The Golden Godlife

Every day I find myself sitting in my window seat in my office. It's my place to be before God as part of my focus of daily solitude. In fact, it's large enough for me to sit in and practice looking at myself and the world through God's eyes. This morning I couldn't help but notice the framed picture located on the wall directly in front of me. The Norman Rockwell print represents an amalgamation of various nationalities all standing together. Underneath are the words, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

As a veteran of Sunday Schools and Vacation Bible Schools, I am familiar with this principle based on Jesus' own words in Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Called the Golden Rule, this principle transcends all religions and cultures. You can find versions of this life rule planted within over 21 different religions. In fact, Jesus only expressed in a positive way what had already been written and expressed through people generations before. The difference is in the context...Jesus is saying because God gives you good gifts therefore you should love others out of gratitude to God based on a life of love. So for the Christian, the Golden Rule has a foundation in love which is centered in God. So it is in actuality the Golden Godlife. This is supposed to be a natural love lifestyle and not a legalistic rule of measurement.

So many times the windows of love in our lives get blocked and we operate out of selfishness and the Golden Godlife becomes, "Do unto others because they deserve it," or "Do unto others in order to have them do unto me." In both cases the focus is on me and my life and not the Godlife Jesus had in mind!

Can you imagine if we actually lived out the Golden Godlife as Christians on a daily, moment by moment basis. Instead of getting mad at my wife for running late getting ready, I ask to help her. Instead of ignoring that person on the corner with the sign asking for help, I take them to lunch. Instead of criticizing my boss, I imagine what it must be like to make such tough decisions based on information I'm not aware of. Instead of complaining about trash in the parking lot, I actually help to clean it up. As Americans we are quick to rush to the aid of disasters like Haiti (and we should) but my neighbor or work associate becomes forgotten. Putting ourselves in others' shoes is what the Godlife is all about. Seeing what God sees involves an outer awareness that comes from an inner open window.

These actions must come from an open window of love. As I sit in my window box I am reminded that daily I must open the window of my life to God...to His presence, His love, and His acceptance. In the same fashion when I let that same love flow through the open windows of my life to people, the Golden Godlife becomes a natural practice and not just a mechanical rule. This Godlife is meant to be shared and not just cherished...given away and not held... It's time to open my windows to Golden Godlife opportunities.

The We in Me

The road to being me is a journey that is often misunderstood. Because I live in a society in which I am indoctrinated with a focus on self-improvement, self-acceptance, self-help, and self-growth, the thought of another light shining on "being me" seems contradictory to the Biblical charge to "deny myself". The problem lies in the understanding of what denying myself means and it's relationship to community.

First, when Jesus shared that I was to "deny myself" He was not talking about stuffing myself out of sight in order to blend into a clone world of Jesus freaks. In fact the opposite is true. When I live in a world of true contemplation bathed in the light of the constant presence of God, I begin to be free from the fears of living lies and masks in order to be accepted by society and friends. This freedom to truly "be me" comes only from being with God honestly and openly and accepting His love. His presence breaks down those walls.

Secondly, as a contemplative I am not isolated in myself, but liberated from my external and egotistic masked self (the Biblical self denial) by humility and purity of heart (derived from a life of being with God). Therefore there is no longer any serious obstacle to simple and humble love of others. The more I am alone with God to learn how to be me, the more I am able to be my true self with others and the more freedom I have to unselfishly focus on serving people. I no longer have to fear what people think to cloud my service of love. I accept His love in order to channel that love to others.

So the opposite is true. To find the real me, I must sacrifice the masked me. When that false self with all it's fronts and pretenses is laid to rest, I can then live out of God's love freely to serve others. My life as a contemplative lived in an open world of serving others, leads to finding my true self and discovering others as we truly are. Here is the genuine reality of the free abundant life Jesus talked about!

Being me is meant to be experienced in the freedom and dynamic of being us.

Love Pursuit

I met a girl named Julie. It was 28 years ago that my friendship with Julie turned into a whirlwind romance of pursuing love. I ran after her until she said yes in March and we were married June 26th. This is the story of God: He pursues after us with His love and maybe we haven't said yes yet. Pursuing after someone requires no substitutes - when pursuing Julie I didn't send a friend or a better looking guy to woo her. In God's case He decided to come Himself as Jesus to pursue me with his love. In our relationship I have been distracted and focused on doing things to please Him. In my mind if I could do religion really well He would love me even more. Our relationship has winded down the path of dysfunction many days leaving me anxious and restless. Meanwhile He still is relentlessly pursuing me with His love - a pursuit that is unconditional and totally accepting of me for who I am. Today He is with me, chasing me and wooing me. He is here in person with no substitutes waiting for me to say yes.