Sunday 14 February 2016

Love abuse

Day 5
Love abuse

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life."

Recently, I read a blog post on yoursewtrendy.com, my fellow blogger Jaime hosts Sitting Among Friends blog party every Wednesday. I'm always there.(I can't make a live link because I'm using my phone, but I urge you to check it out). She wrote a post about love and examples of love in the Bible and how we can follow those examples when we love. It struck a cord and one song kept playing in my mind. 'God favoured me'. One line from it in particular.. ' love, I've had my share of Love Abuse..manipulated and its strength misused..'

Yes, I thought, love abuse. I've had a lot of that. We've had a lot of that and on today, Valentines Day, many are celebrating just that. Love abuse. When you have had that pure genuine child-like love we all originally had manipulated and misused, we begin to have doubts. We first doubt ourselves. We doubt others. We doubt love. We wrap that soft love with hard shells. We build walls instead of bridges. We start to mistrust love. We tell love it doesn't exist.

If there comes a time when genuine love appears, we find it hard to recognise it. We tell it it's a liar. We accuse it. We leave it for that special friend....love abuse. We become trapped in a cycle of hurt and abuse..with little love to show for it.

Love is patient
Love is kind
Love is felt most when it's genuine
And I know he favoured me because my enemies did try, but didn't triump over me.

Now that hard has covered soft, and we only recognise and respond to love abuse; in comes God with that love on a cross. In comes God that's says ' I love you my child'. I love you with all my being. I love you with all your faults and flaws. I love your hard places. I love your soft places. Will you love me back? The dilemma now is, you don't know what to do with this type of love. You no longer trust yourself to choose love. You only now know, love abuse.

Houston.. We have a problem!

Many times, its not that we don't want to love God, it's that we don't know what real love looks like anymore. We can't let anyone into our hard places for fear that they will injure our soft places. We can't trust the people we see, touch and feel, how must we accept, receive the love of Jesus?

Truth is, there is no easy answer to that question. The answer that I know, is just to try him. Just to try him fully and you would be surprised how much he will heal your unspoken broken and make you whole again. The next thing you have to do is Trust him. That's the hard part. The trust part. You don't even trust your own judgement. But you must let go and let God..* welp*. It must be done. It can be done; slowly. Strip back the layers and receive a lover who is willing to be with you even unto death. One who doesn't just pay lip service but one who actually has the holes in his hands to prove it.

I'm not big on Valentines Day, something about being single has something to do with it. What I am big on is learning to recognise the love of Jesus as something wonderful.

And I know he favoured me because my enemies did try but couldn't triump over me.



"Jesus wept."

Saturday 13 February 2016

How do you love?

Day 4

Jesus loves us

I typed the perfect little post, it got deleted.... Queue my * wonk wonk* soundtrack somebody. Day 4 has its challenges, life is full of them but we must soldier on. Luke 22:32 says " But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren." The Lord prays for us! Isn't that incredibly awesome?

Jesus prays that our faith in him not wane, even when Satan seeks to sift us like wheat. He is watching, he is present. He is praying.
Luke 22:32, says importantly..' When' ...when you have returned to me, not ' if'. Not if but when. Jesus knows that sometimes, life may rock us, sift us and beats us to the ground; he knows too, that sometimes we may just deny ever knowing him because of it. But he's a praying father, and there isn't anything more powerful than a praying parent.

Why do we pray for our children? In a word...love.

Malachi 1:2 " I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet Ye say, Wherein hath thou loved us...? God has demonstrated his unfailing love towards his children in so many ways long before he was nailed betwixt two thieves. His love for us his only crime. Our crime? Denying him. Denying his love.

How do we love?

I listened to a video recently about the book the Giving Tree. I read the book a long time ago, a boy, who a tree loved first, would go playing under the tree. The tree, because of its love gave unselfishly anything the boy asked. The tree willingly gave his fruits,  its shade and as the boy grew he asked for more, eventually taking the lumber leaving the tree with just its stump. Years later, the boy, now a man came back but there wasn't anything else for him to receive. The tree offered its stump. The man sat.

I always felt bad for the tree, it didn't know to say ' no'. It gave everything it had, for love, our God gave his very life, because, like the Giving Tree, he loved us first. Unlike the tree, God tempers our desires for our own good. We will not always get everything we ask for even though Jesus will always have what to give.

Many times we behave just like the boy in the story, we selfishly ask for things not thinking how it affects others. We treat Jesus as if he is our giving tree, and when we get what we desire, we forget him; only to come back when we are in need again.

How do we love?

I have no problem loving everybody, it's just my neighbour I can't love!.... I laughed, yes, we live just like that. People are hard to love, up close. We have to try to follow  Jesus' example of love. Love, yet say no. Love, and say yes. Love and say wait. Love and let go. Love and let God. Love and be patient. Love and be kind. Love and be wise. Love and be sacrificial. Love and give. Love, even if you love first, love even if you are hated. Love even when persecuted. Love and forgive. Love and love.

How did Jesus love?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.



Friday 12 February 2016

Is your answer always a yes? Be careful who you say yes to!

Day 3
What are you saying 'yes' to?

Romans 5:19 "For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one shall many be made righteous"

So an odyssey began. One that led one righteous innocent man to die on a cross of sin and shame to save me. I said it, out loud even. "I was innocent of the charges, I had done nothing wrong, I didn't crucify him." I was guilty on all accounts. Made a sinner since that faithful day, that day before man counted time. I was made guilty that day when bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, the perfect help meet made a fatal decision. I was made guilty when the man looked upon the woman who was made only for him, said ..."yes". Innocence was lost for us all that day when the first man was obedient to his perfect mate but disobedient to his maker.

That word, 'yes' is a tricky one. We say 'yes' many times when we really want to say no. We feel so obligated to say yes to everyone; to please everyone, to strip ourselves in our obedience to 'yes'. As a parent, you will remember around the age of two, when your sweet little babies learnt the word 'no!' We were at our wits end when they say no, even to the things they needed. We encourage 'yes's', we encourage obedience in our children. They need to be obedient to us,to their teachers, to adults, to the Sunday school teacher, to the choir director and of course to God! Many times- in that order. Obedience for me comes with a caveat. Yes- doesn't always signal obedience.



Jesus's obedience is hard for me to accept; that being fully man and fully God has my mind saying 'no'. I can't wrap my head around it. I understand most things in theory, I understand the concept of being God and man- I understand that heaven wasn't empty - I understand that Jesus was born of a woman - I get it- in theory. Here's where I have an issue- being God with this plan of his - Jesus's 'obedience' didn't seem to me like much of a choice between that 'yes' and 'no'. John 1 is interesting to me in this regard " 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him: and without him was not anything made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shinneth in darkness;and the darkness comprehended it not.God made everything that was made, everything, he is the light and life of us all, he is God and he is the Word. He came among us, yet we couldn't recognize or accept him. All those years spent outside of Christ was me being on the wrong side of history.

But.....

being this God and being this man .................... at once..........................was there really a conflict? Wasn't Jesus's always extremely focused on his mission? Did he at any moment have any wavering at what he was truly here to do?

Luke 22:41"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed. 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.44. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

Yes.

.....being fully God and fully man made his 'yes' harder; much harder and that is truly what I can't wrap my head around. The fact that he was fully God. That part. Just that part. That's were the true obedience comes in. He made everything in the world and he subjected himself to being crucified by the very people that he made. The fact that there was so much power in him, the fact that he could have called 10,000 angels, the fact that he could have voiced the words 'no' is what is powerful about his yes. If he was fully man, I would have thought him strong, a martyr for his cause, a prophet, a John the Baptist - a man being obedient by a mere 'yes' he was not.

Luke 22:43, says an angel appeared and strengthened him, that struck me the level of conflict that was in him, how much agony he was in that prayer alone wasn't enough- he needed heavenly help. We, however, mere mortals, man only, try to solve our inner conflicts on our own.



God's obedience was by no means easy, being fully God and man. Our obedience, is no less hard. We are Ad'Am's' in our own right. We were made to have dominion on the earth. We were made a little lower than the angels, we are heirs, we have greater works to perform- God said it and he did some awesome things. Yet we are also humans walking and moving in a physical body trapped in a world with people handing us their brand of knowledge of good and evil. How easy it is to say yes, how easy it is to hand off our yes's to our help meets. How easy is it to just say the 'serpent beguiled me' and I did eat.

Luke 22: 40 .... ".Pray that ye enter not into temptation."

Being obedient doesn't always mean saying 'yes' as we have been taught, many times it includes saying no. Many will need to retrain their brains, including me. Say no to sin and shame, say no to our desires, say no our help meets, saying no to the world. Then in obedience, we say 'yes' to Christ. Just yes.

Luke 22: 31 "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat: 23 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethen." Isn't this a comfort and a word for us all.

Peace


Related Readings : Luke 22




Thursday 11 February 2016

The empty nest

Day 2
The empty nest

An empty nest, can bring lots and lots of rest. I know, yesterday I slept from 8 in the A.M. to 4:47 in the P.M. I surprised myself! 8 hours and 47 minutes of uninterrupted sleep! I have not had that in a long time. There are two reasons for this - I have the coolest job, so I am on holidays because of Ash Wednesday and I have an empty nest for the weekend! The kids are having a grand time with grandma! My grand time - apparently revolves around sleep- 8 hours of sleep!

His eye is on the sparrow


A few days ago, February 6th to be exact, I stumbled upon a nest (feel free to StumbleUpon my blog :) ). It was perched so low on a hanging branch that I was puzzled by it's mere existence. I thought birds built their nest up high, but, I was happy that I got myself a bird's eye view. I immediately grabbed my camera- you know- the one attached to my phone. I started snapping at the cutest little bird in the perfectly shaped low hanging nest. Just tiny little black eyes with a slender teeny tiny beak revealed their hiding place. Not a sound did they make.As I snapped, I looked around for their mommy- nowhere in sight was she. I felt scared for them. For I knew if any curious kids stumbled upon them, they would be goners. The nest though well camouflaged was much too low - for me.


two little birds by my doorstep

 I called my littlest daughter, I said, I have something to show you - she couldn't see, I had to lift her, she then smiled in awe. She called her sister and her friend who was playing in the yard; my littlest one, shook the branch! Not out of spite I am sure, but out of mere curiousity- she wanted to get close to the birds. I was none too happy, I told her so too and she confirmed my fear - the nest, though well camouflaged was much too low- for me.

Some time later, I went back to check on them, my oldest daughter had reliably informed me, that the mommy bird was out looking for the best worms she could find, and that is why she has been gone for so long. She is filled with little bits of knowledge gems. The mommy had indeed returned, but I saw no worm,and I didn't get that photo op either..*wonk wonk*. The tiny mommy bird perched on a branch above her nest- looking up, I understood now why the nest and the baby birds were so small. I felt comforted that she was back..but still...The nest, though well camouflaged was much too low- for me. I worried about the three.

Today, I went to have a look see. The little birdies were still there, they had grown, some colour had come in on their feathers, and the nest seemed smaller somehow; maybe it seemed that way because they had grown. I snapped pictures, then I saw the mommy bird fly by; I took my queue. I was an unwanted intruder in her home. The nest though well camouflaged was much too low- for me...but...it was working quite well for the three.

The birds today




Luke 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap: which neither have storehouses or barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls.

His eye is on the sparrow, so I know he watches me!

We are many times curious onlookers into other peoples lives, many times we see things that we think needs to be fixed. Often times we offer unsolicited advice, we often fail to realize that what works for us, doesn't necessarily work for others. We oftentimes can be meddlesome and not even know it - for even though a well built nest seems too low for us - it works well for who it serves.

The beauty about the God we serve is that he isn't using a cookie sheet, he doesn't have a one size fits all plan. He has tailored made plans for even the sparrows. If I were a bird, I'd probably build my nest way up high but sometimes 'up there' isn't the best place- it's easier for predators to see.
A low place, that small well camouflaged place, that away from the crowd place, is sometimes the best place. There are times when God has to take us low to protect us, but, we don't see. We see only 'up there'.

And just imagine being up there, deciding in your mind to come down here. This low place. This crazy, carnal, sin-filled place, your very well camouflaged place. Coming here to this low place, was the only way that we could be in a protected space. Heaven...I thought for a moment was contemplating having it's own empty nest. The thought came to me and I dismissed it totally, for my mind knows that heaven wasn't really empty when Jesus was on earth. That whole omni-present bit. But I thought it, I thought it, I contemplated it. A parent on high, sending his child down low, knowing the outcome would be death. A parent that never hovered around the naysayers, the intruders, the know it alls; a parent that watched the agony, pain and suffering of their only child for me, for you, for us. I dismissed that thought, for heaven wasn't really empty.

I, a curious bird watcher, sat considerate of my little discovery, I but for a fleeting moment pondered about their safety. I spared a thought of what they would eat, of where their protector was; but as concerned as I was, it was for a mere moment. I went on with my life. I was also pretty psyched about catching a glimpse of them on camera - the wanna be photographer in me; but I went on with my life.

I tried an overlay

We are not but a mere thought to our Christ, "Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me." (Isaiah 49:16). We are his pride and joy, just like the bird that fluttered by me when I intruded on her home and around her prized possession, so God will protect and avenge us, his prized possessions.

Romans 5: 19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."



Wednesday 10 February 2016

When you look for the 'me' in 'us', you might not see Jes'us'

Day 1
Draw me close – closer than before- closer than I’ve ever been

In Jamaica, we double words for emphasis. When someone has died and we find it hard to believe we ask, “Do you mean the person is dead dead?” Is the cake good good or just good? “Good good would mean it’s very good! I am Jamaican to the core.

A couple years ago a friend asked me if I believed Christ died on the cross for me. I said yes. Then I paused, I asked…Do you mean me me or just people in general. She said, “you”. I paused again.

“No, I said, I wasn’t even born when he died; it was like more than 2000 years ago.”
 “I suppose I believe he died for the people who were living back then, and all their sins. I didn’t commit any sins when he died.”
 “I’m thinking the whole, he died to save us bit was a spill over unto me.” 
I was a Christian when I said that bit. And thank God for how far I have come.

I believed in theory that Christ died for ‘us’ on Calvary’s cross, but somehow, at that  moment, with that question, when I tallied it up in my brain; it didn’t add up. The whole ‘me’ part. That personal part. That Tanya part. Me. Just me.

How could he? Why would he? Why did he? How does it transfer to all who are here now? How does it cover all who aren’t here yet; all who are a mere thought in a couple’s mind? How does it really and truly work like that?

To answer that we have to go back to the beginning, you know- the God created heaven bit, when he fashioned 'man' in his imagine and likeness. That Adam and Eve part. He didn't create them in isolation. In fact in creating them, he fashioned the way for us. All of us - including me

I remember being admitted to the hospital once. I was sick sick. Mummy had to leave me, but she left me with this Psalm and these words. Psalm 23. Read it and remember what is says, she said, it's a personal Psalm. It's all about you. Don't worry, I'll be back in the morning. I read it, I trusted and she was indeed back in the morning. We all know it...it reads..
 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Jesus loves ME

 It was all about me. Just me. That me that Jesus thought about on Calvary's cross. That me that he fashioned in my mother's womb. That me that he knew before I was even conceived. That me that is fearfully and wonderfully made. That me, so important that he numbered all the hairs on my head. That me that was made a little lower than angels and crowned in glory and honour. Yes.That me

In fact, that me, that you, can get lost  in that 'us'. That Christ died for 'us' phrase. Sometimes we forget the me in us. Sometimes we can forget that Christ carried a cross, died in shame for a 'me' that was there at the base of the cross, as well as a 'me' that would stand infront of her own cross pondering if Christ died for a 'me' or an 'us'

I was not there. I committed no sin. I didn't say 'crucify Him'; yet, he died then and there, on that cross of shame, for a future that I was to gain. I accept it. I live in it. I am growing in it. Me.

Truth be told- my thoughts that Christ did not die for me me, is the thought of the many who reject him daily. It is the thought of the many who think they are too far gone, too wrapped up in sin, to accept that their sins have been forgiven and their souls redeemed more than 2000 years ago by a Christ that sees all things and knows all things. A God who in Genesis told us that the seed of a woman would crush the serpent's head. Yes, that God knew, from Genesis, the beginning, what would happen 2000 years after; and he told us too. We serve an all powerful God. A good that is concerned with the 'me' as well as the 'us'.

So why did he do it? How does it transfer to me..just me

Genesis 1: 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Why did he want to save me? because he made me just like himself, I am just like God, I am his image, I am his likeness. I am holy, I am righteousness, I am beautiful, pure, blessed, wonderfully made. If God was Jamaican, he would say - She mek good good- translation - 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. 
That's why he died on that cross for us - for me; because I was made not just good, but good good, and anything made very well is indeed worth saving. Let us embrace Him in this the 40 days leading up to the cross with a hope to find me and us in Jesus Christ our Saviour and soon coming King. 
Related Readings : Genesis 1-4
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Friday 5 February 2016

#40by40challenge


#40by40challenge

I haven't started
That 40 by 40..thing

Are the promises made to self the easiest to break?

I glanced over an interesting facebook re-post today about a young man who was on a spiritual journey and a physical battle; that battle of the bulge! He linked the two. He said the more spiritually sound he got, the easier it was for him to recognize that his craving for food was related to a fight from the enemy and one of those seven deadly sins - gluttony!

I went to a Catholic primary school, they separated the Catholic and Episcopal children at lunchtime and for a few minutes, they taught us Catholic things! I was one of those children. We were mostly upset that we had to end our play time early to listen to things we had no interest in, but at the same time, the room was cool and we got to feel 'special' having been chosen  to..well..learn how to say the Rosary. I remember learning specifically about the Seven Deadly Sins....I suppose this is where I got the notion that sins had an hierarchy; for if these seven were singled out, they had to be worse than bad..right?

Gluttony was one of them...in Jamaica,we just say....craven. You eat too much...yuh too craven. It is a sin too eat too much, to want too much, too crave too much- of anything! It's funny though because so many of life's most precious moments have food at the center of them; I can't think of one place that we go to that doesn't have food. It is hard to navigate around food. Alcoholics can avoid bars, and can empty their homes of liquor but you would be hard pressed to avoid food- unless you want to go in the other direction entirely-anorexia!

I haven't started that 40 by 40 thing yet.
The promises I make to myself are the easiest to break.

I was sure I was ready, I put it out in cyberspace ready,but so was the enemy but delay masquerades as denial- I know it all too well. I refuse to be tricked yet again. So it was interesting that I glanced at an article talking about how the enemy can use food against us, how he can use the pleasures of our taste buds, the very makeup of our senses to work against us and trap us in layers of obesity and that deadly sin....gluttony. Yes, it's not just that you lack self control and that will- it is that you are fighting a battle, a war, that seeks to shorten your very existence through lifestyle diseases.

I watched in horror some time last year a program on TLC called 'My 600 lb life'. I watched with eyes and mouth wide open. I was in disbelief. The persons on the show were wading in a sea of defeat, as obesity had over taken their lives. Is it their fault? Do people put a gun to their head and make them eat unhealthily? The answers to those questions will be different depending on which side of the scale you weigh up on. I understood their defeat and their pain.  I understood trying to come back from a place where you think you are so far gone that it makes no sense. I understood an enemy that says...change is not possible..for you. You. will. die.here.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of  the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I haven't started that 40 by 40 thing yet
The promises I make to myself are easiest to break..on my own

On a Friday night, I'd much rather be unwinding from a hard week, and watching some TV, but I write, I made a promise to God. If it were just for me, well...yeah..I'd be watching TV. Promises to God are easier to keep. I feel like the stakes are higher. Last year, I also did something else...I went 21 days..without food. I only drank coconut water, water and apple juice. It wasn't a hunger strike. I fasted. I prayed. It wasn't about food but my attitude towards food changed. I realized that we give so much importance to food. It's as if we are addicted to food. A kind of a Lusting if you will. LUST - another of the seven deadly sins.

On my fasting journey, it became all too clear that all things are indeed possible- through Christ who strengthens me. I realized that we do 'choose' what we put in our bodies, but I also came to know that anything that is a stronghold in our lives, anything that we struggle with in our lives NEED the power of Christ to be defeated. That includes food. It isn't just will power. It isn't just being craven. And this isn't a cop out!

I haven't started that 40 by 40 thing...but I am going to...
The promises I make to myself are easiest to break...because I don't see me like Jesus does.

There are a few things not mentioned specifically in the Bible, food, is not one of them. It's mentioned, a lot. In fact, I started thinking about that very first 'fruit'. That forbidden fruit that we were not to eat lest we surely die, and while many say it was not a literal fruit, but a metaphor, either way..food was used and I think that is important somehow. God doesn't deal in coincidences, he's much too methodical for that. Satan, beguiles the woman to 'eat the fruit' and we have been suffering for it ever since. So he beguiles us to 'eat' as much and as often as we like, for we shall not surely die...at first. Eventually though, all that freedom starts to take a toll on our physical bodies and we just might 'die' literally because of it. I also don't think there would be so many chapters dedicated to the types of food that are good for us to eat, if the God that created us, who knows just how our systems work didn't deem it important. He knew what was good for us to eat. He knew. No, I am not an Adventist, and I am not plugging their message or practice of eating. I am just thinking there is merit in the pages of Leviticus. I am also aware of the debate that New Testament writings offer, I will not debate that, the truth is simple, if we eat more from plants and less of what is made in plants, we will be healthier and come up hopefully a lot less on the scale.

I haven't started that 40 by 40 thing, but I will.
The promises I make to myself should be kept, because I am a temple. I house precious cargo.

I'm glad Easter is early this year. I'm glad 40 days of Lent starts in February. I'm glad 40 by 40 was put out there and I'm even more excited that 40's are all in a row. I'm going to do a 40 day fast for Lent.

I'm not making any promises...but I want to Chronicle my 40 days on my journey to 40. I invite you to join me. Journeys are always better with friends.


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Wednesday 3 February 2016

Holes in clothes- buyer beware

There will be no pics in this post. My PC won't connect to my modem..again! I don't know what's the issue, so I'm using my phone....the phone connects! I can't even be bothered sometimes when life happens....but...it's a Wednesday... And Wednesdays... I write on my blog!

Chosen. A chosen generation. We are. All of us. Are. Chosen.

I've been telling my students that they are a chosen generation. I can do that in Jamaica.. For now...there is no separation of church and state. I've been saying to them, act like you are chosen. When you go to choose something.. Don't you choose the best?  Do you buy clothes with holes? Or stale food? Or expired snacks? The answer is always a resounding.. NO!!

Then, I say...exactly! And that's exactly what God did, he chose you...the best, brightest children and you need to act the part. It sounded really great coming from my mouth, it sounded really, really good and I hoped it would soak in, I hoped it would change behaviour. I was wrong. I was wrong from the beginning.

Imagine if you see yourself as clothes with holes, as an expired snack or stale? Well, if you're a thinking child, you would think, God hasn't chosen you...he couldn't choose you, for you aren't worthy! You have too many holes.

We are a chosen generation.

I was wrong. My analogy was all wrong. God doesn't choose the best, he doesn't choose the ones without holes and as I was ready to smash my PC into the wall I realised, I realised the holes in my thinking didn't match the ones in his hands.

We are a chosen generation, inspite of our holes, inspite of our staleness or our expiry date. That's where grace and mercy comes in. We are a chosen generation, every last flawed one of us, because God knows that despite our holes, we are still worth more; despite our staleness, our freshness still carries a sweet savour and despite our expiry dates, we still are worthy of eternal life.

I do outlet shopping, like everyone else, I like to save a buck. One day I saw the nicest orange top, but on it I saw a tiny white sticker with a tiny red arrow on it, I had no idea what it meant. The blouse was cute, so I bagged it and left. When I got home and tried it on, I realised something. Tiny holes. The tiny white sticker with the tiny red arrow was pointing me to tiny holes in the blouse. Flaws. I didn't notice at first. Now when I shop at that store, I look out particularly for tiny white stickers with tiny red arrows. I don't choose those clothes.
Humans choose around flaws. Humans choose perfection when buying. Humans, as we know from creation aren't really good at making the best choices.

God. God is not at all like us. He has that discerning eye. He knows every hair numbered on our heads. He sees those tiny white stickers with the tiny red arrows pointing to and out all our flaws...all of them. Yet. Yet, he says...You. Yes you. Come. I choose you!

How must I know right this wrong? This seed I have planted that says you are chosen because you are  the best? How do I get someone who thinks they are the worst to still feel like they are chosen?

Is it as simple as saying God loves you? Could it be as simple as pointing to the most important holes ever driven through flesh?

Perhaps...perhaps... Perhaps