Tag / God’s Kingdom

by Greg

The Soul Felt Its Worth

O holy night…
the stars are brightly shining.
It is the night
of our dear Savior’s birth.

(With me so far?)

Long lay the world…
in sin and error pining
till he appeared
and the soul felt its worth.

I was listening to a podcast1 recently (titled, Your Sense of Belonging) where the lyric from that familiar Christmas carol became the topic of poignant—and relevant—discussion.

Here’s my attempt at a transcript:

W—“Only when you find that soul finding its worth in who God is then you can belong to him, then, THEN you can experience what community really is. Because it’s not people trying to find their worth in each other, cause that’s—”

B—“Well I don’t need to get it from you.”

W—“Yeah!”

B—“And if I find it from Him, then I find myself free to enjoy relationship, as opposed to NEED relationship.”

Oh that we could understand—and live—this! How freed we would be to enjoy the greatness that God has packaged into every one of us. As it is, when we are so relationally bruised, battered, or afraid of being so, we hide behind our various defenses, and we find we use others for our own relational needs, rather than simply enjoy being together, sharing all this life we have in Jesus, to whom we are all so deeply connected.

The real issue is that our souls have not felt or found worth. At least, not their true worth.

We have an intrinsic value because we are created by the One who is Worthy. And beyond him just giving us breath (as though that statement could be qualified by the word “just”) … he shows again and again in the pages of Scripture as well as through all of history—and in my own life—that he deeply desires a friendship with us, and for us to know him and find our whole life and being in him.

That worth sets us free to live and to love.

We love because he first loved us.
Christ’s love (for us) compels us.
Love as you have been loved.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
Take an interest in others.

These actions flow naturally from a heart that no longer needs to seek fulfillment. You might say such a heart has no needs. That is inaccurate, however. True, this heart in Jesus lacks nothing, but the need is still there—it’s just already met.

The soul that has not found its worth will work extra hard to prove its worth.

We are made to relate. It’s what matters most. It’s the thing that we always treasure when faced with losing everything. At our core, in the depths of you and me, we are made to relate.

For some that is so hard because they feel unlovable. For others it’s all too easy because they know how to “fill” their own relational needs by being with other people.

But to be already filled with Living Water means that we can enjoy the fullness of our friendship with God, and share the days he gives us with any others whom he puts in our lives. (And we in theirs.) Some we walk alongside will also be fully connected to the Vine, and so, be a joy to share life with. Others will be struggling, perhaps barely connected to the Vine, straining for a taste of the Life that flows from it, but weak and fragile and even defensive (or aggressive, trying to get from you what they really need from the Vine).

In the end we are all just weak branches who can do nothing on our own.
Apart from him we have no Life.
In him we live and move and have our being.

When our soul knows its worth, then we are free to live.
I pray today that you are fully alive.
He has overcome our brokenness, and he calls you friend.
Even better, he wants you to call him Dad.

1—The podcast is The God Journey with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings. I’ve mentioned it here before, but as I listened to a few episodes this week I remembered that it really is quite an encouraging 30-40 minutes each week. They just talk about life with God as it relates to the events of normal days, and even current events, etc. I do highly recommend.

by Greg

Children Obey Your Parents

We had an interesting conversation with our teenager the other night.

Ian is thirteen. That means he’s officially a teenager. He’s been there—especially in his own mind—for quite a while now, even before the calendar said he was. That’s how he came into the world, actually. He’s usually ahead of the game.

And that’s his biggest problem. He’s pretty talented in a lot of ways, and he’s quite intelligent. That can very easily add up to a big trap. It can start to seem like you’ve got it all figured out.

I think at some point we all face that. And you might be saying, “Greg, of course he thinks he knows everything … he’s a teenager!” And, you are certainly right that what I’ve said so far could be said of most of us (maybe ALL of us?) in our teen years. It is the time when we are discovering ourselves. When we are invincible. When we are definitely smarter than our Mom & Dad.

But see, the thing is… this has been plaguing Ian since before he could speak.

There’s a war being waged in his spirit. I can’t know that, of course, or see it directly; but I see evidences of it. At once Ian is the most gentle, caring spirit, and also completely unbending and arrogant. He can be both.

From his earliest days, when we were training him the simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ of what he could, and could not touch, where he could, and could not go, Ian has defied us. He has somehow had deep within his spirit a need for autonomy. More than a need, a conviction. He. Is. Right. It causes him such grief with his Mom, especially, but also with me. We’ve spent so many hours and hours talking about it, praying, learning from Jesus, and hopefully even showing by example.

But he persists in his right-ness.

The other night after a long day of head-butting with Mom, we had an emotional, confrontational “talk”. (It was mostly me doing the talking.) What came of that was a nugget of truth (at least, truth from Ian’s perspective) that helped me see the command from Scripture, “Children, obey/respect your parents…” slightly differently.

What I saw was that those words are not the end, but just the beginning.

God’s blessing comes after our will (as children) can quietly and trustingly submit to our parents. There are two things we learn from that. First, we are learning to submit ourselves to someone we trust whom we know loves us (like our heavenly Father), and second, we are learning the value of obeying Father, even when it doesn’t yet make sense to us—which we will have countless opportunities to practice through the rest of our adult lives.

Ian said, “So then I’m just supposed to lie?” He meant that he doesn’t agree with us, so, if he complies with a respectful-on-the-outside “Yes, Mom” and the subsequent carrying out of his orders, then that equals obeying? That is somehow a good thing?

In reply I said, “No, Ian. You are not supposed to lie. It’s not a lie. It’s a choice. You are saying, ‘God, even though I don’t agree… even though I think I’m right here… I’m going to trust you. I’m going to show my parents respect, and willingly do what they are saying is best, because I trust you, and your love for me.’ We hope that you can trust our love for you, too, and the wisdom we have gained by our quarter-century of additional experience. But the first choice you make, and the one that matters, is to choose to trust God.”

And I realized, that’s so true. I added, “Ian, I think the only thing God asks of you while you are a child, is to respect and obey your parents. As you get older, a LOT more will be expected of you, and you will be responsible for a lot more choices. But right now, it starts with this simple one. If you can choose to do that (respect your Mom and Dad, and do what they say, even when you think you know better) then you will start to see God’s blessing. When we trust him, he begins to unfold more truth in front of us. Not to mention, you’ll have peace—inner peace, peace with your Mom, with me, and your simple choice will begin to grow peace through our whole household.”

This is not “pick on Ian” time. Ian is (as I said earlier) incredibly talented in many things (sports, writing, reading, knowledge, understanding and caring about people, art, humor, and more). I love my son, Ian. He’s also—at times—incredibly hard to be around, because he does not see himself as an equal (or, in the case of his parents, a subordinate). His arrogance, unchecked, will eventually—once he is no longer under the protection of our supervision and guidance—be his ruin.

Pride, the worship of self, is the beast that is in all of us. Somehow, God put something in us that has a great desire to protect us, to defend us and all that represents us. It is the undoing of many. Perhaps it’s stronger in some than others (that’s what we seem to see in our firstborn son) but it is definitely something we all battle.

Ian and I had a subsequent discussion about heroes and villains. He’s writing a book with some seemingly ordinary folk who have super powers, who battle other seemingly ordinary folks who have super powers (or super technology). It’s a classic good versus evil, superhero story. He’s got some fun twists he’s working on, and he’s becoming a pretty good story teller, so it should be an entertaining read!

We thought about the one most common distinction between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in any story, “super” or not. The answer was surprisingly consistent, and easy: bad guys are always in it for themselves, and good guys are always looking out for other people, even (especially) at their own peril. Those are heroes, the ones of us who sacrifice self for someone else, expecting nothing in return. (If reciprocity is expected, then the “selfless” act was really not selfless at all.)

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

I’ve quoted those few sentences from Philippians 2 here before. A few times, I believe. Don’t forget the sentence that comes next (perhaps the more familiar words):

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

There are so many commands in the Bible. Do this, don’t do this; go here, stay away from there; be this, don’t be this. It trips us up, big time. We get stuck on the “dos” and “don’ts”. The one thing that matters is to love God (and trust him) with all that you are, and equally important, love other people like you’ve been loved. There’s no “me” in that. The me is the “others” part for you. YOU are taken care of by me, and by everyone else who is “taking an interest in others, too”, and by our Father.

What more could you ask for?

So we’ll keep trying. We’ll keep loving. We’ll keep talking, praying, studying, and doing—leading by example. We’re going to fail. We do all the time. But hopefully part of our example is a humble acceptance of our own brokenness, our own quite obvious IMperfection.

Do what’s right… love mercy… walk humbly with [our] God.

And in the end? Well, we don’t get to know the end. We only get to live the now. We hope that as we do what God is asking us, that he’ll bless us by giving us the joy of seeing HIS Life lived brilliantly in and through our son (all our sons, and our daughters). They will each get to choose to trust him along the way. It might be “easier” for some of them than it seems to be for Ian in his short thirteen years so far. But I have a hunch that each of them will face their own obstacles, just as great, just as impassible …

But nothing is impassible with God. (Or, something like that.)

And it is HE whom we trust. From the very first, when we say, “Yes, Mom,” and “Yes, Dad”. And through the rest of life, with the first choice to trust—when much (or all?) seems to say otherwise—we take the first step and choose to trust him.

Then we begin to know the Life he has for us, the Life he is.

It all starts with a simple choice.

by Greg

The Illusion of Control

For some reason, though everything tells us otherwise, we all seem to have this illusion that we are in control of our lives and our surroundings.

I may be speaking a good deal from my American perspective, but I do feel like it’s more of a human thing than a cultural thing. (We Americans just have more resources to fool us into the illusion that we have control.)

Think about it. We can basically do anything we want, any time we want. We can eat any food we’d like, no matter what the season. We can wear any clothes we like (for the most part) because we have our climate perfectly controlled. We can operate on any schedule, since we have lights to replace the sun.

Our current technology takes it a step further. We can access practically any information we want from any place at any time. That’s astounding. To those of you too young to remember a time when with “the internets” that might sound less amazing, but it is truly remarkable. Then add all the other ubiquitous means of communication (cell phones, email, you name it) and we can even be somewhat omnipresent: doing our job or living our lives through a virtual presence.

We can get anywhere we need to in a very short amount of time. Medicine can prolong our lives far beyond what was possible in centuries past. We can have as many or as few children as we want for our family to have. (And there is even the potential to change the life growing inside the womb before it is born through our knowledge of genetics, no?)

All of this stuff (and so much more) makes us think that we are in control… until something happens.

It can be minor, like a kink in your schedule for the day. Maybe an accident sidetracks your plans for the day and the immediate future. Maybe an appointment goes long. Maybe illness causes a long-planned event to be rescheduled or missed entirely. Maybe something as simple as the weather changes your plans (or worse).

Or, it can be a much more rude awakening.

Not one of us is immune to death. We are all mortal. That is the one truth that I’d say even trumps “taxes”. We don’t know when it is coming, but we do know it’s coming. For us, and the ones we love. Our parents, our spouse, our kids. Everyone.

But we go through life assuming that we have tomorrow. It’s because we think we have some amount of control over what happens around us. (And I’d say we do have some, but much less than we think.) It’s just an illusion. A mind game that we have played on ourselves, really.

Do not take for granted the time that you have with the people you love. There is nothing more important than them. We have a friend who lost her Dad not too long ago, and I know she wishes she could have more time with him, even the smallest amount. And I think that’s probably a universally true sentiment.

“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”

But it’s not just about the ultimate, guaranteed loss that we will all experience. Most of us multiple times over. There are other ways we live the illusion.

We are sometimes fooled into thinking our money guarantees us some amount of control. We have all sorts of (wise) plans to save and invest and manage our money… but the reality is that could all be gone in an instant. Whether a technological catastrophe that could deny us access to whatever funds we have, or a rapid and complete crash of the value of whatever currency you use, or (more likely) something less global, but equally personally devastating. You just never know. Whatever our current amount of wealth, it is definitely not a constant or a given.

Beyond these things, we even have this notion that we are in control of other people.

Perhaps we parents exhibit this the most. We tell our kids what to do, give them specific instructions, and witness the power of our words and influence in their obedient actions much of the time. Our kids are, for the most part, the compliant sort. We know we can trust them. But they’re normal kids. They’re people. All of us have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.

Indeed.

We can’t even control ourselves.

We—you and me—are not in control. Bad things will happen. Accidents will happen. Mistakes will happen. Evil and malice will happen.

The other constant—the other thing we can be sure of—is that God is good. He is love. And he loves us. That is so foundational to a life fully lived. If we know that he is good, and we live knowing that despite all of our flaws, quirks, idiosyncrasies, he is fully committed to us—loves us, is for us—then as the verse says, “nothing can be against us”.

That’s how we are able to break free from the illusion.

When we can admit that we do not have control—that all this stuff we think we can count on (including fellow Image Bearers) is at some point guaranteed to fail us—then we are free to really live. Our freedom comes from the trust we have in the One who is in control. Because we know he’s on our side, he’s for us.

It still hurts. Life can really beat you up sometimes. Often, even. But we know that we’ll make it to the other side. (Eventually to the other side, if not before.) And we know that God’s not just waiting for us on the other side, we know that he’s with us every painful, broken, seemingly-chaotic step of the way.

While everything else may be an illusion, our Father is most certainly not.

by Greg

[From The Archive] Peace

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!This week’s From The Archive was chosen from one of several posts I found that had elements of this theme of “the illusion of control” that has been swimming around my thoughts for some time now. Each of the articles previously published had at least some small perspective on the idea that we are not in control (or that life is better when we realize and live that).

Is peace something that I can achieve? Or is it a natural by-product of trust? Perhaps once my focus is off of my needs and my life and my problems, then I can know the peace. Peace might be at the end of my resigning control to the One who is actually able to control life. And who loves me more than I probably love myself. He loves me, and he loves my family, and he knows what we need, and for all the years I have known him, he has never—not once—left us in need. Never.

I chose one titled Peace, though, that seemed to encapsulate most of the recent threads of thought weaving through Greg’s Head.

The above quote stood out to me from that post. Again this idea that the less we are focused on ourselves and our needs and wants, the more possible it is for us to be free. But the best (the only?) way to rid ourselves of this self-focus, self-centered view of our world is to allow our trust in Father to grow. (And that only comes from knowing him better, and more… which comes from living life with him.)

I wonder what level of this I understand right now. It seems to make a ton of sense to me in concept, and even at times in practice. However, as I’ve said before, when God seemingly keeps a certain thought or theme in front of me for long periods of time or repeatedly over time, my natural conclusion is that I haven’t yet understood, at least in practice (if not also in theory).

I hope that you have the peace that I write about here. That your heart trusts him so that you are able to let go of your need to be master of your own dominion, your own life… and let him lead you in the full life he wants for you; for us all.

Peace to you today, reader. Enjoy this piece From The Archive: Peace.

Since I referenced a whole slew of articles on this theme, why not link to them here? If you have the time—and/or desire?—click below!

by Greg

Completely Plagiarized (With References)

Tonight I need to let some other words speak for me. If you’ll permit me, the rest of this post is entirely copied selections from the Bible. (New Living Translation if not otherwise noted.) They are words we are feeling strengthened by today. Perhaps they’ll do so for you, too.

(And, does it really count as plagiarism if I am referencing the sources?) 🙂

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

John 16:33
…Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

Romans 15:13
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 4:6-9
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 8:18-29
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Revelation 21:3-7
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

There are so many more, but I’ll finish with this one, mentioned yesterday. It’s pretty much the foundation of the Good News:

Ephesians 1:3-11
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Amen.

by Greg

Some Things Never Change

Since the beginning of time, young kids have seen the colored tiles—whatever shape they might assume—as an endless playground for the imagination, and an exciting test of their balance and coordination skills.

And the Campbell children are certainly no different!

Walking the mall with any of our youngest kids is never really walking, it’s traversing. It’s an expedition. Through fiery lava, or dangerous waters infested with countless perils and vicious creatures!

The most recent expedition was with Emma, who was more of an athlete than an explorer. Her task at first was to maintain perfect balance across all the colored tiles, but that soon changed to being able to completely clear the four-square blocks, long-jump style! (Which she actually did quite well!)

I could not help but (vividly) recall my childhood, where I was doing the very same thing. And as I’ve said, I can’t think of any one of our children who have not. What is it about our youth that allows us the freedom—that nearly demands that we see life as play?

And better yet, where does that go?

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sometimes we read that and see the part about “turn[ing] from your sins” and that will “get us into” the Kingdom of Heaven. And thus, becoming like little children is perhaps being born again (spiritually), or even maybe being more trusting, having more faith.

But in the context, Jesus was asked who was the greatest, and his answer was someone who might seem like the “least”. What he chose to point out was the humility of a child—which, in contrast to the question raised, sharply reveals the pride of the questioner.

Without pride, we are free to play (no matter what anyone might think of us). Pride is, after all, just our self-given worth. It’s what we imagine ourselves to be, that we usually are not.

Humility, being the opposite—and the quality Jesus said we, like children, should aspire to possess—is not concerned with what others think of us. There is a nearly unshakeable freedom to fully enjoy life as it unfolds before you.

How many of us live like that? Maybe we should.

Maybe I will.

I did that night with Emma. We skipped through parking lots, jumped from tile to tile, and slowly enjoyed every moment as we made the trek through the adventure-land that was our local shopping mall. The joy was definitely in the unpretentious frivolity we were engaging in, but it was also in just being together. Taking interest in each other.

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

If we’re not concerned with us, there’s a lot more room to enjoy the things and the people around us.

Emma sure was. And I bet your kids are pretty good at it, too. As, I’d guess, were you.

Some things never change. Kids will always see the colored tiles in malls as the next great adventure, even if they’ve conquered it before. And, the truth of God’s words, that life in his Kingdom is found when we are humble and unassuming, like little children.

I think it’s time for a stroll through the mall…

Scripture quotes from Matthew 18 and Philippians 2, both from the New Living Translation.

by Greg

Yearning For Less

“I wish I had more time!”

I am saying that far too often these days. And, it sure seems true when I think it and/or utter it.

I am finding that I wake up tired most days, and often go to bed later than I thought I would. And understandably, have much to do in the middle of each day.

We are a family of eight, after all. And two of the eight are two and three years old. They need plenty of assistance, and beyond that they seem to have the most … aggressive? personalities of all eight of us! So, of course, there will be long day. Maybe most.

But it feels like more than that.

Last fall, Jen got to travel to California for about a week to visit with friends, and meet new ones. (She also attend a workshop called HeartChange that she really loved! We highly recommend, if you’re on the west coast.) Just before that we had a family vacation where the couple different places we stayed were so stark in their decor that it was truly one of the refreshing pieces of our down time. While in California, the simplicity of environment—and simplicity of daily schedule—came up in conversation and Jen became even more convinced that she really wanted a much simpler life. Even if only for a season, schedule and stuff needed de-cluttering.

Unbeknownst to her, I had made plans with my parents to do a pretty big kitchen transformation project! Not only did that involve ripping out the carpet that was in there and replacing it with a nice laminate flooring, it also involved a hefty amount of getting rid of things! I knew Jen had been thinking of that, so we took the first step.

New Kitchen

The Great Kitchen Transformation of 2011!

It was not just well-received, she loved it! She had been hoping to do a little rearranging upon her return, and this major “rearrangement” was the catalyst for much more!

We set to work in the girls’ bedroom. We had some great success in there getting rid of several large bags and/or boxes of things. (The thrift stores like us… I think?) And then we made some progress in a few other rooms (though there’s more to go there, to be sure!) … slowly, but surely we are thinning out. Trying to live a bit simpler.

It actually seems to be a sentiment that several people we know are echoing. Life is too full, too busy. Time to simplify. A friend wrote about living simply on her site recently, too.

So why do we want simple? Why do we feel so over-stimulated?

Partly it’s that we just have too many options. Whether it’s entertainment options, or activity options, or social options, home schooling options, or even work-related options (maybe that applies even more to me being self-employed?) and then throw in there family “options” (like One Kid Nights and date nights and just regular family activities…)

Goodness! There’s a lot to do!

Just thinking of the things I leave undone every day, there are so many books I am currently reading (and many more I want to read … have you seen my list?!) then there are a good many shows in my Netflix queue (including tons of documentaries that I’d love to watch … sometime?). That’s all after the work I need to get done each day, and—as I’m sure you’ve noticed—I’ve made writing a priority again, too.

So where do we breathe? When do we rest? Where is the quiet? The silence where we sit with our Father and learn from him, enjoy being his kids?

I really don’t know.

It could be that we are avoiding just that. But I don’t think so. Sometimes we do busy ourselves to ignore painful things, or things we in some way dread. That does work for a while, and in the end, will produce the same, tiring results.

I think it’s even more pervasive that that, if possible.

There’s some restlessness embedded in our culture that must have a full schedule, that must have a full cupboard, that must have all the things we need and might need.

At some level, it’s rooted in our level of trust in God to take care of us.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

But is it only that? Perhaps. Is it bad to have stuff? Not inherently. But have you noticed how the more stuff you have, the more you need to have (like even, parts and accessories for your stuff), then the more you need to repair your stuff, then the more you need to buy things to keep your stuff in…

And the more events you do, the more people you meet, the more things you’re invited to do…

Which leads to needing more money to do more things, and to have more stuff…

More, more… MORE.

And thus, the yearning for simplicity.

Somehow, Jesus managed to live his life in skin as a homeless vagabond that never lacked for companionship (until the final days of his life) and he also managed to live arguably the most impactful life ever lived. Perhaps a full schedule or the most things don’t really lead to a better life?

“Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

I’m not sure if we Campbells are being asked (by God) to sell our possessions. I mean, it clearly says that in that verse from Luke, but so far that conviction is not in my heart, nor Jen’s. But maybe this hunger (however large or small) for simpler will eventually lead there? We’ll see.

For now, I do know that there is a deep longing in my heart for simpler. Less stuff. Less options. More rest. The phrase “less is more” comes to mind.

The tricky part is how do we get there. That’s the next part of our adventure I think.

I’m curious to see how Jesus unfolds that in our life. (Some “busyness” currently seems “necessary”.)

Further thoughts will be shared on these pages, of course. And if you are so inclined, would love for you to join the conversation below!

But only if you have the time. 😉

Scripture quotes from Luke 12, from the New Living Translation.

by Greg

Seasons

There is a rhythm to life that I think most of us ignore. The natural rhythm of the seasons. The new beginning, the freshness of life in the spring. The vibrance of life through the long days of summer. The harvest of the fruits of summer’s sun in the fall, and the reminder that rest is coming in the dark, cold days of winter.

Then there is the length of days of each season. Fall and Spring offer balance of day and night, while Summer brings full, long days with plenty of light and warmth for the early and later part of the days, and an abundance of heat in the middle of the day to remind us to stop, rest. Winter’s cold days of limited light give us a whole season of rest while the land waits to renew the cycle again in Spring.

But instead of following creation’s cues, we try to circumvent the process.

Electricity means we can have light-as-good-as-day as long as we want, whenever we want. We also have as many ways to control the climate as we’d like, so we aren’t too hot in the long summer days, or too cold in the bitter days of winter. And so, neither causes or reminds us to take the rest that nature would seem to be encouraging us toward.

And so we press on. We don’t stop. We do what we have to. We don’t rest. We don’t listen. We ignore the natural rhythms of life that all the rest of creation are obedient to, subject to.

Does that make us masters of our universe, or jesters?

Not really sure it’s either. (Since, in my opinion, we do not really have “mastery” of anything… control of our environment is often, mostly just illusion.) But it is interesting to watch how God’s crown of creation (people) don’t follow the patterns of the rest of his creation, which clearly allow for more rest. More quiet. More reflection, refueling, more living.

That might seem oxymoronic. How can you do more “living” if you are slowing down, doing less.

Well, perhaps that is the point of the seasons.

If there were no winter, the ground would grow weary from too much work. If there were no slow awakening of spring, no abundant warmth of summer, no coolness of fall… all of these work together to bring the fullness of life the Creator intended.

But we resist. We grow weary. We fight back with every means at our disposal: technology, medicines, and more. When all we need to do is follow the simple rhythms of creation. The seasons.

To everything there is a season. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

That’s how I want to live. I think God is reminding me of that. Perhaps, since you’re reading this, he’s doing the same for you.

Enjoy the season you are in. Fresh and new like spring, full and fruitful like summer and fall, or a season of rest like the winter. All are necessary to an abundant life.

For further reading, I suggest In Season by Wayne Jacobsen. I have not gotten to read it yet, but it sounds a lot like what I’m writing about here. The subtitle is, “Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness”. It’s definitely on my planned books list!

by Greg

No Comparison

I have this friend.

He’s pretty amazing at everything he attempts. He has a lot of the same interests and capabilities, and does a lot of the same work as me, only a lot better. He can build smarter web sites. He can code (well) in several web programming languages. He’s even a handyman kinda guy, who can build just about anything. (Wonder if he uses duct tape?)

There are days I think, “Man, I should just quit right now! My friend can do all this stuff I’m trying to do so much better than me. Sheesh!”

I have these other friends.

They have been in the hospital with their beautiful baby boy almost the entire 3 months he has been alive. (When they weren’t in the hospital with him, they were at home—not sleeping—just to make sure he would make it through the night.) It’s not looking good. There are people all over the world praying for this little guy (with God, all things are possible) who is suffering from a terminal genetic disorder. (Though, actually, adding to the difficulty is the fact that the doctors aren’t even sure what is causing all that is happening to his tiny body.)

There are moments where, when I look back at the very emotionally and physically and spiritually draining year (plus) that we have lived through in 2011, I am tempted to think, with my heart heavy for my friends, “Well, I suppose I should be thankful that all that I have been through can’t be as bad as what they are facing, and all they have been through.”

What is it about our hearts, our inner selves, that must compare?

Whether it is, “I’m not as good as him…” or, “I guess I’m better off than them?” … there is a strong tendency to compare.

It’s why we judge. It’s why there are prejudices. We are constantly looking at others lives in comparison to ours.

But there is no comparison.

I am me. You are you. You are the most perfect you. And quite likely, no… most definitely, you are not me. (And of course, I am not you.)

And, we shouldn’t be.

God made a world full of diversity. There is diversity beyond our imaginations in all the rest of his creation, and when we’re having a good day, we can see that there is beautiful diversity in Us: the Crown of His Creation.

I’m not sure why we do it. I am thankful that God keeps developing my trust in him to the point where I am doing it much less often. But I still do.

And I should not.

All we are meant to do is to stay connected to him, listen to him, be loved by him, and then live life with the people he asks us to: rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. None of us is better or worse than another. We may make choices that are better or worse, but even in those, we are not the ones who are to judge others and mete out praise or punishment (unless we’re in some official capacity to do so).

[T]he Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

We’re not competitors in life. We are fellow pilgrims. We have the same Father, and the same Oldest Brother. And the same Spirit he promises to those who will follow. Life lived together with him is vibrant and deep and there’s enough to go around, through the highest and lowest we go through.

It’s a lie that we should be as good as that guy, or that we’re not as good as that girl. We can’t have it any better or worse than anyone else. We have it exactly as he wants us to. We’re right where we’re supposed to be, especially if we’re listening to—and following—His lead.

Then there’s no comparison.

by Greg

On Being Thankful

This is the day we are thankful. All over our country we spend the day—even the whole weekend—thinking about the things for which we are thankful.

Sometimes we have cute ways of saying it. You know, like the annual “go around the table and say what you’re thankful for” exercise. Or maybe it’s a more tactile expression, written on paper or some other tangible medium.

Sometimes we are just quietly, introspectively thankful.

But on this day, we are Thankful.

And even though I have one of those brains that is always going, always thinking, always processing, always introspectively examining and pondering … and also despite the fact that I am wont to buck almost any tradition… I’m certainly not exempt from being in this frame of mind come late November.

In fact, there are quite a gamut of things I’ve dwelt on today, grateful that God has either been the Giver (James 1:17) or he has walked with me through it.

One of the first things I was grateful for today was a dinner that I got to prepare and share with some new friends one year ago this day. They were new friends to us, had known them only a few months. But they had already been so welcoming and loving toward our family that our kids readily adopted them as their third set of grandparents! I felt a kinship with Wayne, too, as he was a prolific writer (something I have aspired to be) and definitely marched to the beat of his own drum (something to which I also aspire).

The reason I am extra thankful for that one particular meal we shared together (besides the fact that I always love to make food for people, and visit with people) is that just two months later, Wayne would no longer be with us.

Ordinarily we would have been visiting with family that day. With Jen’s family, or perhaps my family … or both? In fact, that had been the plan: to join my parents who were with my sister and her family after the birth of their daughter. However, various circumstances kept that from happening … and when we found ourselves with an open Thanksgiving Day, we were delighted to find out that our new friends had found themselves in just that same spot!

Who could have known that there wouldn’t be very many more meals we’d all share together?

I think that’s a great reason for being thankful. I read a sign tonight, it was a picture of a sign actually. It said, “It’s not happy people who are thankful, it’s thankful people who are happy.” Indeed. Somehow it’s a truth that is at the core of our makeup. The “power of positive thinking” perhaps. Whatever it is that is behind it, there is a deep reality in the power of our perspective, our attitude.

I can go through my days worried about how I am going to pay our mortgage this month, or afford the repair work for our van (or really, the new van we need to be saving for!), or how I can better help equip my kids with the right tools they need for life, or even just spend my days being bogged down by the details of all the various projects I juggle for my work. Those things are indeed important, but perhaps not mine to struggle with.

When that is my focus, I might miss the chance to have an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner with someone whose presence I will not much longer share. I might miss an opportunity to see my wife’s beautiful heart in the way she expresses a thought she had or something Jesus is teaching her. I might miss (and sadly, have missed) the tender, loving heart of one of my sons or daughters so open and fully extended to their Dad (whom they often seem to view as so much more than I know that I am).

All because I was so focused on the things that seem to need attention—or change—rather than savoring the gifts that the Giver has already provided.

Like my beautiful, precious wife. Like our six amazing children. Like the family that God has surrounded us with: parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and even non-blood family.

And how about a roof over our heads? All the crazy freedoms and luxuries we have in this country? (Though, perhaps that is not really always—or ever?—something that we should be thankful for, at least, not in the way we usually think we should be.) How about the incredibly difficult year that 2011 has been for our household? More importantly, the fruit that we’ve seen Holy Spirit grow in and around us as a direct or indirect result of that?

There is an unending list of things we can be thankful for. In fact, it’s really more of a reality to live in (a paradigm, or perspective) rather than a list to check off.

Jen said it best today when she commented, “I’m really not any more thankful on this day than I am any other day. I’m not sure how to be!”

When you can breathe thankful, that is certainly the case. “Always be thankful.” Not just a command to “do it”… or else! But an invitation to the fullness of life that can be known when we shift our focus from our own efforts and abilities (or lack thereof) to gratitude for his provision, his caring… and his extraordinary capabilities. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

So as this Thankful day comes to its close, I am thankful. For the day spent with nearly all of our close family. For a belly full of delicious food. For a quiet house full of Sleepers, without whom my life, even I myself would not be the same. I’m thankful for my Father who loves me, and even likes me. 🙂 That he wants to be with me, and me to be with him, still amazes.

And I’m thankful for Wayne. Glad for the very short time God crossed our paths. Looking forward to the rest of the path crossings God has in mind for me during the time I have left, however much that may be.

We can’t know. We only know now. We have now.

And for that, I’m grateful.