Having a Reaction, Part 2

So a few days ago I wrote a post about Having a Reaction. A friend who gets my blog posts by email replied directly to me and started a further conversation on the subject. The gist of the discussion was that maybe everything is a reaction. Are we reacting to God or to people? My dear friend was trying to put it all together. The conversation went basically like this:

*******
Friend:
I can relate, Carolyn. I certainly "get it" -- intellectually at least, but too much of my time is spent "being reactive instead of proactive." ... I let God send me things (blog entries for instance) that I need to react to, and then I try to "show up and pay attention." ... Okay, now I'll have to think about where I need to be more proactive - intentional was your word. (But isn't that a reaction to what you wrote? Arrgh.)

Me:
It is hard to parse it out, isn't it? God definitely asks us for a faith response. He gives some pretty interesting cues sometimes. But what if all of our life really was supposed to be a reaction? But it was reaction to Him rather than to others? So in every situation, whether the other person is being nice or horrid, we would ask Him how He would have us react? That would kinda be acting with intention, wouldn't it? His intention? And the times we are supposed to be proactive instead of waiting for other people, our actions would be faith reactions to Him? We could chase our tales in circles on the semantics of this, but what it comes down to is acting for Him, in His time, with His purpose. NOT my own selfish purposes. NOT waiting for Him to make circumstances perfect before I will act. NOT responding to people out of my own willfulness, but with His heart. Can you imagine what this world would look like if we always responded with His heart instead of our own? I suspect that is a little bit of what the new Heaven and new earth will look like.

Friend:
Nicely done, Carolyn!  Thank you!  Even Biblical, I think -- we love because He first loved us!  (1 John 4:19)
*******

I was glad for the validation, of course, because sometimes blogland is so silent that I don't know if you all think I'm off my rocker or if you are even paying attention.

I was glad for the discussion, because it made me think it through a little more. I knew the first post was somewhat disjointed just because I could feel His presence so keenly that my thinking was all muddled - I was just feeling Him.

I was glad that my friend added the Bible verse. I want to make sure that I'm making scriptural suggestions.

And can you just imagine? What if we were all acting intentionally on His love? What if our faith/love response to God was so strong that it overrode any other reactions we might have? That would be Heaven for me...

I am still muddled right now because there is a four-year-old granddaughter sitting next to me asking more questions than I knew existed. But this raw stuff - just back and forth off the cuff - is what God wanted me to share... the things I'm really learning, as I'm learning it. Hope y'all weren't looking for something all polished up. Polished isn't much my strength. Real is... or is becoming...

Having a Reaction

Have you ever had a moment when you are sort of daydreaming or the committee in your head is just softly droning in the background and then God just throws something right in your face? All of the sudden He is there with you and it is intense and real and you are seeing things in His light instead of your own dim wattage. Yes? No? Hmmm… well let me tell you about my “moment”.


I was just sitting here at the computer, kind of messing around, and listening to “Shiny Happy People” by REM. Somewhere in the background I had a little scenario playing out: “well if she says this then I will say that”. For some reason the noise in my head all of the sudden got a little bit louder: “why is your life about reacting, Carolyn?” What? Who said that? Where did that come from? Seemingly out of nowhere thoughts just started bombarding me. I’ll try to make sense of it, but I’m still somewhat in the moment and He is still very much here, so pardon me if it gets a little jumbled.

I have to admit that my Bible-reading life has been pretty much non-existent for a long time. I have not been living in the Word and I’m sure my life reflects that in many ways. However, I have a rich history of Sunday School, Wednesday Night Bible Class, youth devotionals, and church camp in my past, so I do have a small working knowledge of the Scriptures.

And in this moment that I am having with God, I heard Him pointing out to me how there is so much in His Word about how to worship, love, and glorify Him. There is so much about being a loving person and growth that produces the fruit of the Spirit. There is instruction on how to stand against the wiles of the devil. And yes, there is certainly scripture that talks about how to react when others hurt you. But if my memory serves (Hubby says my memory never serves. Hmph. What does he know?), learning to react as opposed to how to act is just a small portion of the Bible. Learning to live purposefully rather than just bouncing off of those around us is a where He is leading me.

Then the dogs needed to go outside and all of my thoughts got jumbled. Where were we? Ah, yes, living with purpose. Acting rather than reacting.