Relationships

There appear a number of large and small transitions in a normal personal life.  The large ones are from embryo to baby, from infant to child, from child to puberty, from puberty to adult, from adult to physical maturity, from that maturity to physical decline, and from that decline to death.  Within those large transitions, are small ones leading to the contexts of the larger ones.  Some persons have identified the large and the small as the doors of our lives.  We go through doors that lead us from a smaller room (context of life) to a larger room (context of life).  Each room has its additions and mysteries.  That progression (context/personal) is overlaid with various other progressions (contexts/social) that carry us along.  Even Jesus followed the increments of the development of human life as noted in Luke 2:52.

The progression for us is commonly up and down (saw-toothed) with the hope that our encompassing life is upwards so that new low points are higher than former low points.  The increments of the divine purpose are very deliberate so to offer courage to the human race that it is a normal journey and can be done well, safely and satisfying (fulfilling) if matters are in place, perhaps even if all is not in place.  They find the resources of courage, energy, and perception in time progression to overcome and win what is available in the context of personal truth and righteousness.  Matters are always larger than the negative forces and influences that challenge, and even defeat a person and societies of persons.  Biography and history attest to the life pattern and the results become the culture (daily life) of the individual and/or the society.

Some of those doors open quickly and we run through to form another paradigm and others open slowly permitting us to peek ahead and permit modest amendments to what we have become to the moment and permit for our lives.  We may blame and shame both ourselves and others, especially our parents if they have been truant in some ways, or we make them so.  We must take on the challenge and responsibility for ourselves.  Here is the beginning of maturity that goes beyond the physical world.  It is most fully realized in the priority of God – the individual.  No matter what the culture, the threat, the contradiction encountered the spiritually oriented person is most fully free so presses on with the hope of life that is continuous in the understanding that freedom, like all other matters, has boundaries.  Freedom includes the choice of some boundaries.  We can choose the boundaries of God for self, as he chooses his own boundaries.  One of his boundaries is that he cannot deny himself.  That complicates matters for those persons who perceive freedom as permissiveness, as ultimate personal right, as the measure of all human contexts.  God calls for surrender.  How can perfection dealing with a faulty race capable of great achievement and disgraceful failure, not call for surrender?  God must demand surrender so to aid the good in us, and to counter the threat of faulty thought and conduct.  Would we, in our best thinking have it any other way?  But we bristle at the call of humility and faith, as our children bristle at us and our expectations despite their youthful errors, even if they do not know we have been offended.  Often that offense is generated for their well-being, but also that we don’t want to lose them to danger or death.  God does not want to lose us, but he made us to be free so that he can have the pleasure of the fellowship of free persons, as we enjoy the same fellowship, known as friendship, self-commitment, sacrifice, and the proper identity of the gifts of God to persons who freely choose to surrender to God on their own conviction – the glory of sure trust.

It is beneficial to the understanding of mankind and God that we remind ourselves that God’s interests are somewhat different than our own.  We are interested in power, recognition, performance, accumulations, and success.  He is interested in holy relationships that include his pleasure. He seems to downplay but not deny the natural context we live in, if it is lived in balance.  His kingdom is not built on human values, but he recognizes and accepts us in our move for righteousness.  They shine highest in love that leads to fulfillment, worth, and have their projection in service to one another.  All this is among the extensive benefits of Christ’s redemptive plan.  The best is found in surrender to God, proved in our earth service.