Thunder and Lightning

Ever since I was young, I loved watching lightning; the more intense, the better the show! To me, it was like watching God's fireworks!

I know it frightens some, with good reason. Lightning can kill. Lightning can damage a home or structure. I've seen trees where lightning striped the bark off completely or split the trunk in two. I've witnessed pavement fused into something chemically different. I've responded to house fires where lightning struck.

When I was a teenager, I stupidly stood on a lakeshore beach during a thunderstorm. I wasn't on or in the water, so I should be safe, I thought. I didn't realize how wrong I was until a lightning bolt struck the shoreline and sent me flying back four feet through the air with the concussion alone.

Yet, even after that, I find lightning beautiful to watch. There was a pretty violent storm last night in our area. I took a few moments to step just outside the door under the shelter of the porch to watch. I know now this doesn't guarantee my safety, but the view is irresistible.

I wonder if approaching God is similar. There is power. There is majesty. There is immense, infinite beauty. But in the back of the mind, there is fear at approaching something so powerful and divine. It's even been said that God's voice is like the rumble of thunder (Exodus 19:18-19, John 12:27-32, Acts 9:3-7).

But, unlike lightning, the only thing that will be threatened by God is that which is not from God. The fear comes from a part of ourselves that is in active defiance of God. It believes there is reason to fear reprimand and correction by God.

God's touch, however, simply peels that part from us, leaving us as we are created - something that loves and is lovable. That - in pure essence - is forgiveness. It's only when we associate with this defiance, refusing to let it go, that we find ourselves separated from the Divine...

Unlike what many preach, God doesn't want to punish us. God doesn't want to hurt us. Have you ever removed a splinter from a child's skin, or had one removed from yours? It hurts! The more one squirms, jumps and moves around, the more injury is sustained extracting that which is the cause of the pain. God is a loving Parent, doing much the same thing with our inner self.

And when it is over, the skies clear of the dark clouds to reveal something far greater than we have ever imagined.

~ESA

Change in Prayer

Over the last few weeks, I've been reading through a backlog of blog-posts I follow. One of them (regrettably I forget which), mentioned that the writer changed their prayer from "help me" to "use me."

I request that God help me and help others. Help me to overcome this struggle. Help me to understand this situation. Help me to heal. Help others to do the same... But what if I changed that to "use me?"

So Friday morning, while I prayed for guidance, I added a simple, "please use me - in whatever way you want." For I understand that if I had SOME foreknowledge of what God wants me to do, I am stubborn enough to try to do it MY way (not God's Way) and often screw it up or even make things worse. So I keep my own ideas and thoughts in check, to see what God has in mind...

When I got into the office, I noticed that someone had made a last-minute donation in the building's collection box to help Colorado (http://helpcoloradonow.org/). The practical side in me made the phone call to a donation center, having already forgotten the prayer addition.

The call that started as a simple confirmation of the shipping address, lasted well over an hour. The site manager and I bounced ideas between us and generated a long list of other possible resources that could help both those in Colorado as well as any location that may find itself facing large-scale disasters (fire, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzards, nor'easters, extended power outages, etc.) in the future.

The moment I hung up, I remembered the morning prayer, and thanked God for using me - even in a way I would never have imagined.

God does work in our lives, sometimes it is through each other. What if we all changed our prayers from "help me" to "use me," what would our world be?

Hand-in-hand we face what comes
Hand-in-hand we can do what must be done
One thing I know is very true
God weaves through our hands when we do

~ ESA