Lessons From a Monk

My family have begun to love the T.V. show Monk over the last few months. Thanks to instant streaming on Netflix, we can watch all the episodes over the last 9 seasons whenever we have an hour to spare- which I admit we make in order to watch it. The show is about a former detective who is afraid of everything and has an extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder to name but a few of his issues. It's funny to watch him having to deal with life while at the same time being driven by the same issues in order to solve crimes.

We are watching the show in order from the beginning, and last night we found we had made it to Episode 1 of Season 5: Mr. Monk and the Actor. In this episode, an actor begins following Monk around in order to play him in a movie that was being written about a famous case which he had recently solved. Over time, this method actor becomes so engrossed in the personality of Monk that he can no longer separate his own past and personality from those of the man he was sent to imitate, and has a mental breakdown.

It's interesting that I have noticed that about myself. In the past I use to act just like whomever I was hanging around at the time. It got so bad that for a season of my life I didn't even know who I was apart from these different groups. I just so desperately longed to fit in as a teen and young adult that I automatically assumed the personality of those I was near in order to have something in common. It's only been in the last 10 years that I have grown out of that, but it was a real challenge and something I had to watch closely. I still do it to some degree with speech patterns- I pick up accents and dialects very easy. My husband loves to laugh that he can often tell who I'm on the phone with just by the way I'm speaking and with which dialect!

As I thought about this today I realized that this was not a curse, but a gift- when used in the right way. In the Bible, Paul tells us we should be imitators!

Be imitators of me, 

as I also am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1

We are to pattern our attitudes and lives after Jesus Christ. (Philippians 2:5, 1 Peter 2:21) The more I started thinking about it, the more I realized how wonderful it would be to become so close to Christ that I loose myself in Him. 

Imagine the glory we could bring Him if we were that dedicated!

Believe

I had an "Ah-ha! CLICK!" moment just now.

For the last few months, we have been waiting on an email from someone. Both my husband and I knew that with the busyness of the holiday season, it would most likely be very long in coming, but that doesn't always help make it any easier. I'm always caught between "Send another email to let them know I'm still interested", and "Don't send anything else to bug them to death."
Patience and Passion don't easily mix together.

This morning, however, I was in Genesis when the Spirit threw some highlighter on a verse I was reading. I had just been talking with Him about knowing I had heard Him about this issue before and believing that He would bring it to pass, but I was beginning to need a little reassurance that I wasn't in the wrong somehow.
Not 10 minutes later I read Genesis 15:6.

Abraham believed the Lord,

and He credited it to him as righteousness.

"Alright," I told Him after pondering the consequences, "I believe. You said it- You'll do it."

When I got home hours later I realized something: The email came less than a hour later.

My God is an amazing weaver of our lives!

Covering

...the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God 

walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, 

and they hid themselves from the Lord God...

Genesis 3:8

It is the nature of the sin within us to hide from the Lord, as it has been since Adam and Eve first ate the forbidden fruit. We have the unnatural desire to run from Him at the first sign of His presence. Just as the evening breeze is a time of relief and respite from the heat of the day, our God comes to us when we most need Him- but still we continue to try and hide from His soothing presence for we know we are "naked" before Him.

Adam and Eve had recently become aware of their nakedness because of the fruit they had eaten. The first thing they did was sew fig leaves together to cover themselves, for it was this nakedness that caused them to hide from God. (Genesis 3:10) They instinctively knew that they needed a covering to be in His presence. But what they were able to create on their own - the fig leaves - was not sufficient. God had to kill a few animals and make skins to cover them, for they couldn't be in His presence knowing the shame of their exposure. The reason we still run from God when He comes to us in "the time of the evening breeze" is we know the shame of our nakedness before Him and instinctively, from the sin nature within us, know we can not stand before Him.

But here is the amazing thing... God has once again given us the perfect covering to be able to stand boldly before Him once again. This time He did not kill some animals, but His beloved Son. Sin can not cover sin, but righteousness and perfection can. This has only ever been found in one man: Jesus the Christ. He died in order to clothe us so that once again we could meet our Father and Creator in the cool of the evening breeze.

We no longer have to try and hide from Him, but can walk with Him side by side basking in His love, glory, and wisdom. What more could we ever desire?

Seperation

For those of you who don't know, I have two older, teenage children who don't live with me all the time. In fact, they don't for most of the year. They come for a month in the summer and a week at Christmas which are the happiest times of my year. The days counting down to when they come are filled with excitement in our house, and the younger kids give me a day by day reminder of just how long it will be till they are here. Then it's board games, big meals, and wrestling joy!

But the day always comes when they have to go back...

I have to be honest and say that I didn't know a heart could break that often or that much and still survive. For years mine almost didn't. If it weren't for my husband and the little ones, I don't think it would have. The pain has changed over the years depending on their age and understanding of what is going on - ever since they were three and one years old -, but it has never been any semblance of easy. Mother's Day is one of the worst. It's a day which, to me, celebrates my failures and pain while at the same time brings me joy that I have four wonderful children.

However, a gentle whisper from God taught me something yesterday in the midst of my turmoil as they left:

It really hurts, doesn't it? 

This is just a little of what it's like when My children leave Me...

I was a bit taken aback. Yes, we know that it grieves Him when His children stray, but I never had put the emotion to it. With as horrid as it is for me, I have the consolation that they are not choosing to leave me, but must. God doesn't. In fact, the pain is worse for Him knowing we don't care enough about Him to stay. Realizing this, how could we ever choose to cause Him this much pain?

Christmas and Easter must be a lot like my Mother's Days. They celebrate all He has done for us, while at the same time bring Him so much sorrow for those who are His but currently have only a care for the Christmas presents and pageants and new Easter clothes for that special appearance in church.

So I beg of you today. Never - never - allow yourself to stray from your Savior and cause Him this pain for you. When you find yourself becoming less dedicated or complacent to Him, throw yourself at His feet and ask Him to help you draw near. I know He will. He loves you so much...