A Broken Spirit

(When the milk is splattered all over the floor and those little eyes are looking at you for your reaction, remember what really matters.  

It takes 5 minutes to clean up spilled milk; it takes much longer to clean up a broken spirit.) 

~Rebecca Eanes

This photo speaks to me on so many levels.  The last line says it so well:

“It takes 5 minutes to 

clean up spilled milk;

it takes much longer 

to clean up a broken spirit.”

After 6 years of blogging, I know that I write to a whole bunch of people who sometimes have broken spirits.  I can relate, for I am a recovering broken-spirited one.  On too many occasions, I have received a rebuke for my clumsiness.  I was expected to be perfect – walk perfectly; sit perfectly; and this gem:  “Speak up boy, don’t mumble your words.” 

Any time I would fumble, fall, step out of line or violate any other invisible infraction of which I knew nothing about, I would get a rebuke. 

So, for all of us with broken spirits and bruised lives, where is the hope? 

Part of our hope is found in some fine books.  Other places that house hope are safe and reasonable adults, therapist, and professionals who will guide us to a more level ground on which to rebuild our fractured lives.

The part you’re not going to appreciate is this – we sometimes have to dig out our own hope from whatever we can piece together from the shards of our everyday life.  

We may find bits and pieces in our reading material, our friendships, our therapist, and even our God experience.  I add this last one cautiously, for sometimes, the very people who claim to hang around God and speak for God are some of the worst abusers of the “breaking the spirit” crowd. 

Please listen very carefully to my next words, for I don’t want to be misunderstood.

I have a personal relationship with God through Christ.  I know where I stand with my Heavenly Father and I enjoy his abiding spirit in my life.

I’ve been exposed to multiple “religious” slants all attempting to interpret God’s wishes for how we should conduct our lives.  I find many of them harsh and grace-less. 

These teachers/preachers leave most of their audience members living with fear, guilt, shame, and living with a broken spirit, much like the little girl in the photo at the beginning of this article. 

What I have found helpful is this:  I have a select few Bible passages that are of great comfort to me, and I have a few affirmations that I resort to when the old recordings haunt my mind. 

Last week I posted some ideas from the book The Four Things that Matter Most.  It begins with four phrases that we need to be saying to those especially close to us.

Please forgive me

I forgive you

Thank you

I love you

A broken spirited person desperately needs to hear some of these phrases, for their biggest problem is this; they fear they are of no value, they have no worth, and there is nothing much of value that they can offer to anyone.  And that breaks my heart.

Besides my own very personal Bible verses, I’ve added to my life a few affirmations such as:

I approve of myself.

I am a worthwhile human being.

I am not my failures.

One step at a time is the way to where I want to go.

These are not magic elixirs.  They have no special magic, for as surely as I gravitate to these thoughts, others of you will gravitate to your own thoughts from completely different sources.

The point is this – you must find what works for you and the people who speak to your own heart and mind.  Above all, begin repairing your own broken spirit today. 

I have poured out my heart to God on numerous occasions, and I’ve done it through prayer and through something called “Morning Pages”, an idea taken from Julie Cameron’s book The Artist Way.

A partial list of some of the authors who have helped me are Brennan Manning, Philip Yancey, Brene Brown, Henry Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal, and so many more.  I hesitate to list a lot of books or more Bible verses or affirmations for fear you will adopt my list of helps and not dig these out for yourself.

You see, it is the digging for oneself that is the important principle here.  We have to do the hard work.  We have to find what works for us as individuals. 

Bottom line – a broken spirit can be repaired.  It can heal. 

And God stands nearby and will help you.

I will be praying for you.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

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Four Things to Say

I am big on words and the power of words, for I believe that the words we use in everyday conversations have the power to heal others. 

That is a strong statement, yet it is true.  Words can heal.  

They can heal …

  Broken hearts

    Relationships

      Family wounds

I am barely into a new book, yet I dare to write about it already, meaning this is not the last time you’ll hear from this book.  It is titled The Four Things that Matter Most by Ira Byock, M.D.

I’m going to give the story away right off the bat. The four things you must say to the most important people in your life are these:

1.     Please forgive me.

2.    I forgive you.

3.    Thank you.

4.    I love you.

Even as I type these phrases I can feel emotions well up from within.  I can reflect on times when I’ve asked for and received forgiveness.

I recall a time or two when I was the one offering forgiveness.

I say “thank you” a dozen times a day or more, and still yet need to offer those words more.

And the “I love you” words … my goodness, I have a lot to say on that one.

If you missed this point in an earlier blog, I told the story of occasionally sharing a Sabbath experience with Carolyn’s son J Paul and his family.  The Sabbath time is a time of feasting, game playing and sharing.  The sharing is done with a cup of water and a towel. 

As the cup is passed from Carolyn to me, she says “Michael, you are loved and forgiven.”

I would then take the cup and towel and pass it on to the person on the other side of me and say the same words.

I can’t begin to tell you how this moves me each time we share in this experience.  I hope you will try it in your intimate circle of family and close friends.  Write to me and tell me of your experience.

For those who know me from my Toastmaster’s days, you’ll recognize the similarity between these four phrases and the speech I’ve given dozens of times now called “Wanted – The Three I’s”.

I hope you’ll stay tuned, for I’ll break each word phrase down over the next four weeks and explore each with you a bit.  It would be fun if you chose to buy the book and read along as we go through this series.  I imagine this will prove to be one of the more significant books in my library and one into which I will dip often.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

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Your Voice

Your voice is as unique to you as is your DNA or your fingerprint.  How do you use your voice? 

I have used my voice in a few different ways in days gone by.

A drummer

A minister of music

A conductor

A salesman

A marketing manager

A banker

An educator

A writer

Bill and Melinda Gates use their voices through the incredible money contributions they willingly give away around the world. 

In the Gate’s Foundation visitor’s center, we find this simple admonition

You, yes YOU, can do this.  The word ‘voice’ is nothing more than a metaphor for some act, some skill, or some donation each of us can make to this world. 

And are we willing to use our voices for good?

I could now give us a long list of ways in which you and I could use our voices.  Rather, now that we have a handle on this concept, let us find ways to use the voice that is within each of us to improve the corner where we live.

Yes, some will actually use their voice.

Others will make something, or donate, or paint, make music, and on and on.

Find your voice and let it sing to the world.

We want to hear and see your song.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

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The World Is Not Going to Hell

Attention:  THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET!

The world is not going to end just because 5 out of 9 chief justices voted for same-sex marriage in America.  Your world may end because of this, but my God is still around. 

The world will not end because Russia is selling Iran and Syria some nuclear components.  Your world may end because of this, but my God is healthy and as concerned as ever. 

You see, I’ve read all the way to the end of

Revelations.  Our side wins in the end.  If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. 

We may not like a certain position, ruling or slant taken on any of a hundred decisions in our government, and this applies to my readers in Japan, Russia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, and points beyond and in between, but God is still on duty.  He still has His eyes on the world, not just America. 

How dare we throw in the towel over any ruling mankind dares to make that is counter to our own philosophies or contrary to what we perceive to be God’s ways of managing the affairs of this world? 

Where is your trust placed?  In whom are you abiding?  What doctrine are you reading, or which philosophy are you following?

My favorite verse in the Bible takes on a whole new meaning in light of today's world events. 

“For surely, without a doubt, I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

~Jeremiah 29:11

If God indeed has a plan for ALL of us, then we continue to trust His plan.  We continue to believe God has not abandoned us; He hasn’t even left the building, or taken a nap.

Will life get more difficult?  Perhaps.  Will persecution increase?  Perhaps. 

And the big question is this:  Will God be with us in the middle of all this madness?

Absolutely!

Positively!

Note this.  God has a message for all of us.

I (God) have told you these things so that you may find peace in me.  You will have troubles in this world.  Be encouraged, take heart, and hold on.  I have overcome the world.”

~John 26:33 (PMB paraphrase)

Wow!

Triple Wow!

Did you get that? 

Get it.

              Understand it.

                                            Believe it!

P Michael Biggs

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God Sucks

Jimmy turned toward me.  His beefy face, stale cigarette breath and thick-lensed-glasses were just a mere 5 inches from my face when he said these words.  I was a college kid, working afternoons in a Kroger grocery store in Donelson, TN. 

I was a good little Christian, attending a Christian college nearby.  Jimmy and I had had a few conversations about God in the past, and I knew he had some rather severe points of view about God that didn’t exactly jell with my own thoughts, and I had prayed for him a time or two in days gone by.

On this particular Thursday night, I guess I pushed a wrong button in Jimmy and that is what caused this outburst.

“GOD SUCKS” he said, and he stretched the words out, and emphasized the last word a bit more strongly.

I don’t know what happened to Jimmy.  A short time later I left that store, and never saw him again.  Down through the years I’ve pondered his words.

My point is this …

God has survived Jimmy’s words about His character.  My idea of God has survived Jimmy’s and other’s assault on God as I know Him. 

Can you handle that?

God is not diminished by any one person’s rants, ravings, chants, Bible burnings, even church burnings and the martyrdom of believers around the world.

God’s nature is still intact. 

God has survived the rights and wrongs of your life and mine.  He has survived the ugly scars that might decorate your body, and He certainly has survived all the thoughts, good and bad, that have traveled through your mind and mine.

And God is surviving all that is happening in our world today.  The news paints a dismal picture, but God is still rising above it all.  He is not diminished in any way.  His power of redemption is not stopped at any border, or by any gun or sword that is raised in protest.

This post is really about our view of God rather than the things that are despairingly said of Him.  He survives it all, and in His time of choosing, He has acted and will continue to act as serves His greater purpose and timeline.

Allow your God concept accept that.

Can you and I allow God to be God and trust that He is working all things for the good?

Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us.  That is a hard and fast promise I trust.

A confession:

I used that title simply to suck you into this post.  And if it brings you enlightenment, that is good.  The story is true.  Jimmy is his real name and he was a real person. 

The rest of the story is still being written.  I think God wants to stretch our confidence factor in Him.  The world can distort, confuse, blame, condemn and cast out God in whatever forms or rules it chooses to use, yet God is not diminished.  His hand is not shortened.  His power is not limited in any way.

That is the message I leave with you for now.

In Revelation 1:8 we find …

I (God) am Alpha (the beginning) and Omega (the end).  I am the one who is, who was, and who is to come – the Almighty One!

Do we trust?

P Michael Biggs

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The Rock and the Hard Place

I’ll just tell you right up front – this is a message of hope, if you have the guts to endure.  So lace up your shoes and hang on.

There is an amazing little verse in the Bible that says this.

“The Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still.”

~Exodus 14:14

Can you believe that one?  In a society where we are encouraged to fight, to defend our ground, to claim our rights and our place in line, this verse tells us to do exactly the opposite. 

Here is the rest of the story. 

The people of God, the Israelites, are being pursued by the Egyptians all the way to the Red Sea.  They have reached the water’s edge and there is nowhere to go.  They are on the verge of panic and a rebellion.  They only have a small margin of a lead on their pursuers and now this.  It appears a watery grave will be their end.

But wait … there’s more.

Moses, the leader of the pack, stands up and says, “Stop your jabbering.  You just wait and see what happens next.  These pursuers – the Egyptians – will never be heard from again.  The Lord, God himself, will fight for you.  Keep your mouths shut.”

What I really wanted to write was “SHUT UP!”  That is the strong version of what Moses said.  Be quiet.  Calm down.  Be still.  Wait and see.

They had come up against the proverbial rock and a hard place and they didn’t like it one bit. 

Who could blame them?  I wouldn’t like it, and neither would you.

And now comes the part about “The Lord will fight for you.”

He put a dark cloud in front of the Egyptians, and He caused a strong wind to separate the waters of the Red Sea and make a path for His band, the Israelites, to walk through on dry ground. 

You got that?  In other words, God performed one of the most amazing miracles of deliverance the world has ever seen. 

He made a way where there was no way.  He created something out of nothing. 

And they got through.  The Israelites got through to safety.  Look up this passage for yourself and see what happened to the pursuers if you like.  Tonight we are focusing on the miracle of deliverance in the middle of the hard place. 

Exodus 14

Got your hard place?  Don’t know where to turn?  Are you befuddled, confused, out of sorts, disturbed, troubled? 

Maybe God is saying to you and me the same thing.

“I your Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still.”

~Exodus 14:14

The hard part is for us to be quiet. 

It is called TRUST!

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

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Doing life in the Right Key

I have spent much of my life as a musician.  I enjoy great music in a variety of genres. 

As a musician, I fully appreciate playing and singing a song in the right key. 

Carolyn is a very accomplished pianist, and she can play just about any song in any key desired.  She is a fabulous accompanist.

Let me tell you a story. 

During my college days I directed the music program for my Dad’s church in Lewisburg, Tennessee.  Every Sunday, for two years, I made the fifty-three mile trip down to Lewisburg to direct music for the church.  Often I would take a college friend or two down with me, usually to sing or play in the service. 

Every seventh Sunday we were asked to broadcast our church services over WJJM, the local radio station.  On these Sundays Dad wanted the music to be extra special.

On one particular broadcast Sunday I took my two best friends down with me -- Harold Ivan Smith and Michael B. Ross.  We formed a trio and practiced the song “I’m a Child of the King” as our special for this particular Sunday.  Harold accompanied us. 

We rehearsed a few times, decided on the perfect key and made the fifty-three mile trip down to Lewisburg, my home town. 

When it came time for us to sing, we took our places around the piano, my father placed the microphone on the piano and Harold began his introduction.  We soon realized that Harold had forgotten the exact key we had practiced in and had us off into some strange, lower key.  We sang, actually it was more like a growl, because of the lower key, yet we somehow managed to make it to the end of the song. 

That was a funny moment, and it has given Harold, Mike and I a lot of laughs.  Harold dubbed us “The Three Bears Trio”, since that is what we sounded like as we growled out the song in a too-low key.

Even as I sit keying in this story, I’m laughing out loud remembering this incident.  What a great story for a lifetime. 

Here’s the application.

Boys and girls, life needs to be played in the right key.  Here is what is on my mind.

Carolyn and I will have our 9^th wedding anniversary in September.  We both want to play in the right key to help keep our marriage strong and alive.  We don’t want to go off on a solo binge or try and ad lib in some other strange key. 

I work in a bank.  There are rules, guidelines and regulations that must be followed or I’m in big trouble.  You will find a lot of people in bank work who play in the right key.

I drive the freeways of Seattle.  I have to play in the right key as the other traffic or I could cause a big and serious traffic jam, or accident.

Our health needs to be played in the right key.  For a few years now, Carolyn and I make it to the gym early in the morning.  My body needs this in so many healthful ways.  If I stopped, I would get off key real fast and the cacophony would hurt my ears, metaphorically speaking, and my life would be in a train wreck.

Now, you are a bright reader, and you’ve understood the intent of this post.

My encouragement to you – Go play in the right key, Always!

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

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