Topics:<\/b> Grace; Prayer; Surrender<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Romans 8:15\u201317; Colossians 1:22<\/p>\n
I took Bekah, six, to audition for the part of a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz<\/i>. The thought that she might not get the part seemed never to occur to her. I encouraged her but didn\u2019t say anything about her chances.<\/p>\n
I had no idea that 250 children would show up for 50 parts. In a huge gym, the two directors had the children line the four edges of the cavernous building, the tallest on one end trailing down to the shortest on the other end. The directors went through the line, having each child say his or her name and age. They did it again, this time urging, \u201cSay your name loud. Say it with animation.\u201d The boisterous, enthusiastic kids were told to sit down, marking them in a kind of first cut. I watched as they finally got to Bekah. I was at the opposite end, but my heart sank when I could not hear her. She was too quiet, too restrained.<\/p>\n
The directors gave the kids other chances, other quick assignments. But I could never hear Bekah. I knew she was not standing out. The expressive, outgoing kids were getting the parts.<\/p>\n
Finally, the long two hours came to a close with the kids all gathered in a knot around the directors. The names of the chosen 50 were read off a list. I knew already that Bekah hadn\u2019t made it.<\/p>\n
Bekah threaded her way to me afterward, cheeks flushed. She hugged me hard as we prepared to walk out. \u201cI\u2019m proud of you,\u201d I said. \u201cI am so impressed that you auditioned.\u201d Then I said, quietly, \u201cI\u2019m sorry you didn\u2019t get a part.\u201d<\/p>\n
That broke Bekah\u2019s tear floodgates. She grabbed at me and sobbed. I picked her up, and she buried her face in my shoulder.<\/p>\n
The next morning, I overheard Bekah talking with her mother. \u201cThe kids who got parts didn\u2019t behave right,\u201d she said. \u201cI was good. I was quiet like I was supposed to be. And I didn\u2019t get a part!\u201d She had equated goodness with restraint. She was trying hard but in the wrong way. She thought the directors wanted reserve, stiff attention, frozen alertness. That was \u201cgood.\u201d But Bekah didn\u2019t understand: The directors wanted energy, emotion, loudness. They wanted kids who could be themselves with abandon.<\/p>\n
Many people, I suspect, feel that way around God\u2014restrained, rigid, tight. They can\u2019t relax and simply receive God\u2019s wondrous grace. And they miss the opportunity to awaken to the grace-filled kindness of God.<\/p>\n
\u2014Timothy Jones, Awake My Soul<\/i> (Doubleday, 1999)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Grace; Prayer; Surrender References: Romans 8:15\u201317; Colossians 1:22 I took Bekah, six, to audition for the part of a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. The thought that she might not get the part seemed never to occur to her. I encouraged her but didn\u2019t say anything about her chances. I had no idea … Continue reading “BEING
\n YOURSELF WITH GOD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}