We do not lose heart

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling -- if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Comforting words to the ones who are allowing the trappings of all that is unnecessary to be stripped away. As we continue our Lenten walk, we surrender to the way God's word will peel from our lives all that obstructs the Love and Mercy which pulses in His Heart...embedded in US through Christ.

Take a look at whatever it is that you take "on" to reflect your self-image. In the simplest sense it might be a particular garment... but the externals also include habits, attitudes, things that you value as distinctly "you"... It might be your job, your particular talent or passion...it could be a descriptive term: I am a teacher, a singer, a writer, a pastor, a nurse... All of that may be "good" and may serve others in very important ways. However, we know that The Holy Spirit has been given to us to guarantee that all of "that" can and will be stripped away to reveal the deepest heart of God's love. In that way, the less apparent "I" am to others, the more others can see Christ at work in my words and deeds.

It all is subject to the thinning and dissolving process as we surrender. Externals erode. The center of all that we are in God's Heart expands. By losing all of myself I gain all in Christ. God's love and peace, glowing through "me" is revealed as the Heart of my life.

Nothing that is Me will endure... All that is Christ pulsing actively within me will thrive to the end of all time.