Scattering Seeds

Jesus had a new way of being in the world, a new system of success that was upside-down in every way. It was a different kind of Kingdom he taught about where a person stoops to be taller, where someone serves to be greater.

It was a Kingdom where death actually comes first.

Before life, before honor, before intimacy, before true greatness, death.

And it’s the Kingdom ushered in, 2000 years later, every moment I choose the process the dandelion undergoes every season– the process of dying to one, so that others, maybe even a different me, can spring up from the earth.

It’s a giving up and laying down and a ripping-from-the-fingers of my status and my will and my idea of how this should go.

It’s a death that involves loss and selflessness and sacrifice and risk that finds me holding my breath.

It’s a death to the great me I think I am out of love for the Great I Am.

Death first, and then, then, life– life that is multiplied and scattered and blown to the four wide winds.

Life far more fruitful than a single flower– even one that tries to live forever– could ever hope to produce.

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Tasting any “death” today? Embracing it or fighting it?

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Thanks to those who participated in The Exodus Road launch and giveaway. The winner of the VinylArt gift card for $40 (minus international shipping) was (comment #7) Christie Hagermouth, a missionary in Paraguay. Congratulations, Christie!

Tagged as: jesus

http://www.facebook.com/molly.huggins Molly Huggins

Thank you for this.
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Most definitely welcome, Molly . Thanks for reading.
Richelle Wright

“It’s a death to the great me I think I am out of love for the Great I Am. Death first, and then, then, life– life that is multiplied and scattered and blown to the four wide winds.”
I’m going to be chewing on those words for awhile. Thank you, Laura!
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Thanks, friend. I’m chewing, too.
  
  Still and still. Reckon I forget the most important all too often.
http://twitter.com/citrus_sunshine Andrea Ward

This reminds me of another blog post I read today,
http://sandyridgewesleyanchurch.blogspot.com/2012/09/broken-and-poured-out.html. It is a whole new way to look at life and what we are doing here. Thanks for the mental picture.
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Thanks for the link– will check it out!
Judy Bonnell

Laura, I sent you a message yesterday and posted it on the previous blog about the Exodus project.. I was wondering if you had read the message and if that was a possibility.
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Yes! Judy, thanks for your patience– I just sent you an email.
Denise Davenport Aludo

Yes! Trying to embrace death to talk/words that don’t edify…. “wrestling” may be more appropriate description of how it’s going though…..lol! Imagine if the words that come of my mouth were truly in keeping with Eph 4:29…..what a precious gift of grace could be given everyday!
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Oh, yes! the “death” of the words we think and just want to blurt out! I hear you on this one, Denise . . .
  
  Here’s to praying both of our words lift up this next week, maybe even more than they did last week . . .
Heather K

Wow—I’ve been feeling the deaths very strongly lately. Dying to things that I had no idea just how hard I was clinging to them. It’s so hard to let go of that which you think is keeping you grounded. But you’re right—if you don’t let go and trust that God knows where to spread your seeds, then you simply wither right where you’re at. Thank you for this beautiful post Laura <3
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Love that point you made about withering if we cling. His can be so true– I’ve seen in myself that if I won’t let to of some things, all hint of joy tends to leave.
  Love you and the way you see the world, friend.
Nicole File

Wow. Dealing with a literal death this week, not even trying to process the why but at least trying to machete my way through the entangling darkness to where the path to healing begins, and along comes this.
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Oh, wow, Nicole,
  
  I am so sorry for your loss.
  
  And grateful my few words were an encouragement in your grief.
  
  Thanks for stopping in– prayers to you tonight from here,
  
  Laura
Erin

I’ve been struggling with this idea for several months now. I recently finished my MEd in the U.S. and am now a volunteer teacher at a school for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. I drive past posh international schools that I could be working at, for good pay and benefits. The world seems to shout at me, Hey you! You have a graduate degree! Get a good job, get paid lots of money, and by all means get respect! In these moments, God always seems to whisper in my ear, “you are exactly where I want you to be!” The world tells me I should look a certain way and dress in certain clothes. I deserve to be noticed! Then God reminds me of the Prov 31 woman who clothed herself with strength and dignity, with good deeds (1 TIm 2) and a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3).
God’s Kingdom is completely upside-down from what the world is. I have to consciously remind myself everyday that my citizenship is in Heaven, and that, like Paul’s advice to the Phillippians, “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ…” (Phil 3:7) I am also struggling to understand what Paul means when he says that he wants to “become like Him (Christ) in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead (Phil 3:10-11)
- lauraparkerblog
  
  Yes, Erin, the world sends us one message, but Jesus most definitely lived another.
  
  Love that you are being sensitive to the Spirit, love that you are serving in humble places where LOVE is the motivation and not money or status. Sounds like you are “dying” pretty well over there.
  
  It is a hard truth, repeated over and over and over again in the Bible, that somehow the way to greatness is suffering.
  Hard for me to wrap my mind around that, too.
  
  Thanks for leaving us a bit of your story . . .
  
  Keep clinging to truth in this upside Kingdom we’re fleshing out,
  L