When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” -John 21:21-22
Gossip, comparison, and envy distract us from our true callings.
God wants us focused on Him. With our eyes turned toward the Highest, we can become our best selves.
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He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. -John 20:27-28
Jesus was patient. Some of his students needed more assistance in believing than others. Each individual has a particular path to faith and it is beyond any human to know what that path will look like or need.
All we can do is model Jesus and be patient with ourselves and others as we journey.
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“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” -John 16:13
After an exhausting day, the prayer that goes along with this Scripture speaks to me:
God, continue to fill me with your Holy Spirit. Lead me into truth: the truth of who you are, as well as the truth of who I am.
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“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:12-13 KJV
No one realized that Jesus was going to follow through and lay down His life for them. His students became His friends and the loss they felt must have been intensely personal.
Jesus asks us to have the same commitment to our friends. He asks us to love so deeply that sacrifice is as natural as breathing.
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“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” -Matthew 25:21
When I became a (temporary) stay-at-home dad, God made it clear that I was aligning myself with my purpose in that time. I was far from becoming a Christian, but He was clear in steering me into intentional parenting.
I invested time, reflection, and effort into the most meaningful work I had ever done. God rewarded me with the inspiration, drive, and inhuman energy to become a home educator. My wife and I transformed our expectations, rhythms, and assumptions to fit these new responsibilities.
Fine tuning my investment energy is constant work, as new opportunities to care for my self, my sons, my loved ones, and my community arise and draw me near.
There was a lot of self care this week. Four nights of soccer and a return to yoga have my clothes washer full of sweat equity.
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“It should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant.” -Matthew 20:26
I’ve been asked many times to take more credit for our Allschoolers group than I want to. The power of the group is in its members. We’re a varied group of parents who were looking for connection in an era of social distance. We knew in our guts that we are not supposed to live at distance from one another, but in loving embrace of our fellow humans.
There’s very little for me to do as a leader. I help set dates and locations and bring wood for our winter fires. I get far more out of our weekly meetups than I put in. The moms and dads I’ve met in the group are my best friends. We check in with each other and it’s rare that our Wednesday meetups are the only time we see each other in a week.
I’m empowered by my service to Allschoolers. They are support, inspiration, and encouragement on the difficult journey of home education. Someone told me today that they’d be lost these last two years without the group. I can only return the sentiment and echo the gratitude.
It is not an expressly Christian group, but everyone is free and encouraged to proclaim their passions. We share religious and secular resources and it is the most inclusive social group I’ve been blessed to take part in. Soccer is close as far as diversity of backgrounds goes, but the common goal there is much simpler than the complicated considerations and opinions of home educators. We’re individuals raising individuals. The layers of specificity demand compassionate listening and vulnerable communication.
I can’t say why it works so well. There aren’t a bunch of rules and there is almost no structure (I suppose that makes sense as the founders are unschoolers). It is our beautiful anarchy.
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“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” -Matthew 13:31-32
Nothing is static. We are moving toward Heaven or we are moving toward Hell. We create in the direction we move. We can’t have Heaven on Earth, but we can move to create a more heavenly earth.
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“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8
Align your thinking with God when you pray. You will seek the good and the beautiful the world needs.
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“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” -Matthew 6:3-4
Ego is always knocking. It takes effort to promote service opportunities, but not self inflate for being involved.
Lord, help me to serve you more humbly, more quietly, and more completely.
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:3
Baptism is meant to be done once with an open and honest heart. It is the enacting of one’s death to worldly attachments and rebirth into Christ’s arms. There is no need or use to repeating the gesture. However, in a psychological sense, the process of killing off old, useless, incorrect, and evil parts of ourselves to replace them with upgraded elements is ongoing.
A spiritual life goes through a series of these Phoenix Cycles. After Baptism, one feels full of the Holy Spirit and spiritually rich. That richness is the flaming Phoenix at its apex. Whether the flames crash into darkness or the mental fuel to sustain them merely wanes, we will be left in ashes. In the ashes we are spiritually poor and aware of the broken nature of our material existence. This is when we humbly turn to God and receive what we need to carry forth.
We have some control over the speed and frequency of the cycle. I prefer to spend my time in the ashes. I learn the most there and widowhood has forced me to be more comfortable in the dark. I’m wary of being the shining beacon of the Phoenix at apex as I dread the inevitable decent. This manifests in a rapid succession of Phoenix Cycles that keep me in a flow of growth.
The lower we go, and the longer we spend there, the greater we will be rewarded.
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