Hey Everyone! I have a couple of “food for thought” items I’d like to offer, for your consideration. One is that we have a window of reconciliation coming up a month from today, and it’s not too early to start leaning into it.
Here’s a link: https://theslg.com/content/window-of-reconciliation-december
For the past two years, I’ve started leaning into the March window of reconciliation for community starting in January. For Susan and myself, our community has been pretty chewed up and toxic in many respects. I can’t say exactly why but for whatever reason God has met us in these efforts and we have seen a lot of restoration in that area, not always what we specifically looked for, but overall quite marvelous.
The second thing I wanted to float out there is that I’m starting a Scripture binge, as of two days ago. I normally read through the Word twice a year using a 90-day plan in YouVersion. However, I’m using the hunger approach this time; instead of a programmed number of chapters, I have it in my heart to go until it’s done for the day. I listened to most of Genesis yesterday and started Exodus this morning, with Susan.
For me, this goes toward satisfying and nurturing something very deep, and it always does a significant cleansing. I have in the past experienced a number of “things” (I’ll omit details) which have provided significant direction or motivation.

The linked text from Arthur is as follows:

Window of Reconciliation – December

Reconciliation with Our Destiny

Have you ever wished you could rewrite a couple chapters of your life?
Most of us have.
Let’s try another. Do you feel your life is slipping away and you aren’t making progress toward possessing your birthright?
Most of us feel that, too.
If you are part of that “most of us” tribe, you need to do some business with the King during the month of December because there is a window of reconciliation then that is too good to pass up.

Special Seasons

Did you know that all time is not created equal?
On the first day of creation God carefully pointed out the two disparate sections of the time He had created. Then He carefully showed that each day of the week was unique. On the fourth day, He introduced the concept of seasons and stipulated that His seasons were to be ruled over with precision.
Knowing the extravagance of God’s love gifts to us, I am sure there are layers upon layers of seasons that were created for our wellbeing. We are only now beginning to look for them and understand how to synchronize with God’s provisions in time.
There are four seasons of reconciliation during the year which we have identified. Each runs for ten days on either side of the solstice and equinox. They are as follows:

• March 10th-30th is the season for Reconciliation with Community.
• June 10th-30th is the season for Reconciliation with Land.
• September 10th-30th is the season for Reconciliation with God.
• December 10th-30th is the season for Reconciliation with Our Destiny.

Reconciliation is always on God’s heart and we are permitted to reconcile at any time throughout the year. However, He showed us with the Day of Atonement that we should come to grips with how much alienation we have permitted to creep in each year, and at the appointed time there is extra grace available to move back toward our proper places of connection.
So December’s window of reconciliation is coming. What does it look like for you to be reconciled to your destiny during this window?

The Process

The first step is to set aside a realistic block of time to assess how you see the nature of your calling. It is important to listen to your honest feelings, even though your theology may protest that some of your feelings are inappropriate or irreverent.

• For example, have you never even considered your calling so that you face the shame of negligence?
• Or have you sought it diligently and found heaven to be silent on the issue?
• Do you feel you have no calling, or are you afraid of its magnitude?
• Do you wish at times your calling was smaller, less dramatic and demanding?
• Or do you envy the great calling others around you clearly walk in?

The second step is to assess your timeline in light of your destiny.

• Do you feel you have wasted valuable time in the past?
• Perhaps you are grieving a great sin that might have cost you at least a portion of your birthright.
• Or are you one of the few who has known and pursued your destiny with a clear focus and great intensity since your youth?
• Or have you been eager to move toward your destiny but feel God is detached, ignoring your passion and not providing what He must provide for you to go forward. Perhaps you feel you are watching the years slip away without any chance of possessing your birthright.

The third step is to bring your feelings into alignment with God’s reality. This is reconciliation.
There are three realities that you must embrace.

• Your call is exactly right for you. If it feels like it doesn’t fit, then you are not seeing something correctly. It might be that you do not see what your call really is. Or you might see only a small part of your total call. Or you might desire another call that is not right for you because of your unresolved legitimacy issues. Regardless of the cause, the reality is that God did not mismatch your call to your design and your time and place in history.
• God is not running behind in your life. World history is full of stories about people who seemed stalled or blocked but suddenly found that God had been busy for decades creating a perfect cultural context for them to possess their birthright. When His time was right, they leaped forward because the way had been prepared.
• Finally and most significantly, there are no shortages of opportunities in life. Let us suppose for purposes of discussion that you have indeed sinned so grievously in the past that God Himself has removed some portion of your calling.

Suppose His justice no longer allows you to do what was originally planned. Stop for a moment and try to visualize all the tasks He has allocated to specific people that are not being done by them.
Everything that has been removed from someone, or abandoned by someone, is available for reassignment by God.
Ponder this example: Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land because God gave him the birthright that Moses forfeited by his sin. God’s justice may require Him to remove something from you as He did from Moses, but if you have been diligent in developing your design, He has a million warehouses full of “unclaimed property.”
While His justice removed one thing from you, His love would rejoice in giving you more . . . if you are worthy.

Can It Really Happen?

Your objective in reconciling with your destiny should be to bring your emotions into alignment with God’s reality. This is such a vital task that I urge you to set aside significant blocks of time to wait on the Lord.
Share with the King what you know to be true about Him and His reality. Then share what your emotions shout at you every day, blatantly contradicting that truth. Finally, invite Jesus to crown this season with yet another miracle of reconciliation as He brings your emotions into alignment with His reality.
How will He do it?
I have no idea.
And that is precisely what makes this process so spectacularly wonderful.
Christ’s resources for bringing about reconciliation are more varied than the number of stars in the sky multiplied to the millionth power. This is the essence of His nature. This is what Jesus came to earth to do. This is His greatest joy, finest masterpiece and most enduring triumph.
Even if you have a treasure chest of the most exquisite memories of Christmases past, the King would be delighted to exceed all your past experiences by giving you the consummate gift of becoming reconciled to His design and His destiny for you.
THIS is MY reason for celebrating this season.
Arthur Burk
Herzogenbuchsee, Switzerland
November 21, 2008