a blessing it is to remember that there is only ONE me. That something also reminds me that this ME was created in its infinite complexity, and weirdness by a loving, compassionate God. And further, that the One who created all those strange nooks and crannies of personality sees beneath every mask and persona to my very CORE.

Here is how the Psalmist says it: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:15-16, NRSV).

And then, here is the totally amazing part; even seeing EXACTLY what is there, that One still declares it beautiful and beloved.

And the Good News is the same One who sees ME in that light also sees YOU just as clearly and describes YOU exactly the same way.

Is that bizarre, or what?

Abundant blessings;

Jan

Clarifying

By revruss1220 8 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: blurry, eyes, falsehood, God, Jesus Christ, Luke 11:34, optical, perception, truth, viewpoint, vision

I remember the first time I got glasses.

I was in my mid-teens… maybe 14 or 15.

Up until that moment, I was pretty satisfied with my view of the world. I mean, sure, there were times when I mistook a “Q” on a street sign for an “O” or a “D.” Or when I had to really squint to see the names of the flavors at the Helen Hutchley’s ice cream store.

Otherwise, I felt as if I saw the world around me with enough clarity to navigate the tasks of a typical teen’s day.

And so, when mom piped up one day and said, “Rusty, I think we need to go get your eyes checked,” I was mildly miffed.

“Why?” I asked, barely concealing my annoyance. “My eyes are fine.”

And if you are a glasses-wearer yourself, you know how the rest of this story goes. After enduring all the tests at the optometrist’s office and finally being fitted with my first pair of dorky glasses, I was absolutelyDUMBSTRUCK! I believe the first words out of my mouth when I put them on were, “Holy CRAP!” earning me an instant reprimand from both of my folks.

I simply could not believe how much clearer the world around me was. It was a true night and day difference! Several times I pulled the glasses off, put them back on, and pulled them off again, just to experience the astonishing before-and-after contrast.

I was similarly amazed at how accustomed – and accepting – I had become to my prior, blurred view of life.

And today, as I count off yet another trip around the sun, I am reflecting on how many times since then I have had that exact, same experience.

Not with my VISION, but with my PERCEPTION.

How many times – I wondered – have I gradually accommodated one way of seeing the world? How easy has it been for me to say over the years, “The way I am seeing the world right now is FINE! I don’t need to test it! Go away!”

And then how many times have I met a loving – or maybe just a persistent and forceful – voice saying, “No. You need some correction. Come. Let’s get you some help.” [Except later, that loving/persistent voice called me “Russell” instead of “Rusty.”]

You would be correct to say, “That’s what spouses are for!” You would also be correct to say, “That is what a connection to the Living God is for!”

The truth is, every one of us can fall prey to one of these four, common vision-distorting syndromes in our lives.

MYOPIA. Or near-sightedness. That is, seeing only the things that are closest to us and ignoring anything beyond our immediate environment.
HYPEROPIA. Or far-sightedness. This is the polar opposite of myopia. It means seeing everything except that which is right there in front of your nose.
PRESBYOPIA. No. This does not refer to the eyesight of Presbyterians. It is the age-related diminishing of clear eyesight. You will know that presbyopia is involved when you hear the phrase, “Well, we’ve always done it that way, and it’s been fine.”
ASTIGMATISM. My optical guide defines astigmatism as, “… a condition marked by an irregularly shaped cornea. This irregularity impacts the way light is focused on the retina, causing distorted, blurred vision across all distances.” As you well know, the cornea is the outermost layer of the eye. In that sense, it is the gatekeeper of all light that you encounter. And when your gatekeeper is out of whack, everything else is, too.

As it turns out, the Bible has a couple of great things to say about the importance of good optical health. The writer of Proverbs said, “Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.” (Proverbs 26:12, NRSV). Sort of speaks to that whole “fallibility of perception” thing, doesn’t it?

Later, Jesus said this: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34, NRSV).

As I scan the calendar, I see that it is just about time for my annual eye exam. While I’m at it, do you think I could also find a place to schedule a perception check-up?

Abundant blessings;

Apr

Watch Your Eyes!

By revruss1220 1 Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: beauty, disclose, eyes, heart, Jesus Christ, lamp, soul, truth

Today, for the first time in a jillion years, I got new glasses.

Not just new lenses. New frames, too.

And if I do say so myself, they are pretty danged snazzy.

All of which made me pause and think about the importance of my eyes.

Somewhere in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offered his listeners this important observation: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyeis unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Matthew 6:22-23, NRSV).

Which prompts me to ask: How is your eye… or rather, how are your EYES today?

No question; eyes and their use have always been important to us. Not only do they help us navigate through our surroundings, but they also serve as a critical instrument of self-expression.

Here in the time of the global pandemic, however, their importance seems to have skyrocketed exponentially.

Think of it. When we find ourselves in a time – as we do today – where masks hide the lower half of everyone’s face, the entire weight of emotional expression falls on the eyes. We have to learn to “SMIZE” (or “smile with your eyes,” TM, Tyra Banks), express pleasure, fear, concern, angst, boredom, surprise, disgust, horror, love, and 85 other emotions ENTIRELY with our eyes.

That seems like a mighty heavy burden to lay on those two little jelly-filled balls.

This is certainly a time for us to take good care of the health of these critters, for sure. It is also a good time to remember to be a little extra cautious about how we are using our eyes. For example, are we…

… rolling our eyes?

… averting our eyes?

… leering with them?

… looking covetously with them?

… staring with them?

… registering embarrassment or shame with them?

Your eyes disclose your heart. They have the power to hearten or to discourage everyone you meet.

Our eyes serve as our ambassadors… going out ahead of us to tell others who we are and what we are about. They don’t lie… even when we ask them to.

So, please… take good care of your eyes…

… and watch them carefully.

Abundant blessings;

Mar

Getting Uncomfortable

By revruss1220 6 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: challenge, comfort, correction, discomfort, falsehood, God, health, ideas, illusion, Jesus Christ, truth

Germany, Young man lying in hammock and reading a magazine

Before Word #1 appears on this page, I have to settle in at my desk and get nice and comfortable.

Before my car’s engine roars (politely) to life, I make sure I am quite comfortable there in the driver’s seat.

TV viewing in the evening for me is always preceded by strict attention to the comfort of my position on the couch.

And then, at the end of the day, when it comes to that most essential human activity, SLEEPING!, I devote a great deal of attention to seeking out a position of maximum possible personal comfort.

In fact, I would be willing to wager that if someone showed me a scientific study of the amount of energy I devote daily to comfort-seeking, that number would make my eyes bug right out of my head.

And what about you, friend? Are you likewise afflicted with CCSS (Compulsive Comfort Seeking Syndrome)?

I think we can all agree that no one will win a Nobel Prize in sociology for announcing the discovery that, “Comfort-seeking seems to be a universal human pursuit.” Cave people didn’t come up with the idea of fire just so they’d have a way to cook their brontosaurus burgers, you know.

But I wonder… despite its ubiquitousness, is it possible we can get a little too carried away with this urge toward comfort seeking? Is the Dr. Scholl’s Company really telling us the truth when they contend that “Comfort is EVERYTHING!*”

In fact, I think there is a good case to be made that runaway, unexamined, “comfort seeking” is at the root of a whole host of human maladies. To wit:

Avoiding the difficulty and discomfort of hard, physical work usually leads to flawed, “squishy” solutions.
People who don’t feel “comfortable” in the presence of people of different races, ethnicities, religions, or sexual orientations can very quickly become dangerous bigots.
My aversion to the discomfort of re-examining my core beliefs can keep me permanently locked on to a set of toxic assumptions about the world.

When Jesus talked to the folks gathered around and said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free,” (John 8:32, NRSV), he didn’t add, “And I promise; knowing the truth will be painless and easy-peasy.”

As essential as it seems to be to life on this planet, I am not sure I will EVER be comfortable with discomfort… whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. I have to face the fact that I will continue to be “that guy” who grabs for the footrest and the extra couch pillow to put behind my back.

I think I can only pray that God will regularly grant me the strength to shove personal comfort aside in favor of some much-needed growth.

Whew! I’m glad I got that off my chest.

Now to go find a nice shady spot in the yard where I can lay down, sip an iced tea, and stare at the sky for a while.

Abundant blessings;

Not the actual slogan of the Dr. Scholl’s Company, by the way.

Jan

It’s Excavation Time

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: God, Jesus Christ, opinion, reconciliation, right, truth, wrong

My friend chuckled. “Sure, I’ve been wrong before,” he said. “I think the last time was in 1993.” He then winked and added, “… but I could be wrong about that.”

And although he meant it as a joke, I wasn’t entirely sure he was kidding.

Many of us – your faithful correspondent included – often have a barnacle-like attachment to a foundational set of Life Truths. Those truths inform our actions, shape the way we receive information, color our relationships with the people we meet, and guide our emotions.

And when a person has attained a certain, shall we say, maturity level, they have a tendency to hold on to those anchors even more tightly. They (we) say, “HEY! I’ve lived a lot of life here… I’ve seen hypotheses come and go… I’ve sorted through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat… I’ve weathered a jillion different trends. I think I have earned the right to plant my flag RIGHT HERE and say loudly and proudly, ‘THIS IS WHAT IT IS!’”

But… what if they’re (we’re) wrong?

Are we even willing to entertain that possibility? Or is our entire campaign now dedicated to proving the iron-clad soundness of our position? Or, as my friend’s T-shirt proudly declares, “I’m not arguing… I’m just explaining to you why I am right.”

If any of this sounds familiar to you, it is probably because I have just sketched you a picture of the political terrain of the U.S. in the year 2021.

But it actually goes a little deeper than that. It is not just, “I’m right and you’re wrong.” It is more like, “I’m right, you’re wrong, and your wrongness is an ominous threat to my personal safety and well-being.”

There are many well-qualified historians who will explain for you – in detail – how we got to this place. Their analyses are worth paying attention to. Likewise, there are baskets full of sociologists who will describe the mechanisms that help encourage and maintain our current state of political and philosophical Balkanization.

But you are smart enough already to know that widespread, indiscriminate use of social media is a primary culprit. It is a sad truth that most forms of social media thrive on the silo-ification of the populace.

The real question today is, “What are we – the people on the street – going to do about it?”

And while it might seem massively unfair that WE should have to be the ones to shoulder the burden of reconciliation, it should be clear by now that our political leaders aren’t going to do it for us… no matter how much they bloviate about things like “unity” and “bipartisanship.”

Because when it comes right down to it, politicians’ daily bread is buttered by a hostile and divided public.

That is why I am here to suggest that a simple starting place might be for each of us to develop the willingness to utter the phrase, “You know… I might be wrong about that.”

Oooo! Yuck! It stings my fingertips a little just to type those words out! Imagine the pain of actually SPEAKING them out loud! TO ANOTHER PERSON!!

It’s tough! Because saying those words – and MEANING them – requires us to first do a little excavation. Step One involves unearthing each of the Truth Pillars beneath our life’s foundation. Step Two is pulling them apart and examining each of them with a piercing, objective microscope. And then finally, if we discover that one of those Pillars contains serious structural flaws, we have to summon the moral courage to abandon it… sometimes without even knowing what we are going to replace it with.

As you can see, this is not work for the faint of heart…

… but it is perfect work for the truly humble of heart.

The Apostle Paul knew – over 2,000 years ago – that you could be trusted with this vital work. That is why he wrote these words, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, NRSV)

And so, if Paul trusts you to do it, why shouldn’t I?

Abundant blessings;

Nov

No Strings Attached

By revruss1220 4 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: God, grace, truth

Joan thinks of me as a hard-working guy.

The truth is, I am lazy to the core.

My doctor and various family members say they are impressed by my health and vitality.

The truth is, I hate to exercise and LOVE stuffing my face with “bad” food.

Some folks have described me as mellow and laid-back.

The truth is, I often have a hard time controlling my temper.

People have told me they like the way I write.

The truth is my writing has more rough edges and blatant errors than it should… especially considering my education and all these years of practice.

I have been complimented for my theological insight and apparent dedication to spiritual disciplines.

The truth is, I am much shallower and more spiritually immature than a person who calls himself a Christian really should be.

To some, I appear to be compassionate and actively invested in helping secure the well-being of other people.

The truth is, I am mostly concerned about myself and what is best for me.

Reading through this list, you might be tempted to believe I am brutally honest when it comes to self-assessment.

The truth is, I dwell mostly in the land of delusion and self-deception.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32, NRSV).

The truth is, facing hard realities about oneself is usually the last thing most people want to do.

Why is that do you suppose? I mean, if we take Jesus at his word (and I do), it means most of us regularly choose imprisonment over freedom… illusion over reality… enslavement over liberation.

I suspect it has to do with the fact that it is a lot more comfortable to live inside our own, carefully constructed “house of mirrors” than it is to face up to the sharp edges of reality.

It reminds me of my friend who refused to see a doctor about his periodic bouts of “heartburn” … right up until he died in his living room recliner of a massive heart attack.
… or the character “Red” Redding (played by Morgan Freeman) in the movie Shawshank Redemption. After spending most of his life behind bars, Red is finally released from prison, but finds that he ultimately can’t handle the freedom of life on the outside.

Yes, living in the truth is hard. But it is even harder if we neglect to factor God’s amazing, redeeming, life-changing, future-altering GRACE into the picture.

We can’t ever forget that God SEES exactly who each of us is. God KNOWS us better than we know ourselves. God REMEMBERS every sin, error, and injury from our past. God ANTICIPATES every major and minor slip-up we will commit in the future.

AND YET… God says, “I forgive you. I love you. Because of my infinite, unconditional love for you, I put on flesh and died for you. In that same love, I offer you this new day as a blank slate, here for you to create upon. Yes, I know you will probably find a way to mess it up somehow, but I still give it freely to you… no strings attached.”

To which I can only say, “Hallelujah and AMEN!”

And THAT is the truth.

Abundant blessings;

Feb

The Path

By revruss1220 1 Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: 1 John 4:16, God, heart, intellect, Jesus Christ, love, path, soul, study, truth, way

Pathway “To know me…” my friend Rick used to say, always with a sly smirk, “… is to love me.”

And for most of us, that certainly is the logical order of things.

Step 1: Get to know someone. Or something. Step 2: Decide whether you love them or not. Step 3: Relate accordingly.

As the mystics tell us though, it is exactly the opposite with God. According to one of my favorite writers on faith matters, Fr. Richard Rohr, we cannot truly KNOW God until we first LOVE God.

And so for skeptics and non-believers, this order of things presents a giant obstacle. “Let me examine the evidence first,” they might say. “Let me weigh up the pros and cons, interview the eyewitnesses, search the literature for secondary warrants and then – and ONLY then – will I make my own, scientifically-informed decision about how I feel.”

The problem with the scientific/rational approach – as the scriptures tell us – lies in God’s essence. 1 John 4:16 reminds us, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”

It’s not that the path of intellectual assent to the reality of God is weak or flawed. It’s that it is simply not AVAILABLE.

In other words, we can’t study our way to union with God (with apologies to my seminary profs). We can only love our way there. Or as The Teacher reminds us, “Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”(Ecclesiastes 12:12, NRSV).

Words to live by.

But trust me… they won’t suffice as an excuse for not turning in your homework.

Dec

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: comfort, discomfort, freedom, God, Jesus, John 8:32, liberation, truth

freedom-meme-2

I’m not sure Jesus could have hit the nail any more squarely on the head than when he said this.

But here is the question that keeps me awake at night:

Do you and I really want to be set free?

Or are we instead content to stay nestled in the security of a world view that comforts us, that doesn’t challenge or push us, that reinforces our stereotypes, and always puts us on the right side of every question?

Dec

More Than Meets the Eye

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: birth, change, daughter, deliverance, different, gospel, heart, Jesus Christ, mind, miracle, new, niece, priorities, sister, son, transform, transformation, truth

Optimus Prime The word “transformation” continues to be popular in the vocabulary of most Christians today.

This seems to be especially true when it comes to the mission statements of Christian churches… “Transforming hearts and minds with the love of Christ,” “Seeking to live as agents of transformation in a broken and hurting world,” “Transforming the world with Christ’s love,” are just a few of the examples I’ve seen.

Heck, if the name weren’t already copyrighted, I suspect many Christians today would vote to adopt the name TRANSFORMERS as a more accurate description of their mission and ministry.

Don’t get me wrong… I really like the word transformation. I have probably used and over-used it more times than I care to admit.

But sometimes I worry that this powerful, important word might become one of those good things that are used so casually and reflexively that they lose their sizzle and ultimately turn into tasteless lumps of verbal Wonder Bread. You know… just like that car commercial you really liked the first time you saw it on TV; and you kept liking right up until the moment they showed it for the 563^rdtime.

Recently I got a new, helpful way to understand the power of the word transformation. It was when my niece sent me a picture of her new baby son and just gushed and cooed about what a heavenly little bundle of joy he is.

Sure, you say… that’s just what new moms do. No newsflash here.

But you only say that because you don’t know my niece. You don’t know the sleepless nights my sister spent during said niece’s adolescence wondering where she was or what would ever become of her. You don’t know about each gray hair on my sister’s head that has my niece’s name printed on it. You have no idea the level of stress and turmoil my niece has caused my sister throughout the years.

Actually, I probably don’t really know either.

And so you really can’t appreciate what an unbelievable miracle it is for me to step back and look at this picture of my niece, cradling her precious baby son in her arms, making giant mooneyes at him, and calling him the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.

THAT, my friend, is transformation.

It made me remember a similar transformation I experienced when my first child was born. And my second, for that matter.

Outwardly nothing has changed… besides the addition of a brand new life into your world, of course.

What I mean is, I continued to be the same, lazy, self-centered, awkward, charming, clumsy, sinful human I was before the Blessed Event. None of those essential qualities magically went away.

And yet, somehow EVERYTHING was different!

I was now a DAD! I was now responsible 24/7 for the shaping of an entire HUMAN BEING! And – wonder of wonders – this human being was so small and helpless, it was utterly dependent on me and his mother for absolutely one hundred percent of his needs.

There was suddenly no margin for error… no days off… no second chances to shape the kind of person he would grow up to be.

Nothing was different, but EVERYTHING was changed. In the moment I first beheld my newborn child, I was utterly TRANSFORMED.

And when you stop a minute and think about it, what more perfect way could God have found to inaugurate the transformation of our planet than through a similar event… the birth of a baby.

I learned a whole lot about myself that day… as I am certain every new parent does.

But the two lessons that still stick with me here 43 years later are, 1.) Transformation is real and is possible for every person alive, and 2.) Transformation only ever happens from the inside out.

May our world experience abundant transformation, beginning today!

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Posts Tagged ‘truth

Abandoned

My Saturday Self

Clarifying

Watch Your Eyes!

Getting Uncomfortable

It’s Excavation Time

No Strings Attached

The Path

More Than Meets the Eye

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Russellings Archives

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