What I've Recently Learned About Acceptance

Steve and I are working through "A Purpose Driven Life" by Pastor Rick Warren. We just finished day 7 and I will tell you, this book has been hard in some places. It has made me look at things in different ways but it has absolutely moved me to want to be a person who walks with purpose. It's absolutely making a great difference in my life already.

The definition of purpose: something set up as an object or an end to be attained; intention; resolution; determination. I want to live with intention. I want to live knowing that it's all for a greater cause, knowing that I'm not just getting through life but that I'm serving God and that there is a reason for it all. Maybe it will make the bad days not so bad and the good days that much better. Hopefully, it will make my relationships more sustainable and fulfilling. 

As we walk through life, and relationships, we have to accept a lot of things. I thought I was accepting of things before, but now I realize that I was simply surviving most of them. Putting life events in my tool belt and using them in ways that probably were pretty selfish. The "oh, well I've survived this, so that means I am this," or "I survived this so I get a pass on that," or "I've accepted this from you, so now you just have to deal with the consequences."  Which is probably why I've failed to find the peace in a lot of these things that I thought I was accepting.

That isn't acceptance. At least, it's not acceptance in the way that will grow you. It's not acceptance in the way that God accepts us. It's not acceptance in a selfless love. It's not accepting things for other people's growth and life but rather excusing behaviors of my own. 

Life is FULL of conflict. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are, or what you do, life is going to bring conflict. Some of it big and some of it small. God doesn't promise us that there will be no conflict. Pastor Warren says the key to finding peace in the conflict is through acceptance. He says, "In the world you are going to have problems. Peace of mind does not come from conflict free living. You can have peace of mind IN the conflict. Three things will bring you peace in conflict. 1) The choice of acceptance 2) The choice for trust 3) The choice for surrender."  

When you surrender to that conflict, you will find peace. When you surrender and accept that there are things that are going to happen that are out of your control, you will truly be able to find peace. When you surrender and accept that life isn't always going to go the way you thought it would, wanted it to, or felt that you deserved, you will find peace in those things and peace in life. How many times have I cried out, "God, why are you are letting this happen, why are you bringing this into my life, why?" Warren says, "by continuing to demand why, you are refusing to accept what is." He continues to say, "explanations do not always bring peace and that God is not going to give you the answers to the test while you are taking it." 

So this is what we're working on. It's not always easy, it's not always pretty, but it's important. I'm choosing to accept things that are hard, I'm choosing to accept the things that are easy to accept. I'm doing so with the purpose of living in Christ and with the purpose of finding peace within the conflict.