Proactive or Reactive?

Proactive or reactive? Most of my life has been lived reactively. I think as a mother of four, grandmother of four, only living child of an ageing mother, wife of a self-employed man, I have always been the one to fill in the gaps. The floater who can be asked at the last minute for a favour, a helping hand. And it is a privilege to be able to move in alongside those I love and be available to lend a helping hand. 

Can that be said to be a calling? The one who plugs the gaps? 

Maybe. 

When I look at Jesus, I see there a proactive man who knew when the time was right, and when it wasn’t. Who wouldn’t be pressured by family who thought he’d lost the plot, nor driven by friends whose brother was dying. Proactively directing his steps – or was he? He also said that he did only what he saw his father in heaven doing. Reactive.

Discerning what our Father in heaven is doing, and what Jesus is calling and equipping us to with his Holy Spirit: that’s the key to a fulfilled life. Learning to discern takes time, I’ve found. 

At my age, I’m still learning. Meanwhile, I hover over my laptop with one ear alert to the moving of our friends who are visiting, knowing that any moment they will be down and I will be making coffee, breakfast, chatting. Reactive or proactive, life is a blessing.

Glorious

The changing colours at this time of year are stunning. As I sat praying in the conservatory this morning, I was looking out at an acer which is just on the cusp of change. 

Jesus told us to abide in him because he is the root, he is the source of life in us. The leaves of the trees need to ‘abide’ in order to continue taking their nourishment from the roots of the trees. But of course the physical life cycle of leaves decrees that they change colour, die back, and fall off. 

Just before they drop, the leaves are more glorious than at the beginning of the cycle. 

Sometimes Christian leaders can look glorious, but if they are not remaining in Jesus, abiding in his love, they will eventually drop away. 

Sometimes we other Christians can look pretty good too, doing all the right things, saying all the right things, showing the gifts God has blessed us with, and as long as we remain in Jesus, connected to the source, we will indeed continue to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into the area in which we live. If we stop living close to Jesus, inspired and filled with his Spirit, we, too, will drop away.

The Christian life is organic. It’s not about head knowledge alone, but about combining the head knowledge which affirms our faith with the heart knowledge received through experiences in the presence of God. 

Jesus never did anything off his own bat. He only did what he saw his father in heaven doing. He lived close to his father in heaven. He abided in him, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

He said we will do more than he did if we abide in him, if we pray in his name. 

We don’t want to look glorious. We want Him to look glorious.