"Looking for Lovely"

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (TPT)

Oh, how I love this verse! It’s a favorite of mine, and it has been for a long time. Today, I’m noticing something new about the message, though.

On page 47, Annie said of her counseling experience, “I thought I needed to be repaired…. I actually needed to be rebuilt. And rebuilding anything this is over thirty years old takes a lot of time and strength and perseverance. All the nuts and bolts of my old ways of thinking were rusted in place, and what the broken crazy had done was reveal that the rust was eroding away at my soul, and it was time to tear down the old and built up the new.”

Personally, I think Annie is too hard on herself in this chapter. Graciously, she shared a college experience with us where a counselor touched on a subject Annie wasn’t ready to address. She gave herself a day to cry over it. She sat with a friend and cried. Then, she closed the door and moved on until that “thing” stood up again and needed to be dealt with. Clearly, it appears she wishes she'd done what she needed to do with the "broken crazy" then so that it would be gone now.

What if Annie did exactly what she was supposed to do in that first counseling round?

What if allowing the stirring for a brief moment was all she could do as a college student?

What if true healing is supposed to come in doses and only as we are ready?

I’m asking these questions because I feel a lot like Annie at times. I can be so hard on me! I’m guilty of looking back at earlier seasons and feeling so frustrated that I didn’t engage in certain ways before that would have put me in a better position to be healthy and whole now. I tend to view the process of becoming whole like a race with mile markers that I should reach within certain time frames. But, what if I’m viewing the whole thing wrong?

And, what if the lovely part of living is working towards wholeness and every piece of it is lovely regardless of when I get to it?

I know I’m asking a lot of questions, and I’m worried this post sounds like a child wrote it. I mean shouldn’t I know the answers to these questions by now?

“Now, we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges!” (5:17, MSG)

New life emerging sounds awfully childlike. Actually, it sounds newborn-like. In light of all we’ve been studying together, it sounds beautiful. Wholeness and healing come at a cost, and the price is cooperation with God for a tear down for the sake of a rebuild… careful deconstruction for the sake of reconstruction.

Y’all, we don’t want shifts and tweaks. We want the beauty of reconstruction. We want to look up at our Heavenly Father like the children we are and allow Him to give us a fresh, new start.... whatever that means in this season. When things in my life begin to crumble, I don’t have to freak out. Old things must fall away in order for new things to be born.

Wow! Thank you, Jesus.

Ladies, I want to leave you with some red letter words from my Bible. I’m sharing them in both the Message Version and Passion Translation. Then, I want you to read them in your version of choice. I have absolutely no idea how to ask you to end your time with Jesus today. I just feel confident this passage is where we must close.

“I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square on and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.” (Matthew 18:3-5)

“Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable like a little child, you will never be able to enter in. Whoever continually humbles himself to become like this little child is the greatest one in heaven’s kingdom realm. And if you tenderly care for this little one on my behalf, you are tenderly caring for me.” (TPT)

We are invited to become like children AND to care for those brave enough to become like children. These are exciting and challenging words. I want this kingdom way!