The following is written by Pete Richardson (www.convergenceplanning.com ). Pete has immersed himself in the full body of Tom Paterson’s work. I am reprinting this blog, with permission, as it exemplifies the life well lived in surrender or as Tom recently defined it “reverent submission”.
From Pete: “But if you were to cut Tom Paterson, he would bleed surrender. He lost his 12 year
old daughter, Debbie, to bone cancer in the 1970’s. Tom Paterson Jr. drowned in Alaska at age 36 when his float plane flipped on a lake. Jim Paterson was killed a year ago when a car hit him while helping a woman broken down on a Virginia highway. Ginny Paterson, Tom’s first wife, died of lung cancer in the late 1990’s after 54 years of marriage. Meryl Paterson, Tom’s second wife, died last year of Alzheimer’s. He knows something about moving on from life’s losses. Today, you’d never know from his view of life and positive attitude that he has suffered so.
We all face loses of some kind. Suffering, pain, trials, and tests face any hairy biped traveling through time. But what allows a man who has experienced SO much loss in his lifetime to have peace of mind and soul? To have no observable signs of bitterness toward God, life, other people, the world in general?
Surrender.
The concept of surrender invokes quitting, giving up to an enemy. It’s usually applied to competition or combat. “The enemy surrendered.” “The team gave up. Surrendered.” Surrender evokes the imagery of the defeated waving a white flag waving out of the trenches of conflict communicating, “We’re done. We’re laying down our guns.”
There is a time to fight for that which is noble, right, honorable and just. Where would the world be had Churchill and Roosevelt surrendered to the German dictator? Where would our nation be had Lincoln quit in his relentless pursuit of the human dignity and freedom of the enslaved and the integrity of the Union? “
To read the full body of this excellent understanding of surrender go to Pete’s ‘Plog’ at
www.convergenceplanning.com
For those who have completed the LifePlan process, we know to come to fully enjoy the Joy of Christ, we first must come to the place of complete yielding of our own will and demand on our life for the ultimate will of Christ. How is this achieved? All of life is a process and the process of surrender is no different. It is a process. As Linda Brewer pointed out so eloquently in Issue 1, the outcome of yielding our will is the receiving of the Life and Joy of Christ. It’s a process that begins with a choice.
Have you decided to stop telling God what you are going to do and let Him lead?
Are you struggling with the concept of ‘giving up to gain’?
I invite you to continue the conversation with me at www.foraclearview-tmoore.blogspot.com
Do you know others who may benefit from learning more about LifePlans and Strategic Operating Plans? If so I encourage you to forward clear view to 3 friends
Tommy
