Interesting isn't it? There are untold numbers of books published on unlocking our self-will, self-power, self-realization...and my two year old discovered it naturally and adapted quite quickly. Yet, it's this very self-powerization that has simultaneously unlocked the ugly: whining, disobedience and all the belly-sliding-across-the-coffee-table-tantrums self-power affords.
To be honest I think she's been a bit selfish since the day she was born. Needing food. Needing changed. Needing bathed. Needing cuddled. Needing clothed. Needing loved. Needing, needing, needing! And now a whole new area of needing has been unlocked: her toys, her plug (pacifier), her snack, her space, her show, her story, her daddy, her mommy...
I love her. If you have kids you understand that taking-part-in-creation-sort-of-love.
I'm not sure we need help discovering our inner will, unlocking our inner power, our hidden-strength. It appears to be quite natural to want to reach out and grab what's 'mine.'
No, she's got that down.
It seems that my divine role is to steer that very realized power. To shape and clarify for her the very purpose of her abilities, her awareness, her desires. It's my role to train her to both harness self-control in order to enjoy her strengths, and realize that actual power is first of all external, it's a gift, it's the Spirit of the Living and Active God who endows, fills, realizes, powerizes.
That her very breath was from the start His. That it's the Pneuma who sustains her heartbeat now.
Nah, she doesn't need anyone telling her how to unlock her inner-self...she's got that down and honestly it's naturally self-centered. If you know a two year old you know what I mean, OR better yet if you know a 32 year old who continues to act on the power of the inner self without restraint you know just how absurd that inner compass really is.
Yet there's so much beauty as well right? She's absolutely adorable, she growls like a monster, throws her hair back, laughs at random, draws us into her world and shares what brings her joy...so how does this parallel reality factor into that other ugly inner power?
I have an incomplete thought...
Self(ishness) tends to be about absorbing, about taking more and more from others for personal gain.
True Beauty on the other hand, while inherent in who she is as an image bearer of God, is an immediate display of all that is selfless. I wonder if it works a bit like this; the beauty my little lady offers benefits me and those who witness it. Her sweetness, laughter and intelligence cause me to delight in her and her Maker as I realize her blessing upon us. Her beauty in all it's facets offer those around her something to delight in and thus fosters more beauty: laughter, smiles, joy. While her selfish nature causes those around her to close up, step away, tune-out...
Scripture both teaches and demonstrates this personal, familial, social beauty in action through healthy 'one another' living. A community that supports, cares for, prays for, equips, shares, disciplines = loves, those around them. And this is all powered by the eternal/external Holy Spirit who when invited into our lives enters in and transforms.
Beauty is mysterious. But it's a divine mystery sourced in the Creator. Beauty offers something other, something more, something for us all, something to lean into.
Self is also mysterious. It's also a divine mystery sourced in the Creator, yet tends to be realized on our strength, smarts and inner person hood. It tends to either force people in or out. It's divine mystery dissipates and is swallowed up by the mere physical, lustful and sensational.
Regardless the people group, social structure or belief system around the world it appears that at some point every group notes that the individuals self-power, selfishness, self-desires might actually do more harm than good and so ought to be suppressed.
On the other hand, every group, culture, people, system will acknowledge, invite into and celebrate the one who controls the self, offers more to life, invites others in to experience joy and beauty and simply share in all seems right.
Maybe it's true, that every good gift truly is from the Lord, an overflow of His being. That beauty is all around us, in many forms and ultimately unites. That true self-realization involves releasing what we think we know, what we desire in our guts, to the very God who gives desire, to the Spirit who fills to His fullness those who seek His reality.
An incomplete thought...not a treatise, not a defining document...a thought. We know the sweetness of true beauty because we also know bitterness. Others know a soured life because they've tasted that sweetness. However you see it, there are very real, very sourced powers at work.
Oh, and if you're able, I'd recommend spending a couple months at home with your kids and witness a microcosm of Gods universe at work.