Saturday Night Talk…Tiara Ladies Retreat August 2015
We are going to focus on the decisions that Much-Afraid made
as she journeyed to the High Places.
We all have decisions we make every day…this morning I had
to decide if I wanted coffee or tea. Not
a major decision, but one that could affect me for the rest of the day. If I chose coffee I might be more alert. I would definitely have to go to the bathroom
sooner rather than later. I might have
acid stomach and then have to deal with being uncomfortable or go looking for
some vinegar. If I had tea would I add
milk to it today or just sugar? Would I
choose a breakfast blend or go for Earl Gray….decisions, decisions. None of them major, but they could influence
the decisions I made later. Do I eat a
big breakfast or hold out for lunch. Do
I have something sweet or do I eat only healthy choices. Or do I go for a run
instead of doing breakfast at all?….that was thrown in for levity to those of
you who know me.
Tonight we are going to focus on decision making…what do we
do when we come to those forks in the road?
You know those places where you either continue on the path you are on
or you chose to turn and go what seems to be a completely different way. These can be major decisions…not the what to
do for breakfast decisions, but the decisions where Jesus is asking you to go
higher up with Him and not remain in the status quo. The interesting thing about our walk with
Jesus, many times it seems He is asking us to go the complete opposite way of
what He has promised.
Much Afraid had several of these
“forks in the road” to choose which way to go…her companions always seemed to
know the path but often she was unsure and had to call to the Shepherd for
help. And as He would tell her the way
to go she would have to give something up in order to be obedient.
Let’s take a look at some of these
decisions that Much Afraid made on her journey and compare them to the
decisions we have made on our journey here to this mountain, not just this
physical location, but to the place we are in the spiritual.
We know that Much Afraid was
already a follower of the Shepherd, so that decision is left out of the
story. But when you are journaling on
your own you might want to take a little time and write down what it was that
was the clincher that made you choose Jesus in the first place or re-dedicate
yourself to him if you were saved as a very young child and do not remember.
Back to Much Afraid…her first
decision was to ask to go to the High Places where she would be given hind’s
feet. What could be some of the reasons
that made her want to leave her valley at this point in time?
·
She wanted hind’s feet and to no longer be lame
·
She loved the Shepherd
·
She had friends that she wanted to be like…Peace
and Joy
What were some of the things that
had kept her in the Valley of Despair for so long?
·
Her family
·
Her perceived limitations
·
What she thought of herself and the lies she
believed
·
The expectations others had on her
·
How difficult the journey to the High Places
would be
·
She had no one to go with her
Then think, who are the companions
that the Lord has chosen to go with you on your pilgrimage? Is it suffering and sorrow or maybe loss and
rejection how about loneliness? Just
know that it is not fear, or pride, or envy or any of the others that Much
Afraid encountered.
I think this
first choice is one that we all have to make as we follow Christ. Many are content to stay in the valley and go
about their daily activities…but for each of us there came a time when we knew
that we could no longer be satisfied with the way things were….we wanted
more. We are the ones Jesus refers to in
the Beatitudes as Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after Righteousness. Know that is a God given hunger and thirst
and we can never again be satisfied with just our salvation. We may have tried to live back in that Valley
again but there is no satisfaction there….Absolutely none!!!
So as we have
traveled on this journey that we call our spiritual walk, how many times have
you come to that fork in the road and really thought that the Lord had lost His
mind? Or in the very least, that you
could not possibly be hearing what it is, and where it is, you were to go.
Our walks are
as individual as each of us are. We may
have gone through similar circumstances…job loss, death of a loved one, a
straying child, divorce, infidelity, bankruptcy, sickness, etc, but we are each
affected differently and have our own unique things we learn through the
process. The same is true if we were to
write the allegory of our pilgrimage to the High Places. We would not necessarily go in the same order
that Much Afraid…or Hannah Hurnard…did but we are definitely on a pilgrimage.
There are times of rest and times of struggle, times of doubt and confusion and
times of complete clarity. Times when we
must build an altar before we can proceed and times when the Lord must chasten
us for not listening.
Tonight we are
going to be thinking like Much Afraid in the cave…the storm is raging all
around us but here we sit, dry and comfortable, waiting for the next part of
our journey. And what was the next step,
but complete and utter abandonment of all of her hopes and dreams on the final
altar. Just like Much Afraid we have
come this far and now it is time to take out our stones of remembrance and
decide if they are worth it or not. Do
we keep these memorials or do we toss them away to lessen the weight. And tomorrow, do we make the
sacrifice….whatever you are here to offer up…or do we head down the mountain
and back to the same old, same old.
Now what you
came from, your walk, might have been amazing.
You might feel that you are already in a good place and there is no need
to offer anything else…as you have already offered it all. Or you might say…it is not me who has to make
the sacrifice, it is someone else that is standing in my way. Or you might think that you have come pretty
far and now is the time to just rest in what has been accomplished so far. But as I have been reading and listening to
Hind’s Feet I have this thing gnawing on the edge of my consciousness that
makes me know that this is a time for decisions…a turning point in my
pilgrimage.
I have been on
hold for the last three years…looking out my kitchen window at Chinle the
schools and the hospital and the hill behind it and the mesa behind that
watching the seasons change and wondering what it is I am supposed to be
doing. So I can identify with Much
Afraid as she was going through the gray mists.
There are times when a shaft of light seems to break through the mist,
but for the most part it is the same every day.
But yet, I know that I know that this is where we are supposed to
be. That God is preparing us in this
desert place. I am hoping it is for
revival on the Nation, but we could be gone before that happens. I just know
that so far this is our home. You can
picture in your mind where it is you think you are on your journey.
I want to share
with you the picture I had on my drive across the Rez to get to Holbrook. First of all, I was starving and looking
forward to breakfast in Holbrook. It had
been rainy the first 25 miles of my drive and I was pondering going the long
way to avoid some areas on the shortcut that have a tendency to flood. But the drive along the 15 is one of my
favorite. So I had decided if it was dry
at Ganado High/Burger King I would take the shorter way….since I was sooooo
very hungry. Well, when I arrived at the
round-about the dark foreboding clouds were all behind me and it looked clear
and dry ahead so off towards Greasewood I went.
I was hoping to see llamas but I did see sheep, horses and cattle on
this 30+ mile section. I was enjoying
the scenery and listening to worship music and thinking about retreat and just
generally going down the road. I had
just passed the Greasewood turn off when I stopped my reveling and just looked
and enjoyed all the flowers. There were
fields and fields of what I always called Black-eyed Susans…but the ladies at
sewing group call them small sunflowers.
There were literally thousands and thousands of these beautiful and
joyous flowers. In other fields there were yellow low lying bushes and purple
flowers. I started to think once more about the abundance of wild flowers this
year on the Rez. A couple of weeks ago
it was purple thistles and before that is was the yellow brittlebush and there
has been purple and yellow and orange and white and even across the street from my apartment it
has been green and I noticed some tall white flowers there. This is a field that is usually just dirt.
As I looked at
all the flowers I thought what an amazing year this has been and how incredible
and late the flowers still are. I
remember the first spring we were in Chinle.
I kept waiting and waiting for the wild flowers and they just did not
seem to come. I had been back to the
Valley and there were flowers in the desert and even in the mountains but not
up on the plateau. It wasn’t until May
that I noticed some wild flowers on the road to Ganado. And then for a couple
of months you would see some flowers here and there but hardly any in town.
So I thought,
you know those flowers did not appear out of nowhere. There were seeds that had lain dormant for
who knows how many years waiting and waiting for just the right set of
conditions in order to spring to life.
What I had seen as barrenness in previous years was just vast potential
waiting to happen. Holy Spirit showed me
that my life is like that field…when the time is right and everything has been
done that needs to be done then I will be able to bloom in the same way.
Sitting here
and writing this the thought came…Jesus always sees us as that glorious field
full of flowers!!!
What were the
lessons that Much Afraid was able to learn on her journey to the High Places?
·
Accept with joy everything brought her way and
the path on which Jesus leads her
·
Bear what all others were allowed to do against
her and to forgive without bitterness
·
The Shepherd never saw her as she was, only as
she was going to be
·
Overcome evil with good
·
As long as she was Acceptance with Joy and
Bearing with Love she could never be crippled again
What are the
promises that were made to Much Afraid by the Shepherd?
·
I will make your feet like Hind’s feet and place
you on higher places
·
What I do now you do not know but you will know
later
·
This is not unto death but for the Glory of God
·
Breadcorn is bruised but no one crushes it
forever
·
Cannot I do with you as the Potter, says the
Lord.
·
Oh you afflicted and not comforted, behold I
will lay your stones with fair colors.
·
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.
·
Now you will see what I will do.
·
God is not a man that He should lie, has He not
said and will He not do it or has He spoken it and not make it happen.
·
Your ears will hear a word behind you saying,
this is the way, walk in it.
·
When the rains come down the house will remain
for it is built on the Rock.
·
His love planted in your heart will grow and
flourish when all human love is placed on the altar.
So let’s take
these lessons and promises…you can add to them some of your own…and think about
what it is we are here to make real in our own lives.
What is it you
are desiring from Jesus this weekend?
What is it
Jesus is desiring to give you this weekend?
In conclusion,
from her vantage point on the High Place Grace and Glory looked down to the
Valley of Humiliation and realized how little she saw before when she looked up
to the High Places and turning and looking the other way, she realized how much
more she still could not see.
