A VALLEY OF DRY BONES
“Son of man, can these bones live?”[1]
How often do we travel through life when it feels dry and uninspiring? Maybe it’s not our whole life but areas of it. These areas lack freshness and instead of making us feel alive we drag our feet through each day hoping for change but not knowing how to bring it about.
God shows Ezekiel a valley of dry bones and asks him, “Can these bones live?” If I asked you about the dry areas of your life, can you see them coming to life? Do you have hope or is it best to bury the bones and move through the valley to greener pasture elsewhere?
This is what God says about those areas, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord...I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.”[2]
Our lives are designed to be lived fully alive in the Spirit of God. It is a lifelong journey of discovery and learning. Billy Corgan says, “I think a spiritual journey is not so much a journey of discovery. It’s a journey of recovery. It’s a journey of uncovering your own inner nature. It’s already there.”
I fully agree with this statement; I think it is very insightful. We are all made by design and throughout our life we learn more about our own design, the purpose we were designed for, our Creator and how it all fits together. It is not something that can be done in one moment of time; it is something to journey through for a lifetime.
As a recovering perfectionist and a lifetime learner of patience, I want my life to be inspiring and fruitful NOW! The expectations I have placed on myself in the past have been excruciating and too heavy to carry; I have been crushed under the weight of them. When I read verses like the ones above I thought it should be done instantaneously otherwise I am failing God and/or there is something wrong with me.
I am learning that yes, God has done the supernaturally fast work in my life but that doesn't necessarily make it a pattern for the future. Instead, I need to adjust the mind-set with which I approach my life. Can the dry parts of my life come to life with the breath of God? Yes! I know God can do it and wants to do it so I will continue to speak life into the dry areas so they might flourish.
Do you think God can breathe life into your dry areas?
[1] These words are taken from Ezekiel 37:3 in the Bible (New International Version)
[2] Ezekiel 37:4&6c
WHERE'S MY LAST NAME
You may have noticed that my last name is nowhere on this site. Despite blogging on the worldwide web, I am actually an extremely private person with some details of my life. I kind of felt that I had the potential of staying slightly hidden if I didn't use my surname (not of course from those who already know me).
The second, more important reason why I didn't use my surname though was as follows: When I wrote down the things that made me who I am, I realized that my married name was not one I was born with (obvious I know, but go with me).
Meanings of names are very important to me: Anna means “favor” or “grace” and Jane means “God is gracious”. God has been so incredibly gracious to me throughout my life so far and I'm working on receiving grace while also extending it to other; my names mean something to me. When I was writing down who I was, my married name just didn't seem to fit. I didn't connect with the meaning and I wasn't born with it. Instead of being a part of who I am, I see it as a reflection of the choice I made when I got married (which was a good choice by the way).
Just to be clear, I like my married name; it identifies me with my husband and my children. I just don’t identify with it as part of the essence of who I am. This may seem a little weird to some of you but I’m happy having it as one of my little idiosyncrasies! What little quirks do you have?