02.01.2010


   
Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of magine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.

Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.

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Hands: a heart and soul faith, made flesh 
Four: Loosen your grip...   

Here's the fourth of five principles of the "hands," framework of spiritual transformation: Jesus makes you more and more like him--a heart and soul faith, made flesh--as you loosen your grip. (You can read the intro here, no here.) These five posts are a bit longer than typical, but oh so worth your contemplation!  


Have this attitude in yourselves

which was also in Christ Jesus, who, 

although He existed in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God
a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself...

being made in the likeness of men

 (Philippians 2:5-7).

 

 

A Patient in the Hospital

Two hours north of the Crescent City, aboard Arlo Guthrie's famed City of New Orleans, the train pulls into the idyllic Southern town of Brookhaven, Mississippi. A short drive west of town lived M. Lynwood Smith--composer and evangelist, but above all, friend and mentor. Lynwood's legacy includes some thousand songs and hymns, a catalog of music managed for years by a pioneer of gospel music, Bill Gaither.

 

My last visit with Lynwood was the weekend before his passing. Lynwood was a patient at King's Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven. I had never seen Lynwood so vulnerable. I held his hand, stroked his head, prayed with him, reassured him. Lynwood was most frightened that weekend by the failure of his kidneys and the specter of dialysis. My father has been on dialysis for years, and I tried to dispel Lynwood's fears.  

 

Lynwood lay on his side, a tenacious grip with both hands upon the rail of his hospital bed, quietly staring at me with the anxious face of child. After a few minutes, Lynwood quietly asked, "Michael, tell me when they're ready to start." I smiled, observed his blood coursing through the tubes of the dialysis machine, and said, "About five minutes ago." Lynwood meekly smiled with relief and said, "You're kidding me." Within moments, Lynwood let go of his grip of the rail and fell peacefully asleep.

 

Among the thousand songs that Lynwood penned was a powerful hymn, entitled, Be Still and Know that I am God. Lynwood drew inspiration for the hymn from Psalm 46. Lynwood, however, may not have fully comprehended the powerful implications of the psalm. I think of the psalm when I recall Lynwood's fingers slipping from the rail of his hospital bed, his fears relieved. For the Hebrew word translated, "be still," is a word that means, "let go of...loosen...your grip." "Loosen your grip, and know that I am God."

 

 

The Passion of Christ 

When apprentices of Jesus think about the Passion of Christ, they commonly, and correctly, think of his suffering. To suffer, however, did not mean then what it means now. We limit the word today to describe experiences of pain and loss. Then, the word was rather colorless, devoid of judgment. Then, to "suffer" simply meant...

 

to endure all things, both good and ill,

when people and circumstances

are beyond your control.

Loosen your grip.

 

This meaning is captured by another word in our contemporary vocabulary derived from the same root as passion: "passive." The Passion of Christ then is the term we use to describe the days of Jesus' greatest vulnerability: when he was "delivered over" to the authorities; when he ceased being the subject driving the activity and instead became the object of the activity.

 

Jesus' loosening his grip is evident in the Gospel of Mark. Mark is the most concise of the four gospels. The pace is brisk; the momentum is sweeping. The word euthus, translated "immediately," appears forty-one times in Mark's gospel--including ten times in the first chapter alone. From his first appearance to his arrest, it's Jesus' activity that builds and maintains the momentum. He moves from one place to another, from one event to another, leaving in his wake a series of transformations. Jesus is the subject of activity in Mark's gospel, rarely, if ever, the object; it is he who is "doing to."

 

But that all changed when Judas "handed over" Jesus in the Garden. From his arrest to his death, Jesus is the subject of just nine verbs (whereas he is the object, either direct or indirect, of fifty-six verbs). He's gone from "doing to to being "done to. From action to passion. Recall the words from Hebrews: "Although [Jesus] was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8): 

 

Jesus learned submission,

in both mind and heart,

from all he endured, whether good or ill,

at the hands of another or of life itself.

He loosened his grip.

.

 

The Patience, or not, of Believers  

The patience of believers then is much more than a common courtesy or virtue. Patience, or not, reflects the degree to which we, like Jesus, have learned submission, in both mind and heart, from all we endure, whether good or ill, at the hands of another or life itself.  

 

By nature, we typically have little patience for where we are (that is, to be ever, fully, present). We're usually on the way to somewhere--anywhere, perhaps, but here. Because we're always on the move, most everything and everyone we encounter are mere impediments to our progress, our outcomes, our personal and professional agendas. As a result, we become impatient: impatient with ourselves, impatient with neighbor, impatient with God. Patience calls upon us to "loosen our grip." And with patience, comes peace.  

 

As recently as the late twentieth century, coal miners descending into the poorly-ventilated depths were accompanied by caged canaries. Though an admittedly low-tech warning system, the metabolism of the bright yellow bird was sensitive to trace amounts of methane and carbon monoxide gases; the canary would die before concentrations of toxic gas reached levels hazardous to the miners. If the guardian canary stopped its customary chirping miners were alerted to evacuate the mine.  

 

What's the point of this cautionary tale? Just this. Impatience is less a vice to be overcome, than it is voice to be heard. Impatience is a canary of the soul, guarding the innermost depths of our being, where coal is transformed into diamonds.

 

Loosen your grip, and become patience.

 

 

How does impatience show up in you?

 

Where do you need to "let go of your grip and know..."? What would it look like?

 

What's the "knowing," the assurance, you need before you'll let go of your grip? Is it a "head-knowing" or is it a "heart-knowing"?

 

Michael Fox
m�agine!

530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241  
In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice
and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--

as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.

Michael's books include
 
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.

Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.

Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.

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