November 2015 - Page 4 of 9 - Shepherd of Faith

Oh, how the Lord works! During prayer last night, I stumbled upon the words “seeing beyond the obvious.” How appropriate it was for this reflection – God’s guidance and inspiration for sure! I recently acquired a lithograph of a painting by Warner Sallman. My mom had one when I was growing up and I just love the imagery. So today I sat and meditated on the painting, looking for ways in which God was speaking to me. I get the overall message of the painting but I wanted to see beyond the obvious, I wanted a personal message. The reason I decided to do this was twofold: Firstly, my husband, my biggest supporter, God bless him, was intrigued by the painting and remembered another one of Sallman’s paintings had deep hidden messages as well. Secondly, a few months ago I participated in an e-retreat conducted by the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA. The e-retreat expanded the idea of lectio divina (which I describe in my pages at the top of the site) to include not only the Bible, but nature, photography, art and the news as well. I was blown away! I knew about the Bible, I felt God’s presence in nature, but I never thought about contemplating how He spoke to me in photographs or art or the news. The idea behind it is basically to focus on how these particular things tug at your heart, what grabs you about a particular news report for example and contemplate why and how God is calling you forth. Anyone interested in checking out the website, please click here – tons of things to digest – a site for all faiths.

Today I chose art. So I focus on the look on Jesus’ face – as he looks at the sheep in His arm – it is a look of love, compassion and mercy. The sheep is obviously younger than the rest. Immediately the song Jesus Loves the Little Children comes to mind. He’s standing in the midst of His flock, which interestingly enough includes a black sheep – a testament to the fact that He loves us all no matter what and welcomes us back no matter where we’ve been. In addition to His sheep, we see Jesus is surrounded by mountains, rocks, a stream and birds. The mountains and rocks reminded me of Psalm 18:2: The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge: My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Mountains: fortress, stronghold, rock: self explanatory, Serenity of nature: refuge), The stream of course representative of Jesus, the living stream – the source of our true happiness as long as we TRUST! The little birds in the painting drew my attention to Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? The longer I contemplated, the more I noticed or should I say the more I “heard”.

I mentioned earlier that my husband is my biggest supporter and there is no denying that – he’s the force behind the name of this blog, he’s the reason I acquired the beautiful painting (which replaced my wedding picture I might add) and he’s the reason I continue to do what I do here. When he found the lithograph and showed it to me, I loved it and watched it on ebay for weeks on end – the auction would end and the item would be relisted. This happened several times until finally I said, “I want it!” I am so glad I did. Every time I look at it now, I will be reassured that Jesus is my rock, my strength and my refuge. He is the living stream through which all life and happiness flows. He is my provider, I need fear nothing for He will provide for all my needs! All will be well! Amen!

After contemplating the meaning of the painting on my own, I decided to research whether there was an explanation of the artist’s intended meaning and here is what I found. It was interesting for me to see the differences and similarities with my perception. Further proof of how important it is for us to put the work in – to see beyond the obvious. After reading the artist’s comments I realized that the painting was not “The Good Shepherd” as I originally thought, but “The Lord is My Shepherd” a reference to Psalm 23 – my husband’s favorite bible verse. The painting took on a whole new meaning for me. Just amazing!

I say all this to drive home the importance of seeing beyond the obvious, to not just take what other people have to say as law, but to come up with your own interpretations, come up with your own answers. Too often we dismiss the deeper meaning of an experience simply because we are focusing on the obvious or taking someone else’s word for it. We dismiss people and opportunities because of the “obvious” and we wind up losing out on a great relationship or teaching moment because we didn’t care enough to see beyond the obvious. Seeing beyond the obvious requires hope AND work. Whenever you’re down and out, for whatever reason, take a lesson from our Savior – He saw beyond the obvious. His obvious was the crucifixion, but He saw beyond that to the resurrection!

What’s your obvious? What’s your crucifixion? Is it the loss of a loved one? Is it addiction or illness – your own or that of a loved one? Is it the inability to conceive? Is it a broken or strained relationship? The first thing I would say is that we CANNOT, absolutely cannot rely on our own understanding as to why we have the experiences we have in life. The bible tells us trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5. That is what it means to have hope! Through our experiences, through our suffering comes opportunity. Opportunity to reflect, opportunity to trust, opportunity to see beyond the obvious, opportunity to hope that all will be well! That is what it means to work at it! The second thing I would say is look beyond the addiction, look beyond the illness, look beyond the obstacle – there’s more there, there’s an opportunity for growth – take the opportunity and run with it – stretch that soul, take the time to work at it, work through the pain, don’t wait for someone else to do it for you, remember our Lord’s promise – beyond the pain (crucifixion) there is redemption (resurrection). God bless you!

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (New American Bible translation)

Everywhere I turned this weekend, in prayer, in reading or on Facebook, this bible verse seemed to be the common theme – it kept coming up so I decided to sit with it for a while.

What does it mean to conform? To act in accord with the prevailing standards, attitudes, practices, etc. of society or a group. Scripture is telling us not to conform ourselves to this age. What is “this age?” What are the prevailing standards, attitudes, practice of society? I think we can all agree that this age is full of excess, obsession, intolerance, division, disrespect, ingratitude and selfishness, among other things (some positive of course). These negative attitudes seem to be the rule and not the exception.

We see the excess everywhere we turn – having the “wants” as opposed to the “needs”. We see excess in addictions and in the workplace – work more to have more. MORE! MORE! MORE! We see excess in our children. A simple board game is no longer enough, a simple no frills shirt and sneakers just doesn’t cut it. We’ve created these little monsters because WE have conformed to this age. We see obsession with appearance all over the television, diet, exercise, designer this that and the other thing.

We see intolerance, division and disrespect not only in the frequent terrorist attacks that have become the norm, but also in our own neighborhoods and families. We experience ingratitude when we focus on what we don’t have instead of focusing on the abundance right under our noses. (A roof over our head, a comfy bed, heat, something to eat, etc.). When we fail to sacrifice ourselves for others, when we lose sight of others’ feelings, we exhibit selfishness.

Despite all these things, there is still hope for us! The second part of this verse tells us to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. The definition of renewal is the “state of being made new, fresh or strong AGAIN.” Again? So renewal is about getting BACK to a place, a state of mind, we’ve already been. But when were we there? It’s probably hard to believe that we were there as children but we were. Remember when you were a child and you had no idea how much money your parents had, nor did you care? Remember when you weren’t worried about what you wore (the red shirt, with the purple pants and the brown shoes! LOL!) or when you weren’t afraid to speak your mind (children say the darnest things)? Remember when you had several friends, each of a different race and religion and you loved them all the same? This was a time when we all would go about our day just simply being ourselves, our TRUE selves! What happened? We have to get back there.

Renewal of our mind, for me means getting back to a place where we become humble, innocent, honest, comfortable, loving beings. Where we become free of society’s hold on us. It means “re-programming” our minds through reading, meditation and prayer, to become comfortable with who we are and to be willing to stand up for what we believe is right. Renewal of the mind means focusing on what is “above” , what is good, pleasing and perfect, as opposed to what is “below.” To become like little children again, free spirits, literally! Jesus himself clues us in on this when he says: “unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” People often talk of conversion, I don’t know what it means for them, but for me this verse sums it up! Are you ready to convert?