Matador

While chatting on Facebook with my friend David Schloske I was perusing his “Home” page and was captured by his favorite quote. I read it three times. It’s great!

"There are many people who think they want to be matadors, only to find themselves in the ring with 2,000 pounds of bull bearing down on them, and then discover that what they really wanted was to wear the tight pants and hear the crowd roar".
- Terry Pearce "Love All Serve All"

There are times our desires are fulfilled resulting in a little more clarity about that which we more deeply yearn for.

There are things we hope for, and have absolutely no idea what comes with it.

I have experienced both in spades.

How about you? - Craig

Comments

[Bryan cole]

Experienced this MANY times, to the point of tears! And then the lens through which we see ourselves, life, and God begins to show us more. The depth of field increases, and more is revealed of what is beyond the very desire that we thought was the be all, end all of our sole.

[Craig McConnell]

"Many people have had to learn in their private lives... that that perhaps the worst form of tragedy is wanting something badly, getting it, and finding it empty." - Henry Kissinger.
The redemption of such tragedies is how God uses them to clarify the deeper/truer desire that lies beneath. Find God in the tragedy/pain... don't waste the pain nor kill the desire. -Craig

[Jim Robbins]

So true, Craig. When God gave me the tight pants, I found that what I really wanted was my Hammer pants back.

On a more 'spiritual' note, (although Hammer pants are right up there with the Shroud of Turin) your post is a reminder of God's brilliant kindness -- honoring our good, yet naive desires so that he can take us into deeper, more nourishing ones.

Thanks for the reminder.

[Danielle Kaczmarek]

Oh, my!!! The first thing to come mind was a lttle prayer I prayed 16 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with the first of my three children. I asked God to mold me into the mother he wanted me to be. I naively hoped that somehow He would magically transform me into that Proverbs 31 woman whose children rise and call her blessed every morning (HA! Yeah right!! Lame and over protective is more the reality these days.) I had no idea how long and painful my transformation would be; nor the extent of the brokeness I would bring into my parenting. Yet, God has been faithful to answer my prayer and I am still under construction. I have to remind myself regularly that He is molding me into the mother that 'HE' wants me to be; she's not always the mother that 'I' want to be nor the mother MY KIDS want her to be. But I'm starting to see that He knows exactly the kind of mother each of my kids NEEDS me to be and it's different for each kid (drives them CRAZY!!!).

Craig, your kids are grown. Do you ever reach a point where you feel get it right more often than not?
~Danielle

[Adrian]

Do you remember when I told you about the idea of the open house, a vision for some sort of redemptive community which always tries to look at what is in the inside of the people - the Craig that God has meant, the Ruedi that God has meant... I really did not know what I have called out with that. The only fact of trying to be really real and to look for the deeper truth totally turned our world and our relationships upside down, bringing up so much we now have to deal with (I don't know if I wouldn't prefer 2000 pounds of bull). Yet there is the longing that beneath that, there is so much more...

[David Felts]

Craig,
True words bro. I know that there are times when I'm just like that, wanting tight pants and the roar of the crowd. What I think most people don't see is what all goes on behind the scenes before ever donning the tight pants. The hours of preparation, the prayers, the tears and yes even the fears of letting down the Father. This is why I think so many men and women fail at being ministers of the Gospel...they want the lime light, but not the years of preparation for it to come about in God's timing.
Thanks for the reminder, I'm in a time of "Considering my ways" and this has helped me to make sure that I put things in the correct perspective. Good words, I'm glad you shared them...thanks bro!

[Zachary Roberts]

So me right now.

[Larry Morrison]

A shorter form might be one of my favorites: "Better to want something you don't have, than have something you don't want."

[Craig McConnell]

Still grazing a bit on the Matador I came across this thought of John Eldredges from his book - Walking With God.

"C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory has proven helpful to me time and time again, and may rescue us in the very moment of awakened desire I am describing. Lewis is trying to show us that what God uses to awaken desire is not necessarily what we long for. The things “in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things . . . are good images of what we desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself.”

They are not what we are longing for. It is not that specific man or woman [job, role, object] we desire, but what they point to, what is coming through them. They are a picture of what we long for." (Walking With God, P.187)

[Craig McConnell]

Danielle,
What a vulnerable response, thank you.

I have often said, “I am the father/parent now, at 57 years old, I wish I was at 27.” I am a good father. Guess how I became the father/parent that I am now? By walking with God through 32 years of parenting! I think God is actually more interested in shaping us through parenting than He is in us shaping our children as parents. It is marriage and parenting that insures the sanctification/holiness/spiritual-formation of the God follower. My children are now 30 and 27 and having children of their own… yeah, I’m getting it right more often than not… and I’m still being shaped as man who is now a grandparent.
Your heart reflects the fact that you’re probably an awesome mom! - Craig

[Craig McConnell]

Adrian,
You and the freeatheart.net team have been such a significant part of my story this last year. You guys are matadors bringing the beauty and power of the Gospel to German speaking seekers in Switzerland (and Germany!).

You want much and God has much for you. It will come, it will come… in time. You are a good man who will in time face a 3,000 pound bull with great success. - Craig

Adrian,
\r\nSie und die freeatheart.net Team haben wie einen erheblichen Teil meiner Geschichte des letzten Jahres gewesen. You guys are Matadoren bringen die Schönheit und Kraft des Evangeliums zu deutschsprachigen Raum der Asylsuchenden in der Schweiz (und Deutschland!). Sie wollen viel und Gott hat viel für Sie. Es kommt, es kommt ... in der Zeit. Du bist ein guter Mann, der mit der Zeit wird das Gesicht einer 3.000 Pfund schweren Bullen mit großem Erfolg. - Craig"

[Craig McConnell]

Thank you for your responses! Personally I've moved beyond the desire to wear tight pants and hear the crowd cheer to the desire for a t-shirt and a hot dog! (laughing)

[cheloy]

i like what you said about wanting something, hoping for it, but having no idea what comes with it.. im a person who likes seeing my future through other ppl's lives and experiences.. just by looking at a lot of my friends' lives i kinda have an idea what will entail or cost me if i have what they have-- even the downside of it.. and often i will ask myself, will i respond the same way as they are? would i be depressed too? or would i see things in grace? a big part of me does not want all those 'crappy' stuff that goes with our desires.. but then there is this small part where i am ok with them.. thinking "ya, i can compromise!"

where should i put my feet on? shall i just stop wanting? it feels like it's the safest way through this life... im really confused right now.. and afraid to keep on desiring more..

[Caitlin at Backlinks Provider]

This is why they always say to be careful of what you wish for.