Category: FemmeBytes by JMathis

Just a Walk

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by JMathis, September 2011 (Authenticity)2 Comments

By JMathis

Enoch lived in a fallen world, too.

In fact, his world was so corrupt that God was hell-bent on destroying it. Genesis 6:7

It wasn’t an iPhone® culture like ours, but it had all of the same lewdness, deceitfulness and greed that plagues our world even until today.

He lived in pretty dark times, and yet, Enoch managed to walk with God.

Everyday. Even while being a dad. Genesis 5:22

Maybe the pressures of that world were too great. Maybe being a parent wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Or, maybe Enoch just always knew he was in need of a Savior.

Whatever it was, he made it a point to know God intimately. Especially in a time when people could care less about God and what He thought.

That’s what makes Enoch the real deal. A true authentic.

He walked so closely with God that he marched directly into heaven. Didn’t even pass ‘GO’…just walked right on through to the other side. Genesis 5:24

I wish I were the real deal. A true authentic.

For the most part, though, I’m just a Sunday morning Christian who can’t really imagine being that close with God and knowing Him in that way.

Life just seems too fast-paced. I can barely keep up with my thoughts. It’s a miracle that I can even keep myself together.

That’s what it’s like in our God-less culture.

It’s about scraping through the day-to-day and barely keeping it together. Everyday seeming more dissatisfying than the last.

Who has time for God? Who has time nowadays to be the real deal? A true authentic?

With such little time that we devote daily to our Creator, are we all just paying lip service to the fact that we’re Christians?

Is God just our get-out-of-jail card? Our just-in-case for the after-life? Our meal ticket out of here?

What a charade. What games we play with God.

Maybe we all missed the boat on this one. Maybe we all got it backwards.

Maybe life is more than just scraping through the day-to-day and barely keeping it together.

Maybe it’s about being the real deal. A true authentic. In a time and age that doesn’t value those qualities in you.

It’s overwhelming. I know. But maybe it’s about starting with baby-steps.

God doesn’t need us to be marathon runners on Day 1. He doesn’t need us to win the Olympic gold in sprinting by Day 2. He doesn’t need us to be an Abraham or a Paul by Day 3.

He just wants us to walk with Him. Everyday. Little by little. Baby-step by baby-step.

No pressure. No strings attached. Just a walk.

Aren’t you ready to be the real deal? To be a true authentic?

Aren’t you sick of the tugging, the pulling, the pushing and the shoving of this world?

I know I am.

So, let’s do this. Together. No over-thinking it. No over-spiritualizing it. No announcing it on Facebook.

Just a walk.

Everyday.

Little by little.

Baby-step by baby-step.

He just wants us to walk with Him.

Being Honest About the Cross

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by JMathis, September 2011 (Authenticity)1 Comment

By JMathis

On Friday night, I went to a concert where I was blown away by the unbelievably talented Michelle Touchstone. Michelle is an artistic genius when it comes to songwriting, and her voice is just brimming with lush beauty, depth and richness. Musically speaking, her songs are complex and nuanced, and she also manages to leave her audience with a message that is soulful, powerful and most of all, authentic.

One of the things she mentioned that stayed with me throughout the weekend, was the difficulty in singing and sharing about The Cross. Many times in modern Christianity, we want to focus on a hip, sanitized, more abstract version of Jesus: His love, His compassion, His ability to transform lives.

While all of this is very, very real when describing Jesus, we tend to gloss over the fact that these attributes of His are only meaningful in light of the ultimate sacrifice He made on The Cross.

On The Cross:

He died an ugly, gruesome, unspeakable death so that you and I could live: live with hope, live in victory, live in peace, live in joy.

He was marred beyond recognition and beaten to a pulp so that you and I could be free of pain, guilt and anxiety.

He suffered massive internal and external bleeding so that you and I could experience physical and emotional healing from the blood that kept pouring out of His bruised and battered body.

On The Cross, He experienced the kind of unfathomable brutality that is every mother’s worst nightmare for her child.

Yet, He did this for us. For our children. He did this so that you and I would have a future that transcended beyond the ugliness and hatred of this unforgiving, ruthless world.

When was the last time you reflected upon The Cross?

When was the last time you shared with someone about The Cross?

Lest we forget, The Cross is why we follow Him. The Cross is what gives us the power to trade in our sin-soaked past for a life overflowing with love, compassion and transformation.

Being honest with yourself about your past means nailing your shame on The Cross.

Being honest with others about your past means sharing what He did with that shame on The Cross.

True authenticity is about being honest. Honest about The Cross: what it has done for you and where it is taking you.

Wasn’t His death worth the sacrifice?

Isn’t He worth sharing?

Are you willing to be honest about The Cross today?

The Uncertainty of The Map

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by JMathis, September 2011 (Authenticity)2 Comments

By JMathis

Authenticity is all about living in uncertainty.

Unfortunately, uncertainty does not sit well with those of us who love The Map.

We love the elegance of The Map. Its cool, calm confidence reassures, calms and guides.

Veer left? No, the college degree is on the right, it says. Head over the hill? No, grad school is just down the slope and through the red tunnel, it says. Cross through the forest? No, the safe career path is around the bend, next to the stream, it says.

Keep listening to The Map and you’re guaranteed a path of financial security, it says.

The Map pulsates and brims with knowledge. Its warm light is comforting.

Who are we to question The Map?

And, for awhile, we don’t question The Map. It navigates on cruise control, pulling and prodding us only with the slightest of hand. It never leads us astray, never demands and is never wrong.

Until we reach its edges.

The four corners of The Map violently jump out of nowhere and thrust their hard lines into our faces. Countless paper cuts lash through our hearts, starting off as minor nicks, but soon fester into gaping wounds.

Why didn’t anyone tell us that at some point The Map comes to an end?

How did The Map stop being such a sure thing?

When did The Map stop giving us all of the answers?

Maybe when we started forgetting that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, The Life?

The only Way. The only Truth. The only Life that counts.

Undoubtedly, Jesus is the harder path. Jesus is the rockier path. Jesus is the path without The Map.

Jesus is the path we avoid when we clutch furiously to the lines of The Map.

Jesus is the path we purposefully overlook when we make a beeline towards the safety of The Map.

But, Jesus is the path you won’t find on The Map.

In fact, Jesus is about uncertainty.

Uncertainty about where you are going, uncertainty about how you will be accepted by others, and uncertainty about what direction your life should take.

Uncertainty to the world means Scary. Spooky. Dangerous.

Uncertainty with Jesus means Trust. Faith. Deliverance.

Authenticity is all about living in uncertainty.

Authenticity is about discarding The Map and Leaping Before You Look.

Are you ready to surrender?

Are you ready to let go?

Are you ready for Jesus?

The Music of My Grief

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by JMathis, September 2011 (Authenticity)Leave a comment

By JMathis

I didn’t own a television when 9/11 happened.

Sure, I caught glimpses of the falling Towers on televisions broadcasting at my workplace or in the homes of friends and family.

I even remember pouring through the images of 9/11 on the internet, and inhaling every photograph I could get my hands on in newspapers and in print.

Still, my strongest recollections of 9/11 are not visual, as compared to many in our country who watched the images over and over again in horror on 24-hour television news cycles.

My memories of 9/11 are shaped instead from listening to countless hours of radio in the months following the tragedy.

What strikes me about my experience is that I can’t really remember the voices or the stories that played in the backdrop. However, I do vividly remember the music that NPR played continuously in a loop, in between news segments. I even remember that NPR chose to play this music in long stretches of time rather than repeatedly airing news features. Looking back, I’m sure it’s because words were just inadequate in capturing the grief of our nation at that time.

It is this music that will forever be emblazoned upon my heart, my mind and my memories of 9/11.

In fact, every year on the 9/11 anniversary, I go back and revisit this music.

(Click here to play this music.)

I revisit this music to reflect.

To reflect on my loss. The loss of my countrymen. The loss of my wide-eyed idealism.

To reflect on my God. My God who gives me life, hope and a future. My God who gave refuge to my then-fiancé/now-husband, as he was headed to the World Financial Center that morning for work.

To reflect on who I am. As a child of God. As a wife, mother and woman—a woman with many personal and professional gifts, interests and ambitions.

In these moments when I revisit this music and commune with God’s spirit, I realize that there can be no true authenticity in my life without constant reflection.

You cannot be real and transparent unless you look deeply in the mirrors of your God-given soul to see where you have been and where you are headed.

You cannot even begin to know yourself or your God, or be able to identify those around you who are in need, unless you take time to reflect.

Take time today to reflect on the state of your inward self, your inner man.

Is it where you want her to be?

Most importantly, is it where God wants her to be?

Swallowed Up By The Great I Am

On By femmefuelIn August 2011 (Cultivating Friendships), FemmeBytes by JMathisLeave a comment

By JMathis

I am not someone you would characterize as a dog aficionado or an animal lover. You won’t ever find me working for PETA or volunteering at the local animal shelter. In fact, more often than not, I am pretty terrified of the average, household pet.

For some reason, though, Ilia managed to steal a bit of my heart when we first met nine years ago.

My husband traveled so much in the first five years of our marriage, that it was just me and Ilia most nights. She was my Scooby Doo and I was her Shaggy—both of us running wildly in fright over shadows caused by tree branches, the wind beating against the windows, and spiders scurrying into the darkness.

Partners in crime to the end. Get Smart-style.

She had these long, floppy ears, which were awkwardly saddled onto her scrawny frame. Yet, she carried a noble, kind gaze that just melted men of steel into puddles.

While she was never very bright, she sure knew how to get tangled up in my heartstrings.

She was a glimmering ray of light and love in my life, and this past winter, my beautiful Ilia succumbed to cancer and moved out of my grasp.

I try not to think too much about her these days. Life catches up and takes over the tick-tock of my daily timepiece. Mainly, it’s because I get a little too teary-eyed remembering how devoted she was to me.

I did think long and hard about her this morning, though. Donald Miller wrote a post this week that had the most heartwarming sentiment for dog owners: that when your dog passes on, she gets swallowed back up into God’s imagination.

I choked up at the beauty of that thought.

To be perfectly honest, I can’t even say that I understand the statement completely, as I have no idea what happens to dogs after they die.

Still, the concept that God created my dog, gave her breath, and allowed me to experience the joy of loving her, before bringing her back full circle into the creative expanse of His mind, is simply just overwhelming to me.

That He would reach far into the recesses of His imagination and give me the pleasure of knowing this wholly inadequate ‘type and shadow’ of friendship—through my dog—is just beyond my comprehension. How did He even conceive of the idea of giving me this earthly hint, this mere taste of the rich, vast fullness of His never-ending love and undying loyalty towards me?

Oh, what I would do to become swallowed back up into His imagination.

To become swallowed back up into eternal communion, fellowship and friendship with Him.

To become swallowed back up by The Great I Am, who died just for me and who calls me friend.

What a friend we indeed have in Jesus:

“He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.” Isaiah 25:8

The Scary What If’s About Making New Friendships

On By femmefuelIn August 2011 (Cultivating Friendships), FemmeBytes by JMathis2 Comments

By JMathis

What if you opened your mind to the possibility of a new friend?

What if there was someone out there who made sure you always felt like you belonged?

What if you took a chance at being vulnerable in front of other women?

What if you tried being honest with others (and yourself) for a change?

What if there was a friend out there who would challenge you to be the real you?

What if there was a friend out there who would take you on a new set of adventures?

What if you made a friend who became closer than a sister?

What if you met a friend who always made you laugh? Who made you pee from laughter?

What if you stopped judging someone long enough to realize that she is just like you?

What if you didn’t have to be self-conscious about your body, your mind or your spirituality in front of other women?

What if you always felt like you were personally invited?

What if it didn’t have to be hard to meet new friends?

What if you didn’t have to be nervous or self-aware when sharing your story or your past?

What if it didn’t have to be a chore to smile or make small talk with women?

What if new friends could become part of your family?

What if there was a friend who never made you feel invisible or like a third wheel?

What if you could meet someone who really wanted to know all about you?

What if you didn’t have to play the one-upmanship game with women?

What if the pretty girl wasn’t a mean girl?

What if you didn’t always have to be perfect or right for someone to like you?

What if you didn’t have to feel the need to compare yourself to other women?

What if it was okay to be friendly without being accused of being perky or saccharine?

What if you don’t have to say a word, because she already knows how you feel?

What if you didn’t have to worry about every word you said in front of other women?

What if you didn’t have to prove to someone that you were some über-Christian?

What if the words “fake” and “phony” only applied to the “Prada” purses you and your new friend bought off of a street vendor?

What if you made a friend who genuinely prayed for you and with you?

What if you had a friend who made you want to seek more of Jesus?

What if you could cry in front of someone new without feeling like you are needy?

What if you had a friend who reached out to you, without you reaching out to her first?

What if hugs from a friend came naturally?

What if meeting other women didn’t have to be so intimidating?

What if you felt freedom in being able to trust a new friend?

What if making a new friend didn’t have to feel like being hazed by a sorority?

What if you could hit it off with someone just like you, or someone nothing like you?

What if you had someone with whom you could share your secrets? Your dreams?

What if you didn’t have to prove your friendships through Facebook pictures?

What if you walked into a women’s group and you immediately felt like you were home?

Haven’t you waited long enough? Isn’t it time to put yourself out there?

Take a chance on friendship…again.

Be the friend you always wanted for yourself.

Be the woman in the group who makes everyone feel welcome.

Be the change you want to see in this world (thanks, Mahatma Gandhi).

Matthew 7:12. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

What If…by Donald Miller @ Catalyst West 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CatalystConference#p/u/37/mON-059nbNM

Stories Worth Remembering

On By femmefuelIn August 2011 (Cultivating Friendships), FemmeBytes by JMathis1 Comment

By JMathis

My book of remembrance.

It’s not like HIS book of remembrance, which is brimming with stories of forgiveness and redemption.

It’s not like HIS book of remembrance, which tells of stories that owe their existence to the greatest love story ever told.

No, no, my book of remembrance is insignificant compared to HIS. My book is certainly not grand by any stretch of the imagination.

Nonetheless, I do have a book of remembrance.

My book of remembrance is filled with the sweetest of memories from when I was just a wee, little lass. Filled with far-reaching memories of people and experiences that have changed me profoundly.

It even has silly memories of my preschool friend, Nina, who taught me that smiling is always the best policy.

Even through the tears after your mommy drops you off at school.

Even through the tears of breaking up with your boyfriend.

Even through the tears of losing your job.

Even through the tears that God only sees.

Yes, this book holds life lessons from people like Nina who may not even remember me, or whom I haven’t seen in many moons.

These very same people may believe that they have never made a difference to anyone. That their lives have no significance or meaning.

Oh, but if only they knew about my book of remembrance. If only they could read its pages to see how much they have impacted me.

If only they could see how much life is worth living because of what they taught me.

If only they could see that their wisdom is more priceless than Solomon’s jewels.

If only they could see that their reach stretches beyond the annals of time.

If only they could see how God shifted my course in life through them.

AbbyA and Bindu, you are in my book of remembrance.

In fact, there are whole chapters devoted to you both.

The pages where you are found are lovingly bookmarked, highlighted and worn to the touch.

In case no one ever told either of you…

In case you doubt your role in this life…

In case you forget why you’re here…

Know that your lives are part of a rich tapestry of stories that eternally matter.

Stories that matter to me.

Stories that matter to Him.

Stories worth remembering.