Seeing this image this afternoon and doing some reading in my downtime while recuperating, got me thinking about mudrooms and our respective lives. Really, the parallels are quite similar.....Does your house have a mudroom? That breezeway between the outdoors and in where you remove all the layers of clothes and shoes that are dirty, as to not track into your house. I dont have one in my house, I have a washroom/utility room which is similar, but still not the same, but Im pretty sure I have a bonafide mudroom in my life... It is the most natural thing in the world for us to self-protect and self-justify; self-defend and self-satisfy; self-seek and....I could go on but you get the gist. I like getting what I want when I want it and can still have a hard time waiting. I like being right and have numerous stretch marks on my faith (and scars on my tongue) where grace asked to have the last word instead of me. In searching for a picture for this post all I could find were neat and pretty mudrooms. Ironic, dont you think? It is a mudroom after all. Shouldnt it be dirty? The mudroom of my life sure is. I wrestle in there. I want to remove all the layers so I dont track my mess into the lives of others, but I also want to keep them on; dirt proves Ive been somewhere, I have a reason for this anger, these choices and my treatment of others. But I know in the deep places that choosing to stay the same is a vicious circle where nothing changes. One of my favorite sayings is: If nothing changes, nothing changes. So obvious isnt it? And equally as hard. Enter Jesus with his stories of cheek turning and walking an extra mile and loving our enemies and Im sunk. I can do nothing to change me. People who dont believe in God would argue that, but I know my life and the level (and strength) of my self-will. Shes a stubborn one. But Jesus doesnt ask anything he hasnt already done. Jesus isnt asking us to do anything that he isnt prepared to do in and through us. Its all impossible. Humanly impossible. I wrote earlier that it is the most natural thing to self-whatever; hit back, stop walking, and curse those who curse us. This Life is supernatural. The thing that shifts paradigms and alters worlds is love. Love in the face of what everyone else is hating and cursing and bashing. Love in the face of no one would think any less of you if you hated and cursed and bashed. Its the way of the world. A vicious circle. If nothing changes, nothing changes. Whats changing? Can we see change? Something is happening in the mudroom. Suddenly its filled with a divine light as he draws me with a relentless love that moved him to death. I feel the holy tension that stirs me to do the unthinkable, to walk towards the impossible. I find myself removing all the layers and am now before him, all raw and shaky. And he fills me with himself. Its the only way. It really is the only way. God help us....
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:02:12 +0000
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