Always We Begin Again By Leeana TankersleySample

Day Six

Not Today, Soul Bullies

Scripture: Romans 8:1–2

Because beginning again is a practice, a spiritual discipline, a ritual, it’s the kind of thing that we usually can’t sustain alone. We will need the help and support of a loving crew when we deplete our own resolve, energy, and courage. 

I love the picture from Scripture of the four friends carrying their invalid friend to Jesus so that he might be healed. The house where Jesus was teaching and healing was overrun with people, so the four friends hoisted their friend’s stretcher up to the roof and cut a hole through which they lowered him down to Jesus.

Here’s what I know: It’s amazing to get to be one of those people who is on the four corners of the stretcher—resourceful, strong, able, heroic. It is far less fun to be the guy on the stretcher—dependent, affected, vulnerable, incapacitated. But, and I hate saying this, we often learn more through our vulnerabilities than we do through our capacities. And it is only through accepting the help and support of others that we are truly healed. 

If you are in a season of receiving help, it’s likely the Soul Bullies will be on to you. They want to shame, embarrass, and silence you. It’s just what they do.

We cannot let the Soul Bullies have the last word about us. Because we serve a different narrative than they do. Theirs is scarcity and either/or and punishing to get results. Our narrative is unexpectedly abundant and wildly gracious. So we’re right at home, right in the pocket, as they say. We’re where we should be: human beings on the receiving end of love and grace. 

The Soul Bullies will likely never fully go away, but we have the power to put them in their place. So even if those accusing voices are creeping in, you can say, “Not today, Soul Bullies. Not today.” And you can begin again. By the grace of God, there is now no condemnation for you, and you can begin again. 

Reflection: What is something the Soul Bullies whisper in your ear when you need to receive help? Is this the ultimate truth about you? What does God want to say to you about the Soul Bullies’ words? 

Prayer: God, I want to listen for your voice above all others. I pray for a stillness to receive the help I need. Amen.