weeklythoughtexchange

This past spring I discovered the delight of essential oils from DoTerra.  I have never been one to pop pills or rush to the doctor with every small affliction that assails my body. I am a firm believer that proper rest, consistent exercise, and balanced eating lay the foundation for a healthy body.  Now, as a wellness advocate for DoTerra,  I realize that certified pure, therapeutic grade essential oils are what hold that foundation together. The intricate design of plant oils perfectly matches the needs of the human body’s cells, and with these oils we can fight infections, combat symptoms triggered by chronic health conditions, and rejuvenate our tired bodies in ways that have zero negative side effects – unlike chemical products. The heart of essential oils? Simplicity.

The writer in me can’t help but see a parallel between the simplicity of essential oils for living a healthy physical life and the simplicity of dedicating the intricacies of my heart to the Lord Jesus for a healthy spiritual life.  The beautiful thing about essential oils is how, because of its complex structure, the use of one oil to target one particular ailment can actually benefit your entire body. Thus, an entire medicine cabinet of pills can be minimized to a handful of oil bottles.  And so it is with my priorities. I often think that there are so many very important things with which I must keep myself occupied when, in fact, I only need to be still and listen for God’s direction. My ability to remain still is an indicator of the depth of my belief in His reality. Everything else is a distractor from the most important thing I should be doing – focusing on the reality of the Almighty God in my life. 

What does this look like in a real life? I ask myself that nearly every day. Here are some things that I have learned:

1. Start the day with Jesus.  My husband and I have begun a new routine of rising at 4:30am in order to begin our day with individual personal devotions. It has refreshed me beyond words to be able to lay my schedule and my burdens at the feet of Jesus first thing in the morning.  By giving Him my day’s schedule, I am literally giving Him my day. That helps me to be more flexible if changes must be made.

2. Pray less for myself. For years, I have had the habit of praying constantly for myself – my wants, my needs, my worries, my fears….and all that time I am not thinking about or praying for others.  Per the advice of my father I have begun to wean myself from that habit and am making a concerted effort to pray more for others. This has made me more sensitive to the Lord’s prompting for how to minister to others. Who needs a card of encouragement? Who needs help around the house? Who needs a listening ear? How can I get involved with helping the persecuted Christians in Iraq? I am now more motivated to get involved because it’s based on God’s direction, not me frantically trying to stay busy or feel better about myself.

3. Keep less stuff. I like pretty things and I like my things. Yet material possessions weigh me down. It takes longer to clean when there is a lot of clutter. Much stuff makes less room for living beings. My heart becomes attached to earthly treasures instead of heavenly ones. There is freedom in refusing to buy an item just because it catches my eye or denying myself a tasty treat when I’m out shopping; that freedom comes from knowing that my humanity doesn’t have to control me. Instead I am controlled by my Heavenly Father, and He will supply all my needs.  To help reinforce this discipline in my life I have taken on the Coffee 4 Christians challenge and am filling up my coffee mug with the money I would normally spend on splurges. (See video at the end of this blog)

The frankincense oils come from the sap of the frankincense tree. The oils that are the most pure come from the sap that is closest to the tree, while the least pure oil comes from the sap that has drained the farthest from the tree.  Every time I apply the frankincense oil I am reminded that I need to stay close to my Source in order to experience the heart of living essentially. There are so many possibilities in life that seem good – tasty food, beautiful possessions, awesome opportunities – but in reality they are merely distractors.  Simplicity captures what is most important: living the life for which God has designed me.

The Coffee 4 Christians Challenge 

If you are interested in learning more about DoTerra’s essential oils visit here: DoTerra info

In light of the recent events in Ferguson, MO, I would like to discuss equality with you. I am not going to attempt an opinion on the shooting of Michael Brown because I cannot begin to figure out what happened. Depending on the source, we either have the brutal shooting of an innocent, unarmed, black boy by a trigger-happy, white police officer or we have a white police officer defending himself against the violent assault of a three hundred pound black man and his friend after they robbed a store, ignored a directive to step onto the sidewalk, and resisted arrest. However, the protests that have resulted because of it have brought inequality to the forefront of our country’s mind. We are asking ourselves, “In a country that pledges ‘liberty and justice for all’ are people being treated unequally because of their skin color, their gender, their religious beliefs, or their sexual orientation?” The protestors in Ferguson would definitely say yes and our response is to recoil in horror. I think, however, that we have a child’s understanding of equality and have exaggerated the devastation that comes with inequality.

The outcries against inequality sound more to me like, “That’s just not fair!” than anything truly legitimate. Fairness is not about a smooth ride down easy street. The push for equality seems to be more for free handouts then for character-building opportunities. The loudest accusations of inequality seem to most often come when laws have been broken and justice served; that’s when the race card usually comes out. We live in a world that is filled with bias. Our upbringing conditions us to be partial towards what is familiar. It would be impossible for us to eradicate that tendency from our society. Why? Because there is no unbiased, impartial person to be found who can teach us about true equality.

Equality means:

–A perfectly level playing field: all members of the community grow up in the same area, eat the same food, receive the same education, live in the same style of house, have the same health experiences, etc. But we know this can never be the case. Each individual, including those growing up in the same household, has a slightly different entry into the world, as well as upbringing and personality. Every bit of this works to shape the individual’s perspective of and interaction with the world.

–The same rewards and consequences for all: Whether you are male or female, black or white, Christian or not, rich or poor, every action, attitude, or behavior would result in the same reward or consequence. Once again, we know that this is simply impossible. It would not be right for a child to receive the same penalty for breaking the law as an adult because he doesn’t understand the laws yet- and voila! We have already made our first exception to equality. Our expectation is that everyone who understands the law will receive the same rewards or consequences for following or breaking it.

–The same opportunity for everyone to succeed: Whether you are male or female, black or white, Christian or not, rich or poor, you should be able to do and become whatever you want. The difficulty with this is that some people have farther to travel or higher to climb than others because they had a different starting point. I might want to be a math professor at Stanford. I can certainly go for it, but the fact is that I struggle greatly with math. I could have one thousand math geniuses as my tutors, if I could afford it, but if my mind just doesn’t get it, teaching math at Stanford is not going to happen. Yet I have an equal opportunity to try.

The problem that I see in our society is that many people are avoiding the personal responsibility and hard work that real equality requires. When the playing field is not entirely level, it is sexism at play. When the rewards and consequences vary for individuals, it is the fault of the wealthy one percent. When someone can’t get the job they want or into the school of their choosing or the house that strikes their fancy, it is the result of racism. Granted, there are occasions when that reasoning is probably true, but most of the time I think the ones pulling the inequality card are simply not motivated enough to do what it takes to set goals and achieve them. In the case of Michael Brown, if his life was unjustly taken, then the police officer should be punished. Let’s not bring the race card into play for it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he was willing to unjustly take the life of a citizen he had sworn to protect. If Michael Brown was not innocent, and he did seek to harm the police officer, a racist motive is not the issue. What is the issue is that he wanted to harm, not respect, a law enforcement officer. You see, it ultimately comes down to the heart and character of a person. Are we quicker to work or whine? Change ourselves or complain about others? Protest or progress?

In the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapters 15 and 16, we learn about the rebellion of the Israelite Korah and his followers. He approached Moses and Aaron with the words, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of  the LORD?”   In today’s words his statement would sound something like this: “You have gone far enough, for we are all good. We should all be given equal treatment and equal rights. Why do you think that you are better than us?” Does this sound familiar? The only true equality that we will ever experience in this life is our place before the Almighty God. Whether you are one of the masses in Calcutta, India, or President Obama in America, your status before God is equal – zero. None of us is holy, and it is only by His great mercy and the outpouring of His blood that we can ever begin to imagine a personal relationship with Him. How glorious that He will allow us to repent of our rebellion in order to gain the hope of eternity with Him! Otherwise our fate would be like Korah’s: the earth opened up and swallowed him, his followers, and all that belonged to them. God did not reason with them or explain His opinion to them; He did not justify or defend Himself. He is God and that is all that matters.

When we start to feel like life’s not fair or that we are not being treated the way we deserve, perhaps we should stop mid-complaint and realize that that might be a good thing.

This week’s sorrowful news of Robin Williams’ lonely death has left much of America reeling. He was iconic for his skill in tackling tough issues in a humorous way through his famous films. For many people, Robin Williams had become a friend because his movies seemed to show that he was able to relate to their struggles. For others, Robin Williams and his movies were intertwined with favorite family memories. His loss symbolized the beloved past slipping even farther away.

What is it about the celebrity life that seems to so frequently bring its populace to such an abrupt end? I don’t think that a single year goes by without at least one star committing suicide. I remember how shocked I was when it was Heath Ledger. In their movies they are so alive and so filled with conviction. It is easy to forget that they are not the characters they play; perhaps they forget too. Over and over again we hear of the rich and famous being admitted to rehab, getting married and divorced and remarried for the nth time, shoplifting, drinking while driving, or ending their lives. Yet our culture continues to be obsessed with them, and our obsession only fuels the greedy fire. We want to do what they do, wear what they wear, eat and drink what they eat and drink, accessorize with their accessories, perhaps even work where are favorite film characters work. Do we believe we can be celebrities and escape the emptiness?

And as we remain captivated with stardom, butchery advances:

Baby about to be murdered by ISIS soldiers.

Victims of ISIS brutality

Father grieves over his little daughter who was beheaded by ISIS soldiers.

At this very moment hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian Christians and minority groups are fleeing for their lives from a barbarian army. The ISIS soldiers are raping and murdering women, beheading children, and crucifying men – all in the name of Islam.
In Israel, children and the elderly are used as human shields by Hamas so that the Israelis can be blamed for targeting civilians in their military strikes.
Pastor Sayeed is still being held prisoner in Iran simply because of his Christian faith.
The Nigerian school girls, kidnapped by Islamic extremists several months ago, have yet to be rescued.

This list of tragic affairs could go on and on, but the few things that I did list are quite overwhelming in and of themselves. I often sit and ponder what I can do about any of them. I ‘Like’ sentiments of outrage on Facebook. I ‘Share’ informative articles on my ‘Wall.’ I pray. I blog. But I still feel like I’m in the shallows of life. My world can still be turned upside down if I can’t figure out what to wear to church or I’m not able to get my laundry done on Monday. Traffic frustrates me; I get angry if I stub my toe. I fret if someone ‘Unfriends’ me. That’s the extent of my suffering.

I don’t think suffering makes us more noble or more valuable. We all struggle with our human emptiness and are ever seeking to fill the empty spaces in our hearts, and suffering often reveals the depth of our lacking. The answer is Jesus. As we determine to follow Him, He will show us where our focus needs to be. His convictions become ours and His passion will fuel our sacrifice. What He hates, so will we. Gradually we relinquish our desire for stardom, trade snorkel gear for an oxygen tank, and dive into the depths of faith with our Maker. Who knows where we’ll go or what we’ll discover. We may end up serving refugees in Iraq or simply boycotting Target. What matters is our obedience. Dive in the shallows no longer.