Sweet Essence

I am reading at the moment "Waking the Dead", by John Eldredge.  At the beginning of this book, it didn't grasp my attention, and kept distracting me with movie references, that I didn't know or remember.  Well, that moment changed, when something of goodness came to my heart.  God is quite amazing, in that, when He wants your heart changed he changes it through several people.  So let me explain; first the heart of the author needs to be opened to write what God has given.  Then a publisher needs to be moved by want is written.  Last a brethren's heart needs to be open to share their book with you so that you might be moved for the direction of God's Glory. It seems like a very complex process ,but God can make something of complexity change to a simple, precious moment that changes you.  So if you are looking for a book that will change you, look no farther, because John Eldredge has it with "Waking the Dead".  I would like to share with you an excerpt that moved me.  
In A Moment With Smalltown

Embracing The Glory

" Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small doesn't  serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.... And as we let own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, or presence automatically liberates others. "

Nelson Mandela

When I first read this quote, I thought, No that's not true. We don't fear our glory. We fear we are not glorious at all.  We fear that at the bottom, we are going to be revealed as disappointments. Mandela is just trying to make a nice speech, like a sermon, to buoy us up for a day or two.  But as I thought about it more, I realized we do fear our glory.  We fear even heading this direction because, for one thing, it seems prideful.  Now pride is a bad thing, to be sure, but it's not prideful to embrace the truth that you bear the image of God.  Paul says it brings glory to God.  We walk in humility because we know it is a glory bestowed.  It reflects something of the Lord's glory. 

The deeper reason we fear or own glory is that once we let others see it, they will have seen the truest us, and that is nakedness indeed.  We can repent of our sin.  We can work on our issues.  But there is nothing to be done about our glory.  It's so naked.  It's  just there-- the truest us.  It is awkward thing to shimmer when everyone else around you is not, to walk in your glory with an unveiled face when everyone else is veiling his.  For a woman to be truly feminine and beautiful is to invite suspicion, jealousy, misunderstanding.  A friend confided in me, "When you walk into a room, every woman looks at you to see-- are you prettier than they are?  Are you a threat!"

And that is why living from your glory is the only loving thing to do.  You cannot love another person from a false self.  You cannot love another while you are still hiding.  How can you help them to freedom while you remain captive? You cannot love another unless you offer her your heart.  It takes courage to live from your heart.  My friend Jenny said just the other day, " I desperately want to be who I am.  I don't want the glory that I marvel at in others anymore.  I want to be that glory which God set in me. "

Finally, our deepest fear of all.... we will need to live from it. To admit we do have a new heart and a glory from God, to begin to let it be unveiled and embrace it as true-- that means the next thing God will do is ask us to live from it.  Come out of the boat.  Take the throne.  Be what he meant us to be.  And that feels risky....  really risky.  But it is also exciting.  It is coming fully alive.  My friend Morgan declared, " It's a risk worth taking."

John Eldredge

"Waking the Dead"