Transformation. Change. If we're honest, aren't we always looking for just that? I work out to transform my body. I try to eat right to transform my health. I read every book ever written on organization in an attempt to make my home run more smoothly. The most important transformation however has nothing to do with my outsides and everything to do with the insides.
Sometimes, probably much more often than I care to admit, I succumb to stinkin' thinkin'. My focus becomes worldly and temporal, rather than eternal. It's all about me. Well isn't it? "Poor me. Why is life so hard?" Que the violins and pass the cheese.
John Ortberg, in his book The Life You've Always Wanted tells the story of Mabel. Mabel spent the last 25 years in a convalescent hospital. Blind and partially deaf, her face slowly eaten away by cancer, she was alone...or so it would seem. When a friend of John's befriended Mabel, he discovered a power most of us will never begin to understand. Here is an excerpt from the book.
So I went to her and asked, 'Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?'
And she said, 'I think about my Jesus.'
I sat there, and thought for a moment about the difficulty, for me, of thinking about Jesus for even five minutes, and I asked, 'What do you think about Jesus?' She replied slowly and deliberately as I wrote...:
'I think about how good he's been to me. He's been awfully good to me in my life, you know...I'm one of those kind who's mostly satisfied...Lots of folks wouldn't care much for what I think. Lots of folks would think I'm kind of old-fashioned. But I don't care. I'd rather have Jesus. He's all the world to me.'
...Here was an ordinary human being who received supernatural power to do extraordinary things. Her entire life consisted of following Jesus as best she could in her situation: patient endurance of suffering, solitude, prayer, meditation on Scripture, worship, fellowship when it was possible, giving when she had a flower or a piece of candy to offer.
What a whiner I am! To have such trust and security in my Savior to be able to say, no matter what my circumstances, "He's been very good to me you know." Wow.
I'm not there. I'm not even close to being there, but I want to be. Yes, I really, really want to be.
Sometimes, probably much more often than I care to admit, I succumb to stinkin' thinkin'. My focus becomes worldly and temporal, rather than eternal. It's all about me. Well isn't it? "Poor me. Why is life so hard?" Que the violins and pass the cheese.
John Ortberg, in his book The Life You've Always Wanted tells the story of Mabel. Mabel spent the last 25 years in a convalescent hospital. Blind and partially deaf, her face slowly eaten away by cancer, she was alone...or so it would seem. When a friend of John's befriended Mabel, he discovered a power most of us will never begin to understand. Here is an excerpt from the book.
So I went to her and asked, 'Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?'
And she said, 'I think about my Jesus.'
I sat there, and thought for a moment about the difficulty, for me, of thinking about Jesus for even five minutes, and I asked, 'What do you think about Jesus?' She replied slowly and deliberately as I wrote...:
'I think about how good he's been to me. He's been awfully good to me in my life, you know...I'm one of those kind who's mostly satisfied...Lots of folks wouldn't care much for what I think. Lots of folks would think I'm kind of old-fashioned. But I don't care. I'd rather have Jesus. He's all the world to me.'
...Here was an ordinary human being who received supernatural power to do extraordinary things. Her entire life consisted of following Jesus as best she could in her situation: patient endurance of suffering, solitude, prayer, meditation on Scripture, worship, fellowship when it was possible, giving when she had a flower or a piece of candy to offer.
What a whiner I am! To have such trust and security in my Savior to be able to say, no matter what my circumstances, "He's been very good to me you know." Wow.
I'm not there. I'm not even close to being there, but I want to be. Yes, I really, really want to be.
Ahhh, I'd forgotten that story. Read that book several years ago...Have you gotten to the part where he mentions hot dogs? Eewww!
ReplyDeleteAnyway - thanks for reminding me of this story and encouraging me to follow Mabel's example.