Sometimes you’re eyes open a little wider and you get a chance to see things in a new way. Here are a few of the revelations I’ve felt for me or other people lately.
Walking in the truth does not in fact mean you are honest. I can take a step forward and that step was true, it was real, it happened. However, if I am to be honest I have to make an action when the choice presents itself. I am not considered “honest” because I have stepped into the already existing truth…I’m simply neutral. True honesty can be defined as having the opportunity to lie or deceive, and telling the truth anyway.
Responsibility cannot be handed to someone without AUTHORITY. I remember when I was 18 years old and I was given the responsibility to be the retail store manager of a local photography shop. As a teenager, I was told to “oversee” the workings of the store and several employees. These employees ranged from 30 years old to 60. They did not respect my responsibility. I had not yet been given the authority I needed to manage my store. I found myself leading those people by a “positional leadership” model that caused me to say things like, “You have to because I said so! I’m the manager!”.
I was not effective as a manager until I was handed the authority I needed to run our store. The owner of the company came to our store one day and sat everyone down. Without my prompting, he told them all that he had selected me to run our store because he felt that I would be the best fit for the role. He also informed them that this gave me the authority to write them up for various things and that I could fire them if I needed to. In that moment, he handed me my authority…and from then on out, I never had a problem accomplishing my responsibility.
Repressed masculinity is a disgusting disease. When I was growing up, I constantly heard stories of adventure and honor and valor and mighty-ness, and victory and strength. Well…I did from comic books at least. So as a wee lad, I assumed that I would be a man when I grew up. I have to tell you though…once I got here, it’s a whole different story. It would seem that everything around me is pointing me in the opposite direction of being a man. Society, insurance premiums, friends, and family all want me look like a man outwardly…but play it safe when it comes down to it.
Check out this story in Judges 6. The Israelites have been getting destroyed by the Midianites lately:
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength YOU HAVE and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. AM I NOT SENDING YOU?”
That’s badass. Often times we are waiting on someone else to do what God has called us to do. It’s time for us men to rise up and be the mighty warriors we have been called to be.
Got any revelations going on in your life right now? Care to share?
Good post. The passage from Judges is a good one. One I needed! AM I NOT SENDING YOU?
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That I do not have to be a “Pastor’s Wife”. Instead I am the wife of a pastor. (Does that make sense?)
Then again just because the revelation is that doesn’t mean it’s any easier to live with/up to.
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Being a Man or Woman isn’t about age. It’s taking that challenge DAILY to go out and do the right thing and to make those hard choices in a very real and tough world. Age has nothing to do with being a grown up, physically OR spiritually.
Be open to God’s guidance…you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in this world if you let him take control.
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Just this morning I read in Hosea 6:6 “for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”.
And then it hit me: whatever I’m doing “for God” doesn’t really matter if my heart is not right; if I’m doing something out of a desire for recognition, or simply because ‘that’s what you do if you are a Christian’, then it really doesn’t count. He desires my heart more than He desires sacrifice.
I’m not sure I’m really conveying what is in my heart right now, but it is something along those lines.
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I would like to hear more about repressed masculinity, if you have more to share, possibly some examples. I have been hearing a lot lately about the devaluing masculinity that is happening in our culture, and was recommended a book to read about raising boys that mentioned this also.
As a wife, and mother to a son, I want my boys to be strong, masculine, self-assured men. I have questioned my husband about this concept, but he wasn’t able to really articulate the issue.
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This is in response to Reina’s question. I may be totally off base with this but it’s just a thought. My boyfriend is extremely masculine, strong, a hard worker, disciplined and responsible. But he is also sensitive, thoughtful, understanding, and intuitive; qualities I thought for a long time only existed in women, certainly not a “manly” man. I am beginning to believe that it had soemthing to do with his martial arts training, which he participated in most of his life. He doesn’t talk about it a lot but when he does, he mentions many different types of training aside from the physical such as meditation and breathing techniques, pressure point massage, relaxation methods etc. I can see these things come across in his calm, assured, personality. Like I said, I could be wrong, maybe he’s just naturally a good man. I do know that I learn from his example every day. Check out this link that explains a little more; http://www.mararts.org/articles/pdf/art004.pdf
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Lately I have decided to stop running from my problems. Most would not think that I am running from them, but I do. In subtle ways I run. By listening to music, going out on the weekends, playing games on line, lots of ways. It is hard to explain. So I need to take of them, and not wait for them to go away.
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I found your blog via The Pioneer Woman.
I loved the passage in Judges. My hubby and I have frequently talked about this subject as it relates to raising our son. On one hand, we want our son to have a tender, compassionate and loving heart. On the other hand, we don’t want to squash his wild side or emasculate him. We want our boy to be reckless when it comes to following God… to slay the dragon and rescue the princess. We have found that our greatest struggle has been with the religious community, which here in the South is quite widespread.
One of my favorite books on the subject is Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul by John Eldredge. It is definitely worth the read.
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That God has a calling on my life and I’ve been waiting to grow up spiritually before I step into that calling. But (last night, as a matter of fact) I have learned that God wants me to step into that calling and he will guide me along the way. I’m really excited!!–and I haven’t been excited in a very long time.
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I think I have FINALLY woken up and been shaken out of my destructive patterns. I was laid-off in Feb. and since then I have not devoted my all to finding another job. I have instead devoted myself to a pattern of intensive TV watching. This morning my boyfriend finally told me how self-destructive I have been, and it really hit home. As of this afternoon I have landed an interview for a part-time job! Wish me luck!
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My revelation is that Christ’s love through us can be very expressive without any words at all…
another one is that men, despite the emotionally rough way they have often treated me and the tough front they put on desire a little sugar as much as anyone; they are much easier to handle with a little carefully placed sweetness..
They both sound kind of ‘duh… LOL -such is the nature of hindsight. Right now they are action points for me, not just thoughts.
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Women are also called to be Mighty Warriors as much as men. It doesn’t make us masculine or any less womanly. We are called as Children of the King to storm the gates of Hell in the authority given us. Regardless of gender. I love the Gideon story. And I connect with him on many levels. I don’t plan to sell out my Daddy for pagan idols as our dear Gideon did, but the story of his calling to be Mighty really hits home for me!
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Wait. I need more coffee before I can think or read this deep.
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God is always showing me new things, creating new revelations for me. One recent one was that I spend so much of my time trying to get my 10 year old to stop living in the moment and to plan for the immediate future, i.e., “stop playing with your legos and get ready for school!” And then, I spend tons of my money on massages and yoga classes, so that I can stop worrying about the future and live in the moment… somewhere, somehow I’ve gotta figure out how to learn from my son and still get things accomplished.
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the first shot made me think of what it would be like to be in a grave…
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On the concept of manhood…my old boss was totally a man’s man. He’d been an ice-climbing instructor, a cowboy and a Bible smuggler before he became a pastor. He took his son to the doctor for a vaccination and said to him, “Now, this isn’t all that painful, so I don’t think you need to cry about it”, and the nurse contradicted him – “Oh, you can cry if you want to.” My boss was livid – there’s a time to cry and there’s a time to clench your teeth and get through something, and getting a shot is not what men should be crying about, even if they’re only four years old. I think I like that mentality, even if I don’t understand it.
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we cant forget the women warriors too, right?!
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we cant forget the women warriors too,right?!
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