Mikki's Blog - Living in the Grace and Love of God » Relationships

Seize the Day!

Mikki — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:26:12 +0000

A few years ago the movie "Dead Poets Society" resurrected a Latin phrase, Carpe Diem, or Seize the Day, an exhortation to live life to the fullest, getting the most out of each individual day.

I thought of that phrase this morning as I read Ecclesiastes 9. Ecclesiastes is not on the top of my reading list, but I found myself there today. Throughout the book, Solomon struggles with issues like the vanity and futility of life. Not exactly the book you turn to in order to be encouraged. Yet that is what I found in this passage!

Solomon’s journey had taken him through seasons of pursuing God wholeheartedly to times of seeking his own paths. His wrong choices left him empty, broken, and dis.heart.ened. He had lost heart.

Solomon had great wisdom, wealth, and every whim of his heart was his, yet his long season of pursuing selfish desires had left him disillusioned. We believe he wrote Ecclesiastes toward the end of his life. He reflected on his life and on life in general and shared what he had learned.

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” … “I communed with my heart, saying, ‘Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge. And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 16-17).

Wow, that will stoke your fire, huh?

Chapter nine continues with Solomon’s exploration of how both good and bad come to all, “To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner,” (vs. 3). And just when you think you want to close the book before you are overcome with discouragement, he offers these truths:

“Go eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart: For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life…Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going,” (cheerful, huh?) [verses 7-10].

And yet, there is a simple wisdom for us.

Enjoy the day. We don’t know what will come tomorrow. (Click post title to read entire post)
Be thankful for what you have. Enjoy it.
Know you are accepted by God.
Live in purity.
Pursue the fullness of God.
Find joy in your relationships.
Whatever you do, do it with everything within you!
Life is short. Make it count. Seize the day!!

I love the fact that God doesn’t sugar-coat His Word. He allows us to see the humanness of His servants. The highs, the lows. The victories. The failures. The times when they soar on eagle’s wings and the times when they fall in the pit. We can learn from others’ experiences.

And God whispers to us in every season that He is with us. We can find Him in good days and in bad days. And with Him, we can seize the day and find reason to rejoice, to enjoy, to live life fully, moment by moment, day by day.

Will you seize your day today?

Seize the Day!

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I’m Sorry

Mikki — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:16:08 +0000

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.

At the moment we first trust him, we receive his nature. The work of our sanctification begins. The journey continues until one day we look upon his face. In the meantime, the Spirit of God within us beckons us to follow his voice, lay down our agendas, love well, and live fully.

Sounds simple, huh?

Yet scripture often uses warfare analogies to picture the reality of the process of sanctification. It’s war. We have an enemy. Satan. And we have an enemy. Our flesh.

My flesh always feels I am right and others are wrong, but as I walk with Christ in commitment to his heart, he whispers to me when I will listen. He nudges me, encouraging me to face the truth. He woos me to his heart.

Oh, I am not always wrong, but I am not always right.

An outright apology can go miles in restoring relationships, and it’s almost humorous to watch how most people struggle to apologize when they are wrong (remember, I’ve already admitted I am president of this club sometimes.)

“Well, I felt bad that day.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“You just misunderstood me.”

Oh, there are a million variations but the bottom line is most of us just hate to apologize. We are selfish. We hold onto our need to be right with everything within us.

It’s in our giving up, our humility, our obedience, and our heart for relationships that we can say the words, “I’m sorry.”

Plain and simple.

No excuses.

“I was wrong.”

Not all folks will walk in peace with us ((Romans 12:18), but we are responsible for our own hearts and have to trust God with the outcome. We are not to be doormats, either, but today I am speaking of owning our personal wrongdoing.

Be a peacemaker today. Own your own stuff. Put on your big boy or big girl pants and just say it, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

When we come to that place, God’s grace rushes into our hearts, healing us, and restoring our peace. His beautiful presence shines inside us like sunshine on a springtime day. We are warmed by His goodness. That goodness, that peace, is there for us all today.

I'm Sorry

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Does Anyone Understand Me?

Mikki — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:40:20 +0000

“He just doesn’t get it!” “Why can’t she just hear what I’m saying?” “Why don’t they just say what they mean?”

Ever find it difficult to communicate your heart to someone you care about? Ever been completely misunderstood by a friend or spouse? Well, of course, at times all of us have found ourselves completely bewildered at another human’s inability to understand us and we can feel equally bewildered as we try to understand them.

Good communication is a necessary component of every significant relationship, but how often do we find ourselves scratching our heads in bewilderment or stomping our feet in frustration because someone else has totally NOT understood us or heard our hearts.

Misunderstanding. Miscommunication. Emotional responses. Sinful responses. Personal history. There is an entire array of reasons that make intimate knowing so difficult. Yet at the core level, every human longs to be truly known. To be understood. We crave the satisfaction of knowing that someone really “gets” us.

While most of us have experienced moments of this deep knowing of our hearts, this level of knowing, this intimacy, requires hard work because each of us bring all of our past and all of what we believe to be true about life, others, God, and ourselves into every exchange.

Yet despite all the frustrations that we may encounter, we were designed for intimate sharing of our hearts and lives with God and with others.

Just as Adam and Eve both had a personal relationship with God before they knew each other, we also are made for intimacy with God as the primary relationship of our lives. This intimacy provides a foundation for us to have intimacy with others.

Psalm 139:1 invites us into the truth that there is One who really does know us. “You understand my thoughts afar off.”

Oh, what a glorious truth! God understands my very thoughts! I don’t have to interpret myself to God. He “gets” me! That is fabulous because I often don’t even “get” myself!

The Psalmist David spoke these words describing his intimate relationship with God. Over and over, David pictures his intimacy with God…”You’ve searched me…; You’ve known me…; You know..; You comprehend…; You are acquainted…; You know…”

And while this may make some of us feel frightened or condemned, it is intended to do quite the opposite. David, who had spent multitudes of hours lying underneath the stars while he shepherded his father’s sheep, was comfortable with God. He knew that his own heart was not perfect, yet beyond that, he knew that God adored him. God loved him. God loved being with him.

David had so experienced God’s love that he had been transformed through the joy and pleasure that came from deep communion with God. How intoxicatingly beautiful it is to know that God completely understands our hearts and pursues our whole hearts because He longs to experience intimacy with us.

David invited God to search his heart because his relationship with God was based on an inner-knowing that God really did love him as he was. Therefore David felt safe inviting God to search him and help him. He was not afraid of His heavenly Father. He trusted God with his thoughts.

Open your heart to God and allow Him to bathe you in His love. Trust Him with your thoughts. He is kind and loving and is pursuing the best for you. He is offering intimacy to you. Intimacy with Him. And He longs to teach you how to be intimate with those you care about.

Does Anyone Understand Me?

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