Authenticity :: Mikki's Blog – Living in the Grace and Love of God

Archive for Authenticity

Dec

Nothing Less Than Something More

Posted by: Mikki | Comments (4)

It’s my birthday today. As I get older, birthdays seem more significant. I reflect more. I evaluate my life. I ask questions.

Am I living an authentic life? Am I living in balance? Have I forgotten to listen to my heart or my Lord? Am I enjoying my family, friends, and church community as fully as I should?

I laughingly call myself a recovering workaholic, and as such, these questions are important for me. I have a sense that these same questions are necessary for all of us who live the great American life which exalts busyness above relationships.

In honor of my heart and soul and what I’ve learned in recent years, I took the day off work today. I began the day with a cup of Archers Farm coffee and a bite of almond pound cake and a good conversation with my husband. I drank in both the coffee and the words in my husband’s birthday letter to me.

I received hugs from my husband and youngest son. I enjoyed birthday wishes from my daughter via phone. I await my wishes from my other two sons as it is still early here in Alabama. My husband’s men’s small group sang Happy Birthday to me.

I am filling my soul and spirit with Jesus Culture as I oscillate between reading birthday wishes from friends via Facebook and email and writing this blog.

I look forward to other significant moments today. I plan to read a good book, which is a pleasure of mine, and my husband is taking me to Cracker Barrel for breakfast where I will enjoy the delightful world of carbohydrates.

I feel at peace, and I know that I am not settling for shallowness, either in my relationships or in my dreams.

I want nothing less than something more.

More than living life to check off a to-do list. More than living for the pats on the back that are not linked to relationships that stand the tests of trials and time.

I believe that life is meant to be more. A sacred adventure. A journey of discovery.

I live for more. More fullness of joy. More revelation of God’s love for me. More good conversations. More beautiful sunsets. More meaningful hugs. More laughter. More awareness of the present moment. The heights of the joys. The depths of the sorrows. The richness of life. The beauty of today. The something more.

What about you? Are you living for nothing less than something more?

Emotions: Moses’ Journey and Our Invitation

Posted by: Mikki | Comments (0)

mosespromisedland I felt as if I were inside Moses’ skin yesterday morning as I meditated on Deuteronomy 31. I identified with his emotions. It was a moment when the Holy Spirit opened my eyes through my own journey to glimpse into Moses’ heart. Read more...

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..

Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin

Categories : Authenticity, Emotional Healing

Comments (0)

Jul

I’m Sorry

Posted by: Mikki | Comments (1)

apology-couple Like molasses reluctantly ascending from an overturned jar, my words moved from somewhere deep within. The battle raged. I wanted to apologize, and yet, I didn’t. One part of my heart was tender, caring, and repentant. Another part was calloused, stubborn, and selfish.

My two natures each sought victory. I identified with Paul, remembering the words he spoke in Romans 7 of the inner war. For the moment, my Christ’ nature won, yet often my flesh nature waves its victory flag.

Why is it so difficult to say those two little words? I’m sorry.

We can’t maintain healthy relationships without humility and repentance, but we all struggle to allow Christ to rule in our hearts. My flesh nature and your flesh nature are never truly dead in this life and frequently resurrect to remind us.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:3-5 that we are to do nothing out of selfish ambitions or vain conceits, but that we are, in humility, to consider others more than ourselves, having the same attitude of Christ.

How do we allow our selfish natures to be crucified? The best answer seems to be “one nail at a time”.

Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, year by year, we walk with Christ. We learn more of his heart and his nature. We learn more of our own heart and our own nature. Read more...

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..

Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin

Categories : Authenticity, Discipleship, Real life issues, Relationships, brokenness, forgiveness

Comments (1)

May

The Day I Brushed My Teeth with Preparation H

Posted by: Mikki | Comments (3)

preparation H

Vision is a wonderful gift. I appreciate it more and more as I ‘age’. I began to complain a few years ago to my optometrist about the changes in my vision. He proceeded to tell me that I was one of the lucky ones who had never had any vision problems and that what I was describing was just normal changes that occur as we ‘age’. He informed me that I was just noticing these changes more than the average person because my vision had previously been so perfect which was unusual for my ‘age’. Read more...

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..

Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin

Categories : Aging, Authenticity, Enjoying Life

Comments (3)

Mar

How to Know If You Are a Truth Teller

Posted by: Mikki | Comments (3)

The ability to know the depths of one’s own heart is not a simple matter. As a follower of Christ, one of my core values is the desire to be an honest person. Yet at times, I don’t live and act in ways that are consistent with this core value.

Am I saying that I am a liar? Yes, at times. Do I intend to be? No, yet at times I find myself living in the shadows of darkness, using subtle mind games to make myself more comfortable with the inconsistencies between what I believe and how I live.

There are moments, if I open my heart and soul before God, that I know I’ve manipulated someone else. There are moments when I know that I have protected myself from the discomfort of being completely honest. There are moments when I deceive my own heart in various ways.

Psalm 15:3 and Ephesians 4:15 mention speaking the truth in your heart. It logically follows that if there is a way to speak the truth in our hearts, then there is also a way to not speak truth in our hearts. Stated another way, sometimes we lie to ourselves about our intentions and motivations for doing or saying something.

I have found a lot of pain in learning to speak the truth in my own heart. As I’ve looked deeply into my own stuff in the last few years, I have found that there were ways that I deceived my own heart. I’ve also discovered that I was, at times, in conflict with what my heart was speaking to me.

Now please understand that these things were not intentional. The journey to know oneself in truth is just that, a journey. It happens over the span of a life. The true knowing of oneself is inextricably tied to knowing God. The more deeply we know God, the more deeply we can know ourselves and the more deeply we know ourselves, the more deeply we can know God.

Psalm 15 lists some ways that we can evaluate, with the Spirit’s help, whether or not we are living from a place of truth in our own hearts.

1. We will have no need to slander others.

2. We will not purposefully harm our friends by doing wrong or evil towards them.

3. We will not “take up a reproach” against our neighbor.

4. We will be able to judge others righteously, discerning between those who are vile and those who honor the Lord. In other words, we don’t have to be in relationship with everyone and support every idea or movement that comes through. We will be able to have spiritual understanding.

5. We will keep our word, even when it would be more convenient not to.

6. We will not use our money (or position or influence or selfish desires) to take advantage of others.

(Psalm 15: 1 LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

2 He who walks uprightly,

And works righteousness,

And speaks the truth in his heart;

3 He who does not backbite with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised,

But he honors those who fear the LORD;

He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5 He who does not put out his money at usury,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.)

Ephesians 4:15 further tells us that this ability to speak truth is grounded in love and is a characteristic of someone who is a mature believer and is on a journey of personal growth. Verse 16 gives us further insight as it reminds us that we are all part of the same body. We are to honor each other by walking in deeply loving and truthful relationships.

(Ephesians 4:15-16…speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.)

Psalm 15 ends with the assurance that the person who is able to speak truth from their heart in righteous ways will never be moved or shaken. In other words, they are living from a sure foundation.

His Spirit is available to change us all and empower us to live in a place of maturity and growth. Being willing to face the truth about one’s own heart can be painful, but it is also profitable.

God is inviting us to a more true knowing of our own hearts, not to condemn us but to free us. Will you ask Him to show you any shadows in your heart? Will you ask Him to help you live from a place of truth?

Archive for Authenticity

Nothing Less Than Something More

Emotions: Moses’ Journey and Our Invitation

I’m Sorry

The Day I Brushed My Teeth with Preparation H

How to Know If You Are a Truth Teller

Welcome to My Journey

Books I Love

Recent Comments

Archives of Posts