brennan manning

Thankful on Memorial Day

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I know it’s not national BBQ day. I know this holiday really isn’t about sitting out by the pool or grilling hot dogs. I do know that we have the liberty to do such things because of the bravery and sacrifice of so many– the real reason for Memorial Day.

I never served in the military. I’ve never been in combat. I can’t imagine what they’ve seen or had to do and what the ones who survive deal with on a daily basis.

All I can do is be thankful. I understand that the price for my freedom is never free, and the right to speak my mind as I please was bought and paid for in blood.

Thank you, solders, for your bravery. Thanks especially to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and never got to see again to the land they loved.

I’m thankful that God in Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for me so that I could live. So that I could be forgiven and redeemed.

I hope and pray none of us ever take our freedoms for granted ever. We are truly blessed to have them.

 

 

Grateful for Sore Muscles

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Yes, that title is correct. I’m thankful for sore muscles tonight. I’m generally not a fan of soreness, but tonight I give thanks for several reasons:

The soreness came from washing and waxing my car this afternoon, so I’m thankful for being physically able to do those things, even if it resulted in slight discomfort later on. There are a lot of people, some my age or younger, who could not perform those tasks because of physical limitations.

Being able to wash and wax my car means that I have a car that’s reliable transportation, so for that I’m also grateful. It may be old . . . I mean vintage . . . but it still gets me where I need to go with a little style to boot.

I give thanks that the good weather held out just long enough for me to finish waxing my car before the rain started. I also held out long enough, though I was sweating profusely by the time I was done. My next post will likely be about how I need to workout more.

Eyes to see with, ears that hear, a mind that works. I refuse to take anything for granted anymore, no matter how small or insignificant it seems. I believe gratitude opens up the door of blessing and makes us see more of the blessings we already have.

Usually, I suck at giving thanks. I do my fair share of complaining and grumbling (mostly to myself in my head). Those days when I give thanks, I can tell a tangible difference in the way I see the world and the way the world sees me. It makes a difference.

Oh, I’m also thankful that Advance Auto Parts had the car wax on the shelf for me to buy so that I could wax my car. I almost left that part out.

Jesus in My Own Image

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The end game for Christians is that we end up looking and sounding like Jesus. That’s supposed to be the goal. Yet I find that often we recast Jesus in our own image.

When your Jesus allows you to stay comfortable and unchallenged and never step beyond what’s familiar, it’s safe to say you’ve recast Him in your own image.

When your faith allows you to hate a person or a group of people, to mock and slander these people and wish them harm instead of seeing them as image bearers created and loved by the Creator God, then you’ve recreated Jesus to your image.

When you pick and choose which lives matter, which lives are sacred, whether they be unborn or refugee, then you have made Jesus over into your image.

When Jesus is a means to an end for financial prosperity and power and promoting your own brand, you’ve reimagined Him into your image.

When your Jesus is predictable and safe (unlike the Jesus of the Gospels), then you’re remade Jesus into your image.

When Jesus becomes a Republican or a Democrat and follows either the liberal or conservative agenda to the letter, then you’ve created Him in your own image.

When Jesus becomes a means to exclude people and ostracize those who are less hip than you rather than intentionally seeking out the least of these, then you’ve reimagined Jesus into your likeness.

When Jesus becomes another option or one of many roads instead of the way, the truth, and the life (as He Himself said), then you’ve reinvented Jesus in your image.

Jesus comforted the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable (as the saying goes). He didn’t mince words with those who trusted in their own religion and righteousness. He called young and old, rich and poor, to repent for the Kingdom of God was near. He drove people away with some of the hard truths He spoke and even His own disciples often misunderstood Him.

When your Jesus is anything other than the Jesus who told us to go into all the world and make disciples, not as a nice alternative or a suggestion but as a binding command, then your Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.

My prayer for you and me both is that we stop trying to recreated Jesus to think and act and be like us and start being transformed by the renewing of our minds into His image until we can truly be His visible presence here and now.

 

 

 

Just This

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I went to Goodwill today and came away with a few treasures. I even found a CD of Rachmaninoff concertos played by Mr. Rachmaninoff himself.

I’m sometimes amazed at what people decide to give away. I suppose that it’s true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

You might feel like that some days. You feel like something in a thrift store– overlooked, unwanted, and worthless. But God sees you.

You might feel like a total screw up some days. You might feel like you’re close to 100%– for messing up everything you touch. But God knows you.

Today, in the middle of another long week, God both sees and knows about you. He is actively moving on your behalf.

I’ve discovered that there are also people who see and know you. They will be the ones God uses to remind you that you are not alone. They will be the ones to speak life and healing and hope into you when you need it most.

You generally don’t find these people by looking for them. They tend to show up when you least expect it. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hold on to them once you find them. Treasure these people for as long as God puts them in your path.

Remember, friends. You are seen. You are known. You are loved. You are treasured.

Nothing Shall Be Impossible

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I can hardly believe it. The Nashville Predators are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.

This is like a movie script for one of those inspirational films like Rudy or Remember the Titans. I don’t think you could make up something as unlikely and improbable as this.

I confess. Halfway through the NHL regular season, I had given up on these Preds. I wasn’t sure they’d make the playoffs, much less do anything when they got there.

When I found out their first round opponent was the Chicago Blackhawks, I said we’d be lucky to win one game at the most.

Never have I been happier in all my life to eat my own words. I’m thrilled that I was not only wrong, but way off.

I’m still dreaming of the Press bringing the Stanley Cup back to Music City. That would be awesome for the city of Nashville as well as for professional hockey and the NHL. It might not be realistic, but then again, them being in the finals wasn’t either.

Maybe this is a God-wink for some of you to never stop believing in the impossible. Truly with God all things are possible. Or, like one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite pastors, with God, what seems impossible to us is not even remotely difficult for Him. Not even close.

Keep believing. Keep pursuing that dream. Keep praying for that loved one. Keep pulling yourself up out of bed every morning and making each day a new start.

Above all, keep trusting that God’s promises are truer than your circumstances or your feelings or your gut instinct or anything else or anyone else who tells you differently.

The old saying goes something like this: if it is to be, it is up to me.

I like this version a lot better: if it is to be, He is up to it!

 

 

Living Letters

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“Does it sound like we’re patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we’re not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.

We couldn’t be more sure of ourselves in this—that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation. We wouldn’t think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn’t written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It’s written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!” (2 Corinthians 3:1-6, The Message).

Two questions continue to haunt me from this morning’s sermon by Sean MacNally at The Church at Avenue South: 1) What kind of letter are you? 2) Who is reading you?

I can only hope that my letter is a letter full of both grace and truth. I hope that people who read my life will know that their stories don’t have to end with ashes and tears but that there is hope for a new start and a better ending.

As for the second question, I believe that there’s always someone watching you. Someone out there hears you say that you’re a Christian and pays attention to see if your lifestyle matches your testimony. What are they seeing?

I still love what Dwight Moody said. For every one person who picks up and reads a Bible, there will be ten who will read the Christian. What kind of gospel will they find? What will they learn about the Jesus– not the Jesus you talk about but the Jesus you emulate by your daily words and actions?

These are questions that I hope linger in my mind for a while. May they be more than nice sentiments but the keys to real and lasting transformation.

 

Sorry, I Got Distracted

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I was scrolling through Facebook looking for something to inspire my newest blog post, but instead I got distracted, thanks to my ADD kicking into high gear.

Then I thought to myself, maybe this is the topic. How many of us get distracted on a daily basis from what really and truly matters most? We let the tyranny of the urgent keep us from focusing on what’s most important.

Checking off all those tasks on the to-do list is a good thing but not if it keeps us from spending time with loved ones. Especially not if it keep us from spending time with God. This culture celebrates being in a hurry and being busy all the time, yet it feels like so many of us are failing where it really counts in terms of being connected with each other and finding true fulfillment.

None of us will automatically drift into spiritual maturity. We will not obtain holiness through osmosis by sleeping with a Bible underneath our pillows at night. It takes deliberate effort and discipline.

I can’t remember how many days it takes for an action to become a habit, but it takes doing something every single day for it to finally take.

The lesson we need to learn is that if you completely mess up and get distracted, don’t beat yourself up. Remember that tomorrow is as good a day as any to start again. That’s the beauty of new mercies every morning.

Additional note: I got distracted again and decided to research how many days it actually takes to form a habit. The answer they gave is not 21 but 66 days. The answer I’m telling you is to keep at it for as long as it takes until it becomes second nature.

In other words, don’t give up.

 

A Prayer from Seven Years Ago

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“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever. Amen” (Betty Scott Stam).

I think that prayer is still very much applicable for me right now. I hope and pray it becomes the desire of all of our hearts from here into eternity.

Amen.

Simple Pleasures

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It’s easy to let life overwhelm you and get you distracted by all that you didn’t get done today or how much awaits you tomorrow. You can get so focused on the big picture and what will happen five years from now that you forget to find joy in the simple pleasures.

Right now, my geriatric feline is sleeping on the pillow next to mine. Occasionally, she snores. I suppose when you’re an 18 year old cat, you’re allowed. Still, it never ceases to amuse me.

I still love the feeling of driving at night with the windows rolled down and the breezes blowing. It works best in spring and fall, but there are the occasional summer nights where the air is slightly less hot and humid.

In case you forgot, the very act of breathing in and out and being alive is itself a miracle and one of the greatest joys for those who are able to appreciate it. None of us are entitled to the next day, so when it comes, it comes as a gift.

Your assignment is to take time out in your busy day to find the simple pleasures and say a quick prayer of thanks for each one. You might be surprised how it changes your perspective.

 

Sadness and Joy

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“Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment. There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our lives. It seems that there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence we sense a tinge of sadness. In every satisfaction, there is an awareness of limitations. In every success, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness . . . But this intimate experience in which every bit of life is touched by a bit of death can point us beyond the limits of our existence. It can do so by making us look forward in expectation to the day when our hearts will be filled with perfect joy, a joy that no one shall take away from us” (Henri J.M. Nouwen, Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life).

It seems like lately there is so much sadness. So many people I know are grieving over loved ones who have passed away. So many are heartsick over those they love who have received bad news from the doctor in the form of a cancer diagnosis. So many who see those close to them slipping away from Alzheimer’s or some other kind of dementia.

The sadness can feel overwhelming at times.

But there’s joy, too.

It can be hard to find, like trying to catch a glimpse of the sun on a cloudy, rainy day, but it’s there.

Joy is knowing that God can take the worst imaginable circumstances and transform them into the best possible outcome. He can truly work all things together for good, including grief and loss.

Jesus endured willingly all the shame and sorrow of the cross for the joy set before Him. So you and I can endure the seemingly unendurable because we know that in the end, death and sadness and loss and pain will not have the last word.

Joy will. Love will. God will.