Wednesday, March 7, 2007

The Secret

There were all of these beautiful people sitting around on the Oprah show talking about a "Secret." Their lives were changed because they believed that good things could/would come to them. "That's faith," I thought, too busy to really go any further with it. Now they want other people to pay them so they can learn the secret, too.

Fast forward a few weeks. A friend calls me raving about the SECRET. She is ready for good things, wonderful things to come to her--so excited, so full of expectation--she is full of faith.

I look at my life, my expectations. There is something very wrong with this picture...

"I'm ready, God, for good things to come to me." And I expected the walls to come crashing down on me. What kind of god is this who withholds good things from his children?

Lord, You see how I cling to my little gods
I have tried so hard to please them.
But they are harsh and abusive and I cannot please them.
They are awful little gods, but they are all I know.
I have grown accustomed to them and
Adjusted my expectations to their smallness.

I am weary to death of the gods who come from shame, LORD.
I long to worship You, God of Grace.
I long to worship You.
You are the God of Glory.
Give me eyes to see You today
Give me a heart that hopes in You.
Amen.


From Rooted in God's Love, Dale and Juanita Ryan 1991

"I am ready, God, for good things to come to me because I believe--I believe that You are Jehovah, Breath of Life, and You love me."

Now, this may not rock your world like it did mine-but the universe shifted as soon as my heart received the goodness of God. It's been forty years of tug-of war--trying to do the right thing when I need to believe the right thing: Jesus loves me.

Oh, and here's a newsflash: Jesus has been around since well, forever. What's so secret about that?

1 comments:

lori March 18, 2007 at 12:30 PM  

The friend I've been doing the steps with for the past year just bailed in pursuit of The Secret. I tried on a philosphy very like The Secret years ago and it was FULL of awful little god's that were in the end so disappointing.

I LOVE those 'Rooted in God's Love' meditiations. Almost every day they say something that rocks my world too (or churns my guts!)

And the tug of war, how wonderful to let go of the rope!

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