Chapter 4 - integrating and balancing opposites

Hello, Companion Mustard Seed Library book readers,

The author of this book doesn't quote a lot of scripture but, when he does, it is the meatiest of scripture and so he quotes Galatians 2:20, the Apostle Paul teaching "I have been crucified with Christ and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me."

In trying to get a handle on what the author is saying regarding the need to integrate and balance opposites, he writes "No matter how hard we work at it, by ourselves we cannot integrate any parts of our personalities, for they are connected to drives so deep within us that we often are unaware of them, and we definitely cannot control them. Our problem is that in some ways they are in control of us!"

The author further writes "Unfortunately, this (integrating and balancing opposites) is not as easy as it sounds. For to admit some imbalance about our inner selves is not just to say that it is there, it is also to recognize that it needs to be changed, that the change will cause pain, and that we are willing to endure that pain for the sake of growth."

Pastor Freed conveyed an interesting quote on his Winning Words blog this morning: "Refuse to accept the inevitable." (Unknown) inevitable from the dictionary means "that cannot be avoided or evaded, certain to happen" Pastor Freed saw this quote on a clock. He also told us about a poem by Attila Gyenis which used the quote and I'm writing a bit of the poem here:

"If we are unable to choose which path we want to be on
if we allow ourselves to be dragged onto the path that leads to our own destruction
if we are unable to realize the inevitable outcome of our actions
if we continue to be blind to everything that is around us
if we don't start having truth and justice as our guiding light
than those four empty spaces will have been in vain.
Something has to change.

Attila Gyenis was writing about the Kent State tragedy when four young college students were killed. I wonder if one could say that there was a giant societal imbalance and lack of integration that led up to all the horrible loss of life during those tumultous years. I also wonder if I and may be you might entertain the thought too that some of the current ways we act, think, and feel, things that are the way each of us has "always been", so much so that we can even hardly dare to think we might change and also that we might have a long of history of finally deciding that they just "aren't that important" to make any effort to change, but maybe some of these ways that we act, think and feel actually stand in the way of our own "I have been crucified with Christ and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me." Who knows if these little acts, thinking and feeling that we have put at the bottom of the pile of stuff for us to be concerned about are the seeds of much greater self-destructiveness ahead, especially greater difficulties in our relationships with God and with other people. Don't mean to scare anyone but just reflecting upon if people need to pay attention to the symptoms the author talked about and which I listed earlier on this blog.

Besides not being willing to endure pain for the sake of growth, the author also lists being unwilling to admit that we have made mistakes in our judgment for which we need to forgive ourselves, pride and/or insecurity in admitting when we are wrong and need to change and that prevent us from asking Jesus sincerely to help us.

"It means admitting that because He is God and He made us, He knows better than we do how our lives need to be reshaped to become integrated, balanced, and successful--in His eyes."

I'm glad that those words "Refuse to accept the inevitable" are on a clock because one of my challenges is to better plan my time and how to take care of our home here so we can be the most peaceful and comfortable in it and hospitable to others in it. Soaking up the author's insights and understanding of the interior and exterior selves and need for integration and balance because it does make sense that, without deeply and sincerely asking Jesus and leaning on Him for His help in making any change, one can make exterior changes for a bit but they really won't stick and a person will just fall back into old ingrained habits of acting, thinking and feeling. With us there will most likely be a sense of the "inevitable", with Jesus never.

God bless all of you, companions on the Mustard Seed Library book reading blog,
Sharon