Spiritual Anorexia and the Junior High Dance

Weird Title I know...but it got you in, right? =)

God and I have been doing a weird dance around each other lately. It's almost like a junior high dance where He has courageously asked me to dance with Him and Im afraid to touch him, so there we stand, in the middle of the gymnasium of life, me keeping Him at an arms length distance.

I have this strange churning in my soul every week at church...it's called, Pick Up Your Bible and Read it...(or, more appropriately, dig your bible out of your husband's trunk, because it's there for who knows why, and crack it open!) Every sunday, I sit in the service, I get moved by the worship, I sing my heart out (hopefully to the blessing and not curse of those around me) and feel refueled by what our Pastor has to say. Every week I think, "Yup! This is gonna be the week! Im gonna get up early, me, God and some coffee, and take time with Him every day..." And where do you think I am next week? In the same emotional spot I left behind. And it's not like He hasn't tried. He whispers to me through relationships, He shows himself in random scriptures I come across in Facebook and on blogs, and yet, here I am, snubbing Him, because there's always something else I am doing.

The situation reminds me of my son and his current eating patterns. (i know what you're thinking...keep reading =) It'll make sense)..moving on from baby and toddler foods and trying to enter the world of deliciousness, this has not been easy. Here we are, as his parents, offering him delicious morsels of food...and yet he snubs them...he pokes at them, plays with them, makes towers (of hot dogs) out of them, feeds them to the cat(no, kitty cannot eat your Spaghetti O's...)...Our new resolution has been, when he is hungry enough he will eat, and we will be sure it's the good stuff...but then, oh then, the moment of glory where he actually tries something and *gasp* realizes it's amazing...this moment of clarity and happiness gushes out of him. Like he's renewed by having it for the first time and now, suddenly, I have got to stock up, because He can't get enough of this new flavor!

The Bible tells us that there are moments between our soul and God when our soul will actually defy us and cry out to him...like they are having a conversation on our heart's behalf...I think I actually got to eavsdrop on that this week....With resounding clarity, I remember my mind looking up and shouting (inwardly) I am STARVING!! The thoughts that fill my head, the lies it has chosen to listen to, the hurtful things that have filled up the voided crevaces where God used to fill them, ...this is the Starvation of my soul taken to the point of insanity...Literally, my heart has reached the point of starvation in putting God off. We need to turn this Junior High Dance Pose into a full on Embrace!

So this week, after much debate with myself, the snooze button, and the cozy spot next to my husband, I got out of bed, before anyone else and spent some time in the quiet with God...and let me tell you...our make-up was glorious! I felt led to read this verse in 1Timothy 1:5...

"The whole point of what we're urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence. "

Sometimes I feel like I have had this counterfeit faith...I have been listening to the gossip (wantering into the cul-de-sacs of...)and lies of my human nature and not LOVING. Think about a Cul-De-Sac...It's one big circle until you find your way out again...

1 John also talks about "Perfect love drives out fear". The lies my heart believed were all based on the fear of them being true, but when I love perfectly, fear goes away. When I love certain situations in life I am faced with, even though I don't necessarily like them, they become less of a hurdle and more of a lesson to learn.

I have a responsbility to my heart and soul to feed it spiritually. Climbing out of my spiritual anorexia has kicked off to a great start...and I can't get enough...

The Misunderstood 2's...

As a parent, I kind of like to feel like I have some kind of a routine with my son....like we have an understanding of one another and we can communicate. I like to think that...but sometimes, that's just not the case...

We all know the phrases and the scenarios...Toddler turns from loving, amazing, snuggly self-entertaining joy of life to screaming, throwing, crying monster. Everyone looks at toddlers with knowing glances and says the same terrible phrase..."Oh, He must just be hitting those terrible two's!" (I relate this to when a woman loses her temper and those who don't understand, a.k.a. usually guys, use the phrase, "Oh, she's just PMS-ing...") But really, can EVERY child be "terrible?" Sometimes, yes, but sometimes, I think they are just misunderstood.

Picture with me, for a moment, this scenario. You are in a foreign country. You've been there for a while, so you generally feel happy and comfortable, but you are still getting down the language. For the most part, you can get around, carry on conversations and make do, while building those relationships. But a few times a day you experience "the frustration..." You know, when you are intellectually trying to explain a situation and nobody around you gets it? You know what you're saying, they know what they "think" you are saying, but really nobody understands what you are trying to say...now, wouldn't that be frustrating?

Sometimes I think my son and I go through this circle. He is clearly a very intuitive and smart little guy, but sometimes when trying to express himself, he just plain get's frustrated that Mommy doesn't know what the "boo ogert"( blue yogurt??) one is or where "moo cow" went. He doesn't understand that when we get home late at night sometimes, that he has to put on his jammies, because it's bedtime, when usually we get to play with choo choo, have a snack and watch a little Spidey. He knows that the boogies in his nose bother him, but can't seem to get them out, but he really doesn't like it when Daddy has to get them....So what's a toddler to do? Have a mini-meltdown, of course.

As parents, my husband and I try very hard to teach our son the difference between right and wrong, but it's also important to know that it's not what you say, it's how you say it...and how you understand it. So, maybe the so-called "Terrible 2's" are not in themselves always terrible, but mostly misunderstood. I know there are times when my son can be deliberately disobediant, but more often than not, I think he's trying the boundaries of communication. It takes us as parents, having the maturity to look around the situation, around the tears and angry words of toddler frustration to see what the real problem is. It is our job to bring them to that spot of calm and encourage them to use their words...and when they can't find the right words, help them to discover them.

Sometimes in parenting, we don't just parent them, we parent ourselves...