Mental pictures and fictional mentors

In the spring of this year I got away to a place near the mountains to pray for a couple days. I really need to do that more often. Among the things God showed me was a picture of… get this; Jedi. I know – big surprise coming from me. But this picture was a way for God to show me something specific… something that has deepened over the months since that time away. Let me state here that I believe a mental picture is incredibly helpful in understanding and personalizing a profound truth.
My mental picture was a character in Star Wars Episode 1 “the Phantom Menace”, my favorite Jedi; Qui-Gon Jinn.

I feel that God was trying to tell me that He wants me to be more like Qui Gon in my leadership style, but I had been expecting myself to be more like the other Jedi hero of that movie; Obiwan Kenobi. Now if you are a non Star Wars fan – I hope you bear with me.
Qui-Gon is different from Obiwan in a few ways. First, he is older and wiser than his young apprentice. God was telling me I need to act my age, and recognize that I have some wisdom to offer. That it does not have to be prideful for me to step into a role of wisdom and authority in people’s lives.
Second, I was reminded of my calling – not to be the hero necessarily, but to be the one who mentors the heroes. The thought of mentoring and standing behind young disciples, calling them out to be heroes of the faith is humbling and inspiring to me.

Recently I had another thought. I have been really trying to spend time regularly in meditation. I find it is so centering and refreshing to my soul, mind, and body. In doing so I have been reminded by God of the need to be yielded to His Holy Spirit. I want to allow God full access to all of my life – to do as He wishes. In order to do this – God has really spoken to me – that I need to live in the moment, far more than I do. I am the kind of person who over-thinks everything. I plan and scheme, and try to anticipate every possibility. In other words, my mind is painfully aware of everything BUT the present. This leads to a lot of stress in my life. I constantly struggle with anxiety. So God in His love and faithfulness tells me to be “in the moment” – How the heck do I do that?! Well… God reminds me of my picture of Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, only the most nerdy Star Wars fans (of which I am one) will know that Qui-Gon’s philosophy of the fictional “force” was in opposition to the beliefs of other Jedi leaders of His time. They all believed in the “Unifying force” the aspect of this energy binding all, and unifying all. The focus was on using and directing the force in positive ways. By contrast, Qui-Gon believed in the “Living force”, asserting that the energy was somehow alive, and had a will that could be followed and obeyed… moment by moment, with complete trust and abandon. You see where I’m going with this? My living God has a will, and can speak to me! He is calling me to relax into His presence and be directed by Him with complete trust and abandon. I read the book of Acts in scripture - assuming that the apostles followed Gods Holy Spirit much the same way.
If I am successful in allowing God to change my thinking, and my patterns, the result could be a less stressful and more powerful life.
When was the last time you set aside time to give God space to speak to you? Has He given you any mental pictures to better understand and apply his profound truth to your life?