Chicken or Eagle?

I was recently challenged by someone who said I should be grateful for what I had. It wasn't that I was grumbling about what I had. I was simply discontent with the circumstances surrounding what I had. To me, the challenge was silly. A spout-off from someone who didn't know what they were talking about. Someone who didn't have all the facts. But since then, I've pondered the challenge and wondered if perhaps, there isn't something there.

This morning I was reading a "devotional" by Francis de Sales on "devotion" and after taking a brief inventory, I found a dearth of devotion. Dictionary.com lists the synonyms for devotion as love, ardor, and zeal. St. Francis de Sales explains that devotion is "true love of God", that devotion is "simply that spiritual agility by which charity works in us or by aid of which we work quickly and lovingly." Now don't get me wrong, I love God. But I'm not quite sure how agile I am in charitable works. To make it easier to understand, he compares people to birds: ostriches (sinners who never fly), chickens, (people struggling to do good but without true devotion) and eagles (devoted Christians who soar). So, in other words, devotion is loving God so completely that it transforms my life from one who struggles to do good works and perhaps grumbles about it to one who soars through life on wings of love, face towards God, good works simply falling in my trail.

The author says that the world sees the devout as "having discontented, gloomy, sullen faces and claims that devotion brings on depression and unbearable moods." And although I at first disagreed with him, the more I thought about my own devotion, I realized many would say (and have said) that about my example! In his view, I'm a chicken! And if the world only ever knows "birds" from the testimony of a chicken, they'd have a pretty skewed view of a bird! I guess if the world sees the devout as chickens, I'm actually part of the problem!

Without thought, I would tell you I'm a devoted follower of Christ. Yet something is wrong if unbelievers look at my life and see a chicken. They say, "Look at the chicken!" and I say, "That's not a chicken! That's an eagle!" Wow... who looks stupid then?

I confess that I have been undisciplined, wallowing in the dust of the fenced-in chicken yard, my head down, fighting over scraps of worms and bits of dried corn. And with all that dust it's hard to look up and see the eagles and the sky where I belong. I need to get up out of that yard; get above the din and dust- but how?

Jonathan Edwards writes in Religious Affections that

The nature of human beings is to be inactive unless influenced by some affection: love or hatred, desire, hope, fear, etc. These affections are the 'spring of actions', the things that set us moving in our lives, that move us to engage in activities.

These affections stimulate our zeal, or our "tireless, enthusiastic devotion" towards a cause. In other words, without stimulation from affections, we won't have devotion. I need to find my affections and use them as a spring board towards devotion.

I believe that the wear and tear on the soul by life causes our affections to dim. And certainly focusing on our disappointments causes us to lose hope, causes us to fear. It's a tool of Satan to make sure we stay chickens. Without affections to spur us on, we will be "content" to squabble in the hen house. But in the Psalms we are taught over and over again to focus on our blessings, the promises of God fulfilled, the power of God, His protective hand. Every time the psalmist's soul is "down hearted", he remembers God's saving power and finds the affections he needs to spring into devotion.

And on the wings of devotion, he soars.

Psalm 42 (The Message)

A psalm of the sons of Korah

1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I'm thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, "Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God's presence?"
I'm on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
"Where is this God of yours?"

4 These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God's feast!

5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God.

6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God's prayer.

9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
"Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?"
They're out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
"Where is this God of yours?"

11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God.

China or Styrofoam?

Do you ever worry that despite what God wants for your life that you just aren't making it? You know what a child of God looks like (or at least you think you do) and you know what their life must be like - their behavior, their thoughts, their hearts - and when you compare them to yours you simply don't see the resemblance? Do you sometimes feel like God must be shaking His head and wondering if you're ever going to "get it"?

My daughter and I are embarking on a new Sunday School class called Secret Keeper Girl. It's a Bible study of sorts to help young girls learn that their value is found in being a child of God, not in whatever society says of them. It's full of fun outings to places like hair salons, shopping malls, trips to get facials, and view art. The first lesson is about a china tea cup and the outing is for a formal tea.

At first, I was a little riled about the whole china tea cup comparison. I mean, what makes a china tea cup special? Why is it "worth" more than, say, a Styrofoam cup? Well, in my eyes, the china cup is worth more because it's fragile, decorated, delicate. That offended me! Those were worldly assignments of worth. Did I want my daughter to be valued because she's dainty and pretty on the outside? I have Depression glass tea cups. I have never put hot water in them because I'm terrified they will break. Did I want my daughter to learn that she was just a decoration, too fragile to be of use to the Kingdom? It seemed at first that the Styrofoam cup was more Christ like! It's functional. It doesn't detract from it's purpose which is to effectively serve hot beverages and keep them hot without burning your hand. It does its job perfectly well and in the end, the cup, the outer trappings, can be discarded. Why even the fact that it isn't biodegradable seemed Christ like to me! Just like Styrofoam, He lasts forever!!

But then I listened to the story about the china tea cup. I had forgotten that china is a type of pottery. I took a pottery class in college. We had to work the clay over and over with our bare hands until my hands ached. We worked out every bubble because even the tiniest bubble in the raw clay could cause the art to burst in the oven. We (well, most of us- not me) threw our clay on the wheel, spinning it until we got it just right. (I never got mine just right!) The project was baked at a high temperature, painted with high fume glaze and then re-baked. If the project had been human, all of that work to produce a lovely piece of art would have been quite painful! And I can imagine that the poor little piece of clay would have never believed that eventually it was going to be just what the potter had in mind.

So often, just like that piece of clay, I wonder if I will ever turn out right. I believe that I'm faulty clay- that there's not much even a Master Potter could accomplish with me. And then I read verses like Romans 8:29-30:

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

And I believe that what God sets His mind to, He accomplishes (Isaiah 55:11), so maybe there's hope yet!