Burden Light

There's a place that I love to run and play
There's a place that I sing new songs of praise
Dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace
There's a place that I lose myself within
There's a place that I find myself again
Dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace
There's a place where religion finally dies
There's a place that I lose my selfish pride
Dancin’ with my Father God in fields of grace
I love my Father, my Father loves me
I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me
And nothing can take that away from me
-Big Daddy Weave

It is amazing the lightness of spirit I feel when I am able to break off from the pursuit of living up to mainline Christian ideals. That's not to say I completely disagree with them. I am just letting myself not really care whether or not I please everyone. I am being honest with myself and God about my thoughts regarding Scripture, 'hot topics" (not the clothing store) and 'correct theology'.

It's funny to look back at all those many years of self-inflicted bondage to perfection and fear. I completely relate to A.J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically) when he was finished with his year and found it a relief that he could kiss his wife whenever he felt like it and pick up a secular magazine without second guessing. In a weird way I am thankful for the time I spent in that frame of mind. I learned a lot. I have a lot of experiences I can share....And you really don't fully understand the exhilaration of freedom until you have lived in prison.

I'm still adjusting to the fact that I can believe what I want to believe and still be OK. I really am that free. For 99.9% of the crap I worry about, I really think God is unphased. The earth is not shattered by my view point on (fill in the blank with a big hot potato issue). Jesus has provided an unshakable foundation for everyone to grow and learn in. I no longer wish to get sucked into any vortex of religious hype on anything. And God help me if I ever walk around again thinking I have it all figured out and pity the poor fool who doesn't. Puh-leez.

Man. I feel peaceful. I feel all zen and stuff. Yeah, ZEN. Maybe those folks are onto something. Maybe truths of the Spirit are woven through all sorts of traditions. God IS everywhere and the Spirit moves like the wind. We don't know where it's going...

My favorite quote from The Shack is this:

Jesus says: "Most roads don't lead anywhere...But there's not a road I won't travel to find you."

I am just glad to be on the road with Him!


Comments

Francy said…
Amen sista!
10:14 PM
inspiredheart said…
yay freedom!!! One of my fav songs.. and fav book! BTW
3:08 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Relationship vs. evidence

My reply to a blog post discussion with an atheist...I was not attempting to convert him. Just sharing my story.  What a neat discussion...I love it when people can talk about these kinds of things respectfully. How much we can learn from each other when we know that the other person is not going to ridicule or go off or resort to insults. THANKS! For what it's worth, my two cents are below. :) I grew up in Evangelicalism, but my faith became the most alive when I ditched the rules and the play-book of 'making converts' through arguing the Bible and defending God (God doesn't really need me to do that anyway). I made it about 'me and God', not 'me, the rules and how I can convince everyone that my religion is right by explaining the Bible empirically'. You can't do that. The Bible isn't a science book. It is a book of experiences and intepretations of experiences by other people - humans as jacked up and confused by life as I am than I was ...
Read more

Sozo Conference '08

Image
This gets a big Dan WWWWWOOWWWW... What a weekend! It was awesome, it was awful, it was amazing and it was a wild ride! Talk about a roller coaster. But I learned a lot and grew a lot and I am still processing. The Sozo folks from Bethel Church in Redding, Ca. are gifted teachers and administers of emotional/spiritual healing. I went on Friday to be in the "hot seat" for a Sozo with somoene from the Bethel team. This was good because it gave me a chance to see them in action. I was able to observe how they work, see what I did and did not like in how they did things and decide what to do and not do when we are ministering here. It was very confirming to see that they work very similarly to how we do on our Sozo team. YAY! And now, a few pictures from the trip. First of all, I needed a travelling companion. So I kidnapped a Horgan Gnome. He's the one who always moons us as we exit their house. So I called him "Gmoony". Here he is with my kidnapping accomplices. C...
Read more

Alan Alda's seven quick questions

I enjoy listening to Alan Alda's podcast 'Clear and Vivid' . At the end of every episode he asks his guest seven quick questions. Here are my answers: 1. What do you wish you really understood? Why the universe was created in such a way that violent death or death, in general, was required for the sustenance of its living creatures. The food chain - I'm not a fan.... 2. How do you tell someone they got their facts wrong? Generally, if I am having an actual discussion with someone (that is usually not in a FB comment thread) I will ask questions about sources where the person got their information in case I missed something or to decide if the sources are quality. I will present what I understand to be true and why. 3. What is the strangest question anyone has ever asked you? It was more stupid/rude than strange, but someone once asked me why I was here if I didn't want to have children...As if the sole purpose of my existence is to breed. 4. How do you...
Read more