Good morning…
I woke with a weird vision filling my mind, a vision of one handwritten note bearing two sentences. “No one likes to be judged. Call LeeAnn.” Strange. Out of the blue. Really, really odd.
First I unpacked, “No one likes to be judged.” Judgement is a two-sided issue God is inviting me to face. On one side of myself, I have always hated being criticized as “bad,” “wrong,” “a disappointment,” so, fearing the judgement of others, I shut down, build walls, self-protect. On the other side of me, I feel convicted of hoarding the love of God, sharing God’s love freely with those I deem safe, lovable, and trustworthy, while withholding God’s love from those I cast judgement upon. Unsafe. Unlovable. Untrustworthy.
Then around 4:00 pm, I got a call from our oldest college-aged daughter. Nearing the end of our conversation, she said, “Guess what topic I need to teach about tonight at Bible study. Judgement.”
Really? The topic of judgement was at the heart of the handwritten note in my early morning vision and judgement was the topic filling the phone conversation with our daughter twelve hours later. We talked about the rigid defenses masking our fear of being judged poorly and our ugly human tendency to demolish those we judge “different,” rather than learning to fully trust our all-loving, all-knowing Creator to be the one gracious judge of each human being.
Second I unpacked, “Call LeeAnn.” I pondered that directive throughout the day, sensing not to knee-jerk react, trusting the seed of thought to grow in the necessary time, with the necessary message. After I brought home salmon from the grocery store, my husband asked, “Who recently served us that good salmon with the glaze?” Of course, my quick, easy answer came: “LeeAnn.”
Then around 5:30 pm, we texted her to get the recipe and I figured the connection to my odd vision was completely complete. Not so. Throughout the evening, I thought about how LeeAnn and her husband Jay own a hunting farm in south Georgia, right where Hurricane Michael ripped up farmland and devastated the livelihood of many rural families. My mind thought, “Why not organize a women’s mission trip to south Georgia, helping with disaster relief, possibly hosting a group of volunteers at LeeAnn’s hunting home?” By the following morning, I had sorted out who to call and how to get the mission trip ball rolling through our local church. When the idea has formed more fully, I will call LeeAnn. If this truly is God’s inkling, the Spirit will draw us to attend to deep needs.
As we keep our finger on the pulse of odd visions, weird dreams, and uncanny inklings, we are invited to fan into flame the embers God exposes in our everyday lives. At this very moment… I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother…and in your mother…and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God… For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:5-7, NIV).
…Sue…
