I've been thinking a lot about words lately. Words, and how we use them.

Words matter. 

Words mean things.

Word can be used to comfort or to wound.  To heal or to hurt.  To bless or to curse.

Words can be used to persuade or to manipulate.  To build up or to tear down.  To reveal or to conceal.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs - a collection of wise sayings and instructions to help people live with wisdom and understanding:

"To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, 
to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 
to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth..."
          Proverbs 1:2-4 ESV

is full of caution and instruction for how we use our words.  Here's just a sampling...

Proverbs 6:2-3
"if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 
then do this, my son, and save yourself... go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor." 

Proverbs 10:19
"When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent."

Proverbs 12:6
"The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them."

Proverbs 16:24
"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body."

Proverbs 29:20
"Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him."

Words matter.  Words mean things.


How are you using your words?  


To build up or to tear down?  To reveal truth or to hide "inconvenient truths" that weaken your position?


To bring glory to God or to yourself?  To point others toward Jesus or to make yourself look good?


To get your way or to find the best option for you and others (even those you disagree with)?


I want David's words in Psalm 19:14 to be my prayer when I speak, when I right, when I communicate.  


Will you join me in this prayer... 


On the Potter's Wheel...

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. " 

Amen.

After years spent focused on the things of God - on the daily and inner workings of the Tabernacle at Shiloh, the regular offerings, sacrifices, and rituals that gave shape to the worship of God's people, the reading and hearing of the words of the Law of Moses - Samuel found himself at the Edge. In spite of all his work, all his activity at Shiloh, the Bible reveals to us that "Samuel did not yet know the LORD, for the word of the LORD had not yet come to him."

The Edge found Samuel late one night in the Tabernacle. The duties of the day were long ended. Eli the High Priest was already down for the night and Samuel was lying in the Tabernacle itself. As he laid there, Samuel heard someone call his name, "Samuel, Samuel." It begins as somewhat of a comical scene... he gets us and goes to where Eli is resting. "Here I am. You called me." The old man looked up at him and said, "I didn't call you. Go back and lie down!" A few minutes later, the scene repeats itself... with the same results. "I didn't call you. Go and lie down." (It's here in 1 Samuel 3:7 that Scripture tells us Samuel didn't know God yet - maybe that's why he didn't recognize the voice who called him.)

The entire scene repeats itself one more time and, finally, a lightbulb goes off for Eli (so to speak). It dawns on the priest that it is God calling, so he tells his young apprentice, "Go back. When the Voice calls you again say, 'Speak, LORD, your servant is listening."

Samuel obeys - all hint of sleep a retreating memory - and lays back down. Soon, he hears it again, "Samuel, Samuel."

"Speak, your servant is listening."

It's such a simple prayer. Yet, it is deeply profound in it's importance and implication. Think about what Samuel prays at that Edge -

Speak - Although Samuel hadn't experienced it for himself, he knew that God is not silent, but communicates with his people. Samuel knew about God speaking with those who had gone before - Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon and so many others. He had probably heard Eli relate stories of those earlier times when God had even spoken to Eli himself. Literally from the beginning of time, God has communicated with his creation. Genesis says God spoke creation - from galaxies to mountains to seas to plants, animals and human beings - into being. Speaking, communication is an essential part of how God relates to creation, including us.

Even though Samuel had not experienced it for himself, yet, he expected it. It wasn't as odd a thought for him as it is for us and our contemporaries. God speaks to his people. God speaks to us.

Part of the reason for this confident expectation of Samuel's came through the truth of the one word he leaves out of his prayer that Eli suggested. The word - a name, actually - was "Yahweh". It is usually translated as "LORD" in English. Even though, in English, we use the "LORD" as a synonym for "God", it was so much more than that for Samuel and his contemporaries. It was the name of God. The name revealed to Moses when, at the burning bush, he asked "If they ask who sent me, who do I say sent me? What's your name?" The name, Yahweh, means "I am", and it tells of the essence and character of God. "I am" is personal to his people. "I am" is dynamic, active, relational and expectant with his people.

Because Samuel knew this to be true, he could expectantly pray, "Speak..."

Your Servant - Samuel had grown up with a clear understanding of who he was and how he related to God, to the One who was calling him that night. This was inspite of the example he saw around him in Eli's family. The High Priest's two sons - Hophni and Phinehas - served as priests alongside their father, but they did not have a heart for God so much as for their own passions and pleasures. The contrast between Samuel and these two was stark. It was stunning. In 1 Samuel 2, Hophni and Phinehas are described as "worthless men" who "treated the Lord's offering with contempt" and would even take sexual advantage of women at the Tabernacle itself. In the midst of the description of the evils of these two men, we read of Samuel - "Now the young man Samuel continued to grow both in stature and favor with the LORD and also with men." What a contrast.

As Samuel spoke the words of this prayer from the Edge, he saw his place in relation to God and in contrast to Eli's sons. He knew he was God's servant.

Now, it is easy for our contemporary ears to hear the word "servant" in a negative way. We too often hear it as "less than", "disposable", or a "necessary evil". Not so here in 1 Samuel (or throughout the Bible for that matter). To be a servant certainly meant that you were subordinate to another - to a master - but it did not mean you were less than other people around you. Two quick examples of this...

First, from Samuel's own story.... Ultimately, who was "less" in this passage of Israel's history - Samuel, the servant of God, or the self-indulgent, arrogant priests Hophni and Phinehas? Clearly, Samuel's character, faith, and faithfulness put him on a much higher plane than the sons of Eli.

The second example of how one can be a servant and not be less than anyone else is Jesus himself. Isaiah 53 describes him as a "suffering servant" who's servanthood would do more for humanity's relationship with God than all the combined efforts of every human being throughout history. In Philippians 2 (in the New Testament), the writer - a guy named Paul - describes Jesus as the obedient servant who is exalted above everyone else in all of creation.

At the Edge of faith, Samuel recognized and acknowledged who he was in relation to God. As he prayed, he was about to experience that relationship moving to a new, deeper, more profound level.

"Speak, your servant..."

Is Listening - In this account of Samuel and his prayer from the Edge, we are reminded of one of the most amazing truths found in the Bible - from the opening pages to the final verses.

Yahweh, the LORD, the God of the Bible calls and invites us into a two-way relationship with himself. There is communication, conversation, dialogue, and friendship within a true relationship with God.

It was one thing for Samuel to acknowlege that God seeks to communicate with people when he prayed, "Speak...". It's quite another - and completes the communication relationship - to pray, "I'm listening." Why? Glad you asked....

Have you ever had one of those conversations during which one person says with frustration, hurt and maybe a bit of anger, "You're not listening to me!"? Do they mean our ears aren't picking up the sounds they are making? Do they mean we have our sensory attention focused somewhere other than them? (Sometime, perhaps.) Or, do they mean we are not "hearing" the meaning, the emotions, the hope or fear, the longing behind the words falling from their lips?

One of the most valuable elements in any healthy relationship is the ability to hear and be heard beyond the surface level of our words. We want those we love adn care about to hear our hearts. It's clear from the Bible that God wants that in our relationship with him as well.

"Speak, your servant is listening." The ESV translates is as "Speak, your servant hears."

                                                     --------------------------------

In the middle of the night, the young man, Samuel, is awakened and finds he is standing at the Edge. He discovers that the God he has heard and known about wants to be known by him and wants a relationship with him that will ripple out far from his own life. This night, in this meeting of Samuel and the God he has served without knowing personally, God calls the young man to be a prophet - the spokesman of God to his people and the people around them. Everything in his life had led up to this encounter at the Edge. Samuel's prayer - and God's answer to it - changed the course not only of Samuel's life, but that of God's people, Israel, as well. 

Have you been to this Edge - the Edge of faith, the Edge of trust, the Edge of a relationship with God? If not, I encourage you to get there. If you are there now... take a deep breath. Relax. When you hear God call out to your spirit, your heart, your life follow Samuel's lead...

"Speak, LORD, your servant is listening."

I had the good fortune to grow up in a wonderfully healthy and balanced home. Okay, so that mystical myth - "fortune" - had nothing to do with it. I lived in that kind of home because of two faithful and loving parents and four siblings I looked up to and was proud to claim as mine. (I still am, too!) A regular part of my life growing up was church. I'm not sure if this was my brother and sisters' experience or not, but I remember being at church every Sunday - unless I was sick or we were out of town. Sunday School, worship services, cookies and punch in the Fellowship Hall… all memories I hold of those years. All part of the "it's what we do" when I was growing up.
As I got older, my church friends and I were able - and somewhat expected - to do more in the life of the congregation. I served as an acolyte and lit the altar candles as part of the ritual of the worship service - affirming the reminder of the light of God's presence joining us as we worship and leaving with us as we left an hour later to go back into our "normal" life. Other than the goofy white robes we had to wear, it was a pretty cool job… I mean, we got to carry a flame in Church!

Later, as I got into High School, I moved up in my responsibilities and became a Junior Deacon. I served communion, I collected the offering, I even went to our denomination's national conference.

I remember hearing someone at a conference a few years ago describe his childhood religious life much like mine. He said, "Yep, I'm a BUICK - Brought Up In Christian Knowledge." That was me! I knew all about God. I knew all about the Church. Not only did my family drive a Buick… I was one!

In the first part of the Bible - the section commonly called the Old Testament - there is a story of a young man named Samuel. His early story has some similarities to mine. It has some similarities to yours too, although you may not know it yet.

Samuel grew up in his day's version of Church - literally. He had been dedicated to God as an infant and taken to the tabernacle at Shiloh. Shiloh was the center of Jewish worship in the years before Jerusalem became Israel's capital city and the place where they kept the Ark of the Covenant - the box that contained the Ten Commandments and other important artifacts from the time of the Exodus. Shiloh is where the people would go to offer sacrifices to God. It is where the High Priest, Eli, lived and did his ministry. As Samuel grew up there at Shiloh, he served Eli, working beside him in the service of God.

That part of Samuel's story reminds me of my own: active and serving in the worshiping community. (I didn't actually live at the church, although sometimes it certainly felt like it.) Moving from one level of expectation and responsibility to another. Hearing the stories of God and his people week after week.

But, Samuel was standing at the Edge and didn't know it. He had been living there for quite a while and didn't know it. The interesting thing to me is, it's the very same Edge I found myself facing when I got to college.

Samuel had spent so much time - his whole life - around the things of God. He had been with the people of God, in the house of God, hearing the stories and truths of God, doing all the "right" and "religious" things. Yet, in 1 Samuel 3:7 we read this shocking revelations…
 
        "Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord..." 

Wait a minute… how can that be? Look at what is said about Samuel before this disturbing verse:

        "But Samuel was ministering before the Lord under Eli the priest." (1 Samuel 2:11)

        "But Samuel was ministering before the Lord - a boy wearing a linen ephod." (1 Samuel 2:18)

        "And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people." (1 Samuel 2:26)

        "The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli." (1 Samuel 3:1) 

Yet, in spite of all of this, Samuel - we are told - did not know the Lord. Now that is an Edge! 

Can you imagine spending all your time, pouring all your life into some work - some good work - only to discover that you were missing the most important, most foundational part of that work and of life itself? Can you imagine it?

Some of us don't need to imagine it. We've seen close friends and family members peering over that Edge, having their breath taken away by the dramatically scary, amazing vista that opened up before them. For others of us, this is the Edge we are standing at even as we read these words. Or, perhaps, it is the Edge God is pulling us toward.

I stood on this Edge when I was in college. I had an amazing opportunity that not too many people have. I attended a small, historic Christian college in Oregon. What made it so amazing was that it was there that I met, lived in the dorm with, and went to classes with other young adults - people my age - who spoke about God and Jesus as something, as someone far beyond the Sunday School lessons of my youth. They spoke of Jesus like someone they knew… and not just knew about. I found myself standing on this most important, most basic Edge that anyone can come to. Looking back, I think I can just make out Samuel's footprints in the dirt next to mine.

It was the Edge of owned faith.

Behind Samuel stood all that he had heard and done and experienced during all those years "ministering before the Lord". In front of him opened up the vastness of the Eternal. Before him was God, calling his name, inviting him to a life beyond anything he had every imagined. In the quiet hours of the night, Samuel woke up (literally and figuratively) to the fact that he was at this Edge. To be fair to Samuel, even Eli the priest - the one who was supposed to know all about this God-stuff - didn’t recognize the Edge at first either.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 
Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down
. 
And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. (1 Samuel 3:3-9 ESV)

So, given this guidance from Eli, and a third-time prompting from God, Samuel prays a Prayer from the Edge. His prayer is so simple, yet so amazingly profound - "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."

It seems like a nothing little prayer, doesn't it? So brief. So plain. It hardly seems like a prayer, let alone something so life-shaping as a Prayer from the Edge. But the truths and affirmations in these six simple words sho how prepared Samuel's heart really was to be facing this Edge.

We'll look at that prayer next time... but, for now, take a look around. 

Ask yourself a pretty tough question... remember, it is the most foundational question you can ask. No matter what your church or religious or spiritual background is... Do you know God? Not just know about God - but know God. As in a relationship... as a real person?
 
Do you yet know the Lord?

I wonder if you've been thinking about the Edge.

What would the Edge be for you? What has it been for you in the past?

Some of us can only imagine what the Edge would be - we've never even gotten close to it. Others can vividly remember when the Edge was were we lived and moved and had our being. Still others read those words and think, "Remember the Edge? Imagine it? The Edge is where I'm at right now… it's all I see… and my knees are getting weak!"

How would you handle life on the Edge? Life on that raw, scary, sometimes painful, growing Edge?

Living on the Edge strips all the pretense away from us. We can't live there - in any healthy way - and keep up false fronts for long. Not those false fronts that tell us and others we are better or more "with it" or more "in touch with God" than we really are. And - paradoxically - not those false fronts that say we are less than we really are… less gifted, less loved by God, less worthy of God's grace. (In case you've forgotten, no one is worthy of God's grace… that's what makes it grace!) In Romans 12:3-6 Paul says:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among younot to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them… (ESV)

A good reminder for all of us to set those false fronts aside even when we're not at the Edge. But, perhaps, especially when we are.

The Edge has a way of striping away the protective clutter we get so adept in immersing ourselves under. It makes us take a realistic and critical look at our resources… and our lack of resources. The Edge makes us look critically at our priorities… and our lack of clarity in them. That's why the Edge can be so scary. It's also why the Edge can be transforming.

For us… for our families… for our neighbors, friends, church and countless people we may never know.

When we find ourselves at the Edge and begin to get the sense that it's not simply a quick pause on our journey to where we planned to go and in how we planned to get there but that we are about to take up residence there well, it moves us to do something we may not have done before.

The Edge will move us to pray. I don't mean those simplistic, cutesy prayers of childhood. (I've always thought the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer was a bit creepy to teach to kids… "and if I should die before I wake…" Pleasant dreams, Kiddo!) I don't mean the stained glass encrusted, "holy" prayers that many of us remember the elders, deacons, and pastors of our childhood praying in words we hardly understood. I mean prayers that are raw. Prayers that come out of the depths of our souls. Prayers that are raw, scary, sometimes painful in themselves. Prayers that are shouted, demanded, whispered, whimpered… that sometimes come through clenched teeth, balled-up fists, and broken hearts. In other words, prayers that are real.

Living on the Edge calls for - alright, forces - a response from us. It always has. There are countless examples history of people - individuals, families, communities, nations - who have found themselves at the Edge. Some have responded in healthy, faithful, and redemptive ways. Others, not so much. Those healthy responses may not always be the ones you first think of, either.

In upcoming posts, we will explore and experience the stories of a number of people from the Bible - both Old and New Testaments - who found themselves at the Edge. What can we learn from their prayers from the Edge? How can their examples - good or bad - guide us as we live our lives today?

One thing that each of the stories we'll look at tell us is that prayers from the Edge are not just words spoken. They are active. They take effort. They require us to be involved with God and involved in this life on that Edge. It's not enough to simply say the words - there are times when words can just be more self-protective clutter that keeps us from living. However, the effort, the action that real Prayers from the Edge lead us to may not be what we expect.

What would you pray at the Edge? What have you prayed there? How did those prayers move you?

Last time, I wrote about what it means to walk to the Edge. To move to that scary, important, cutting edge place in life where we can see the amazing and awe-inspiring vistas of what might be - both the positive and the negative.It is good to walk out there to the edge from time time, to let yourself get to that knee-weakening, stomach-flipping spot where views of God's plan and will can sharpen into a clarity that can be just as knee-weakening and stomach-flipping as the highest precipice. It helps us to see beyond ourselves - beyond our limitations and our shortcomings. It can be staggering.But what if the Edge isn't just someplace you can choose to walk to for a bit or a visit? You know... walk out there to the Edge, look around, get inspired, find new resolve and direction, and then head back home. Back to the normal routine. Back to safe and comfortable surroundings. What if that wasn't an option? What if the Edge was it? What if everything in life - things both in and out of your control - brought you out to the Edge and just left you there?What if you had to live on the Edge?I grew up in a great part of Seattle called Ballard. When I was growing up and going to school there (even before the cheerleaders pulled the ladder out from under me and gave me my dislike for heights), Ballard was still a predominately Norweigan and Swedish part of town - fiercly proud of it's Norse heritage and eager to share it with the rest of the city whether through it's Seventeenth of May Lutefisk eating contest, or the Ballard High School Beaver's cheer of "Lutefisk, lutefisk. Lefsa, Lefsa. We're from Ballard High School - Yeah, sure! Ya Betcha!"Today, Ballard is an eclectic mixture of cultures, architecture, traditions, and people. It was then, and still is today, the proud home of one of the largest comercial fishing fleets in the Americas - including the ships and crews made famous on the TV show, "The Deadliest Catch." It was, and still is, home to a house my Grandpa Harton was absolutely convinced would slide down the side of the hill it was perched on. The folks who lived there, in an architecturally literal sense, lived on the edge. Actually, they lived over the edge since more than half of their house was built over thin air and supported by a few posts that reached from various levels of the hill to the bottom of house. It did look precarious, but it has stood up to the tests of time and weather.I have no idea what the lives of the people who live in that "edgy" house are like. I never met the family who lived there during my childhood. I would guess that there have been several others who have lived there in the two and a half decades since I moved away from Ballard, and I find myself wondering about their lives. Have they experienced life on the edge in any significant way beyond where their address puts them? Have they ever known the heart-pounding, faith-refining experience of standing alone on the very Edge between what has been and what might be? Between who they've been and who God calls them to become?Have you? Would you?I don't know what the Edge may be for you, but I know it's much closer than you think.And - I know that when you find yourself all alone out there on the Edge... you are never really alone.

In one of my notebooks, I have a square card that I have kept there for about ten years. I picked it up at a stationary and art shop in one of my favorite places on earth – Canon Beach, Oregon. The card – in very cool lettering – contains words from the artist who designed it, Mary Anne Hersey. The card reads: 

        Live with Intention
        Walk to the Edge
        Listen Hard
        Practice Wellness
        Laugh
        Play with Abandon
        Continue to Learn
        Appreciate your Friends
        Choose with no Regret
        Do what you Love
        Live as if this is All there is
        Live with Intention 

I like those thoughts… that’s why I take the card out of its pocket in my notebook and read it every so often. I do pretty well with most of those admonitions most of the time – Laugh, play with abandon, continue to learn, appreciate your friends.

There are a couple of lines on that card, though, that take a bit more… well, intentionality for me. One in particular stands out –

        Walk to the Edge

The edge can be a scary place. Nothing to keep you from falling but your own tenuous sense of balance.

Now, some people revel in that. They love climbing up on ladders, leaning over railings, standing with their toes right up to the verge of a cliff. While getting out there may give you a great view… the Edge can give me the willies.

It wasn’t always that way. I used to love to climb up on ladders… I wasn’t so good at climbing trees for some reason. I liked to be up on our garage roof and get out to the edge of some of the drop-offs overlooking Shilshole Bay near my childhood home in Seattle. It all changed for me one day during my senior year at Ballard High School. I was helping some of the cheerleaders change a reader board on the side of the School’s gym building. I used a 24 foot extension ladder to get up to the sign and sat on the eight-inch or so wide ledge below the sign to reach across and change the lettering. Not a problem! I loved it. Then the girls thought it would be funny to take the ladder down for a minute. Now… that was a problem! The ladder was too heavy for them to handle. They dropped it as they took it down and couldn’t lift it back up. Over the next ten minutes or so, I kept myself balanced – half on, half off the ledge – while they ran through the school looking for the custodian to come help them with the ladder. As the minutes slipped by, so did my enthusiasm for ladders, high places, and being on the edge like that. To this day ladders make my knees turn to not-quite-set jello.

But, that’s a literal Edge. That line on my card is pointing to a more metaphorical Edge, I think…

        The Edge of my experience…
        The Edge of what I know…
        The Edge of Myself.

The Edge can be a scary place… but it is a very important place to be. It is at the Edge that we get the best views… both of where we’ve been and where we hope to go. It’s at the Edge that growth happens… good, healthy growth. It’s at the Edge that we can go beyond ourselves and step into a future that God unfolds before us.

To walk to the Edge means to move to the spot between what you know and what you’ve only wondered about. To walk to the Edge means to walk right up to the point where all of your experiences – good and bad – have brought you to look ahead into the unknown. To walk to the Edge calls us to move with trust that the words of Proverbs 16:9 are true… 

        “In his heart a man plans his course,
        but the Lord determines his steps.” 

And, it seems to me, that to walk to the Edge challenges us to take the next step… not off the Edge – that sounds a bit fatalistic – but the step of faith.

Maybe that’s what makes Walking to the Edge is scary. It takes us beyond ourselves. It deposits us right at the spot where to move ahead means to move beyond ourselves… to move where only faith can take us.

To get there doesn’t just happen… it takes Living with Intention.

That's a line from one of my favorite books - "From the Corner of His Eye" - by one of my favorite authors - Dean Koontz. He uses it to describe what one of his characters is experiencing as she ponders some strange and definitely unexpected happenings in the life of her family.

And, it describes well what I hope this Blog will become - a place to faithfully nibble on the mysteries of life, faith, the Bible, meaning, God, purpose, and more.

One of the passions of my life is to help people engage the Bible in a real way... 
         taking it off of the shelf or out of the pew rack and putting it into their daily lives and thinking... 

Sometimes I will be serious with them. Sometimes I will be humorous. At all times, my intention is to be faithful to what the Bible reveals about God and his will for each us as part of his good and dearly loved creation.

One of my favorite quotes comes from William Willimon... it strikes a sympathetic chord in me - and I hope it will in you.

"The good news of Jesus is so odd that we never get so used to hearing it or living in accordance with it that we don't need to hear it again."

What do you think? Can we hear the Good News - the words and story of the Bible - enough? Or is there always room for a bit more?

Something to ponder....

There's a burden that comes when you set your life toward God.

Once you've taken those first, tentative steps of faith - not sure what it all means or where it will take you, either in the short term or ultimately - your life is no longer your own.  What you do, why you do it, how and even when you do whatever it is you do has a meaning, an importance far beyond you....

"You are not your own," the Apostle Paul says, "you were bought with a price."  And, what a Price!

When you set your life toward God, your decisions matter more.  "You are not your own..." and neither are your decisions. Or the consequences of those decisions.

When you set your life toward God, your "yes" should be "yes" and your "no" should be "no"... and your "maybe" should not be a simple way to brush someone off or to push a decision down the road for another day.  Your "maybe" should be the opening to prayerful, thoughtful, honest and ethical consideration and seeking.

When you set your life toward God, the burden of significance rests on your shoulders... reminding you that 

     You are not your own
     Your life is not just about you
     Your decisions matter, and 
     The impact of your life sends ripples into the lives of all those you contact.

But - and here's the Good News - when you set your life toward God, the burden is not your's alone to bear.

"My yoke is easy, my burden is light," Jesus says to those who come to him 

     Weary of doing life by the world's definition
     Laden down with the burdens of a self-focused understanding of purpose and even life itself.

The burden that comes when you set your life toward God is the "weight of glory"...

     The pressing in of the Holy Spirit's presence
     The gravity of being conformed to the image of Christ, and
     The substance of the God of the Universe being real and present and involved in your actual life.

The burden changes you.
Thanks be to God.

It seems that each year, as we turn the calendar from December 31st to January 1st, we think about what has been and what is to come...

      What went well in the past year? 
      What went not-so-well?

      What do you want to be different in the next year?
      How do you want to be different in the next year?

I asked a question earlier today on my twitter account - (@pauldawson63) - that seems pretty simple on the surface, but that somehow feels bigger, deeper than the typical "So, what New Year's resolutions are you making?"

Here's the question:

                             "What plans, hopes, dreams do you have for 2013?"

Resolutions don't seem to last for most of us.  They are like words written in the sand on an ocean beach.  They last for a while and may even look really good.  But, then, the tide comes in.  They waves gently but steadily wash them away.  Before we know it, the words we so boldly and plainly wrote for all to see are no more.  Resolutions can be like that too.

But plans are much more concrete... there are details with them... objectives that can be reached, progress markers that can be checked off.   Plans - especially our plans - need to be made humbly, though... remembering that we are not the final arbiter of the details of our lives.  

James - the brother of Jesus - reminded us of this truth when he wrote "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'(James 4:13-15 ESV)

Hopes are deeper than resolutions too.  Not the wishy-washy "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if..." sort of hope that is too often substituted for real, Biblical hope (see Romans 5:1-5), but hope that changes you.  Hope that moves you.  Hope that gives you courage, drive, and a bit of daring.  

The New Testament book of Romans says it this way - "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:24-25 ESV)

Hope is for what we admittedly cannot clearly see ahead of us.  We live into it as if it will be as we've envisioned it.  There is a huge piece of trust involved in this hope.  The vision of that hope needs to be held with open hands... our hope may need to be re-directed from time to time to get us to our destination.

Then there are the dreams we have for the New Year.  Dreams... the ideal outcome(s) we picture for ourselves.  Dreams... the way we want life to be.  Dreams... the things that inspire us and push us to hope and to plan. 

What are your plans, hopes, dreams for 2013? 

Make them... work toward them... celebrate them... on the Potter's Wheel.