Walking in Oprah

'Overall, out of 10, did your life improve after following Oprah's advice exactly for one year'? 

Mike Hosking, Newstalk ZB breakfast radio host, was interviewing Robyn Okrant about her year long journey of religiously being a follower of every bit of advice Oprah gave on her TV show. A similar interview can be found at this link.

It's interesting how Spirit speaks to us at times. 

Earlier that morning I had felt nudged by Spirit to pick up my mother's old King James Version Bible and spend some time reading. As I leafed through the pages I came across my mother's hand written notes, thoughts, and quotes she had picked up over the many years. 

My eyes came to rest on the first chapter of a book of poetry – Psalms. I decided to practice an ancient spiritual exercise called Lectio Divina where you meditate and muse over a particular word or section of scripture. It's a method of slowing down and letting Spirit speak to you through the Word. 

I went quiet and let the first phrase of Psalm 1:1 weave its way through my mind.

Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

As I gently repeated this phrase, I settled on the words 'walketh', 'counsel' and 'ungodly'. 

Spirit gave me a picture of how we can easily walk in the advice of others, an ongoing journey of listening to others advice, much of which may well be ungodly and just popularist worldy trash.

So, as my thoughts were being caressed by the prior reading of the Psalm, I was listening to the interview of someone who had walked in the counsel of Oprah for a whole year. 

The answer to Mikes question was 5/10. Robyn said that some of Oprah's advice was actually in the negative and contradictory to other advice she gave.

The Psalmist goes on to tell us about the TV talk show he listens to, and the fruit there is from daily attendance.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

David counsels us to not listen to the 'Oprah's' around us, but instead spend time delighting and meditating on scripture. Letting the Word of God roll around in our thinking, regrooving our mind and creating new neural pathways.

Lectio Divina, 'Divine Reading', is a beautiful and gentle way of having the scriptures speak deeply into our soul.

Reflective Questions:

• Who are the 'Oprah's' that people listen to?
• Be honest with yourself, where do you seek counsel and wisdom?
• What needs to change in your life so that you are able to just sit quietly in God's presence, mulling on his word?

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Barry Pearman

Photo Credit: dlemieux via Compfight cc

Little by little

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi.

 'My life is not where I want it to be, I should be …' 

'Should's' have a powerful pull over the mind. We have expectations, we have dreams, others have expectations for us, and others have dreams for us. 

We look over the fence at others and covet. We long for more. 

A desire turns into a need then turns into a demand. 

We want to be someone else, any place is better than the existence I now have. A longing for the better life, whatever that may look like for you. We might use the phrase 'A land flowing with milk and honey' which is how God described the promised land to the Israelites slave bound in Egypt. Yes, that's what we want, take me there - milk, honey, peace, joy etc. Once you've got that vision in your mind, enticing as it is, read how God told them he was going to do it.

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. Deuteronomy 7:22

God was going to bring them into a better future, but it wasn't going to happen quickly, it was going to be a slow change. One step forward, establish yourself, then another step forward and establish yet again. 

Little steps of growing, knowing, and learning. 

Changing little by little. 

Is that ok for you? 

Ever gone to a course and you have come away overwhelmed with information and you only retain maybe one or two things that make a difference. That's because our mind is similar to what God said in Deuteronomy. 

Let me rewrite the verse a little.

The Lord your God will change your mind little by little; you will not be able to make giant leaps of learning and change, because your past 'stinky thinky' and your old ways of handling life, need to be dealt with thoroughly or they will overwhelm the good change that is happening.

Over the next week spend some time thinking over Deuteronomy 7:22. 

Write it on a little card, read it many times over the course of the day, let it work its way through your thinking and see what thoughts, ideas, and learning's emerge. 

Then let me know, I would love to hear your feedback.

Barry Pearman

Image by AV4TAr Creative Commons

Vomit

Why do they do it? Always returning to their vomit.
For being 'Man's best friend' they sure have some disgusting habits. 
With this burning question running around my thought blender I went to the source of all true and perfect knowledge – Google. 
They reckon it harks back to the ancestral gene pool of when dogs were wolves and they would catch the local Bugs Bunny, eat it, then vomit it back for their young pups to eat. 
It seems that some traits are just built into the behavioural patterns of dogs. The dog may be fluffy and cute but it still has a powerful pull to do what we would consider disgusting.

In Proverbs we find a verse that has the power to really stick in your memory. 

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness Proverbs 26:11.

Foolishness is a passionate conviction that we need something other than God to satisfy the deepest longings of the soul. 
I have a need and I must meet it and so I will repeat again what I have done time and time again, even though I know that in the end the soul pleasure is fleeting and I am left with vomit. 
A foolish behaviour pattern that began as a trickle turns into stream which turns into a river which turns into a canyon. 
We feel trapped by the pull of the trickle.

Praise the Lord we are not Dogs! 
When you ask Christ into your life you have a new strength to draw on. There are new options to draw from when we see the trickles starting to form. 
With the help of Spirit we can find new behaviours that when repeated time and time again form healthy and holy rivers in our thinking. 
Instead of returning to the vomit we choose to go a different way. It will take time and effort, but with God's help we can be transformed by the renewing (or rewiring) of our mind.
When you see yourself about to return to vomit, have a healthier option, choose it, and draw on Spirit's help to navigate a new path.

Barry Pearman
Image by Aitor Aranda Creative Commons 

Allure

Definition: the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.

It's Autumn, and already I am looking forward to Spring.

I have to go through winter and all the wet and cold, but I know better times are coming when my senses are filled with the fragrance of spring flowers.

Why do flowers have fragrance?

Well it's to attract insects to come and pollinate them. 

Those beautiful flowers have an alluring effect on those little critters. They can't help themselves and they have to go to the flower.

My favourite verse in the Bible tells me that God is like this too.

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. Hosea 2:14

God was talking about those who had decided he wasn't the best flower in the garden. 

They had gone off to other flowers, other God's. 

They had chosen the second best option rather than the best. They wanted to be in control of their lives rather than allowing God to fully embrace them. 

There was stubbornness in their hearts. They had rejected God because he required vulnerability and repentance.

God had a plan though. He was going to be alluring to them, irresistible, giving them a taste of His Love. 

They still had a choice. They could still reject and walk away. But Gods heart is unbelievably gracious. He would draw them to him out of share love. 

Then he would take them to a desert experience where there would be trials. Where they had to rely on him more than on their own strategies to get through life. 

They would see his provision for them in their need.

Chess players go mad; Poets never do. G.K. Chesterton (Like that? Tweet it!)

I don't think Mr Chesterton had a particular issue with Chess players, he was just passing on an observation that people that try and formularise life, make tight strategies, and be legalist, often go quietly away from where real life is.

The poet embraces the mystery and looks to the rhythm of the dance to provide the possible next step of life. It's an adventure. 

There is an alluring effect to this dance.

May you at times just 'stop and smell the roses'. 

Find God alluring you. 

Follow the trail of scent, be vulnerable, and be open to his touch.

How has God been 'alluring' to you lately?
Leave a comment

Barry Pearman
Image by Allen Hsu Creative Commons

Extreme Makeover

Over the last few weeks I have had time to get to work on some of the home maintenance issues that have needed addressing. 

The list was quite long, but slowly and steadily I have worked through them all, item by item. There will always be a list of things to address. 

My life is also like this. Changes to make, challenges to overcome, habits to be either encouraged or to be whittled away.

Wise old C.S. Lewis wrote this

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. (C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity)

Jesus loves us too much, to leave us, the way we are. (Like that? Tweet it)

He comes into the messy, rickety old shack of our lives and begins a renovation work. 

First step is to have a personal recognition that our lives need a makeover. 

We are a mess, we need a thorough understanding of the rot in our lives. 

No covering over it. 

We have foundational core beliefs in our thinking that will not hold up the palace he wants to construct. They must be addressed before any more construction is done.

The great thing about this carpenter is that he has an eye on the final product. He knows the mansion he wants to build, he has a plan, he is slow and methodical, he is meticulous in fine craftsmanship, and he has done this work with millions of others.

He has never had a failure. Paul put it this way. 

'I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion' Philippians 1:6

Let the renovation work continue as he builds your dream home.

Barry Pearman

Photo Credit: Patrick Henson via Compfight cc