The Seed of Hope

...about being humble.

“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

I was mildly surprised to learn that the word pride appears in the NIV Bible sixty-nine times. I was even more surprised to read that humble, humbled, and humility is mentioned in the NIV version eighty-eight times!

Why did I deem it necessary to tell you the number of times that each of the words appears in Scripture? Well, I’m a bit of a trivia buff and I found the results to be worth mentioning. That, and my feelings that pride and humility are inextricably linked, yet worlds apart. Linked, in that they’re both a part of our human “condition;” apart, in that you can’t have one (humility) without losing the other (pride), or vice-versa.

The inspiration for today’s post was actually last week’s post, The Power of Words. Well, it wasn’t so much the post itself as it was some of the feedback that I received that got my mental wheels turning. Many of you couldn’t understand why I bothered to offer an apology to the Catholic community for yet another post that appeared in a local publication that was titled A God of Fear? After all, I was just sharing what was on my heart, right?

Why should I have to apologize for sharing what’s on my heart?

Actually, there are several answers to this question, the first being the very purpose of The Seed of Hope. Each week my intention is to enlighten, inspire, and plants seed of hope in all Christians, not just one particular denomination. Almost two years ago my wife Jackie and I became members of Church of The Highlands here in Birmingham, a non-denominational Christian church. To tell you the truth, neither of us ever talked about, or planned on finding a non-denominational church to attend, but apparently it was in God’s plan for us. Now when someone hits me with “What are you?” my simple reply is “I’m a Christian.” That is, as they say, “the bottom” line, isn’t it? It’s not my intention to offend anyone, especially a fellow Christian.

The second reason for my apology is that sometimes it feels good to apologize. Yes you read it correctly. It feels good to apologize. What is it about our society that makes us feel as though we always have to be right? I believe that for many of us accepting that we’ve done or said something wrong actually overshadows the need to be right, and this is where pride and humility are often in an epic struggle. I’ll admit here and now that until a year or so ago, I didn’t always have to be right, but I hated to be wrong! Today it’s easy for me to admit that I’m wrong, and even easier to offer an apology.

So, what happened to cause this about face in my attitude?

Prayer

November 6^th will mark the fourth anniversary of the day that I began to recite the Prayer of Jabez every morning:

“Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain.” 1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

In saying this prayer, I was making a commitment to turn my life over to God. You see, I had been doing things “my way” for fifty-four years, which had led to a life of anger, resentment, and disappointment. (See The Prayer of Jabez 3/02/2009)

A few days later I began saying a simple prayer that I had jotted down on a small piece of paper that morning while I was sitting in my “prayer chair” in our kitchen. I call it, quite simply, A Prayer for Humility:

God grant me the ability to be all in life that I desire to be.

God give me the humility to remain the man I am today.

In saying the Prayer of Jabez, I was asking God to change my life and all that I did in it.

In saying A Prayer for Humility, I was asking God to change my life and all that I did in it; but not me. I didn’t know what God in store for me, but I was begging Him for change, praying that He had big plans for me, and asking Him to keep me humble.

I’ve said many times on these pages that God listens to our prayers, and that not one single prayer offered to Him goes unheard. I’ve gotta tell you that God was listening to my prayers that day, and that, in His way and in His timing, He has answered both of them during the course of the past four years.

If you’ve frequented these pages often enough you know that what God has done in my life, has been more than I can wrap my brain around. He has allowed me to grow so much in every area of my life, none more important than in my relationship with Him. As my relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has grown, so has my humility.  

There’s an old adage that “everything comes full circle.” That is to say that fashion trends, and hair styles, and architecture, and things of that nature complete a cycle and end up pretty much where they began. That’s certainly the case with today’s post. It was God’s gift of humility to me that was the inspiration for A God of Fear, the post that started all of this apology issue.

It was humility that allowed me to let go of my pride and sense of “self” and stand before God to ask for His forgiveness. It was humility that pushed me beyond my fear of God, and allowed me to seek a relationship with Him that would shift my world off of its axis. It was humility that brought me to the point of completely surrendering my life to God and to His will.

If you’re a “believer,” and if you recognize God as being the Creator of all things, and if you feel that HE is the center of the universe, and the supplier of all that you have, and the giver of life, and your source of strength, and all the things that He is that I could not possibly list because my feeble mind can’t fathom all that He is… Do you get what I’m saying here? HE is all that.

If you believe some or most of that, or if you want to believe it but just can’t quite bring yourself to do it, because you have a hard time believing that God could possibly be all that….

HE is all that. And more. More than you can possibly imagine.

You want a true relationship with Him? Humble yourself before Him. Submit yourself to Him. You see, the path to everything good is through Him. Everything. Happiness, joy, peace, satisfaction, fulfillment, and freedom are yours. Everything.

And it all starts with humility. When you can humble yourself before our Immortal God, humbling yourself before mortal man is a piece of cake.

Amen and Amen. 

The Power of Words

I’ve always made an attempt to carefully measure my words, especially if I’m angry or in a heated discussion with someone. I learned years ago that while apologies may be offered and accepted for words spoken in the heat of the moment, the hurt caused by those words may last for years, or even for a lifetime.

This past week I learned yet another “life-lesson” regarding the power of words. In this particular instance it was written words, rather than spoken ones, that offended a handful of people that I’m aware of, and that number may be more.

Unfortunately, I am the one responsible for writing those words, and even more regrettable is the fact that they appeared on this site. Rather than explaining this situation to you, I’ve decided to share a letter that I submitted to One Voice, a weekly Catholic Newspaper printed here in Birmingham.

October 21, 2010

My name is Sam Maniscalco. I’m a life-long resident of Birmingham. I was baptized at St.Paul’s Church, attended St. Paul’s Elementary School, and graduated from John Carroll Catholic High School in 1970.

I feel that I owe the Catholic community here in Birmingham an apology, and an explanation.

A few weeks ago, an article that I had written, A God of Fear, appeared in a local publication here in Birmingham. It has come to my attention that many Catholics took exception to the article, and that some were quite offended.

First, and foremost, I’d like to offer a humble and heartfelt apology to anyone that may have been slighted by the article. I can assure you that it was never my intention to debase the Catholic Church in any way, shape, or form. It is, after all, the Catholic Church that gave me the teachings, values, and morals that became the very foundation of my faith. That being said, I pray that you’ll accept my apology.

For those of you that didn’t have the opportunity to read A God of Fear, I’ll tell you that it centered on what I learned about God, faith, and the church when I was a child. I believe that the real controversy arose from what I had to say about Confession. I’ll pick up in the middle of the article…

Sadly, when it came to God, I felt the same way.

I was told that I had to go to confession when I was five years old; to tell God that I was sorry for what I’d done wrong. I HAD to go. No options. Besides, if I didn’t, God would know that I wasn’t sorry for what I’d done wrong. I’d better get in there and confess my sins. Or I’d never go to heaven.

At the tender age of five, what could I have done that was so wrong that God wouldn’t let me go to heaven? Nothing. But at five, I didn’t know that.

All too quickly forgotten was the promise of Jesus loves me yes I know, for the Bible tells me so. It had been replaced by “If you don’t tell God that you’re sorry, you can’t go to heaven.” Well, if the elevator ain’t going up, it must be going down!

The Fear of God seed had been planted.

While I regret that many took offense to what I had written, I’m having a hard time regretting that I shared my thoughts with people. You see, be it right or wrong, I simply shared what had been on my heart for all those years. The tragedy was not in what had been taught to me, or how it had been taught, but in the way that I processed what I had been taught. Sadly, I don’t believe that I’m alone in the way that I feel.

The fear of God that I was referring to isn’t exclusive to the Catholic Church. I’ve spoken with people, from every Christian denomination and from all walks of life, who are terrified of God. They’re so guilt-ridden from their sins of the past that many have no relationship with God at all, yet they feel that being estranged from God is easier than facing Him to ask for forgiveness. Consequently, they never get to know Him. How sad.

It was that misplaced fear, along with the tragedy of not having known the joy of a true and full relationship with God for the first fifty-four years of my life that was the inspiration for the article.

Now, perhaps more than ever before, people need God in their lives. The moral fabric of our society is torn, financial woes are at an all time high, and our world seems to be crumbling around us. Many feel that the Book of Revelation is beginning to unfold as we speak. Who is to say that they’re right? Conversely, who is to say that they’re wrong?

Here’s the bottom line.

We should be God fearing. There are certainly consequences for our actions. This is evidenced in Scripture more times than I could recall. We should not, however, be afraid of God, at least not when it comes to repenting for what we’ve done. Our God is a God of love, and He is a God of forgiveness. We shouldn’t be afraid to stand before God, asking forgiveness for what we may have done years, or months, or even days ago. God knows what we’ve done. And He knows what’s in our hearts. Like a loving parent, all that He’s waiting for is for us to say that we’re sorry. He doesn’t want us to be curled up in some corner, alone, afraid, and away from Him.

Again, I’m truly sorry for anyone that I may have offended. It was certainly not my intention. I just want people to know the joy of being with God that waits for all of us when we can get past our fears. It has been said that It’s not the just destination, but the journey itself. As it pertains to this statement, there are so many of us who are missing the unbelievable journey that we get to take here on earth when God is on that path with us.

May God bless you and yours,

Sam Maniscalco

What I learned this week is that I must always measure my words. Not just when I’m angry, or in a heated discussion. Not when I step into a room full of gossip, or when I’m at a party. Not when I’m frustrated, or when I’m feeling a little blue.

This week I realized that I must carefully measure my words, even in expressing my exuberance in finding forgiveness, freedom from shame and guilt, and a new relationship with God.

The irony in all of this is that I don’t feel as though I was saying anything against the Catholic Church as much as I was criticizing my own perceptions of what I’d learned about God as a child. It was my failure to choose the right words to express my thoughts that led to any misunderstandings.

Did I learn a lesson from all of this? You bet. Will it happen again? Quite honestly, as much as I’d like to say that it won’t, I have to realize that much of what I share on these pages are based on my feelings, and my feelings may not always be the same as yours.

I’ll close today with two passages from scripture.

A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook. Proverbs 18:4

A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 18:7     

There is so much power in our selection of words. Because I chose the wrong ones to convey my thoughts, rather than being seen as a humble servant attempting to offer words of wisdom, in the eyes of many I was the fool.

Choose your words wisely!

See you next week.

...about being Called.

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew  24:14

Okay, I’m gonna begin this post with a confession. I first heard these words that Jesus shared with his Disciples years ago, when I was just a kid. Many are called, but few are chosen. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s quite a powerful statement? I always envisioned a group of kids standing on a playground, each eagerly waiting to be selected by one of the two opposing captains to be on his team. (I was always one of the last to be chosen, because I had “two left feet” and the hand-eye coordination of a newborn infant!)

It gets better! Are you ready for this? Until I began reading the Bible a couple of years ago, I thought that “Many are called, but few are chosen.” was a call to arms for the United States Marine Corps! I can close my eyes and hear the voice in the background of the Marine television commercial matter-of-factly and boldly proclaiming, “The few. The proud. The Marines.”  No, I’m not kidding. Actually, I didn’t really-absolutely-for sure-there’s not a doubt in my mind know that they were the words of Jesus until I looked it up on Bible Gateway this morning. (www.biblegateway.com is a great on-line reference resource for every version of the Bible.)

In this passage Jesus was explaining to his friends that heaven is available and attainable for everyone, but that entry into heaven is achieved only by those who are willing to lead a life that merits doing so.

What does it take to get into heaven? Good question, isn’t it? And I feel fairly certain that many of us think that we have the answer. It’s not, however, one that I want to attempt to answer today. Instead, I’d rather shift the focus of Jesus’ statement, from life eternal, to life here on earth, and how we choose to live it.

Many are called, but few choose to answer.

I believe that all of us have “callings” in life.

First of all, what exactly is a “calling”? Well, when used as a noun, Merriam-Webster defines a calling as:

1.    a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when              accompanied by conviction of divine influence

2.    the vocation or profession in which one customarily engages

I think that when most of us hear the term, our thoughts instinctively turn to those having a calling to ministry. Aside from the calling to ministry, when people speak of career “callings”, it’s safe to say that many of us have had callings to be physicians, or attorneys, or educators, or artists. I also believe that many of us fall into the trap of equating callings with “white collar” jobs such as those that I just listed. For some reason, we’d find it hard to believe that someone might have a calling to a “blue collar” job that involved manual labor, long hours, and that’s at the lower end of the pay scale.

Mr. Anderson

Several years ago I knew a man named Mr. Anderson. I never knew his first name; he never said what it was, and I never asked. Mr. Anderson had worked for a local furniture company here in Birmingham for years, although I’m not really sure what he did for them, because by the time that I met him, he’d already retired (though he wasn’t that old).

Mr. Anderson wasn’t exactly a picture of health. He had a moderate case of scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and walked with a slight limp. Because of his infirmities my initial reaction to seeing him for the first time was pity. I’m almost ashamed to tell you that my pity for Mr. Anderson turned to envy the moment that I shook his hand and looked into his eyes.

You see, Mr. Anderson had found his calling in life, which was refinishing furniture. I’ve gotta tell you that the man loved what he did, and his passion was evident not only in the quality of his work, but in the way his eyes lit up when he saw an old piece of furniture that needed restoration. I believe that Mr. Anderson could see beyond that table, chair, or piece of bedroom furniture that had been painted or re-stained, and could envision what it was gonna look like when he stripped away the layers to reveal its natural beauty.

Once, when I was foolish enough to ask Mr. Anderson if there was anything else that he’d like to do in life, he looked right at me, and without missing a beat, simply replied, “Nope. It’s what I love to do. It’s all I want to do.”

Mr. Anderson had answered his calling. He answered the calling that was in his heart.

When it comes to God and His Kingdom, have you answered the calling that He has placed on your heart?

What’s that? You don’t think that God has called you to do anything? Think again.  

Oh sure, God calls people to be Pastors, Priests, Evangelists, Missionaries, Nuns, etc. From what I’ve been able to gather, He doesn’t always place these callings on people’s hearts at the same age. One Pastor that I was speaking with got his calling at nineteen. Yet another was nine years old when God laid the call to ministry on his heart! 

There’s a group of young adults that are enrolled in 24/7, a three year ministry program here at Church of The Highlands here in Birmingham. These young people, numbering just over thirty, set aside college plans and secular career ambitions to answer God’s call to ministry. I’m blown away every time I’m in their presence.

What about the rest of us? Do we get callings too?

I believe that we do. For those of you who are hesitant to associate callings with anything other than careers, I’ll refer to what I’m talking about as “stirrings of the heart.”

What are some examples of stirrings of the heart?

Before I offer you a few examples, I’ll go ahead and caution you that answering some stirrings of the heart will be uncomfortable, if not down-right hard for you to do. Why? Because some of them call for us to do things that are out of our comfort zones.  You see, many of us are reluctant, if not flat-out unwilling, to do anything different that we don’t have to do.

Oh, there’s the “church things” that we hear so much about, like volunteering our time and talents to serve in various ways in our churches. And there’s volunteering in hospitals, or in community outreach centers in your city or town. These are all well and good, and if God has stirred your heart to get involved, I urge you to do so.

How about a stirring that’s more personal in nature? Like reaching out to console a friend who is hurting? Or offering to help a stranger in need? How about sharing what God has done in your life with someone who doesn’t know Him? Here’s a tough one, or at least it was for me: How about praying for someone, aloud and in their presence, because they’re hurting or simply in a bad place in life?

Here’s the thing…we don’t know what God has in store for us, or what He’s going to do for us, simply because we’ve answered a stirring that He’s put in our heart.

This passion that I have for God, and The Seed of Hope, and all that I feebly attempt to do in life for others, is the result of answering a call that God placed on my heart six or seven years ago. I met a young lady, the mother of two small children, who had recently gone through a bitter divorce. There was a stirring in my heart to offer words of hope and the promise of a better life with God in it to this young lady. I acted on that stirring; it was the first time that I had shared my faith with anyone.

As is turned out, this young lady went back to church, and more importantly, she turned back to God. Her life, and her outlook on life, improved dramatically. But I was the one that was truly blessed, because that “stirring” in my heart that I acted on radically changed my life.

Just do it.

If God has placed a stirring in your heart, please, please, please act on it. You have no way of knowing what He has in store for you if you do.

There is one thing that I know. If you will act on your stirring, the answer to the question “What does it take to get into heaven?”  will become evident to you, and much easier to achieve.

Many are called, but few choose to answer.