(Dangerously) Beautiful: March 2010

My Way or The Highway

I came across this quote tonight.

“We are, all of us, utterly committed and deeply devoted to our style, our way, our approach to life. We have absolutely no intention of giving it up. Not even for love. So God creates an environment where we have to. It’s called marriage.” (John and Staci Eldredge, Love and War)

I can’t comment on marriage, but I am certainly finding that truth in several other areas of life.

Work. Friendships. Relationships.

My style, my way of thinking and viewing the world, my approach to life. Me. Me. Me.

The problem is, those areas aren’t always going so great. Might there be a connection? Maybe it all lays in this…

“Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:10)

Easy to say, hard to do.

Fill Me?

“My primary remedy was to look for someone or something that would make me feel loved and significant. It’s as if I carried around a little heart-shaped cup and extended it to whatever or whomever I perceived might fill it…Will you fill me?” (TerKeurst, Becoming More…, p.30)

What or who are you asking to fill you today?

Danger Lady

When I was a little girl, my dad used to call me, “Danger Lady.”
I can still hear his voice, the way the words rolled off his tongue. I am quite sure I never did anything really dangerous, mostly just jumping off things, riding fast on my bike, picking up weird bugs, or climbing into my brother’s tree fort. As I think back to those moments, it makes me wonder.

When is it that we stop being fearless and start being fearful?

Enter Peter. He is one of Jesus’ 12 disciples; he is in Jesus’ “Top Friends”. With Jesus around, you’d think it would be easy to eliminate fears and do dangerous things. Yet, looking at Matthew 14, it seems Peter thought otherwise.

“During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

(Sidenote: I wish I could have an original audio version of the Bible and hear Peter’s tone. Is it challenging? Fear-filled? And better yet, Jesus’ simple response, “Come.”)

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Recap: The disciples see Jesus walking on the water towards them. Instead of being an awe of Jesus, they were terrified of him. He calmed them, assuring them of His presence. Peter (challenges, begs, cries out in fear…not sure which) Jesus to invite Peter to walk on the water to met him, to which Jesus says, “Come.” Do you think Peter was expecting that? So, now he has a decision to make. The passage tells us that Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Until…

Yes, that’s right…“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid.”

Peter was fearful. His fear robbed him of a dangerously beautiful experience with Jesus.

I think that same thing happens to many of us. Our fears cause us to miss out on amazing experiences. Whether internal fears (insecurities, self-esteem, etc.) or external fears (situations), our fears overcome us and we lose faith and start to sink, just like Peter. We take our eyes off Jesus and start focusing on the fear. Today, I want to encourage you to reflect upon this question.

Is your fear robbing you of something dangerously beautiful?