Maybe you think you don’t need this gift or that it couldn’t possibly apply to you. Maybe you were one of the fortunate ones who was never abandoned by either of your birth parents. That’s a good beginning, but it sure isn’t the end of the story. The truth is you were abandoned long ago and the consequences have been showing up painfully in your life ever since. Our Father has the perfect remedy, but first you have to recognize…
Have you noticed this phenomenon? You get offended by someone’s character defect. Maybe it isn’t a show stopper, like robbing banks or shooting up saloons, but in your book the person has now become someone who needs correction (for their own good, of course). At first you try to overlook these blemishes, but something needs to be done, so eventually you are “at the ready”—ready to pounce on them and correct them…
Jesus came down from heaven to be with us as one of us. That we can easily see. But His descent didn’t end there—with becoming like us. He descended further and became what we had always been meant to be. Then He descended even further to become what we had never been meant to be. We, on the other hand, can hardly wait to rise higher. We all too often hate and fear the descent, even though it is life-saving…
Centering clay on a potter’s wheel is a messy and demanding operation, requiring tremendous concentration. Why? Because the clay doesn’t want to be centered! It resists “surrendering” to the potter’s hands. Don’t we all? I learned pottery during my hippie years one summer when I was trapped in DC, trying to get to the West Coast on my motorcycle, but with never enough money to leave town. I had no idea in those days…