A Word We Don't Want To Look At

Hello, awesome Ladies that I love!

I SO appreciate your prayers and your carrying on without me. I was NOT happy about being away from you for so long, especially after our bonding experience during the Mentored By Mary series. But as usual, you were amazing in hanging together. I'm thnking that's the Body of Christ doing what it was meant to do. Agreed?

I'm off to Maryland tomorrow to mentor a group of writers I've been with for over ten years. Actually, we're more of a spiritual group now, and I think they teach me every bit as much as I teach them. Sort of like you, actually. Anyway, because I'll be out of town until Sunday, I'll just get you thinking about our new series and we'll begin for real a week from today.

I thought it would be hard to find something as deep and relevant as our time with young Mary -- until I read the Gospel assigned for yesterday in the lectionary I follow, and -- yikes! -- there she was again -- thirty years later in John 2:1-11, at the wedding in Cana. You know the story:

    *Jesus and his mom are at the wedding, along with the disciples (we're talking quite the entourage) and the wine runs out. Very embarrassing for the host. Either he didn't plan well or there were a lot of heavy drinkers there. 

    * Mary apprises Jesus of the situaton and he says, "Not my problem. It's not my time."

    * Then Mary does something mysterious. She turns to the stewards and says, "Do whatever he tells you." (My daughter has always chalked that up to Mary being a Jewish mother and laying a guilt trip on her son -- "I didn't go through what I went through to bring you into this world for you to be a couch potato.")

    * Whatever her reason, Jesus sees that perhaps it IS his time after all, has the stewards fill six big old honkin' stone water jars with water, and turns the whole thing into the best wine served at this wedding yet.

Biblical scholars have spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out why Jesus dragged his feet, then went ahead with it, et cetera, et cetera. I think for US, the most important part of that story is Mary saying:

"Do whatever he tells you."

It must have seemed ridiculous to the stewards. "It's wine we're out of, dude, not water." I like to think that Mary still had that pondering thing going on. She hadn't been treasuring all that she'd seen in her son for lo these thirty years without having some pretty powerful influence herself. We all need somebody like that in our lives to tell us to:

"Pay attention to Jesus and do whatever he tells you."

Do I dare say that what we're talking about here is a word probably NONE of you wants to hear right now? And that word is:

OBEDIENCE

Of COURSE you don't want to look at that word. You're at a point in your life where you're probably resisting obedience to anyone -- at least the blind, unquestioning kind that was expected of you when you were a kid. YOu SHOULD be resisting obedience to most PEOPLE, except your parents and others in authority (like teachers), and even then resentment can arise as you begin to question the reasoning behind many parental decisions. I know most of you are working through some stuff there and that is so totally normal for your age.

But obedience to GOD is a whole other thing. It has to go on your whole life, and no where in your life is it more difficult to reconcile that than right now, when you're a teenager. So these are the questions I'd be honored to take you through during the next month, during this season of Epiphany. 

    * How can you know what it is God wants you to obey in the first place?

    * How can you be obedient to God without feeling resentment at times?

    * How can you express the inevitable doubts and questions and still remain in awe and reverence before God?

    * And how can you get to the place where you realize God loves you and is going to work with you through the whole messy process? How can you reconcile "ultimate authority" with "unconditional love?"

We'll approach this much as we did during Advent.

    * I'll give you a portion of Scripture to read, each passage from the Gospel of John and having to do with, of course, obedience to God.

    * I'll ask you to imagine and ponder in a way that brings the Scripture right on home to you

    * I'll suggest a way to pray that will go beyond "thought prayer" and into some other more expressive possibilities.

    * I'll Nudge you toward some obedient action.

    * And of course I'll ask you to share.

Now, what about that Treasure Chest you started as a result of my post before last?

In our next post we're going to look at a passage where Jesus says, basically, "You people are always looking for signs and wonders, so I'm going to give you some."  God doesn't expect us to go on obeying without some reassurance that he's there, that we're doing okay, that this is, well, worth it! That Treasure Chest -- whatever that is for you -- is going to be a place for you to physically store up symbols of those God-moments, when it's clear to you who you're obeying.

I'm pretty jazzed about this, but I want to know if you are too. During this next week, will you comment with your thoughts, your questions, your concerns? More specifically, tell us where you have the most trouble obeying God, doing what Jesus says. That will help me help you with this whole obedience thing in ways that are really relevant for you. And by the way, I have my struggles with obedience too, so we'll be in this together.

I'll be watching the comments, Ladies, and I'll be back with you next Tuesday, January 15.

 

Blessings,

Nancy Rue

   

Comments

[Katie]

Have a wonderful time in Maryland, Mrs. Rue! Thanks for this thought-provoking post! I think I have a harder time obeying God than obeying other people sometimes. (Other people can nag me and are harder to "tune out," so, for me, it can be easier to avoid God's word, giving excuses for not reading my Bible.) I definitely have the most trouble obeying God when He tells me to go outside of my comfort zone.

[Abby:)]

I'm excited for this series!!

Prayer request: I'm a little low on self respect over here, which is leading to a relapse of all that depression garbage I mentioned, and in several ways it's worse than before...I'm not putting myself in any physical danger this time but I know that my thoughts are going places they shouldn't be going.

<3 <3

[emii]

Yes, I think this is something I need to read and learn and participate in! And have a great trip!

[AnnaRachael]

I just joined(I am going to be 13 in two months) And so I do not know what a Treasure Chest is. Could you help me?

[Grace Anne]

Prayer Request: The School-Level National Geography Bee is at my school tomorrow night, and I'm really nervous. If I don't win I'll be sad, but if I do, that'll be even worse! I'm feeling very conflicted.

[Therese]

I just wanted to pop in quick and ask for some prayers. I'm kind of overwhelmed right now.

[Melody]

Therese: Praying.

I didn't read the whole post because I'm about to go to bed, but that first part about obedience is exactly what I need. I'm struggling a bit because at college my best friend from last semester left at the end of the semester and as soon as I got back this semester but second best friend informed me that there was a 99% chance she wouldn't come back next year. So I feel like I'm going to have no friends when I was just rejoicing over the fact that I did actually have friends I could totally be myself with. I have no idea what God's going to do with that and I really want to trust him, but right now it's kind of hard.

[Bethan]

Just checking in as I rarely do but would like to do more. Obeying God... I think that's hardest for me not when it's particularly challenging in a going-out-of-your-comfort-zone sort of way, but more when it's against my own feelings. I'm an extremely emotional person, and when I do something I always feel that I need to do it with genuinity and to know the reasons behind it. Thankfully, we have a God who doesn't mind honest questions, huh. :D

[Amy]

Have a good trip! :) prayin for everyone :)
Prayer request- my school has January exams from today till next tue :y im nervous bout 2moro cause i have R.E, Spanish and technology. Im usually good at RE but its bout islam this year :y i havent revised at all for spanish and im really bad at it :( then I have a third round cup match for hockey next wed. The school Is 1 and a half hours away so we have to leave at 11:30 and won't be back till 5ish :y

[Melody]

Okay so now I've read the entire post and the biggest thing I wrestle with is knowing absolutely, one hundred percent, beyond a shadow of a doubt what exactly God wants me to be doing. I seem like I can never get past "pretty sure" or "I think" or "probably". When I was looking at dance programs and schools it was made pretty obvious to me because I only got into one place when I was sure I was a shoo-in for somewhere else. However, now that I'm here I'm still struggling a bit with "but what if I missed something?" and "What if I'm in the wrong major?". I also have questions for this summer because I'm being required to get a job when I feel like I need to go to a summer intensive to improve and if I don't I'll just languish all summer and not learn anything. Right now I just have a lot of questions and all four of those questions you said sound like you've read my mind. I'm really looking forward to this series.

[***LAURAJANE***]

Hey gals!
I guess that I have trouble obeying God when his plan doesn't make sense.
Praying for everyone, but please pray formy grandma. Her problems,whatever they are,aren't improving. When they do something to fix one thing,it messes up another thing. My mom went down wednesday morning and came back last night. She is having problems with her nerves and stuff like that. Thanks.
ilylwsbwa,
laura

[Meredith]

Ummm, yeah....I can honestly I haven't been doing a great with that obedience thing lately. I OBEY my parents and God, I hope, but I think my ATTITUDE about obeying isn't always that good :( Can't wait to dig into this more!!

I'm praying for all you girls!

[May]

Can you please pray for my family? We're going through a tough time right now.

[Abby:)]

Praying for you Grace Anne, Melody, Therese, Amy, May, and Laura (and your grandma).

Welcome AnnaRachel!!! A treasure chest (in this context) is basically either a box or journal where you collect evidence of what God's done in your life - writings, photos, stuff like that ;)

[*Olivia* :)]

Prayers for all of you guys!!!! Especially you, Abby, just remember that you were created beautifully, and God loves you so so much no matter how amazing that is and how hard it is to believe. A really good quote a heard once about this was this one:

"God knew everything about you before you were born and still said, "I want you here"."

This quote, though so simple, really made me stop and think. I was just so amazed and realized how incredibly cool that was. YOU are incredibly loved and treasured, by the one who's thoughts are always the ones that count the most. Hold your head up high and just be proud of who you are, because who you are is awesome.

I think the area in my life where I really need to just trust and obey God a little more is being nice to people all of the time and responding to hate and mean words with a kind answer. :) So excited for this series!:)

[Therese]

Olivia, that quote was exactly what I needed to hear today, thank you. :)

[*Olivia* :)]

Your welcome Therese, glad I could help!:) I totally forgot to give AnnaRachel a very warm welcome! Hope this blog helps you out as much as it has helped all of us other girls on here:)

[Abby:)]

Thanks Olivia ;) ;) ;)

[God'sgirl/Abi]

Hi girls,
Abby,Grace Anne, Therese, Amy, Laura Jane (grandma, May, and all of you wonderful sisters!

I agree with Melody and Olivia. I have a hard time knowing if it's for-sure, what God wants me to do. I also have trouble being nice all of the time, and God says to. I love you girls, you always make my Day better!!!

[Alisha]

Hey ladies,
I've been meaning to comment here and since we're getting a new post (Hopefully) tomorrow, I thought I'd quickly pop in and let you all know what's been going on.
First thing, if you've been reading my blog you know i've been trying this new alternative healing method which basically consists of a lot of juicing, cleansing, detoxing, alkalizing and a lot of other stuff. I can't complain though because I feel fantastic! I'm actually drinking a glass of green juice right now (Yum!) I head back to the doctor's on February 5th and I'm really hoping all this stuff pays off and I get a good report.
Also... can you pray for some friend's of ours? I babysit their little girl. They just had their second baby, delivered at 31 weeks. She's breathing on her own (Thank God!) but she still has a long fight ahead of her. She weighs just over 2 pounds. Also, their other daughter is at home with her grandparents, and she's been seperated from her parents for over a week now. She's only 2, so if you could pray for her, for little baby Em and for the whole Brown family that would be awesome.
I guess that was mainly it. I'll keep you guys updated as soon as I hear more about baby Em (Her mom posts updates, pictures and videos almost daily)
Hope you all are doing well. praying for you guys!

[*Olivia* :)]

Prayers for all you wonderful girls! Your welcome Abby, any time:) Glad I could help:) Thats fantastic that your feeling fantastic Alisha! :)

[*Rachel*]

I'm so glad that you're feeling so much better Alisha!!! And I will absolutely be praying for your friends' daughters, what a miracle that little girl is :)
And of course, you girlies are all in my prayers as always! I know I haven't been posting much, but it's mainly because my exams start next week, so I'm suuuuper busy and kind of stressed out about them - prayers would be much appreciated :) But I've been following all the posts, so I'm still right here with all of you ladies!

I think my main issue with obedience is, like Melody, Olivia, and Abi said, knowing whether something is God's will or not. Like, what if it's just what I want, or what I think God is "supposed" to want from me? Also, I think I tend to shy away from things that Jesus asks of me that aren't so culturally acceptable, like standing up for the rights of unborn babies or keeping the poor in a special place of concern in my heart or truly, really putting others before myself and not living my life for my own success or personal gain. Like Melody said, this is something I've really been thinking more about and struggling with recently. I can't wait to learn and grow with you girls as we always do :)
Love you all so very much!

Love and Blessings,
*Rachel*

[AnnaRachael]

Thank you for making the Treasure chest thing clear. It is like something in the Tween you and me blog. so I should already be set!