Lessons Learned from a Bedspread

When we moved into our new house two years ago, my bedroom became lost in mediocrity.  I brought the perfectly functional bedspread from my former home that had been color coordinated with the wallpaper and carpeting, but color trends change, and I was no longer fond of the mint green.  I certainly didn't want to use the pastel pallete that was so soothing in my old home.  However, I could not find a comforter in a color I wanted, or the quality I needed, for the price I wanted to pay.  Therefore, I lived with the mint green and did the best with what I had to make the room pleasant.

Then, one day, voila!  I found an expensive spread that was marked down 60%, in a color that was a radical departure from mint green.  It was still a little more than I wanted to pay, but I knew that after searching for 2 1/2 years, this was it.  I bought it and left it in the bag for a couple of weeks to let the sticker shock wear off a little, and see if I wanted to change my mind.

Finally, one day I was ready to make the commitment.  I took the spread out of the bag and dressed the bed from bottom to top with the dust ruffle, comforter and shams.  Stepping back, I was pleased with the look of the bed.  I was VERY pleased with the look of the bed.  It made me happy to look at the bed, but the bed served to point out how much of the rest of the room needed to come into agreement.  The bedspread was now the main event, and I saw how everything else had to shift and change to cooperate and reflect the glory.

The walls called for something to complement and celebrate the beauty.  The lamps were now too frilly and feminine, and the valances were only a mediocre accompaniment.  Not wanting to buy all new things, I searched for a way to minimize extra cost.  I saw that the lamps could be spray painted black, and with new shades, would work just fine.  I knew I had other valances that were a much better match, but one was being used in the guest room.  The question became one disturbing something that was working somewhere else, and repositioning it where it would work even better.  I liked the way the guest room looked.  That room was finished.  If I changed it, I would have two rooms in flux.  What would I do in that other bedroom?  Would I really be saving myself money if I now had to buy something for that room?

I decided to go for completing my bedroom.  In the process of getting out the other valance, I found a lace tablecloth that I was inspired to throw over the rod in the guest room. I  tied it up with two sheer curtains, making rosettes at the top with some strategically placed rubber bands and pins.  (You would have to see it to picture.)  I was happy with the results, and now had what I needed for my room with no extra expense!

With a few other minimal purchases found on sale, like three pictures for the wall purchased at a total of $18, and a large gold mirror I had never hung, the room came into alignment with the bedspread.  The finished product was much more than the  functional room it had been.  It was now a destination, a sanctuary and a retreat.

I began to see how one change in the big picture points out discrepancies in other areas that need to be modified.

Jesus is the biggest change agent in history.  When He arrived on earth, everything shifted.  Before His advent, there was no way to properly worship God.  There had to be a God-man to make the shift and open the way.  Mankind was lost in sin and transgression until the gift of salvation caused a change in that condition.

With the advent of this change, everything has to come into alignment.  Just as with the bedspread, some old things have to be discarded.  Some dated understandings have to take on new life by modifying them with new revelation like the lamps, and some ancient things with promise, can now be accessed and utilized, like the mirror.With the acceptance of the free gift of salvation, we become gifts to mankind and creation.  As we shift to come into alignment with Him, we change.  He becomes the main event and everything else has to adjust and change to reflect the glory and cooperate with Him.

Just as my walls called for participation in the glory and entrance into that realm caused the room to be a sanctuary, so we become that for the world.  Jesus is the change agent.  Now, I become one.  I am the gift; the change agent in the world around me.  Sometimes our own change causes others to make adjustments.  My guest room looks different because I removed something to make way for a new look there, too.  It took a willingness to go all the way and trust that the outcome that was best for one room would work itself out in the other.  In the long run, both were beneficiaries of the change. 

IDENTITY

IDENTITY

The root of the word identity seems to come from the Latin, identidem: repeatedly.  It is a contraction of idem et idem which means, the same and same.  This implies that at its core, one’s identity is stable, fixed and sure. 

When I look at the definition of identity: (the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions), there is, something implied of stability and being true to some inner value.   There is some inherent quality that one comes back to, time and time again.  There is a consistency.

There is another part of the definition: (the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group), that would seem to be open to alteration.  The question becomes, “Who am I in relation to this group?”  Again, the implication is that one has a distinctness about him that sets him apart, and allows him to be both defined and included in the group.  He has found his place; his individuality.

What happens when the group changes significantly?  What effect does this have on identity and individuality when one is surrounded by changing factors that used to be markers for behavior?  How does one maintain the quality of remaining the same under the conditions that are changing?  How does one change behavior to accommodate a new environment as it is shifting and in flux?  Does one push the “pause” button and wait for some sense of stability to gel, thereby forfeiting input that would come from his own identity or inner core beliefs?  Or does one continue to be true to those beliefs even if they are not valued by the group?

Another question is, do we really value individuality?  Do we really value the distinct personality of an individual that is a persisting entity?  Does the Gospel require this?  If so, how do we work at this as leaders and as individuals that are part of a whole?  How do we work a valuing those who are different, who do not share our life experience and outlook?

How do we make time for listening and relationship that will foster understanding to move beyond threat and strengthen the bonds of the group?  How do we let down the guards and the protective barriers to let others in enough to seek to see from another perspective?  How do we remain in the center of the ring, and not retreat to our respective corners at the first sign of challenge?

What happens when core beliefs are challenged by new revelation?  Do we regard those beliefs as immutable, or can we adopt the attitude that fuller revelation can alter the application with a new behavior? 

I’ve been asking these questions both as a leader and as a member of a group.  It seems to me that I cannot change alone.  Everything I do affects others.  Everything others do affects me.  I cannot remain unchanged in a new environment. 

When Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new,” some old things had to change.  So I am asking what part of my identity needs to be upgraded to be like Him?  How can I bring that into the groups that I am a part of as a leader to impart vision and possibility to others, and as a member of a group to encourage and build up and strengthen that group.

Laying Down One's Life

I've been thinking about the concept of laying down one's life.  What a coup it was when Jesus died on the cross.  Words can't capture the full revelation, but words are all we have.  We need a new language; a new vocabulary. There is so much power in laying down one's life.  Truly then, the enemy has no hold.  What looks like weakness is true strength.

At the point of Jesus' death, I picture the enemy's exultation and celebration. The enemy had just spent time intently watching the unfolding of his plan--step by incremental step--as Jesus became entangled with no hope of escape.  He appeared to be getting more and more paralyzed with each step, and more caught up in an inevitable plot to destroy him.

He was increasingly sapped of life; drained drop by drop.  That life was extinguished slowly and completely.  He seemed exhausted of any alternatives, hemmed in and forced down a path that became narrower and focused toward his ultimate destruction.  At that point, the enemy had him.  His conquest was sure, complete and final.  Just as Satan was foaming at the mouth with satisfaction and exultation, Jesus devastated him.

What is it about voluntary death that is so powerful?  What is it about voluntary and free service?  What is it about laying down self to see others exalted?  I'm wondering why the enemy didn't see the supreme example of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit eternally linked, living to exalt and lift each other up.  Why didn't he get that piece, being that he had been so close to it as Lucifer?

Is it because true humility, even in the Godhead , is so inconspicuous?  Is it because the one being lifted up and exalted is so easily recognized, that all the glory belongs to him, and no recognition goes to the one doing the lifting up?  Are they really that invisible?

The thought occurs to me that, yes, Lucifer could have become caught up in the exaltation of Jesus and, wanting some for himself, was blind to the sacrificial love of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He didn't see what enabled Jesus to be lifted up.

So it is with us.  Jesus came as one of us, but with an even lower heart.  In Ps. 22:6, which Jesus quoted on the cross, it says, "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people..."  Jesus calls himself a worm--a maggot.  He came with a heart to get under and lift up.  I'm not really sure that a man can really lift up another man.  They are equals.  One can defer to, but can he really lift up?  Doesn't it mean that he would have to go lower to truly lift up another?  A worm; that would do.  Jesus was demonstrating the concept of considering others greater than self.

How can I appropriate this in my own life?  It seems one dimensional, until I consider other aspects.  Sometimes, in laying down the "self-life", I become visible.  I become exaggerated in the congregation.  I become something all eyes are focused on.  In that case, being "invisible" is not the hard part of humility; being "seen" is.  Being a catalyst and the obviously odd one, not seeming to be in the flow, is the hard part.  Being the breaker, with no rights to the self-life, is the hard part, too.

So, I guess laying down one's life takes humility, either way.  Being invisible is just as hard as being visible, unless the Holy Spirit gives the joy of knowing I am simply endeavoring to follow His leading.  When I lay my life down voluntarily, it is powerful because the anointing comes and meets the sacrifice.  There is a demonstration of the Kingdom of God, whether anyone else notices or not.