Grateful For My Middle-Companions {30 Days of Gratitude - In the Middle, FOR the Middle...No, Really!}

We come to know Christ far more accurately in relationship to others, than we can know Him by ourselves.

After all, Christ lives in that other believer.

We can be crazy-grateful for our flawed middle-companions, because they too are becoming.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be... (I John 3:2)

What a thrill to see what she may become next!  One day, your best girlfriend might be a wood working artist, and the next day she might, metaphorically speaking, start turning water into raspberry wine...

Seriously - call me if that ever really happens.  I want to come to the party.

And The Winner Is...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:3Powered by RANDOM.ORG



...and the winner of my biggest giveaway yet goes to...

Melissa Medley
"Wissa said...Sheila, Thank you for sharing with us. I have referred several to your blog this month. I have been so refreshed and encouraged. You are a blessing to me and many others just by being who you are."

She is number three in the list of comments, as they came in.  Random number generator, (www.random.org), picked the number 3 out of 38 possible.
Congratulations, Melissa.  I hope and pray this little windfall of blessing makes you feel loved on and so special.
We are in this middle thing together, friends.  Thank you for joining in the giveaway fun... 

Mercy In the Middle {30 Days of Gratitude - In the Middle, FOR the Middle...No, Really!}

"Oh Lord, I have heard your words, and was afraid:  Oh Lord, revive your work in the middle years, in the middle years make known;  in wrath remember mercy..."

That is Habakkuk 3:1, with only very slight poetic license.  Please do look it up yourself.

Here we see the prophet Habakkuk, who some say was a contemporary of Jeremiah.  Habakkuk was confessing his dread at what he saw in the spirit - which was the judgement of the Lord, and what would happen when it finally came to its climax in his nation.  There his people were, in distress and not yet delivered...and they wouldn't be for awhile.  Habakkuk heard the word of the Lord and was afraid - afraid that the people of God would not survive it.  So he boldly interceded for mercy in the middle.

That was a prayer after God's own heart.

As it is with nations, so it is with you and I.  If the thought of reaping some of what you have sown does not make you feel afraid, then you either have no concept of God, or you have managed to be perfect.

Here is the crazy-good news:  there is already mercy in your middle.  Through the Finished Work of the Cross, you do not have to dread what tomorrow holds in store.  When the thought of reaping what you have sown arises in your soul, you should take a split-second to shiver at the very idea...and then rejoice with exceeding joy, because Christ took every bit of your punishment upon Himself.

He is no longer angry with you, and never will be.  Ever.

As for natural consequences...well, mercy applies there, too.

What are you in the middle of?  What pressures are you facing?  What is your son or daughter in the middle of?  What do you, like Habakkuk, sense in your spirit "ain't over yet"?

Whatever process has not run its course, whatever is in the middle stages, whatever consequences aren't over yet, whatever project is not completed, God has sent me here today to tell you that His desire is to "revive His work in your middle years".

It is His desire to make known to you, even while you are still stuck in your middle, even when there is no deliverance on the immediate horizon...

...He would make known to you new horizons and fresh purpose.

In wrath, mercy has already been remembered!  You live post-cross, my beautiful friend!  You get nothing but mercy in your middle from Him!  Why?  Because He understands the middle.  He hung there on a cross, between heaven and earth, in the middle of two thieves, and He died in the middle of the day.  He is deeply touched by your difficulties (and your joys) in the middle.

Feeling any gratitude for this?

What Can I Offer Him? {30 Days of Gratitude, In the Middle, FOR the Middle...No, really!}

Being a "Blogger" is humbling.  Lots of people enjoy their favorite blogs, but most would never write one - and who can blame them?  What kind of person can deal with hitting the "publish" button on all that work and vulnerability, only to hear...

...crickets.

 In all honesty, some folks wonder if there is much value in blogging.

If you are a good writer at all, you are much like the violin virtuoso,  homeless and playing for dollar bills in the subway tunnel instead of Carnagie Hall.

Only - I don't even get dollar bills for what I offer to all who pass by this place.  (Never fear - you won't see a "donate" PayPal button suddenly appear in the sidebar...)  So why do I do it?

Because in offering my encouraging words to you, I am offering them to Christ.  

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' "  

~Matthew 25:40

I happen to notice that it does not say that unless the impact is HUGE, my offering doesn't count.  In fact, it seems to be the opposite.  The more "downwardly mobile" we are, when we offer our gifts, the more God notices and takes the offering very personally.

It is the giving away what I've been given, to whoever is there to receive it, that counts.

And no one even has to come back and leave a comment, saying "Thank you."  In fact, studies show most don't.  Ever.

Here is what I know:  If the quality of the artist is measured by the gratitude of the audience, then God Himself is no artist at all.

I am here to today tell you that I am grateful for the chance to use my gift(s) in whatever capacity, and I want you to feel the same way.  The hard truth is this:  forget about "building a platform" or "building a ministry".  Because the smaller your venue in the exercise of your gift, the more like Christ you are.  (Find me someone else who is saying these things...seriously.)

He left his status and the glory of heaven, to enter the womb of a woman. In His whole life, He built a platform of 12, and gave His gifts of healing and deliverance away to all who were oppressed of the devil.  The cross was His thanks.

To Be Mid-Life Modest, or To Gratefully Shine - Your Choice {30 Days of Gratitude, In the Middle, FOR the Middle...No, Really!}

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

~Matthew 5:16

I want to learn to stay in the middle of not flaunting my gifts, yet not hiding my gifts.  I want to learn to be very, very comfortable with being better than someone else, and I want to be very, very comfortable with the fact that so many are better than I am.  Where did we get the mistaken notion that, as Christians, we shouldn't "be flashy"?

I don't know.  Turning water into wine is pretty amazing.  Healing blind eyes will get you noticed.

We are meant to flash glory-light - we are reflective image bearers of the God of light.

No one crosses the street for shadowy mediocrity.

Let your light shine!  Let it shine in such a way that men can see your accomplishments!  That is the inherent meaning of the Greek word for "good works":  accomplishments.   We get our English word "ergonomics" from this Greek word.  God fits us to certain tasks, so that they become a natural extension of who we really are - and we can work without injury or undue stress.

It would be one thing if the Scripture stopped right there:  ..."Let your light shine before men in such a way as they see your accomplishments..."

But it doesn't end there.  The next phrase puts the whole concept in sharp perspective, "...so they may see your accomplishments, and glorify your heavenly Father."

For heaven's sake (literally), be an accomplished person.

Be grateful for the opportunity to shine in mid-life.  God knows, our younger generation needs to see us taking risks and accomplishing our God-assignments.

Between the "Not Anymore" and the "Not Yet" {30 Days of Gratitude In the Middle, FOR the Middle...No, Really!}

My definition of the "middle":

Being suspended - floating in grace - somewhere between the "not anymore" and the "not yet".

Always, the middle is the present moment.

I began making visual art just over a year and a half ago.  Making it has helped me deeply understand the art of words.  With paint, you just have to gather courage and start.  You have to throw some paint on that canvas.  Then, once you do that, you work (and work...and work...) with what is there.  You trust the process.  You trust that this present moment, this muddley-middle stage, will begin to take shape.  And the outcome is never what you first envisioned.

So it is with words.  A word-artist has to dig deep, and toss her heart onto a page, and work with what is there.  A writer has to trust that all this messy vulnerability will take shape into something beautiful for someone.

See, if I were to hate the transition stage, if I were to become overly uncomfortable with the middle, the finished product will have no soul - because I will compensate for my discomfort by forcing my version of perfection onto the piece.

All art is a product of love, and all artists must learn to embrace the middle, and feel gratitude for what is.  I am learning to thank God for living between the "not anymore" and the "not yet".  Where else can a girl practice her art of contentment?

Every moment is the present moment and must be sanctified by gratitude, else we risk losing the next present moment to that destroyer of the art that is your life - angst.

No More "Making Do" {30 Days of Gratitude ~ In the Middle, FOR the Middle}

Precisely mid-way through life, I believe you and I start to get negative.  Yes, even you.  I know I have the tendency, and that I am more prone to it now than I was in my 30's.  The longer we live, the more jaded we become, and the more we identify with our mistakes.

The longer we live, the more we feel like we have to make do with what we have - play the cards we have been dealt, and all that stuff.

No more delusions, past 40, right?  We see the harvest we've reaped thus far, and not all of it is beautiful and not all of it is good.

I want to challenge you with the idea of an Autumn Planting.

Farmers and gardeners do it all the time.  Cold weather crops are some of the best crops you can partake of.

It is never too late to plant new and radically different seeds.

Because you see, while we sigh and try to "make do" with what we have, we serve a God who "makes" and "does" with what He has!

He can take the seeds you offer, here in this season of your life, and give you a winter crop that will knock your socks off and bless you to the very, very end of your days.

He makes all things new.  He does all things well.

Stop "making do" with a harvest that is less than you hoped for.  Start over with new and different seeds - because your God makes and does.  And that is something to be vastly grateful for.

Nothing is impossible with Him!