I can feel my face burning… now my ears. It’s slowly crawling down the front of my neck and throat, into my upper chest, and then, like crawling hot lava, it’s making its way down the front of my biceps. It’s in this moment, THIS moment, that I have to learn how to change. This is the moment of over-response, and bad things are about to happen. This is where my naturally empowering, encouraging cheerleader turns into a discouraging critic. The lava could be anger, frustration, even hopelessness, or self-pity. Whatever emotion surfaces, it is typically a response that is not equal to the problem. In a hilarious scene, Bob Newhart keeps saying to his patient, "Stop it!!! Just stop it!" But wait! How?
It is in this moment right here that I have to learn how to “PUT ON the new nature and be renewed” (Col 3:10). Lovely, but how on earth do I do this?! Well, I know this. It takes practice and discipline. I try to play tennis in the spring and summer every year. On that first day, I look like a disabled ape trying to get everything in my body to work right, but three days later, it’s a different story. Only three days in, and my entire system of body responses is firing correctly - not perfectly, but my hands, arms, legs, and feet are now actually doing what my brain is telling them to do. They are all moving and going where my mind says to go.
That’s the trick - my mind! So let me look at this in slow-mo. My … face… begins… to burn. RIGHT THERE! What should I do right there? How do I “put on the new nature” in this moment? BREATHE! That’s step one. BREATHE again, and right here, I need to become aware of my MIND and the PRESENCE OF GOD. Now, if I were a new age type or shaman-like, I would probably start repeating a mantra in my mind. “Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.” But this is how the Kingdom of God works - the Word/Spirit realm. In my MIND, I SEE the solution. I HEAR the solution. I SENSE the solution. Then, I receive the solution.
So, for example, I recently dealt with an over-response. I took a breath or two, immediately connected with the Holy Spirit in the moment, and I SAW a spine, and then I SAW myself smiling. I HEARD “Spine and Smile.” This is kind of funny (which helps) because back in my short-lived modeling days, we used to do what's called “Bite and Smiles.” That is when you are in a commercial for a food product, and you have to learn to gracefully take a bite and then smile. (It’s harder than it looks.) God loves to use humor to correct and guide me. So in this, I SENSED this means “Don’t get angry. Keep your love intact, but keep your limits and boundaries firmly in place.” Spine and smile! My responses are typically either over or under. So, I have to rely on the Holy Spirit to bring balance to that. There are so many times I blow things off that I should have confidently addressed. Then, there are so many times that all of the frustration built by not addressing these things causes the over-response of anger, hopelessness, self-pity, and on and on. In seeing, hearing, and sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit in that moment, I had put on the new nature, and I was immediately renewed by the spirit of God- in that very instant! "Spine and smile! Got it! Here I go!"
Proverbs 15:1-3 is great for me to keep in my back pocket at all times!
A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of the fool belches out foolishness. The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.
I hope this inspires you or blesses you in some small way today!
Love to all,
Jill
On 3/3, I'm releasing a song called Boomerang. We all get chance after chance, and we take the live and learn with us into every next season.
