Happy Wednesday TSJ “Peeps!”
Solomon wanted me to put the quotes around peeps to remind you that he knows you are not sheep, but human and real live people of big brains and deep longings. He also wants you to know that he remembers you need a certain degree of shepherding- much like his “real sheep” pals.
Today, I am simply pondering with you about what it means to be human. And Solomon is right. It is different in most ways from being a wooly sheep.
It seems to me, being human means we all long to be acknowledged for who we are, to be understood, to have personal significance and to have a pervasive sense of purpose – a reason for being here in the pastures of life (to use a sheep/shepherd metaphor).
To find this, we need and want a place of safety. A respite from our inner tug of war. An escape from pressures and tensions. A place of peace 
and renewal. Yes, we need a safe place to lay bare the contents of our hearts and minds. Honestly, our desire at TSJ is to be such a place for you.
We all need (and most of us want) a place where we can hear the voice of God over the din of our noisy, chattering minds and the luring calls of the world pulling us away from peace. We want to feel at ease in our physical bodies and need to take in the breath of God to re-oxygenate our cells and lift us up in spirit.
Such a place can take many forms – some transient such as time with with a trusted and wise friend, family member, counselor, coach etc. Or it can be alone in a nook carved out in our own home that is reserved for nourishment of the soul. But there is only one permanently safe place that we take with us everywhere. Can you guess what I am referring to? Hint. Solomon takes us there when we let him guide us back to home base.
While we need and want – even seek- safety and peace etc., like sheep, we are prone to wander. We look for the next clump of grass to feed on before someone else gets there. Or for the best of everything to satisfy our yearning to be the best, have the best and make sure the same is true for our kids.
We wander off course. We keep looking for things to satisfy our appetites. We think we find them when we have met our goals, achieved our awards and established our place at the head of the table of personal accomplishment and recognition.
Yet, the inner tug of war continues. The war between our insatiable desires and our inner peace and contentment.
We long to be special. And oh what we say and do – and what a price we pay – for seeking that status.
But Solomon says over and over, “You peeps just don’t get it! You are special. The Shepherd says so!”
God repeatedly tells us in the scriptures that we are special. We are significant. We do have reasons to live and rejoice. We are guided by the Spirit. How? One way is through story. God uses story over and over to acknowledge our humanness and our divinity. Scriptures are overflowing with very human stories of struggles and redemption.
Yet, we continue in the personal tug-of-war games we play between ourselves and God and each other, between our minds and our hearts.
Each side vies for dominance and we are prone to end up face down from time to time. And we lie there in wait for the Shepherd to lift us up out of our struggles and plant our feet back under us. When we actually ask with a humble and open mind and heart, the Shepherd does just that. (Psalm 23: “He restores our souls.” He leads us in the right paths.”)
Yes, it happens more than we wish that just when we think we have found the perfect strategy for things like sleeping better, having less anxiety, bing more patient and showing more wisdom and courage, we suddenly do a spiritual face plant on the ground.
We hope no one knows and that we can actually get back up without much humiliation! It is much like running along a wooded path and tripping over a small tree root. Before we get back up, we check to see just how broken we are. One stumble can create a cascade of unanticipated challenges (broken bones, surgery etc.)
We all experience spiritual personal “face plants.”
We trip over roots of worry and fear.
There is one permanent place of safety for us all. Our hearts.
When we come back home from the travelings and exhausting mental trips we take – back into our own bodies and hearts we can find that longed-for safety. But that is because it is where God dwells. I like the word “dwells” though it is not common in our time. It means housed, settled, lodged etc.
I think it means a place where God “hangs out.” (Ps. 23 And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.).
I want to be where God hangs out. Don’t you?
God is everywhere, of course, but for us personally, God “hangs out” or dwells most accessibly deep within our heart.
The code for living a life of peace, safety, significance and purpose is written in our hearts; it is L o v e and from love flows all that is good.
As a wise person has said, “There is a difference between kneeling in humility and tripping and falling in humiliation.”
So… today, stop and listen. Kneel in humility with others and God will restore your soul.
Enjoy the discovery!
Margie and Solomon
