Ho'okuu Ha'alee

I am an all or nothing kind of person. I don't think life should be lived only half way. You can either live life to the fullest or why bother at all. This tends to be a problem for me in certain areas like washing my car. I like it super clean, and why is it that only broken sprinklers that drench your car, show up when you just had it washed? Well if I washed my car, especially myself, and something gets on it, I freak out a bit. So instead I have found it easier to not wash it. I know it looks like I don't care or that I am lazy, but the reality is, that I freak out so much in my head, I just have to leave it alone. This is the case in most parts of my life. If something is clean and it gets messed up in the slightest I just leave it alone. Sometimes this even includes my walk with the Lord. Things will be going great and then BOOM, I fall with something I have said or done, and then I just leave it to get worse. These past few years I have tried to force myself to be proactive about things so that they don't get so messed up that it takes twice as long to clean up. I am not quite there yet but the fact that I even thought about being proactive is a step in the right direction. I bring this up because I want you to know that if you feel this way, or know someone who does, you aren't alone. I am learning how to balance this area of thinking but there is one area I will refuse to put this into practice. Now you are probably trying to figure out why, and how that can be healthy. You are probably asking yourself that if you do it in one area it will tend to bleed into other areas of your life. I agree with the latter statement. It will and that is my hope. I hope that as I allow this area to rule, the others will fall into place. I am talking about loving Jesus with reckless abandon. What does that look like? What does that show to others? I pray that you will be able to answer that for you and your relationship with God. I did.

This concept has been the cry of my heart for a long time now. Although I am not an expert by any means in this area, I can tell you that being an all or nothing kind of person, reckless abandon makes total sense to me. I tend to do it in the wrong areas at times, but nonetheless I am still learning. If I wasn't learning, I'd already be in Heaven. I am so devoted to the idea I had it tattooed on my wrists. Ho'okuu Ha'alee is Hawaiian for Reckless Abandon. Now I am sure you think I am awful for tattooing myself and that is ok, but I didn't do it for anyone else but me and Jesus. I know everyone has an opinion about tattoos but I know when I hear God and this was a God thing. I have it on my wrists because I can see it when I lift my hands to worship and that is where Jesus was nailed to the cross. I also have it as a reminder to me that I am to run to Jesus, love Him, love others, and fully surrender all I have, want, and desire to Him with RECKLESS ABANDON. This seems to be the theme of my life right now. I want to always love with reckless abandon. To run steadfastly with reckless abandon to  God who loves me and changes me. I decided to do this right before a Sunday Morning service. I told my brother Brian about it and determined in my heart that I needed to be reminded of it ALL the TIME! It is forever on me and I am ok with that.

I bring this up because I want to always make sure that in this area of my life I will be all in all the time. This is a good thing if it bleeds into other areas of my life. I want to make sure that I am always running "the race" as the Apostle Paul calls it in Philippians 4. I pray we can all be people of reckless abandonment for God and God alone. I pray that as you search your own heart to see if you have reckless abandonment for God, that you ask Him where you can show Him that in areas of your life. He may ask you to do something that you never thought you would do, but I bet He will show you a way you can honor Him more, or be reminded of Him more. It may not be as drastic as a tattoo, but as you resolve to let Him do what He wants please be ready for anything. What do you picture Reckless Abandon to look like? Maybe a child running toward their parents with joy because they got an award for good citizenship at school. Or a man running to his wife who he hasn't see in 18 months because of his deployment to Afghanistan. Maybe it looks like two little cousins who haven't seen each other in a long time because they live in different parts of the world. Whatever the case may be, ask God to show you how it looks in your life, and then ask Him to allow your Reckless Abandon for Him to bleed into all areas of your life.

Lord, You are King over all, when we are still afar off, you run to us with Reckless Abandon. Allow us to know that kind of love for you and for those around us. Allow us to not just want it, but to know how to live it out in our daily lives. Let us be a people of Reckless Abandon to You and only You. Thank you that you see our hearts and know our desires. Allow our desires to line up with your desires and change anything in us that doesn't. Thank you, In Jesus Name, Amen!!!

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