The Bloginning of Fay

When you get to heaven God is not going to ask you why you weren't more like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham or Bono.  He's likely to ask you why you weren't more like you.  Your responsibility and source of real freedom and success is to discover who you are. Lead with your own unique talents and personality. Be authentically you and let God use you.

Remember the classic movie,  Forrest Gump.  At one part, Jenny asks, "What are you gonna be when you grow up?" and Forrest says, "Why can't I be me?"

Theologian Frederick Buechner once told a graduating class:  "The voice we should listen to most as we choose a vocation is the voice that we might think we should listen to least, and that is the voice of our own gladness.  What can we do that makes us the gladdest, what can we do that leaves us with the strongest sense of sailing true north…? Is it making things with our hands out of wood or stone or paint or canvas?"  Or is it making something we hope like truth out of words"  Or is it making people laugh or weep in a way that cleanses their spirit? 

I believe that if it is a thing that makes us truly glad, then it is a good thing and it is our thing and it is the calling voice that we were made to answer with our lives."

Can you trust what makes you "glad?"  Could that really be the voice of your "calling?"

"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying Him….  The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him…." – Thomas Merton

Gara-gara abis chatting ama someone yang juga pernah ngalamin separation (beda tapinya ga sama :p), jadi diingetin lagi bahwa iblis emang selalu mencari cara buat mengintimidasi kita, lewat apapun, supaya kita jadi "lumpuh" di satu area... yang cepet atau lambat bakal merambat ke area yang lain, coz intimidasi iblis itu kayak virus kanker...

Di kasus kita, itu di area relationship. Aku ngerasain sendiri, dulu aku sering nulis di blog 'n juga baca-baca info tentang relationship, tentang pacaran yang bener, tentang komunikasi... I take this matter seriously... pacaran itu buat yang serius mikirin pernikahan di depan, bukan pacaran yang model coba-coba atau sekedar biar ada temen jalan/kangen-kangenan/have fun bareng... Tapi pas udah putus, aku bener-bener off...

Yah intimidasi iblis kira-kira kayak gini, "Gimana kamu bisa nasehatin atau ngasih saran soal relationship kalo hubunganmu sendiri gagal..." Aku siy ga menyesali keputusan break-up itu sendiri, tapi lebih ke pertanyaan-pertanyaan 'n pemikiran yang menyangkut diriku, "apa yang salah di aku?", "apa harusnya aku begini atau begitu?" "aku udah ati-ati tapi gagal juga, padahal aku pengennya cuman sekali aja pacaran langsung ama orang yang nantinya jadi suamiku..." dan lainnya... Aku kurang nyadarin bahwa dalam hubungan itu ada banyak faktor yang terlibat selain aku, ada orang lain itu, ada Tuhan, 'n ada juga pemikiran-pemikiran lainnya. 

Even setelah 2 taun lewat aku masih males bersentuhan ama area relationship... Aku baru nyadar kalo iblis berhasil (untuk sementara) ngelumpuhin aku di area ini. Aku tulis "untuk sementara" karena sejak detik ini aku mau matahin intimidasi iblis itu. Aku ga mau ngebiarin iblis membelenggu aku di area manapun. Coz God has set me free and abundantly give Himself and His love for me to watch me growing and blooming each day. Apapun yang terjadi, Tuhan selalu punya rencana yang terbaik buat aku, 'n kita semua yang percaya ama Dia.

So, jiayou! :)

(by Max Lucado)

"Give us this day our daily bread…"

Your first step into the house of God was not to the kitchen but to the living room, where you were reminded of your adoption. "Our Father who is in heaven." You then studied the foundation of the house, where you pondered his permanence. "Our Father who is in heaven." Next you entered the observatory and marveled at his handiwork: "Our Father who is in heaven."

In the chapel, you worshiped his holiness: "Hallowed be thy name." In the throne room, you touched the lowered scepter and prayed the greatest prayer, "Thy kingdom come." In the study, you submitted your desires to his and prayed, "Thy will be done." And all of heaven was silent as you placed your prayer in the furnace, saying, "on earth as it is in heaven."

Proper prayer follows such a path, revealing God to us before revealing our needs to God.

Seeing His holiness caused us to confess our sin. Inviting his kingdom to come reminded us to stop building our own. Asking God for his will to be done placed our will in second place to his. And realizing that heaven pauses when we pray left us breathless in his presence.

By the time we step into the kitchen, we're renewed people! We've been comforted by our father, conformed by his nature, consumed by our creator, convicted by his character, constrained by his power, commissioned by our teacher, and compelled by his attention to our prayers.

The prayer's next three petitions encompass all of the concerns of our life:
- "This daily bread" addresses the present.
- "Forgive our sins" addresses the past.
- "Lead us not into temptation" speaks to the future.
(The wonder of God's wisdom: how he can reduce all our needs to three simple statements.)

First He addresses our need for bread. The term means all of a person's physical needs. Martin Luther defined bread as "Everything necessary for the preservation of this life, including food, a healthy body, house, home, wife and children." This verse urges us to talk to God about the necessities of life. He may also give us the luxuries of life, but He certainly will grant the necessities.

Excerpted from any fear that God wouldn't meet our needs was left in the observatory. Would He give the stars their glitter and not give us our food? Of course not. He has committed to care for us. We aren't wrestling crumbs out of a reluctant hand, but rather confessing the bounty of a generous hand. The essence of the prayer is really an affirmation of the Father's care. Our provision is His priority.


From The Great House of God
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1997) Max Lucado

Here is an article I copied from Kerygma Mailing List this morning:

When others are blessed, we’re likely to be jealous, unconsciously thinking that they’re getting something that could possibly be ours. For example, when someone gets a promotion at work, instead of rejoicing with that person, you’ll hear others say that corporate patronage was behind the move.

But God’s blessing is for all. It’s like the Niagara Falls with its mighty water rushing to the bottom. The water travels upstream first before it flows downstream but it eventually reaches its destination. Its falls generates so much mist that it projects a number of rainbows. Like the waters of Niagara, God’s blessings may seem to reach others first.

We just have to stay thankful and faithful even as we persevere in claiming His promises. And just as the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant with His people (Genesis 3), He is faithful in keeping His promises to us.

Reflection: Do you always feel that the neighbour next door or your co-worker is being blessed more often than you?

Pray: Lord, give me a thankful heart that I may realize that You always provide for what I need.

Envy is a horrible sin. Saul envies the success of David even though it is obvious to everyone that his success was due to the hand of God achieving victory over Goliath.

Francis of Assisi gives us something to consider about envy when he says he thinks it is a sin against the Holy Spirit. Why?

He sees envy as the direct refusal of a person to rejoice in the way the Holy Spirit has chosen to work through another person.

This has been happening to me lately. I must be honest that sometimes I secretly jealous / envy towards some of my friends who seem richly blessed and already got good things that I have been wishing for since a long time ago… I failed to recognize God’s great blessings in my life and my family. I repent for that…

Thank You for correcting me God…
I’m not a sin’s servant anymore.
I want to keep walking in Your path and keep the freedom You have given me…