“The people who sat in darkness, have adjusted their eyes.” This paraphrase of Matthew 4:16, reflects a mounting frustration I’ve felt growing deep within my heart like a fetus. Like a child growing in a womb, it eventually takes over and makes his presence felt. The incessant kicking and movement eventually wins over all sensibilities until birthing becomes paramount. We, especially those of us in the church, have settled for mediocrity in our lives and created theology to explain away our powerlessness. There is a question that has haunted me for decades, “Is this all there is?” For me, a time of “Birthing” is at hand.
Since I was a small boy driven to prayer by various domestic disturbances, which assured me that the world would not be a safe place, I have lived with an awareness of the reality of the unseen “Kingdom of Heaven“. God whispered into my heart long before I ever spoke of it to anyone. It wasn’t until I was much older that I discovered skepticism was a normal way of thinking for most people I encountered.
Now that I am older, I am no longer ashamed or hesitant of what I believe. One of the hallmarks of aging is, you know what you know. No one’s conjectures, theories or rationale can stand against a person’s experience any more than a light breeze will blow apart a brick house.
The New Agers, whose beliefs often make more sense than those of “fundamental” Christians, call this Kingdom, “The Universe“. The Secret, however, isn’t an impersonal “Law of Attraction“, it is discovered in the knowledge of a King and His Kingdom, a Son and his system… a Person and His principles. Aligning your thinking and words with this Kingdom brings tremendous transformation and a release surprising power in the world and circumstances around you.
Herein lies the challenge, and the point of my tension. The natural world is very distracting and exerts tremendous pull on our interior life. Like a tug-of-war, our soul is in constant tension between what our senses engage, and what our heart is drawn toward.
As James Allen so eloquently phrases about this inner war, “Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.”
Although I do not believe we achieve “Divine Perfection” by thought alone, I do, however, believe we have control over our thoughts and we can focus them how we desire. So, I have decided to take a little journey for the next thirty days. I left my job that has been absorbing a lot of my energy and focus and I am in pursuit of the Kingdom. For the next 30 days, I want to refocus the “eyes of my heart” and thoughts on the “unseen” Kingdom… and write about it. Every day will be a new chapter.
So, why am I writing a blog about writing, especially on Day One of a thirty day challenge? I guess, it’s about commitment. Because now that I put it out there, I will deal with embarrassing myself for not completing what I set out to do. But there is another reason.
