Something to Think About...

I finished reading The Shack the other day. I know MANY people who have RAVED how Wonderful it is. I will let you be the judge of that. I'm not saying I didn't like it... I'm just saying you decide for yourselves. I did find this statement very profound and thought I'd share it with you all..



Sarayu is speaking to Mack...



I am a verb. I am that I am. I am a verb... alive, dynamic, ever active and moving. And as my very essence is a verb; I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies.



For something to move from death to life you must introduce something living into the mix. To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense is to move from law to grace.



Let's use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship. Mack if you and I are friends there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. When we see each other or are apart, there is expectancy of being together, of laughing and talking. That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. But what happens if I change that 'expectancy' to an 'expectation'-spoken or unspoken? Suddenly, law has entered into our relationship. You re now expected to perform in a way that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing with rules and requirements. It is no longer about you and me, but about what friends are supposed to do, or the responsibilities of a good friend." {this applies to any relationship.. husband wife, mother daughter...}



Mack argues back...



But if you didn't have expectations and responsibilities wouldn't everything just fall apart?



Sarayu replies back...



Only if you are of the world, apart from me and under the law. Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgment, and provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value. You know well what it is like not to live up to someone's expectations.



Mack replies..



Are you saying you have no expectations of me?



Papa now replies...



Honey, I've never placed any expectation on you or anyone else. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behavior to get the desired result. Humans try to control behaviour largely through expectations. I know you and everything about you. Why would I have an expectation other than what I already know? That would be foolish. And beyond that, because I have no expectations, you never disappoint me.



Mack asks Papa if he has never been disappointed in him.



Papa replies...



NEVER!! What I do have is a constant and living expectancy in our relationship and I give you an ability to respond to any situation and circumstance in which you find yourself. To the degree that you resort to expectations and responsibilities to that degree you neither know me nor trust me.



Mack asks don't you want us to set priorities.. God first etc...



Sarayu replies...



If you put God at the top what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you so much more?



Papa replies...



Even if you are able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day.



Jesus replies...



I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of the mobile, where everything in you life-- friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities-- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.



Now I left somethings out but this is the main idea. Living life with expectancy rather than expectations... Something to think about!!