So part of my identity, how I operate, is that of an activator. I use the term as used in the Gallop Strength Finder book that identifies thirty-four basic strengths that human beings possess and utilize in their journey through life. One of my top five strengths was what Gallop terms 'Activator'. Essentially, how it manifests in me is that I am unable to live with myself with any kind of procrastination. I dislike lists of 'to-dos'. I seek to stay 'caught up'. Too often Sandi has mentioned something she may have heard downstairs only to see me get up from the table right then and there to investigate and solve. It can be a strength but it sometimes causes me to go overboard.
Regardless, when I retired from my career seven years ago I had been reading in John and was freshly smitten by the picture of the branch being connected to the vine. Jesus as my vine, who has all of the elixir of life needed to nourish my earthly pilgrimage. To ever so slowly transform me into a closer alignment to the image of God in which I was created.
In Genesis we have the picture of a garden, God and Adam and Eve. There was a union that was so complete between these individuals that I believe they were essentially only one person. Until Chapter 3, Adam and Eve were in absolute oneness with God. They walked with him, talked with him, were nurtured by him, walked in nakedness and were unashamed. They did not have any agenda of their own but walked as one with the will of their Father. Of course, Chapter 3 brings us the scene of the pair ultimately buying the lie of the devil and results in the loss of their Godly union and the beginning of now two separate, self-referential lives, guided by their own separate free wills. The manner of life that was part of the original plan was now broken.
Within the sixty-six books of the Bible, we read the stories of God's plan and efforts to restore humankind's capacity for oneness with God. God's only begotten son ultimately becomes incarnate as man and is murdered on a cross. A deep mystery occurs...the "deep magic" Lewis describes in the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia. God becomes man that man might become like God. By Jesus surrendering to death, death is ultimately defeated and is no longer the only eternal conclusion of a human life. And amidst these spiritual transactions lies mystery, lots and lots of mystery.
As I understand it, what I have spoken of above was the common understanding of the church for 1500 years. The reformation and the renaissance ushered in some major changes in the way in which many believers approached their faith and how they interpreted the scriptures. But prior to this. all believing Christians believed in and pursued oneness with Christ as a normal part of their walk with God.
Fast forwarding to today, the word mystic gives the average evangelical the yips. Sounds and feels too close to new age, eastern religion and other cultish expressions of truth. Today, many in the church are unable to embrace that God still speaks to his followers, that we can and will experience God in specific ways along our journey, that union with God can be pursued and experienced on this side of life as a normal part of being a Christian follower of Jesus.
Seven years ago, it made total sense to me to use the gift of time my retirement would provide and use it to intentionally pursue a deeper connectedness with Christ. That mysterious point where branch and vine join and are no longer separate but of one essence. I believe that I will experience this oneness fully when I graduate to the home prepared for me. No use waiting! Seems to me I should be about positioning myself now for God to have full access to my inner being. To be about giving the Trinity the freedom/access to transform those parts of me that need their touch. That is my spiritual focus today.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with it's passions and desires", I have been given the desire to be about that transformative process in the years I have left on earth. We are all being transformed daily. The question is by what or by whom. I want to be found to "be all in" as I relinquish my tight grip on controlling my life. I strongly believe Jesus meant what he said in John 15 ".....because apart from me you can do nothing". To me, that feels like my marching orders to take my focus off of me, me, me and onto Him, Him, Him. And. as always, it's not about being religious....it's about relationship!
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