Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – the story you choose will shape your life not the place you find yourself in. I must stop blaming circumstances for the life I am living and take responsibility to posture myself in a way that shapes my place.
2 Corinthians 6:10 NLT
[10] Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
Observation
Aching hearts, poverty, and lack, a recipe for worry, anxiety, and depression. Or a place from which to experience joy, generosity, and celebration. Is it place or posture? Do we need to find ourselves in a place of joy to be joyous, a place of plenty to be generous, a place of plenty to be satisfied? That’s what the world tells me. But is there another way? Can I posture myself in the truth and presence of God and find as Paul tells the Corinthians “joy in heartache, generosity in poverty, and satisfaction in lack?
When my life is shaped by the place I find myself in then I live a fragile life. For the places I find myself change all the time, and despite my attempts, I do not always control what place comes my way and sets up camp in the middle of my life. But if I shape my life in God and in the identity of being his son/daughter, then I am indestructible. My joy, my generosity, my satisfaction are not linked to the shifting sands of life, they stand on the indestructible rock of my unchanging God. This is not to say I will not feel the ache of my heart, feel lack or poverty, but I will bring my feelings into alignment with my core shaping truth. It’s not stick my head in the sand and sing songs of merriment anyway. It’s not denial, but It’s tangibly and deliberately living from a new shaping story.
Application
I choose this indestructible life. This life in and from God does not require that the world yield what it can never yield consistently to me. To know joy in seasons of hardship, to know richness in poverty, to know plenty in lack, this is the life that is lived in God’s upside-down kingdom. I will live this life, I will give this life to those around me.
Response
Thank you that you invite me into your story over me. Thank you that in you I can stand all the storms and shapings of this random incomprehensible life. To stand on such an indestructible rock kills worry, anxiety, fear and releases me into a life of joy and generosity. Thank you.
Meditation
Meditation truth – Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.
Consider:
How much of the place you find yourself in is shaping the life you are living?
Is there a place in God where you can posture yourself in the story of Paul?
JOURNEY DEEPER