Author: Circle of Hope (Page 2 of 577)

Today’s Bible reading

John 11:  17-23 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

 More thoughts for meditation

It’s interesting to see how the story of Lazarus goes down. He is ill, Jesus decides to wait a few days, but by the time he arrives, Lazarus is dead. The sisters Mary and Martha are crying and mourning. Jesus weeps.

Even though we know what happens at the end of the story, the feelings Mary, Martha and Jesus felt were very real. For a week Mary and Martha were struggling: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”   When we face situations in life, our minds automatically turn to reason to fill the gap and ease the pain we are feeling. We want to understand what’s happening and why. The problem with reason is that it offers us false comfort.

The process then, is a series of steps that take us from where we are now to where God wants us to be. We could be waiting to find a spouse, or to find a job that we want. Or go through a divorce, like I did. We want God to rescue us from this situation and we go to Him for a solution when we should be going to God for a relationship. In order to make it out from that valley, we must go through the process of standing with God, letting Him work through us, no matter what is working against us. This is called abiding.

This is the process that makes us rich, and it makes us stronger and more powerful than the enemy. This process, this season, is where we learn to trust God and grow in our faith.

 Suggestions for action

Prayer: Holy Spirit, give us patience and strength to stand with you while we are going through the process of waiting for relief.

Today’s Bible reading

Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

More thoughts for meditation

How many times have we created plans for our lives that have not come to pass, or life has taken us to a different direction altogether?    I can’t count the number of times I decided to change careers when I was a child. In the end, I decided to seek medicine as my career. But alas! God had other plans, and I found myself in an accounting career instead.

Did I miss my purpose to be a doctor? How can I use my accounting skills to achieve my purpose? Heck, what IS my purpose?

A few months ago, I watched the Pixar film, Soul. It is about a man who is bored with his current life as a music teacher and dreams of achieving his dream career: to perform in front of an audience. But he is so engrossed in the pursuit of his dream that he misses out on what is going on around him. The character in the movie Moonwind described it best, “Lost souls are obsessed by something that disconnects them from life.”

It made me think of the countless times I have missed out on those small moments in my life where I could have been present, but chose to be disconnected through career, working, seeking greatness and seeking other false comforts, thinking that they were all part of my purpose. And I did this to run away from my pain. But God didn’t create us to live life on our terms through our careers, and goal setting.  He created us to live life on its own terms.

Our purpose then, is to be enough to be ourselves. To just be who we are, because even after we achieve the successes that we were looking for, we will still not feel satisfied.

Truth is, nothing will feel satisfying, except for living life and living in the present at all times.

Suggestions for action

Prayer:  Holy Spirit teach us how to be enough to be ourselves and live life according to your purpose and not ours. Show us how no matter all the plans we make, only your purpose is the only one that prevails.

Today’s Bible reading

Romans 8:15 – For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

 More thoughts for meditation

Perfectionism can be exhausting and cause us to become slaves to it. It can keep us up all night reminding us of everything that has to be done, or that we haven’t done enough as parents, spouses, siblings, etc., or that we have once again disappointed others, and that we are not good enough. Someone once said that “there’s a straight line between hypersensitivity and perfectionism” and I believe there is some truth to this.

It would make sense that those of us who tend to be sensitive to criticism want to be perfect, blameless or flawless. We become critical of ourselves instead of practicing self-compassion. Western culture doesn’t make it easier for us, either; we get sucked into key performance indicators and end up experiencing burnout. Becoming slaves to perfectionism not only exhausts us but it blocks us from living freely and with hope. If left unchecked, even going through a self-help-book as a way out of our problems can be considered an area of perfectionism.

Suggestions for action

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, show us an area where we have become slaves to the “self-worth -> fear -> perfectionism” cycle and helps us lay it down at your feet.