Submission

As a community, we have been learning about the spiritual disciplines (as outlined by Richard Foster) and it has been a great journey so far.  I have felt again the fire of excitement and passion to pursue God with all that I am and to use the disciplines as ways to learn more, to create space for God in my life and to allow him to do his thing.  Leading these devotionals in the mornings has brought about great discussion, reflection and challenge in my own life as I spend time before God listening to what he desires to say to this small community of crazy, passionate, fun and honest young people.  Here are some of the reflections that I shared about the outward discipline of Submission:

Submission: freedom to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way.  We have an obsession to demand that things go our way.  Foster says that it is “one of the greatest bondage in human society today” and I would have to agree.  It is the freedom to drop the matter, to forget it.  This is not then about being walked all over and becoming a rag doll and being abused by people, but in reality most things are not as big a deal as we think they are.

Here is where silence fits in so well because usually the best way to handle most matters of submission is to say nothing.  This discipline, like the others, is meant to minister life!  It is an inner attitude, posture, or a spirit of consideration, respect and compassion.  We are free in submission to value other people, their dreams, plans, ideas become important to us.

So what does this mean to us? What does it mean to study the spiritual disciplines and practice them out here on this wilderness island with only a handful of people? Can we actually do this? Do we want to do this?

Being left behind to sit on a dock for a couple of hours yesterday to watch our shipment cargo meant that I had a very long time all by myself.  So the only thing that I could think of doing was to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that we have been talking about…it was kind of forced upon me but I tried to make the best of the situation.  Simplicity; I had nothing with me, Solitude; there was no one around, Fasting; I had to miss dinner, Service; lifting propane barrels, Prayer; asking God that someone would return so that I wouldn’t be stuck there all day, Meditation; listening only to the wind and starring into the clouds, Study on the scripture that I have memorized, and Worship as I sang songs and wrote some new songs of praise to my God….

And then I began to think of this morning and what I would say about submission and asking God what was on his heart for our little group.  I realized that  we are being called to something pretty radical.  Something a lot bigger than ourselves and that is why with submission we get to lay down our limited selves and have the opportunity to experience the greatness and bigness of God in a new way…we get to get out of the way.  This is a big deal but it is not a stressful thing, it is not pressured, it is not full of guilt or rules, but this is about freedom, this is about joy and about stepping more fully into who God is and who we are.  I felt like we were on the edge of a lake and it might be really deep and big (technically we physically are, but also metaphorically), and if we let go of some of our fear and anxieties, we can jump in feet first, dive in head on and experience more of the vastness of our Creator.  Vanessa said something that I found very profound when sharing her story yesterday.  She said that she realized that fear was not a good enough reason for her not to step into something new or bigger (ex. Girl’s Camp).  We are being invited to the same thing.  Fear is not a good enough reason not to.

 We are being called to submit to God this season, to lay down parts of ourselves so that Christ can come in and reveal himself more fully, for God to become more real to you and to be changed and transformed.  It is a invitation call Christ "Lord," to proclaim Jesus as Savior, to believe God is the Sovereign Almighty I AM… this is submission.

In the disciplines, in our work, in our interactions and friendships, in our jobs and our service, in our life together we are being presented with the opportunity to step out in submission to one another and to Christ and to discover what God has.  And it is good and big and better than what we could ever have hoped or imagined.  Radical, revolutionary submission; a cross-life full of joy, freedom and fullness...

This is the journey that we are on and it is exciting and scary all at the same time.  

Ephesians 3:14-21 is becoming my constant prayer for this community that as we step out more and more in submission to the Father that we might be filled with might in our inner man and continually rooted and grounded in the love of Christ as we see the Holy Spirit move and work within our midst.

p.s. This is day 16 for me in the competition to see who can go the longest without using shampoo....it's a good thing I brought out so many hats :)