Resting in the Lord

Is it possible that the act of trusting another person can also lead to a deeper trust in the Lord?

I have learned to trust in the act of confession. I trust the sacramental nature of it. I trust the person sitting on the other side of the screen. In my case, my confessor is always someone I know, so it is an even greater trust knowing that I will see him again outside of the box.

But God has led me to a place of courage.

And in that place of courage, Love resides. God is there and his love surrounds and fills us and invites us to rest in him.

Which I do from time to time.

But never more than after a challenging confession.

The art of medium well

Today a friend was talking about her 50th birthday.

It makes me wonder if I am ever going to do anything significant, she said.

I believe that for me, the answer is no.

I used to think that I was going to be exceptional. At what, I was less sure, but I really thought that someday, somehow, I would be.... known for something.

I know I have posted before about my exceptional parents. I grew up thinking that everyone had parents that were well known. I grew up thinking that it was expected that you would accomplish at least one extraordinary thing in your life.

Some of my parent's exceptional friends seem to have had exceptional offspring. One is releasing his 4th or 5 album this month. Another just won a genius grant from the MacArthur folks. (He is, incidentally, the second one of his exceptionally talented family to snag that particular distinction.)

And since I have posted about this before, it might seem like I am obsessing, but since my friend brought it up, I decided that I really need to set the record straight.

I am not exceptional, except perhaps in my fondness for junk television and fascination with historical travelogues of West Africa. (I love you, Mungo Park. Hope to meet you on the other side some day.)

I think that it was the King himself who finally lifted the burden of exceptional from me. Jesus pointed to the beauty of ordinariness. He calls us to be extraordinary in the most ordinary of ways. He asks us to be Holy, as God is Holy, even as he tells us that no one is Good except God.

We cannot be extraordinary Christians. We are always going to be mediocre, stumbling in our faith, prone to sin and selfishness, spiritual goofballs that have to learn the same lessons over and over again.

But truly I tell you, I would rather be a striving to be better Christian than an exceptional anything else.

Sunday

And after a weekend of gorgeous weather, lovely drumming, church, great food, even a beer or two, I am trying to get back into work brain.

It is a tough transition sometimes.

So, off to bed I go to read some psalms and say some prayers and get ready for the week ahead.