letting go - take two

Sunday, August 22, 2010 (11:43 a.m.)

Blessed Lord God,

I am allowing hurt feelings to get in the way of worshiping You. This is an OLD pattern. One that has never served me well at all. I am bringing it to You now because I’m asking You to change me Lord. Change my way of reacting to discouraging things by holding them close inside me instead of just letting them go.

Yes Lord. Speak to me again about letting go. I tend to hold on. Grip tightly. Choke the life out of… All joking aside, I want You to renew me.

Pastor Ed spoke this morning about the importance of not putting new wine into old wineskins (Luke 5:37-38). He went on to describe the process of renewing the old vessels by soaking and preparing them.

(1:52 p.m.)

Lord, thank You that I get to come before You ♫just as I am♫ I get to be honest with You and You still love me. Thank You.

Thank You that because I get to be honest with You I also get to practice being honest with those around me. In so doing, hurt feelings can sometimes be worked through. Take this afternoon for instance. Staying true to the example of not putting new wine into old wineskins, I asked for time with a loved one to examine words that had been spoken (and possibly misunderstood) earlier. With a bit of patience and a lot of willingness to understand each other, we again met in the middle of who we once were in ourselves and who we are becoming in You. Thank You Lord for Your loving guidance and direction.

Looking just now to a footnote in The Life Recovery Bible for Mark 2:22, I don’t even want to try and stop the smile that comes so easily as a truly visual “Amen!” to what I am reading. “We must start by recognizing the failures in our life [in this case, communicating properly] and then look to the only one who is able to make things right again – God in Jesus Christ [thank You very much! J]. If we look to Him for help, He is more than able to forgive us and get us back on the right track. God will make our heart open and pliable [the word Pastor Ed used was ‘supple: moving easily and gracefully; flexible; not stiff or hard’] like a fresh wineskin, so we can receive His gifts of grace.”

Ah, yes, Lord! Another gift of grace! How could I even begin to be surprised at how amazingly perfect You work through Your Word to soften our hearts? Oh how I love and thank You Dearest Lord. In Your Son’s most holy name I pray. Amen.

(456 words ~ 2:20 p.m.)