Re-creating Your Environment

Spring

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... in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests
but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another,
have the same mindset as Christ Jesus...

- Philippians 2:3-5

Journal Entry: NAIA Terminal 3, Manila, August 24, 2011, 12:45 p.m.

I am here at the Chaikofi Brewing Lounge of the NAIA Terminal 3. In about an hour I will board my flight back to my home city of Bacolod.

Within these few uninterrupted moments I want to quiet my heart and put my thoughts to words, enjoying the unhurried time and private space available to me in this little corner of the busy airport.

Upon waking up at 4:30 this morning, I knelt before God, and spoke heart to heart with Him. In this new season of my life I have a fresh determination to draw even nearer. I will not be satisfied with standing at the fringes of His glory. My desire is to be near where the king is seated in all His glory and royal regalia.

I want to behold Him in the beauty of His holiness... and take the necessary steps in that direction.

It is an ongoing journey, I look at it as my sacred pilgrimage, this shaping and molding of my character that it may become more and more like my Master’s heart.

There are seasons when I make quick and steady progress... but sometimes it takes longer.

To keep moving on means dealing with the distractions, and hindrances along the way.

All I really want is to go through life as an agent of reconciliation...

with a heart open to learn what there is to learn, for admittedly I, too, have many areas of blindness...

a willingness to walk in humility, beyond the first mile...

and giving what I can -- not out of my limited store of material provisions, but from the wellspring of God’s love... gifts of sincerity and kindness.

But there are times when the gifts I offer are not good enough, because what the other desires can be satisfied by no one else but God alone.

Only God is able fill the deepest longing of the human heart. No man can ever meet such a deep need.

Look to a mere human to address that need – and the result is an idol created in the image of what the heart is longing for... be it a person, a perfect situation, a thing.

And, a false god is not only powerless to bring change... it never truly satisfies.

There will always be one more thing missing, another thing gone wrong. Somehow others will always fall short.

But there are no lasting earthly solutions to the human dilemma. Only divine interventions.

I worshiped God this morning not with many words, but with tears.

I came to Him in need of a deep spiritual cleansing from the defilement of spoken words... demeaning and maligning words.

My Lord God met me with open arms; He embraced me with compassion and understanding.

To God I lifted up my daughter, still fast asleep on the other bed. A mother’s love goes very deep, but I can’t always be there for her. How thankful I am that God’s love goes deeper still.

Hide us in the cleft of Your rock, my Lord.

Because the lens we use to look at others is shattered by the Fall, we always have an incomplete picture, and our perspective will always be clouded.

Only God has an eternal vantage point, He sees all angles.

Break through, dear God... break through for the ones I love.

I thanked my Father for teaching me to walk the path of understanding.

For giving me the ability to listen, not to another person’s spoken words, but the unspoken words of the heart...

not with judgment, not even self-protection... but with compassion.

I prayed the mercy prayer, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

You can re-create your environment, My child. These are the words I heard God speaking in my spirit.

You have received power and authority to re-create the spiritual climate around you.

To be an agent of reconciliation is a high calling.

To speak words of life, imparting grace to the hearer. Sometimes words are not even necessary... the spiritual atmosphere can be positively charged by constructive silence, the silence that heals and seeks to understand.

In everything showing honor and deference.

There is great power in honor.

Honor is the language and conduct of royalty!

Showing honor is the mark of nobility and kingly status!

With my words I want to weave
a tapestry of beautiful memories to warm the hearts
of those I will someday leave behind.

A legacy of honor. That is what I want to leave behind.

I believe my prayers have found favor in God’s eyes.

I quickly went down to prepare a simple breakfast of cheese and garlic omelette, steamed rice, kefir, and fruit. It was a mother’s little way of saying good-bye to her youngest child and only daughter. When Obedient One comes home tonight, I will already be back in Bacolod.

Before walking out the door, my daughter hugged me and gave me that sweet smile – reserved for me alone. Despite the many life lessons she still needs to learn she knows my love for her is unconditional... that I will always try to understand. She is secure in knowing that I give her enough room to grow.

We all go through learning seasons... My most valuable lessons were always learned the hard way. At 58, I have not only learned, but also unlearned, many things. Nevertheless, much spiritual ground remains to be discovered and experienced. I am a lifelong learner, God's masterpiece in the making.

And I have no doubt that this young woman, just like me, is going through her learning seasons as well. God has a special curriculum and timetable for her, for me... for any one who is willing to be taught.

Again I prayed a short prayer for her: Hide her in the cleft of Your rock, my God. Thank you that she has an obedient, teachable heart.

After breakfast I spent some time in our backyard. My maid Irene and I cut off dead leaves and added compost material to the potted plants. We pruned the bushes and loosened up the soil around the plants. More work remains to be done. Gardening is a process...to be enjoyed it must be done in stages. There is always a time of waiting involved.

... Hope rose in my heart as I realized that the time I spent in the garden was a picture of what God was doing in the garden of my relationships.

It is a new season, I can feel it in the air.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

- Isaiah 43:19

A way out of the wilderness... streams in the wasteland... yes, indeed!

Making a choice to overlook the pain, and entrusting the difficult situation to God... it is easier said than done. But this is always my desire - to be a woman of peace... to be free to bring my relationships to a higher level.

Layers of deep-seated dirt, accumulated through the years, in the natural as in the spiritual, are being exposed.

Yes, indeed we can re-create the spiritual climate in which we operate – by taking a proactive stand and choosing to speak words that give honor... words that heal, never words that demean and devalue.

Conflicts... they need not be the hindrance. They can be the platform for growing in grace and humility.

My dear friend Bill Mills once said, "We can go through anything with one another."

How true! I create the climate for my relationships; it is my responsibility to cultivate the seedbed on which my relationships thrive and grow to maturity.

Before long my bags were ready and it was time to say goodbye to my sister. We do not see each other too often, and I was grateful for the brief time we had together.

Lord, may it be eternally spring in the garden of our hearts, I prayed as we parted ways.

I believe that in heaven it will be eternally spring... the same environment I seek to cultivate in my relationships.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD my Rock and my Redeemer.

Eternally spring! What a marvelous promise!

View from my window seat as the plane approached the runway of the Bacolod Silay National Airport. Joy and delight seemed to leap from the greenery of the agricultural lands that greeted my eyes. It has never felt so good to be back home!