Nature Will Always Win

Many years ago, I went to a talk given by an elderly and very esteemed and holy priest. I eagerly anticipated absorbing all his wisdom. He started his talk by declaring that ‘nature always wins’ and went on to give examples of how we as Christians get that wrong sometimes. It was a good lecture, but I felt disappointed, precisely because I was one of those Christians ‘getting it wrong sometimes.’ Why didn’t he speak about how we should expect miracles and then tell us wonderful stories of how God overcomes our nature? Instead, he gave us a science lesson, and it wasn’t fanciful or fun.

I’ve thought of his declaration so many times over the years and have become grateful that I was there to indeed hear his wisdom. God works within our nature and not despite it. If we want to see His signs and wonders, we can usually open our eyes to ordinary things in front of us that bear His mark.

Lately, I’ve been in a season of failure and struggle. I am not crushing life; I am not on top of the world. Yes, I have too much to do and too little time to do it. Doesn’t everyone? But that’s probably always been true. 

So what’s the difference between crushing life and being crushed by life?

Discipline! It’s a dirty word and I do try to ignore it, but that never seems to work out well. It’s a form of self-inflicted suffering, and who wants to do that? It can be a sacrifice or a fast; it can be trying to form a new habit or break a bad habit. It is choosing to do the thing that is best, when doing the thing that is good enough or just OK is a lot easier.

I can reason away the need for discipline quite readily. ‘I’m already suffering enough and God does not desire that we suffer; God desires abundance for us.’ But herein lies the tricky little deception that creeps in. Discipline is precisely the way to the abundance that God desires for us.

Discipline is the way to crush life. I know this truth deep down, but still in my humanity I choose to lie to myself sometimes. 

I’d rather be comfortable and seek the path of least resistance than choose discipline all the time. The problem is that each time I choose to do the thing that is not the greatest good for myself, I sow disappointment and even disgust in my soul. I do not sow hope, joy, peace, and freedom. We have a powerful enemy luring us to comfort, but we have a more powerful God calling us to discipline, if only we cooperate. It is through our discipline that He can work miracles through our nature! He designed our human nature and even participates in it and yes, of course it does—and should—always win. We are not victims to it, but rather victors when we exercise control of things we can control and detach from the outcomes and things we cannot control. God wins and we win with Him, when we reach for the greatest good we can.

The more we practice disciplines, the more God can work in our nature and grow us in virtue. This is the path to freedom and it’s worth fighting for, even if it’s the last thing you feel like doing! It’s important to remember that the sacrifices we take on and endure have merit in their own right, regardless of the outcome. Intentionality, sacrifice, and embracing discomfort in each and every moment produces great fruit in our soul. 

We live in the land of comforts and I admit I’m sometimes the first in line to find my rest and seek to work smarter not harder. I have to challenge myself, particularly in the seasons of suffering, to put my head down, work harder, and persist.

“ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Heb 12:11

Seasons

We headed out for the holiday weekend to enjoy a few days of R&R at the beach before the grind of the school year schedule began.  I could not wait to plant myself and do NOTHING for a couple of days.   And other than the basic stuff like cooking, cleaning and laundry, that is exactly what I did for the first whole day!  I sat on the beach and napped and did nothing while the kids played.  By the second day, I was feeling a little restless.  All the reading I wanted to do suddenly held little interest.  The quiet time alone with the Lord that I had CRAVED felt fulfilled to a large degree.  The household chores that I planned to shortcut as much as possible started to feel more necessary and even urgent.  I was feeling anxious to get up and get some exercise.

I sensed in my being that my time for rest was done. (unbelievably, that only took one day!)

Here in the Northeast the change of season is upon us.  You can smell it and feel it in the air.  The nights are cooler and the greenery is perking up.  The kids are back to school and football has begun.  It’s a time of change when nature and culture seem to be in harmony.

After Christmas we will celebrate the New Year and many will make New Year’s resolutions to go along with the internal sense of change and renewal.  We will be done with one year and look forward to a fresh new start, a new season, in the next year.

In March next year, Christians will celebrate the most important day in our liturgical calendar, the Resurrection of Christ.  That season will be marked by signs, both internally and in nature, of new life.  A new season will be upon us once again.

As much as we are creatures of habit and traditions, we are also creatures meant for seasons.  Life is chock full of “deaths and resurrections” indicating that God never intended for us to be stagnant.

 Eccl 3:1-9 “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.  A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” 

And indeed He sent us his Holy Spirit to keep us moving!  We weren’t created for the mediocrity of settling for the status quo of this life.  Very often we ride along happily on cruise control and continuously strive for the ordered and pleasurable and self gratifying course. The great news is that according to God’s plans we are destined for that for all of Eternity.  The goal is that we will live in blissful harmony forever and all restlessness and yearning will be fulfilled.  It will be permanent Resurrection for all who know and Love God, but first we must navigate this beautiful Life in all it’s twists and turns, ups and downs, summers, winters, falls and springs.

As I write this there is a storm brewing outside, the wind is howling and the air is charged with a sense of ‘change’.  A big storm is coming and we just raced around to pick up the toys in the yard and bring in cushions and harvest what’s ready in the garden.  In a few minutes or a few hours it will subside as all our storms in life and at some point the sun will shine again.   Insert here a rousing rendition of Annie’s “The sun will come out tomorrow”.  Or not.  But you get the idea, “This too shall pass”.

And the question is, whether it’s a hill or a valley, how will you emerge?  The Spirit is working and moving through the storms and in the spring-times of renewal in our hearts and in our lives.  Our seasons serve as reminders or sometimes the catalyst for the change that allows us to live more fully in God’s will.

We rejoice when it’s the time for rejoicing and we mourn when it’s time for mourning, but in every time we are called to the embrace of God’s most holy desires for us.  He will work all for our good and wants us to emerge, again and again, as new creations.

And really what fun would it be if it were always the same season?  What fun would it be if we were always smoothly in control and in charge and knew exactly what we were in for?

There will be a time for that though.  It will be glorious.  It will be everlasting.

English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reflections from the Garden

There are lots of reasons I love to garden.

#1 –  Earthworms are very cool (they may even warrant a future blog post!)
#2 – It definitely counts as some sort of workout since body parts always hurt the next day
#3 – All that Vitamin D does a body good AND I get a great tan.                                                                                              #4 – It’s a legit excuse to tell the kids we’re having cereal for dinner tonight. (The organic and healthy kind of course!)
#5 – The kids love picking and eating the stuff we grow which means they actually eat some veggies from time to time.
#6 – No one wants to help do all that work so it’s peace and quiet time
#7 – No one wants to help do all that work so it’s peace and quiet time
#8 – No one wants to help do all that work so…. (you get the idea!)

But most importantly it’s time in my day that I get to spend with the Lord.

All that being said however, I am by no means a gardener.  I just happen to have a piece of land in which I dig and plant and water and nurture and harvest but it does not mean that I actually know what I’m doing!   Who knew it would turn into such a place of refuge and solace and prayer?  Who knew it would fulfill an elemental need to be in touch with God’s Earth?  I really had no idea how much I would love the garden when I took on the task last spring.  I love it and God teaches me through it.

I was thinking about the idea of gardening in the days of old – as in before the days of hoses and sprinklers.  How did gardeners ensure that their crops would be adequately watered so as to produce fruit?  Especially the full-out farmers who relied on said crops for sustenance and livelihood?  I’m sure if I did a little research I would find various creative and ingenious ways that farmers have watered crops throughout the centuries but for the most part I think it’s safe to say that before the days of modern irrigation, farmers were forced to rely upon the providence of God for the growing of crops.    They prayed for and waited for rain.  And if the rain didn’t come they didn’t have crops. Right?

So in my own little garden I thought about the idea of not hooking up a watering system and simply relying on God for whatever needs my little plants might have.  I immediately rejected that idea for all the standard reasons we use in our modern society; “God helps those who help themselves” and “God gave us brains to invent ——– so He must want us to use ——–“.  As quickly as I first rejected it though I decided to give it some more thought.  After all I do profess that I trust God in all things.

It occurred to me that, as someone living in America in suburbia in 2012 with all our modern conveniences, I’m not sure it’s possible to trust God in all things the way the people in the Old testament had to really trust God in all things.  We simply don’t have to rely on Him.  We have hoses and sprinklers and faucets and elaborate underground systems that bring water instantly.

And while I’m certainly not suggesting that we give up our modern technology and conveniences,  I do think it merits reflection at the very least.  Do our plans include trusting God only when we’ve exhausted our other means?  When we fall short is God our plan B? or plan C? or any plan at all?

We have advanced tremendously since the fall of Adam and Eve and have become masterful at self-reliance in this dog-eat-dog society but are we better off in our relationship with God?

Adam and Eve Driven Out of Paradise, as in Genesis 3:23-24, illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are a people driven by success but are we driving ourselves right out of paradise?

I think I would rather fail with God at my side than achieve any success without Him. To have Him, to know Him, to love Him is truly the ultimate success.

Lord God bring us closer into a trusting relationship with you. Amen