If you cut down an old tree you will see the rings of time on the inside. Some rings are thick and some are lean. The lean rings represent the years when there may not have been much rain, or perhaps they were years of drought.
Cut open the soul of any adult and you'll see the rings. Some are more lean than others. The critical years are the childhood years. I try to remember that inside every adult is a child. This gets very practical from a training perspective. A wildly successful business trainer once taught me that inside of every person wearing a suit in my seminar is a 15 year old that is hoping to God my training won't be boring. They want to peel that suit off and have fun.
Inside of each of us is our personal history, and no period of history is more important than the first 10-15 years…some say the first 5 or less. Happy are you if you had a nurturing loving parent and normal siblings. Unfortunately most of us did not have this. Instead of Dr. Dobson you might have had Dr. Frankenstein.
Instead of hearing messages that reinforced that you are IMPORTANT and CAPABLE you may have gotten the message that there is something inadequate about you. If you don't get the message you need you can spend your entire life trying to prove you ARE IMPORTANT while always fighting a voice in your head that says you are “NOT ENOUGH.”
Curiously the unique revelation Jesus came to give us in Christianity was not about Himself. The revelation He came to give was that God is our Father…”Our Father who art in heaven…” Regardless of when you meet God as Father, you are destined to discover there is one who takes over the role of your parent. God your Father will fix the bucket where your sense of importance and capability leaks out. We may differ on “how” but we all agree on the end result. He re-waters the garden of your soul and brings you to the place where you no longer fear what man can do to you. You are accepted in the beloved Son, Jesus. You are COMPLETE in Him. You are NOT dysfunctional or addicted or screwed up. You are simply getting rewired to a new nature and identity.
In Gethsemane among a tangle of olive trees, crushed by the weight of cruel men, Jesus sought refuge in the embrace of the one He called “Abba Father.” This is the most intimate and endearing terminology possible. Abba is “Daddy”….
Father. May each of us find the place where we can not only stop leaking, but stop seeking substitutes for the love of God and a clean record. Then we become mature “sons” (and daughters) who carry this water on His behalf into the lives of others. Rather than pain, we bring grace, because all adults deep down are children, trying to be brave in a very scary world.
RT @lancewallnau: Release The Hidden Child in You!: If you cut down an old tree you will see the rings of time on the ins… https://t.co/Bp…
Thank Lance. You are such an inspiration & a wonderful teacher. so good….
Thanks Lance, Made me cry… I grew up feeling I was never enough… Family stuff and church. I am a widowed grandmother now and so getting it, how much my Daddy God loves and delights in me. Thanks for your wonderful teaching and encouragement.
So true. well said.
Release The Hidden Child in You! https://t.co/D1tBaKcorN via @creativejuiz
I love this. Didn’t always get that affirmation as a child which I realize as an adult probably helped to skew my idea of a loving heavenly Father that accepted me no matter what. To that end, I have purposed to instill in my grandson the fact that he is loved, he can do all things through Christ and he is more loved by God than he will ever know.
RT @lancewallnau: Release The Hidden Child in You!: If you cut down an old tree you will see the rings of time on the ins… https://t.co/Bp…
Funny coincidence, this post. I just watched The Adjustment Bureau the other night, and it hit me today that ‘The Chairman’ seemed oddly familiar. And then I realized, that is how I viewed God, growing up.I thought He was a remote,proper,stern,judgemental,disapproving ‘Person’ somewhere out there, never quite happy with what I was doing, always trying to steer me away from what I wanted, because what I REALLy wanted, always cost something.Hmm. What to do with this…I so want to know what He really is like.
Cause we’re all kids deep inside…”Release The Hidden Child in You!” https://t.co/8EqOuaEDVS via @creativejuiz
RT @lancewallnau: Release The Hidden Child in You!: If you cut down an old tree you will see the rings of time on the ins… https://t.co/Bp…