Give me Jesus

So in the world of the elite, the big kerfluffle has been that a high powered woman has written a long article entitled Why Women Still Can't Have It All. By all, she means a prestigious work position and a satisfying family life. This kicked off a lot of discussion all over and some of it is collected here. I really liked my friend's personal response. She reflects on her own personal experiences and begins her final paragraph with this sentence, "Jesus never said we could have it all."

That crystallized my thinking on the matter. Not only did Jesus never say we could have it all, he said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me. (The good news according to Luke, chpt 9)”

I just read a novel set in World War I. It presented many leaders as selfish and incompetent causing many of their followers to suffer and die needlessly. Eventually, some simply stopped following. Jesus is the antithesis of these leaders, selfless and masterful.

Following, by definition, involves giving up some control because someone else is leading. Jesus doesn't gloss over this. He baldly told his hangers on, "Hey, if you decided to hitch on to my wagon train, you're going to have to give up what you want and you're going to take on a tortured death symbol (the cross)."

What separates Jesus from every other leader is that he is the rightful leader--as creator of the universe--and the good leader--as a loving omnipotent father.

So "How can I have it all?" or even "How can I have as much as possible?" is really the wrong question. The better question is, "Where does Jesus want me?" The best place we can be is wherever Jesus is taking us.

As an aside, that was my consolation when I was living overseas and got into a bus that had just slid a 100 yds on ice to a stop at my bus stop. I figured that if God had brought me there, he knew about crazy buses and ice and that I'd need them to get  to my work, and he'd take care of things from there.

So yes, I have been grieving many of the professional changes that motherhood has brought on, but I have not regretted the changes. For me, that's been part of denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus. I read about a doctor mom who left her 9 month-old stateside to spend time setting up a clinic overseas. That kind of self-denial, cross-bearing, and following is something I hope I would never have to face. But she did it, she bore those costs trusting in the Jesus she was following.

In the end, perhaps what we may realize is that we have the most profound richness in life when we are most deeply entrenched in Jesus-life. And isn't that what we really want, to live rich, meaningful lives?

A college friend introduced me to Fernando Ortega's song, Give me Jesus. It's repetitive, but the meditation and plea is the substantive rebuttal to "How can I have it all?"

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Chorus:
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

[Chorus]

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

There is a way that seems right

In 7th grade, in my last year at a private Christian school, we had to memorize Proverbs 14:12

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.

Off and on this has stuck with me as a reminder that our best intuitions and habits might not get us where we want to go.

I was reminded of this recently at my swim practice*. At every practice, a coach tells us how far to swim and how fast. Even though I'm in the slow lane, I often struggle to make the time goals, particularly as I get more tired and the times get shorter. In the middle of a set last week, the coach hovered over the edge and said, "Watch your arm on your left side. It's crossing midline and that will tweak your shoulder." Well, actually my shoulder is already tweaked and that's probably why it keeps crossing midline. But I figured that he was the coach and I'd try it and forget about swimming fast.

Focusing on not crossing midline with my left arm was hard. I had swum miles with an arm that crossed over, and this was my first 50 m doing something new. I also noticably didn't have much muscle strength where I needed it. But amazingly, that 50 was faster than any of the "fast 50s" I had tried to swim earlier.

I wonder how often God directly or indirectly gives us coaching. And I wonder how often we resist because it requires us to give up the way we think is right, leads us down a harder path, or doesn't get us to our goals--as we see them. And then I wonder how often we'd find that submitting to the coaching is more than worth the effort if only we'd try.



* I recently joined the Southern California Aquatics in the slow lane.