Spiritual Formation, Day 13

Jesus is our Savior, Lord, and Teacher. He was the smartest man who ever lived.

So how DID he live? Can we live as he lived? That seems to be the question.

Perhaps, though, the real question is not whether we CAN live as he lived, but whether we WILL live as he lived.

My need is to consider how Jesus would live my life if He were I. Your need is to consider how Jesus would live your life if he were you. If we are truly interested in becoming apprentices to Jesus, we need to honestly consider the habits and patterns of our lives in relation to the way Jesus lived--and be willing to eliminate the things in our lives that prevent us from living as he did.

I wonder what those things might be?

Just to spur your imagination, I'd like to suggest that you watch the following video. I'll bet you remember this scene from Walt Disney's classic film Mary Poppins. Remember how Michael wanted to spend his tuppence to feed the birds, but his father wanted him to put that money in the bank? The movie was filled with lessons about how some things are more important than money in the bank, a prestigious job, a beautiful house, or political causes. Feeding the birds was symbolic of all the joys of life that can be missed by someone whose mind is filled with material things--even good material things.

Watch this video, and see if you can imagine yourself feeding the birds. Whether you have the money for the bird food is probably not an issue. But could you take the time to do it? Could you "waste" some time doing something as simple and sweet as feeding birds with children? Or are you too busy?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14).

**What do you think?**

This post is part of a 31-day series on spiritual formation. To see all posts in this series, click here. Or click here to see all the bloggers participating in the 31-day challenge!

Spiritual Formation, Day 12

As we consider Jesus to be not only our Savior and our Lord but also our Teacher, we need to realize that Jesus knew what he was talking about.
Let that sink in for a moment. We can learn how to live from the person who knows best. He came to earth and lived down here as one of us.

I want to share with you some words of Dallas Willard's. Dallas has made this point so well that I can't possibly improve upon his words, and I think they're worthy of your consideration. So here they are. I do hope you'll read them.

Our commitment to Jesus can stand on no other foundation than a recognition that he is the one who knows the truth about our lives and our universe. It is not possible to trust Jesus, or anyone else, in matters where we do not believe him to be competent. We cannot pray for help and rely on his collaboration in dealing with real-life matters we suspect might defeat his knowledge or abilities.
And can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart? If he were divine, would he be dumb? Or uninformed? Once you stop to think about it, how could he be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best-informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person who ever lived (emphasis mine)?
That is exactly how his earliest apprentices in kingdom living thought of him. He was not regarded as, perhaps, a magician, who only knew "the right words" to get results without understanding or who could effectively manipulate appearances. Rather, he was accepted as the ultimate scientist, craftsman, and artist.
The biblical and continuing vision of Jesus was of one who made all of created reality and kept it working, literally "holding it together" (Colossians 1:17). And today we think people are smart who can make light bulbs and computer chips and rockets out of "stuff" already provided. He made "the stuff"!
Small wonder, then, that the first Christians thought he held within himself "all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). This confidence in his intellectual greatness is the basis of the radicalism of Christ-following in relation to the human order. It sees Jesus now living beyond death as "the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. . .the first and the last, the living One," the one who can say "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more, the master of death and the world of the dead" (Revelation 1:5, 18).

The Divine Conspiracy, p. 94

**Have you ever thought about Jesus as the smartest person who ever lived?**

This post is part of a 31-day series on spiritual formation. To see all posts in this series, click here. Or click here to see all the bloggers participating in the 31-day challenge!

Baby showers don't have to be pink

This weekend I had the chance to host a baby shower for my dear friend Rachel. She's expecting her first baby, a little girl, in November.

I love baby showers, and I was delighted to host this one. I've been out of town a lot lately, though, so my co-hostesses and I devised a plan: I would provide the house, the shower decorations, and the paper products. They would do everything else. These were some awesome co-hostesses!

I was excited about decorating for the shower, but I had trouble deciding what to do. Somehow all those cute little napkins with rattles and stuffed animals on them just didn't seem right. Maybe because it's autumn. . . maybe because Rachel is not a frou-frou or cutesy kind of girl. Her principal nursery color is marigold, so I wanted to use that somehow. To be honest, I was stumped for awhile. I went to five different stores looking for inspiration. Finally, a helpful saleslady said, "Why don't you just go with something that matches your house?"

Yes.

I spread a cloth on the table and then layered on some wheat-colored burlap. I also swirled on some wheat-colored tulle for a little extra texture. Into the tulle I nestled some bird's nests--I didn't realize I owned so many!

In the largest nest I placed a single pink egg to symbolize Rachel's baby girl. Now then. That's some pink. Even though the shower took place during the day, I added some little candles just for sparkle and fun.

The large flower arrangement I created myself using grocery-store flowers (see this post for an outline of how I arrange flowers). Since Rachel's color is marigold, I added lots of goldenrod to the arrangement. I found the goldenrod growing by the side of the road, so I just cut a bunch and tucked it in with the other the flowers.

Now, just to prove that it really was a baby shower:

The sunshine was awfully bright that afternoon; sorry for the glare. That's the darling honoree sitting in front of the windows in the striped dress. It took her quite awhile to open all those presents!

There you have it. Proof positive that it doesn't have to be pink (or perfect) to be beautiful.

I'm joining these fun parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Open House at No Minimalist Here

Inspiration Friday, At the Picket Fence