I will not be moved

Psalm 55:22 

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

(ESV)

Cast:  to throw or hurl; fling 

Burden: that which is born with difficulty; obligation

Sustain:  bear the weight of

Permit:  tolerate or allow

Moved: to pass from one position to another

Psalm 55:22

All of those difficult things you are holding onto... all of the world's obligations... fling them on the Lord, and he will bear the weight of them for you; he will never tolerate, he will never allow the righteous to pass from under his protection. 

(Courtney's word study version)

We cast our burdens on him; he bears the weight of them.  The cool thing is, we can only obtain righteousness through HIM.  He allows us to give Him our burdens.  

After that, He promises that we will never be moved because we are righteous.  (righteous...which HE made sure of...which WE had nothing to do with!).  It doesn't mean we won't have struggles (we are promised that we will: James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 5:10) because we live in this broken world, full of broken people and sometimes hardships push us in the right direction.  But, we'll never be apart from Him.  

We can't EVER lose.  Now that's some grace, right there...

**I didn't switch the word "righteous" because a dictionary wouldn't get it and I don't fully understand biblical righteousness.  Although, this study on words (a quick purely-from-dictionary.com-not-a-full -on-Strong's-concordance-study) has encouraged me to seek out the answer.  It's very confusing to me for some reason and I just can't get it.  The best I can figure it, the righteous are His.   So something along the lines of "he will never allow those that came to Him to pass from under his protection."  Or "those that said yes to Him..."    

In Romans 8:28 it says "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."  I have a feeling that is a good definition of righteous.  "Those who love God," and "those who are called according to his purpose." I bet that has something to do with it...

What does love mean to me?

What is love? My favorite answer has always been meeting someone where they are.  Are you asking yourself exactly what I mean?  If so, guess what?  I'm gonna tell ya!  With examples of course...from the bible of course...from real life of course...

***

So, there's Adam and Eve.  After they did the ONE thing they were told not to do, they were separated from the most amazing relationship with God that they could have.  The intended one.  BUT, they were also separated from one another in perfect union.   Imagine that realization.  I can't because I've only lived the one way...the after-bite way.

They were embarrassed and scared and aware in a way they'd never been.  All of these new emotions never intended for them were coursing through their bodies at one time!


I imagine God's attitude was
This is what your life will be like now. Hard. Pain. Work. Sweat.  I'll multiply your pain in childbirth.  Your union with me is different and your union with one another will mirror that.  You devastated me and now you're separated from me. I created you for companionship Adam, and when that wasn't enough for YOU, I created Eve. And you've conspired against me for what? Knowledge? Taste? 


 And yet (He probably sighed)


...here are some clothes for you, I know you feel exposed.


What???  Love took the form of clothing. Did they deserve it?  NO!  It doesn't have to be big dramatic gestures. Just cover exposed places.  He definitely met them where they were.  At their lowest place, with no way out, a whole new world in front of them.  He met them there and loved them by covering them.  I love that about Him.  He had every right to leave them naked, leave them exposed, just adding to what they were going through. But, He didn't.  Again, I just love that!

***

Here is another view, one from the world today.  God didn't create depression. More than the enemy, we probably did. We poison our own food with insecticides and hormones and God knows what else. We abuse caffeine, we work too hard, we cheat on our spouses, we pollute the very air we breathe, we rely on self-help books. And yet... He meets us there.  Where?

*At that low point of being numb or in pain
*Not wanting to live the life He gave us
*He meets us dirty, unshowered, food containers around us, the DVR emptied because we've watched everything as we escape into a fake world
*Within the steady light of the internet
*He meets us in the glow of the porn we watch for relief
*Next to the needle used to make it all go away and as He holds us up so we don't fall into the toilet as we're puking into it
*And He's next to us as we cut ourselves and hate people and call His body of believers a cult and spend money we don't have and try our hardest to impress others
*And while we scream at our spouse and ignore our kids and force a smile as we face a congregation      
*And when we're happy and are on the right path and honest
*And when we're hungry and stealing to feed our family and walking home alone
*And when we cry
*And as we ignore the most horrible situations right next door
*And when we raise our hands in worship on Sunday, while organizing our grocery lists
*And when we surrender
*And when we fight
*Andandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandnand...

THAT is where He meets us.  THERE!!!!  THOSE PLACES!!!  So we should meet people there, too.  I bet everyone that reads this has been somewhere in the above paragraph.  I was.  And I was met.  He didn't make me do anything special or get cleaned up before He would meet with me.

You don't have to meet Jesus at an altar, it could be in the grocery store, in the parking lot of a church, when you're high, at the lowest point of depression, at the height of your career, wherever!

I was reading a book by Steven James and he replaced Jesus' name with love in a certain set of scriptures (if you've been to a wedding, you know them.  In 1 Cor 13).  Since God is love and Jesus is God, it's fitting.  Listen to how this reads...

Jesus is patient

Jesus is kind 

Jesus does not envy

Jesus does not boast

Jesus is not proud. 

Jesus does not dishonor others 

Jesus is not self-seeking

Jesus is not easily angered

Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. 

Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth 

Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Jesus never fails 

Strive for these things as you meet people in a whole host of different places.  Try to think like this as you meet them where they are.  Pray that you see them as He sees them.  That's my most intense prayer right now that I see people as Jesus does.  I want every preconceived notion, every prejudice, every idea of what a certain person should be like to be slapped away by the weight of these words.  Because so many people have accepted me how I am (they didn't want me to change first) and have accepted me where I am, I want to be that for people so I can show them a Savior like that, too.  I haven't been doing a great job.

I'll ACCEPT them sure, once they come into the building, but I haven't been RUNNING AFTER THEM, desperate to show them love.  I yearn for that kind of boldness.  That nothing is more important in my life than making sure people know love and know hope.   That people know Jesus.

Wanna know how to change the world, son?

"Wanna know how to change the world, son? One act of random kindness at a time." --from Evan Almighty

Do this today and tomorrow and the next day! Let the children in your life see it and be a part of it! One act of pure kindness expecting nothing in return.

Go!!

Survive.

It's ok to just survive sometimes. There will come a day when more is expected of you, but if breathing is all ya got for today, that's ok.

Asher is the tortoise AND the hare

So.  After almost FOUR YEARS of life, Asher Stephen Hutchinson has finally decided he may be up for this potty training thing.  We've tried different times and I just didn't feel he was ready.  I won't push, either.  I lean more toward child-led experiences than anything else.

Call me a tree-hugging, granola chompin' hippie, if you must.  I don't mind.  Really :)  Trees are pretty and granola is tasty.

Anyway, it got me thinking.  So many parents try to keep up with such a strict schedule for when their child should be doing things like walking, singing ABCs, talking, getting teeth, potty training, etc that it leaves them stressed out and feeling inadequate as parents.

Eeeeek, don't dare compare!

Each child and family is so different.  We don't care much about schedules, but some families need them.  We co-sleep and it works for us, some parents would be left so stressed out thinking about a child in their bed that it wouldn't be worth it.  We chose private school, you may choose to homeschool or public school.  Whatever works for ya.

There are times when you'll need to know what your child is doing by a certain age and I'm not saying throw away the sheet that gives you approximate dates for things, but PLEASE for the LOVE quit comparing your child's progress to another child's progress.  Walking early means nothing except having panic attacks earlier than other moms and dads from the wobbly falling.  Making your child memorize the ABCs at a startling young age does not equal genius!  I guess it's a good hat trick, and if he/she enjoys it great, but getting caught up in the hype and mommy/daddy wars isn't doing anyone any good.  I myself would rather play with play-doh or water in a bucket than repeat letters over and over in creative ways but for people who have that teacher gene, it thrills them to see their child soaking that in.  GREAT!  Either way...

YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!  

No matter how you're raising your child/ren,  if you go with your instinct and sprinkle in some knowledge YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!

Just...please.  Chill.  Out.  No little fairies will come down to take away your parenting badges if your child isn't potty trained by four.

Asher has always been "behind" in almost every area of his life, he just moves at a different speed.  It's ironic because he's so speedy on land, but in the world of development he's my precious little tortoise :)

I love being a mom.  Why let things like time tables get me down?  Once again:

YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!!!!! 

I'm learning so much from every mom/dad/caretaker on Facebook so keep your funny stories, and "things that work for me" advice coming.

Much love,
C

Be. Still.

HEY YOU!  

Yeah you...  

Just take a minute to have no idea what is going to come next.  Live in that moment.  See what happens... For just a minute give yourself permission to not feel the stress of your life, the worry about tomorrow, the pain others have inflicted.  Just feel the moment.  Lean your head back, close your eyes if you have to.  Now do that at least once a day.

If for just that moment, once a day, let Exodus 14:14 work in your life.