Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Does it Hurt to Become Real?

Recently I wrote a post about an EKG for the soul.
It sent me on a week's worth of personal thought and
'soul-searching' about this.
* * * * *
I've been doing some yard work and gardening... trying to clean things up around here...
As I gathered the thorny barberry bush trimmings... wearing gloves... I was still stuck and scratched by the thorns.
Not a big sacrifice to trim up some bushes ...
The song we sang on Sunday, All For Love, by Lenny LeBlanc, came to mind once again.
What would make You turn away from glory
Laying down Your life to save the world...
... Giving up Your Throne...Giving up Your Throne ...
... For a crown of thorns ...
I looked inside the bag... filled with thorns...
What must that feel like?
As mosquitoes bit and some of the thorns still poking me from inside my gloves...
What must that feel like?
Thorns, wrapped around and around - embedded on my head
- a mocking crown-

Prison and Death to the desired political King
~
Birth and Life to the spirit's needed Savior.

My soul-work was to look into what could be blocking my heart and soul from living a life of Grace.
I put more thorny branches into the bags...
Do I avoid thorny situations?
Stepping out on a limb might be too risky... I could get hurt, feel pain or humiliated.
I might be misunderstood, rejected.
~
Dying to self requires a leap of faith.
...but, I fell down in humility when I understood the sacrifice...

this death to self

. . . that Jesus made . . .
.
all he released
.
.
.
.

. . . with the certainty that the Source of Life is REAL . . .
This Real Love that resurrects and renews.

Luke: 17
On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.

Help me to let go of self.

Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

. . . and receive life . . .
then, enter into Kingdom living
~ with a humble heart of thankfulness ~

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
* * * * *
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender.... Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?"
"Real isn't how you're made." said the Skin Horse. " Its a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up?" he asked, "or bit by bit?"
It doesn't happen all at once" said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or who have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.But these things don't matter at all because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

- Margery Williams
Photos: Ekg's found on Google Images
Skin Horse and Velveteen Rabbit from "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams
Girl with bunny ~ My daughter Rachael at two years.
Bunny now 23 years old
*Rachael's bunny cellphone picture taken this morning 8/5/09 for her mom's post :)
~love you~


Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.
Today, if you'd like to share your story of How the Word Lives.... just quietly slip in your URL.
...
Next Week: "A Pilgrimage into Prayer"...

21 comments:

  1. Beautiful thoughts on being real. It takes courage. It takes a stepping out of the cookie cutter roles the world wants us in. However, God created us for a UNIQUE purpose, that takes being "real" to discover and live it.
    ~Chris

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  2. I am so catching on again to blogging, and I love all the wonderful blogs the Lord has led me to through Ann's. Your photography and words are beautiful!
    Daisy

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  3. This authentic life is my journey and it is filled with thorns and stones and joy and peace and there is no holding back. Thanks for reminding us that Jesus lived it first, and set such a great example for us all!

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  4. The most endearing post that maybe I have ever read Maria...if all could learn and live their lives in a manner true to themselves and know what really matters in this world and their short lives.

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  5. Thanks for reminding me of the sacrifice. The pain and the suffering. I need to to endure more for Him.

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  6. Aw i love this post mom! I really like what you wrote about the thorns! That's a really interesting way of looking at gardening =).
    Love the picture of bunny! He's my fav.
    -Rach

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  7. Hello Maria,
    I was much taken with your thoughts this morning. It is sometimes so difficult (but necessary) to attempt an authentic life. (Whatever that means for each of us individually.)

    By the way, I love THE VELVETEEN RABBIT and often choose it as a baby gift.

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  8. Thanks so much for your lovley comments. Your post really gave me much to reflect on.
    I love the quote from the velveteen rabbit too. How much there is to be learned from simple children's stories.
    Many Blessings
    Suzy :)

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  9. What a beautiful post!
    Thank you.
    Blessings,
    Catherine

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  10. What a beautiful and moving post Maria. It made me think of how difficult it can be to step out of the box, or our comfort zone. Something that really needs to be done to see the light sometimes I think. As Jesus did for us.

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  11. Thank you, Maria, for a lovely post. I, too, love The Velveteen Rabbit.

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  12. Maria,
    It's my first visit to your blog and I love how you have woven truth and beauty together in the simplest of actions--turning gardening into a spiritual act. Perhaps so fitting because, yes, in a garden it all began. Thank you for bringing us back to that place where His presence seeks us and we find ourselves in Him...the one who makes us Real.
    Holley (Heart to Heart with Holley - http://holley.dayspring.com)

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  13. made me teary to think of rach's bunny.. and my puppy from childhood--and how we have the ability, as children, to love even the simplest things with our whole heart.

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  14. Beautiful post about dieing to self .. .
    Love the reminder about what makes one real... and sometimes it hurts.
    May He who began a good work in us bring it to completion.

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  15. Sylvia Plath wrote a poem soemthing like that, the air filled with hooks... Not sure how it went, probably a little dark. Picking blackberries we used to joke that you gave a drop of blood for every sweet berry. Life is like that.

    Loved your Buttermilk Falls pics. We went there a lot, once upon a time. Great trout fishing in the upper pools.

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  16. Dying to self in Costa Rica as well. I'm learning and thankful that my Lord is leading me on the path. Delighted to meet you. I hope you don't mind if I splash around a bit in God's goodness over here.

    Hugs from Costa Rica,
    Sarah Dawn

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  17. Beautiful =) And thanks for the lovely comment. =) I really like your blog...

    Many Blessings!
    Jessica
    (CedarCityMom)

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  18. "Birth and Life to the spirit's needed Savior."

    Thank you, Jesus...
    Thank you Maria...

    I send much love... may you rest in His...
    All's grace,
    Ann

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  19. such a beautiful post my friend.
    i can identify with so much of what you have shared.
    sending you a hug...
    xo

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  20. I am a bit late Maria, but oh what a beautiful post this is. I want so much to be real, to be selfless, to be all He would have me be. It is the work of a lifetime, I think, as He loves us into being real.

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Thank you for stopping by! Your comments add sunshine to my day~