God makes a statement in Second Corinthians that astounds me every time I see it...every time. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. At age 68 I can verify decay; but only of my outer shell. The inner me is wide-eyed as if I'm in kindergarten; not just occasionally, but every day.
This fascinates me about who we really are because of Whose we really are.
Do I get discouraged? Yes. Do I ever want to give up and quit? Never. Renewal of the inner man is a verifier of God's support system for His creation. We have reason to hope when things are going well..Romans 5:1-2. And, we have equal reason to hope when things aren't going well...Romans 5:3-5.
The outer man is our flesh; arms, legs, torso, etc. The inner man is our spirit comprised of knowledge, imagination, and emotions. The flesh will ultimately pass. The spirit is a fountain of youth. As a result we individually are often found to be in conflict because the spirit is willing; but the flesh is weak.
The spirit of a man or woman is always on the hunt for the creative, the imaginative, the hopeful. This may be why we can rearrange the same old furniture in our living rooms and it comes off feeling like everything is new. The spirit thrives on new even if it is merely the restructuring of the old.
Our spirits seem to blossom as we search for possibility. We don't care for ruts; for being stumped or stuck with a problem. Something goes on within that brings flourishing hope even if others have formed grumpy assessment of the same situation. We are built by God to dream of what isn't yet; but can be.
This fact is most fascinating to me. However, I believe there is a reason that so many do not feel this way and do not live this way. Very simply put, we do not want to be wrong.
Being wrong is most likely our largest threat. We tend to debate, argue, and even push back. We will run from and totally ignore, at times, rather than say three of earth's toughest words, I am wrong.
Deborah Meier innovated and then renovated a successful new approach to learning. A substitute-teacher-became-principal, Meier dreamed of developing education more creatively. Her results are now used as formula for success. Her basic thrust came from a very plain conviction. I believe you have to have an open-mindedness to the possibility that you're wrong.
When we question, we tend to keep what is effective for the day and purge those elements which would possibly keep us stuck. One of the grand facts about God's creation is flexibility. Jesus is the one who said, regarding being born again, that being able to adjust is a thrust of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8).
May we always be in pursuit of life for the day with the awareness that our world is gigantic in possible, potential, and probable hope. Wonderful, wonderful things have transpired in our past. Our future is quite bright. But it is our very right-now-ness that should cause a magnificent buzz of amazing hope.
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