Fake It Till You Make It....

Staying with this peacekeeping theme of the past few posts, I want to write about an article I came upon today purely by happenstance. My cyber journey started when I decided to clean out my inbox. As I meander here and there on the internet, often, when I find a site I want to come back to…to save in my favorites…to post to my e-groups….to write about here on this blog…I click the “insert link in mail” icon (yes…still using my beloved AOL) and send it to myself. Between the links I send myself, the lists I am on, and the other assorted stuff that comes to my inbox, it is nothing to have 400 or so messages steeping there.

Wouldn’t you know it…today, the first one I clicked on, a book review of Searching For a Better God, on the blog Zoecarnate enticed me to follow a cyber trail, here, there and everywhere…and I ended up at Sojurner’s Magazine. How come I didn’t know about this magazine before?

I only “leafed” through it…but came upon some very candid writings by Bart Campolo about living and ministering to the poor. And then, as I clicked on the most recent issue of Sojurners, an article about forgiveness written by Rose Marie Berger caught my eye. The heading declares:

Forgiveness is an act of will. Fake it until you make it.

Now how does that fit with the focus of a lot of my studies lately…and the subject of many of the conversations on EU and SCT…..the theme of which is living out of the right nature within you. Recognizing the ego and painbody for what it is and seeking the Christ within? Fake it until you make it really doesn’t seem to fit.

Shouldn’t we just flow into the new nature…simply because we are aware that there is an alternative to our egoic mind/carnal flesh/adamic nature etc. etc. etc.? I don’t think it is always that easy.

Lynn Hiles and David Huskins both preach the message of the finished work of the cross. A bit different than what…oh, say, Tolle talks about…but at it’s core, the same. There is a nature that lives in you….that IS you….that is entirely different than who you think you are (ego). Yet, they too acknowledge that even though they know it is truth, in this natural realm not everyone has caught on….not everyone is rejuvenated....not everything has manifested yet. Their advice is to use restraint until you have been “born again”....been delivered. I heard David Huskins preach a message at a conference we attended about deliverance and suppression…Many mistake suppression for deliverance but they are two different things. He said:

My recommendation to you is that if you are having a struggle with any kind of issue, suppress it until deliverance comes....but don't mistake your suppression for having experienced deliverance.

In other words, fake it until you make it. 

Using restraint in our interactions with others definitely helps our day to day life go a lot smoother. I don’t have all the answers….and I am groping my way along in the dark half the time (oh come on Cindi….more than the half of the time….a lot of the time….just doing the best I can)

I saw Keith exhibit this yesterday when one of the girls tossed a flippant remark our way as she was heading down to her bedroom, carrying a bowl of chili, several rolls and a glass of orange soda filled to the rim, sloshing around, dripping down the side of the glass. She never spills she informed us…not like her sister. Keith was silent. When she got out of earshot he looked at me and partly in jest said, “I think my tongue is going to bleed”

Bravo to him for not fueling a disagreement..even though the bantering back and forth that would have ensued would have been more of a teasing nature than a true argument. I wonder though how he (and me) would have reacted if the orange soda had ended up on the blue carpet. Once Emily dumped a supersized blue Gatorade from McDonalds on the carpet….the whole thing…ice cubes and all. I was not gracious.

But anyway….on to the article….

She says that the first step toward forgiveness is to unearth, examine and defuse the anger that is fueling the fire. She talks about the ways we try to cover it up and hide it…and why we shouldn’t. Sort of along the lines of observing our thoughts and emotions because when we shine the light of acknowledgement on our egoic thoughts, they dissipate.

She says that forgiveness

To a certain extent it is about the “act of will. I will forgive. I will act with graciousness toward my enemies. I will take on suffering, rather than inflict it. I will do these things because I am a Christian. Period.

I really like the line about taking on suffering rather than inflicting it. That goes right along with what Gary had to say in his writing about being a peacekeeper.

Check out the Sojurner’s site. In order to access the articles and the magazine, you will have to register. It takes about 30 seconds and there is a lot on the site to read and ponder.