"I don't understand," replied Mack. "I don't even understand what you just told me."
She turned back and smiled. "I know. I didn't tell you so that you would understand right now. I told you for later. At this point, you don't even comprehend that freedom is an incremental process." Gently reaching out, she took Mack's hands in hers, flour covered and all, and looking him straight in the eyes she continued, "Mackenzie, the Truth shall set you free and the Truth has a name; he's over in the woodshop right now covered in sawdust. Everything is about him. And freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with him. Then all that stuff you feel churnin' around inside will start to work its way out."
-- The Shack, William P. Young
This weekend the Holy Spirit and I got the opportunity to travel a bit further along the road of freedom from my own expectations. Though I wish I could just be totally free with a wave of a wand, this isn't how these things work and this is where I'm at right now.
This weekend, I felt some disappointment as a result of an expectation I had with a friend. The details aren't important, especially since it was really an unspoken expectation that wasn't fair on my part. The reality was that my expectation led me to feel hurt by the lack of action of another. And that of an action they weren't aware I was expecting. How lame is that! But it did provide a moment for the Holy Spirit to help me see what was going on here. I was able to acknowledge my feelings and rather than let them turn to resentment, I began to ask Father why, in this instance, was I looking for affirmation in another person rather than from Him? That is when this quote from 'The Shack' came to mind, "freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with [Jesus]." The Holy Spirit helped to remind me where I really draw my identity from. And that is from who God says I am. In that alone, will I be able to find true freedom from the tyrrany of my own expections and allow others the freedom to be who they are.
3 comments:
Isn't wonderful in those moments when we are able to see what is going on and let go and then things we have been learning (even if unaware of them) kinda just slip into the void created by having let go of something that was out of sorts with living free and trusting Father?
Cool stuff Rick.
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