Someone asked me yesterday, where we are all at…my heart unexpectedly, but quickly replied….deep times, require long answers! Do you have a longer moment?! Ok, then…sometimes it’s good to post a full response.
A season, of Being, and ours, laid bare. (lay bare–third-person singular simple present lays bare, present participle laying bare, simple past and past participle laid bare) To make bare; strip. And laid those proud roofs bare to summer’s rain. –Byron. (figuratively) To expose to view, reveal, uncover…) That’s the type of season we are all in. Being made more obvious or overt in our growth, is another useful definition of this phrase!
People should never ask me deep questions when i’m just picking up an iced mocha for my wife, but since this fellow did….
So, this was my very brief answer when someone asked me this week what type of season things are in collectively, I had to answer: One of being laid bare, I said. People, cities and nations, each of us..we are seeing what parts are actually “in The Light”, “in Him”, and which parts need to mature, or come home, catch up and mature, as Henri Nouwen put it. “God is trying to bring us all the way home! Each part of us!” To eclipse us in knowing, as one monk put it!
Each of us has to ask, which part is not whole yet in my life. And get that part into The Light of growth and maturation.
Trees and people, cities and nations, are known by their fruit. What is not fruitful in us, is being uprooted and exposed for its certain growth, was my first response to this friend. It is good to know what is not mature or in growth in yourself, that’s Mercy, then you can tend and steward it, into the present!
It is mercy to reveal which parts of us are actually in and growing in Light and which parts are in flight from Reality; what’s home, maturing growing in us, and which parts still need to grow and be guided towards maturity. So things are in high contrast lately, being made obvious in their levels of maturity. So we can catch up with ourselves “in Him.”
This is kind, so we will be all the way “home” when greater storms, which are coming, come. A tree is known by its fruit. What in you is actually rooted and grounded in Love, as the good book puts it. The fruits planted at night, are now exposed by a searing Light. It is good to know which parts are truly rooted and which are still trying to find good soil.
This is a high contrast season, when what has been done in secret is brought into the light and interpreted. We are in a being laid bare season on earth. And that is Mercy. Was my quick response. It’s a great opportunity to renovate the whole heart-to catch up on growth, to come entirely or more fully home. Complacency is impossible in times like ours.
High contrast lighting reveals the actual present contours, so we can work on the overall composition of our lives! It is good to know what is mature and immature in ourselves and things around us. Love is the lens for interpreting what is what. Love is discernment, even of ourselves.
This is a season of potential rapid growth and maturation in every area of life, as we yield expectantly in Hope. And get usefully exposed in areas of weakness…which is compost for potential growth!
And then my friend had to go, so I stopped rambling about where we are now. But then, he snuck away to hear the end…
Lastly I said, things are being laid bare, made apparent or obvious in every area of life, which really is a gift of Grace, so we can grow and catch up with ourselves in every area! Individually and collectively. It is a high contrast black and white time, so we can see and choose well. And form well.
I asked my friend, as I ask myself daily: What needs growth now in yourself, what is immature in you? What needs to undergo transformation in each room of your life? What needs to “meet Jesus in your dreams?” What parts need to come into the present of His Presence in your life?
For, we are in a time of opportunity to transform, a potential “yes moment” to growth and Life, in every area un-grown or immature-individually and collectively. Things, people and people groups are being grown up, being shown for what they are and will be. Matured and exposed. And the process is exposure or what may feel like over exposure at times. These are necessarily vulnerable times. It’s for our certain good to be exposed.
We are in high contrast times of potential transformation. And it’s a great gift to live in “such a time as this.” Not boring at least! And sheering lays bare character. It’s kind to be pruned towards our potential Glory. And that’s where the story is at now. It’s an editing moment, when the all the lights go up and expose the inner content of things. So we know, and can choose to grow.
We are, at the very least, in a time of character formation individually and collectively. Everything in us, must grow up, be caught up, or die. Our trees will be known by our fruits. And we are those who are meant to lean into Sky and Truth. The roots, or our inner work is where to start, and do our part of and in yielded transformation. To trust into becoming, and keep leaning into what is Love.
When someone asks you a question, you need to answer it from the heart, thoroughly. This was part of mine, as I picked up an iced mocha for my wife yesterday! Each of us give our own partial answers, this was mine.
So fruits are being shown, partly so we can work on roots now. Deeper formation is the result if we are yielded. Everything is being made obvious, so we know where to tend first in ourselves. What still needs to mature in us; having the actual Life of Christ more deeply formed. But also God in Mercy is making it obvious where His Son’s spirit actually is, and where it’s not. Great opportunity for rapid spiritual growth, if we are willing. All things are being laid bare, their inner nature made obvious. This is His Kindness, even if uncomfortable.
