I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do enter your room, you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling. C.S. Lewis
We may not realize it, but our modern definition of waiting has devolved into something like this: that maddening interval of time we must endure between two successive desired experiences that leaves us irritable and discontent.
The key point to recognize here in this definition of waiting is that what we see as positive are only the bookends – the experiences on either side of the waiting period – and not the treasury of stories available to us in between.
As much as we may like to think so, life does not consist of creating an agenda and checking off each line item with as little waiting in between as possible.
Life does, and always will, consist of waiting. And so the key to life in this respect is not the impossible task of eliminating the wait. The key is establishing an altogether different definition of waiting.
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell
In today’s episode, we will attempt to derive a true definition of waiting, to accept it as an inevitable and necessary, and to embrace its presence…through embracing the present.
Source Scripture
Good News or Fake News? – Matthew 5:1-2; Luke 6:17-20
Inside Man – Matthew 5:3-12; Luke 6:20-26
Escaping the Matrix – Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20,24
Have a Great Mourning – Matthew 5:4; Luke 6:21,25
Meek in and Meek Out – Matthew 5:5
Just Right – Matthew 5:6; Luke 6:21,25
Extras
Suggested Scripture: Psalm 22; Psalm 37; Psalm 42
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras
When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner. William Shakespeare
The day is June 5th, 1989. The city, Beijing, China, is soaked in the blood of soldiers, students, and bystanders after the Chinese army’s violent suppression of protests in Tiananmen Square.
A column of four tanks, just like the one that had plowed through a crowd hours earlier and killed eleven people, is rolling down the street near the square. An unknown person, known since that day only as Tank Man, walks in front of the steel beasts that could easily crush him. He stops. His arms, carrying shopping bags, are down by his side. He makes no gesture of hate. He has nothing with which to attack. He simply stands there, facing them, knowing that he possesses no power whatsoever with which to physically halt the oncoming instruments of war.
The tanks attempt to maneuver around the man, but he calmly shifts his position to stand in their path. The choice becomes clear. Those in power must decide whether to use it and kill a man who calmly stands there or to stop.
The captains cut the power to their engines.
The photo that captures this moment and the story behind it is awe-striking. What captivates us, in this case, is the wonder of how gentleness can be as or more powerful than murderous military force.
The gentleness with which a single man subdued a column of tanks that could have easily taken his life is known as meekness. And in today’s episode, we will explore how we can tap the forces within in order to forego the forces without, transforming both ourselves and our world with the gentle power of meekness.
Source Scripture
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung
There are moments in our lives when something strikes us with such resonance that it transforms us.
When Albert Einstein was five years old, sick, and lying in bed, his father handed him a compass. He became fascinated by the needle’s ability to always point north, no matter how he rotated it. He called it a “wonder” and later in life said this experience made a deep and lasting impression upon me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.
And what do we see Einstein growing up to do? Searching for the hidden forces at work in our universe.
As above, so below.
There are hidden forces at work in you, too. Deep down in your soul. And Awestruck‘s aim is to lead you on a journey to the center of you to discover those forces.
In this episode, we will review the hidden forces explored in episodes 8-13 and get a sneak preview of what’s ahead. And, you’ll also get the answer to these questions from listeners…
- Why do you use Scripture as your source?
- Why is this podcast called Awestruck again?
- What is all this soul-centering talk?
Looks like we’ve got a lot to cover, so grab your compass and let’s get started.
Source Scripture
The Birth of Grace: Luke 2:1-7
Treasuring: Luke 2:8-20
Expose’: Luke 2:21-40
When You See It: Matthew 2:1-12
How Far Will You Go?: Matthew 2:13-18
Nothing is Everything: Matthew 2:19-23
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go. – Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
We too often mistake the sum total of who we are for what we feel, think, and do. This dooms us to believe that the deepest fulfillment available to us is experiencing positive feelings. And this assumption leads us to one primary paradigm of living – we must survey the environment of people and things available to us and master the art of manipulation as it pertains to all of them so that we can achieve and maintain those desired feelings.
But wait. If our feelings are desired, then there must be more to us. Where do our desires originate?
We went down this rabbit hole in Episode 10, Shadow Work, but we need a refresher for today’s focus. Here is a Dr. Seussian summary of Shadow Work…
The choices you choose
Birth beliefs that you use
To nourish desires
That fuel all the fires
Of emotions you chase
Which form thoughts you embrace
To condone what you do
That reveal the real you
Our makeup goes much deeper than our feelings and emotions. And the core choices we make reveal who we are and prompt us to do what we do.
When we get stuck, as many of us do, in the shallows of believing our depths are limited to just thoughts and emotions, we become desperate to maintain our emotions in their desired states. So desperate, in fact, that we don’t yet realize how far we will go.
This is by definition the ego, and the logical conclusion of its pursuit is that we become prodigals, far from our true home, depleted, starved, and wondering if we can ever go back.
Today’s episode offers you a divine pathway that will light the way back home no matter how far you’ve wandered, and keep you close to home once you get there.
It’s called meekness. And it’s one of those core choices you make way down deep in your soul. Here is a proper definition of meekness.
Meekness is trusting in divine providence over external circumstances so much so that you resist every temptation to exert egoistic forces (such as manipulation and violence) and instead live centered in the soul.
Meekness may rhyme with weakness, but the similarities stop there. Meekness draws on great strength to resist the forces of evil that will inevitably descend. It has at its heart this mantra from Romans 12:21: Do not overcome evil with evil, but evil with good.
Today we will see just how far two people will go in regards to meekness. One will escape in darkness to another continent with his family to embrace it, and the other will embrace the darkness and destroy many families just to escape it.
Source Scripture
How Far Will You Go?: Matthew 2:13-18
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras