Did you
ever go to switch on a light in a dark room, only to find that the bulb was
out, or worse that a household member has stolen the bulb in question to use in
another room? With incandescent bulbs, the problem was more frequent, but
stealing LEDs for another room is still irritating.
You and I live in the household of God’s family. The first biblical word our God
has ever said to us is
Let
there be light. (Genesis 1.3 )
To
live in darkness is not what God desires for us. We are called to live in the
light. Daylight. Sunlight. Moonlight. Artificial light. Light from without. Light
from within.
What
illumination has God given us (gifts or light bulbs, if you will ) has God
given us to help us in our movements as
we inch along or leap toward fully human lives.
v
the gift
of consciousness. Sometimes we blunder through a day without even being
aware of what is happening. Be present to the day, the moment. Save daydreams
for another time. Be aware.
v
the gift
of openhandedness. Open hands give away or receive, don’t clutch and are
sometimes empty.
v
the gift
of singleheartedness. The opposite of singleheartedness is dupliciousness,
speaking with a forked tongue, lacking in integrity. Jesus was singlehearted. He looked for a kernel or well-grown singleheartedness in the people
he called. Think of Nathaniel, a man in
whom Jesus saw is no guile.( John 1.47 )
v
the gift
of being able to initiate. Conversartions,
relationships, work, To initiate is to invite into oneself, to enter into.
v
the gift
of responsiveness. To respond, not
ignore. To respond requires that the
other initiates. The back and forth of human interaction requires that we
respond. First responders is a term coined in our day, but history is full of
first responders. Jesus was the first responder above and beyond all others.
v
the gift
of staying power. I can’t. “I won’t” gives way to “I think I can.” “I think I can” gives
way to “I want to . I will.” To what in our daily lives do we make these
responses?
Using
these gifts, we can develop life giving patterns, Habits of the Heart, as Steve Covey puts it. But also habits of the
mind, spirit, and body. Habits can
become rote. That’s not God’s gift. Repetition becomes life giving when it
continues to be conscious, wholehearted and singlehearted. Here’s an example of a life giving habit: Yesterday I
found inside of me a prayer of praise for our God. Is it there today. Can I
repeat it with my heart? Build on it? In my
daily life, let there be light.
