Prepare For Impact

What impact are you having on this world? A crazy question to wake up to, isn't it. It is a question I have been pondering all morning, ever since reading through the life of king Solomon. 

Solomon is a tragic figure in history. We can celebrate his beginning and mourn his ending but there are parts in between that can spark some interesting thoughts. For example, the visit by the Queen of Sheba.

She had heard of Solomon and traveled a long distance with a lot of stuff to gift to Solomon, all because she wanted to discover for herself if the stories were true. After she thoroughly examined everything she stated that the half had not been told to her. She was amazed by this man and the wisdom he demonstrated in every aspect of his life as king.

What struck me was how she saw his purpose. She didn't state that he was a fortunate man. She didn't point out the benefits of this wisdom for Solomon at all. Her conclusion was that Yahweh must truly love the people of the Israeli Kingdom because he had given them Solomon on the thrown. The king was a blessing to his people because he did not hoard the wealth but instead used it to make the whole kingdom and the friends of the kingdom prosperous. Solomon had a very positive impact on the atmosphere of the region.

Unfortunately he later had a negative impact on the same atmosphere that would be longer lasting than the blessings. 

It was because of his relationship, his obedience and dedication to Yahweh that Solomon was a conduit of blessing. It was from the overflow of this obedience that God's blessings flowed into everyone in the kingdom and the surrounding nations. Yahweh was pleased to do this. However, when the obedience stopped the blessings stopped. Solomon got distracted, forgot his place, made it about him and wandered away from Yahweh.

I sit here in this moment with the laughter of my children ringing throughout the house as they blissfully enjoy the innocents of their childhood. What they experience in this home has everything to do with my obedient walk with Jesus. It has everything to do with me keeping in step with the Spirit, being attentive to the voice of Father. It has everything to do with leaning into my King with a growing passion to act on his commands.

I am designed to impact the atmosphere of my home and community. But will that impact be one of blessings or strife? Father has designed me to be his conduit of blessings, encouragement and love to the people I impact. He has designed me to be his image bearer, to do what I have seen him do, and say what I have heard him say. He has brought me into a Kingdom of love, respect and honour so that I will impact my family and community with love, respect and honour. But this is so powerful, so otherworldly that I cannot generate this myself no matter how much I want to do it myself.

The impact on atmosphere I have been designed for is supernatural and the source is found in my relationship with Jesus. I am empowered by free flowing grace but it is not a stand alone thing. It is not a gift that was bestowed on me and then I am released on the world. Apart from Jesus I can do nothing because the source of this free flowing grace that empowers me is my connection to the Vine, my relationship with my King. 

That's where Solomon lost it and where I never want to. David knew this and that is why he cried out for Yahweh not to remove him from his presence, to not take his Spirit away. Without Spirit we are nothing and we have nothing. The greatest value we bring to the table of our families and communities is the passionate, obedient love we have for Jesus that then allows us to bless everyone with an impacted atmosphere that happens from the overflow of our blessed life.

A Mistake We Make In This Modern Age Of Parenting - We Forget What It Is To Be A Teen

This may seem a little off beat from my usual blog but a verse really grabbed me the other day as I was doing my daily reading. It struck me because in this modern age of communication we have greater access to people's thoughts and communications than at any other time in history. We get to hear things that in the past we would have no access too:

Do not pay attention to every word people say, 
   or you may hear your servant cursing you— 
for you know in your heart    that many times you yourself have cursed others. (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22)

When I read this I actually read it like:

"Do not pay attention to every word your children say,
or you may hear your children cursing you -
for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed your parents."

Think about that for a minute. When we were young our parents didn't have access to our FaceBook and they weren't able to check up on our histories to see our conversations. Imagine what may have resulted if they had heard some of the private conversation we had with our friends. We all have frustrating days, especially children who have to deal with the inconsistencies of their parents. As parents we try our best to be consistent but there are days when we are overwhelmed, distracted, stressed and we are less than our ideal desire as a parent. Our children don't have the maturity to understand this and or what we are dealing with. All they see is that last week we said that and now we are saying this.

You know our tendency to complain as adults but do you also remember that we were complainers as kids? Who did we complain to? Our friends of course. On the way to school, at school, on the way home, at the neighbourhood hang out, we voiced our complaints, opinions and desires about our parents. It was not always kind but it helped to vent our frustrations. But we didn't stay there in that place of immaturity; we grew up, matured and came to appreciate our parents for everything they did and put up with and we never stopped loving them, even in the midst of the complaints.

Fast forward to today, the age of social networking and parent policing. In our desire to protect our children from the evil that is in this world, from people who would want to harm them, we have access to the conversations they have with their friends. It is like our parents riding the school bus with us or listening in at the neighbourhood hang out. We have an unprecedented access to their complaints, opinions and thoughts which are sometimes about us. It is not abnormal the things that they say but we take it personally. All I can say is, imagine if our parents had heard us, yet we turned out to love and respect  our parents.

Children, teens, youth need to have some space to vent, even if they are off the wall wrong about what they are saying. I have made the mistake too many times to count, not understanding that fine line of protecting them from evil and allowing them some freedom to express their frustration. The only thing it accomplished was causing my children to take a step further away from me. Instead of looking at the natural need to vent frustration, I wanted to correct their perception. Not the wisest thing to do in the midst of venting. Now I hear Solomon's words:

Do not pay attention to every word people say, 
   or you may hear your servant cursing you— 
for you know in your heart 
   that many times you yourself have cursed others.

We still need access to their FaceBook and we still need to check their conversations but we need to apply a filter so we are only looking for the really dangerous stuff. We need to get a thick skin, filter out the complaints and venting with their friends and allow them that time of awkwardness while moving from child to adult. Some of the things they say may be unjustified and may even sting but remember what you said about your parents and let it go. If you have been training them in the way of the Lord it will all even out when they are adults.