New snow from last night drips incessantly from the rooftop as the warm rays of the February sun burn down on it. The wind has picked up just within the last twenty minutes and I know that it will wick away the moisture faster than the sun alone. Together they will reveal the grass and rocks in the fields and turn the road into a muddy mess.
Seems to me all the livestock have gotten off pretty easy this winter. The temperatures didn't drop down below minus 25 all winter and the last two months have been exceptionally warm.
I saw lots of bunny tracks in the snow on my walk this morning and grouse as well so they have obviously fared quite well. I think it only fair that we all get a break from old Man Winter every now and then.
There has been such a healthy, satisfied feeling in my life this year. Learning to love again, trust again, knowing my limitations, saying no to stress, living with the consequences and the not the guilt. For lack of a better term I would say embracing all that I am and am not. For a very long time I held myself at arm's length, and was afraid to say hello. I feared for the sake of fearing, as I now know, and in retrospect I truly was my own worst enemy. It is wonderful to be weak. Weakness brings humility and humility brings dependence and dependence brings relationship and relationship bring companionship and companionship brings a sense of belonging. Hiding weakness is exhausting. It drains you of life and longing, it did me anyway.
Each day I have been consistent in the new tasks I have taken on and that is what I am looking for, consistency. I may not be able to take on as much as I did but what I need to be is successful in the things I have been able to do. That is happening for me now and that is a sign of healing.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Courage
Finally the urge to write something overwhelms me! Thank God for that or I would never write anything.
February has been a cat and mouse game. Every now and then Spring peeks her head out, and I run after it, and then Schwuup! she is gone. Just as I give up hope, there she is again, and I, feeling tempted, try so hard to grab a hold of her. Sooner or later I'll get my hands on it, or in it.
For me Spring signifies everything it should or does. New life, fresh beginnings, and all that mushy stuff. I like to get my hands dirty in the spring. Planting, planting, planting................there is just something utterly amazing about watching something grow. I love it.
I have been thinking alot lately about individuality. About how people try so hard to be different from one another and the question is why? From what I have observed in my short lifetime is that no matter how hard we try we are never that different. We all seem to move in a cyclical manner, certain people at certain times, we generally have the same opinions about what is right and wrong, thus political correctness and general consensus. And how is it that you can be driving down a lonely dirt road and when you get to the stop sign another car comes along? Did you and the other driver leave the house at the same time, for the same reason and if so what prompted you? It is very possible that you end up following that car right to the grocery store. I am not sure about you but I find that really creepy.
If this is the case, and I am sure sociologists and psychologists would concur, then why don't we just lay down our "weapons" and let it be so? What pushes us towards individualism? Why do we actually want to stand out?
People are afraid of group psychology and yet it seems to me that it has been instrumental in the survival of the species. Just as it has been for other groups of animals that live in social hierarchies. I have never seen a cow trying not to be a cow, or a deer trying to look like a moose. What happens to us when we think like that? Is it good? Is it detrimental? Is it normal? I believe it is...........normal that is. That is really the irony in the whole thing! Individuality is normal!
From what I have observed the threat of blending in has driven us as a whole to stand out. The urge for social acceptance by the group pushes us into alternative lifestyles, hipster clothing, anime haircuts, heavy metal music and anywhere but Walmart. If we draw attention to ourselves we live in the protection of the group because they have noticed us. To live a life unknown, unloved, and unnoticed is death (in a primordial sense) to that person. We must be connected, noticed, and have a sense of belonging otherwise we suffer the consequences of the opposites to all that.
I need to be fair though in my thinking and I need to make clear to the reader that there are exceptions! And in light of all of the above I see now just how exceptional.
Martin Luther King, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Picasso, Shackelton, Mozart, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and so many, many others. They took the road less travelled, they made sacrifices, and they garnered little in their lifetimes. Yet they left us such amazing treasures, they shared their vision with us, and moved in and out of compassion.
In a world of selfishness, self centered-ness, self loathing, self mutilating, self ingratiating, self healing and anything else that keeps us focused on the self, these people where driven to share themselves, their vision, and their hearts and many of them died lonely.
Now I need to consider these things. I need to make a decision based on what I know to be true. How deep does the water in my soul run? Where do I want to go and how superficial can I be?
In retrospect I would like to thank these people for their example. I would like to stand and applaud their spirit and I truly admire them, if not for their works, then for their courage.
Thank You
February has been a cat and mouse game. Every now and then Spring peeks her head out, and I run after it, and then Schwuup! she is gone. Just as I give up hope, there she is again, and I, feeling tempted, try so hard to grab a hold of her. Sooner or later I'll get my hands on it, or in it.
For me Spring signifies everything it should or does. New life, fresh beginnings, and all that mushy stuff. I like to get my hands dirty in the spring. Planting, planting, planting................there is just something utterly amazing about watching something grow. I love it.
I have been thinking alot lately about individuality. About how people try so hard to be different from one another and the question is why? From what I have observed in my short lifetime is that no matter how hard we try we are never that different. We all seem to move in a cyclical manner, certain people at certain times, we generally have the same opinions about what is right and wrong, thus political correctness and general consensus. And how is it that you can be driving down a lonely dirt road and when you get to the stop sign another car comes along? Did you and the other driver leave the house at the same time, for the same reason and if so what prompted you? It is very possible that you end up following that car right to the grocery store. I am not sure about you but I find that really creepy.
If this is the case, and I am sure sociologists and psychologists would concur, then why don't we just lay down our "weapons" and let it be so? What pushes us towards individualism? Why do we actually want to stand out?
People are afraid of group psychology and yet it seems to me that it has been instrumental in the survival of the species. Just as it has been for other groups of animals that live in social hierarchies. I have never seen a cow trying not to be a cow, or a deer trying to look like a moose. What happens to us when we think like that? Is it good? Is it detrimental? Is it normal? I believe it is...........normal that is. That is really the irony in the whole thing! Individuality is normal!
From what I have observed the threat of blending in has driven us as a whole to stand out. The urge for social acceptance by the group pushes us into alternative lifestyles, hipster clothing, anime haircuts, heavy metal music and anywhere but Walmart. If we draw attention to ourselves we live in the protection of the group because they have noticed us. To live a life unknown, unloved, and unnoticed is death (in a primordial sense) to that person. We must be connected, noticed, and have a sense of belonging otherwise we suffer the consequences of the opposites to all that.
I need to be fair though in my thinking and I need to make clear to the reader that there are exceptions! And in light of all of the above I see now just how exceptional.
Martin Luther King, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Picasso, Shackelton, Mozart, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and so many, many others. They took the road less travelled, they made sacrifices, and they garnered little in their lifetimes. Yet they left us such amazing treasures, they shared their vision with us, and moved in and out of compassion.
In a world of selfishness, self centered-ness, self loathing, self mutilating, self ingratiating, self healing and anything else that keeps us focused on the self, these people where driven to share themselves, their vision, and their hearts and many of them died lonely.
Now I need to consider these things. I need to make a decision based on what I know to be true. How deep does the water in my soul run? Where do I want to go and how superficial can I be?
In retrospect I would like to thank these people for their example. I would like to stand and applaud their spirit and I truly admire them, if not for their works, then for their courage.
Thank You
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Winter
It has been a couple of months since I last posted anything. In that time I was able to welcome a new granddaughter into this world and watch the older two develop into the wonderful people I know they will be.
Winter came, Christmas came and now we are almost at the end of the very long month of January. That is good! Somehow it didn't feel like it took forever (which happens most years for me). I think that November and January are the worst months of the year. November is when the trees are stripped of their color and the grass fades and wind is bitter and everything waits for the snow. January is when the days are so short I feel like every minute is ticking and I have to get the most out of the daylight. Now that is all coming to an end! February is arriving and with it the sun. Winter is not so bad when the sun accompanies it. Longer days lend a sense of relief to the winter darkness and remind me of the coming season.
When I look out my window I see hills, trees, freshly fallen snow and the thermometer reads a balmy -3 C. A glorious day. I will finish what is before me and perhaps treat myself to a day out of the house.
One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, one thing and then the other. These are things that make each day precious, each day new, each day different than the next. I believe that they even shortened the month of January for me.
Learning always learning, taking it all in, and treasuring it. I have even found myself measuring my words. If it is not worth saying, don't say it. We say so many useless things in a day, say what matters. It doesn't necessarily mean a constant serious tone. To me it means listening and responding in kind. It means asking honest questions and expecting honest answers, which in turn demand the time it takes to listen. But how wonderful to have filled that gap in someone's day or your own!! I cannot stop reiterating how wonderful life really is. It is so fulfilling in and of itself and it blossoms. Life is always enlarging itself. It is exponential.
Winter reminds me of rest, solitude, reflection, challenge, and the wonderful feelings of provision. Providing food, warmth......protection from the elements. It is a necessary time of year, not a hibernation (as it is often compared to), but a regeneration. Time to till up the furrows of our mind, challenge ourselves and see how far we can step outside the box of our comfort zone. Winter provides us with time for that.
In time the wintery mantle will be,
Shed from the rooftops, garden and trees.
Sunshine quickens the rivers and brooks,
Trickling life into crannies and nooks!
Down with knitting,the books, and food
Up with gumboots, sweaters and mood.
Winter has left us our thoughts and our fears,
Taught us to treasure another good year,
Left us to tend to the garden we made.
A garden of dreams and ideas, and bade..
Us farewell as we sail into spring
Cultivating all that the winter did bring.
Winter came, Christmas came and now we are almost at the end of the very long month of January. That is good! Somehow it didn't feel like it took forever (which happens most years for me). I think that November and January are the worst months of the year. November is when the trees are stripped of their color and the grass fades and wind is bitter and everything waits for the snow. January is when the days are so short I feel like every minute is ticking and I have to get the most out of the daylight. Now that is all coming to an end! February is arriving and with it the sun. Winter is not so bad when the sun accompanies it. Longer days lend a sense of relief to the winter darkness and remind me of the coming season.
When I look out my window I see hills, trees, freshly fallen snow and the thermometer reads a balmy -3 C. A glorious day. I will finish what is before me and perhaps treat myself to a day out of the house.
One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, one thing and then the other. These are things that make each day precious, each day new, each day different than the next. I believe that they even shortened the month of January for me.
Learning always learning, taking it all in, and treasuring it. I have even found myself measuring my words. If it is not worth saying, don't say it. We say so many useless things in a day, say what matters. It doesn't necessarily mean a constant serious tone. To me it means listening and responding in kind. It means asking honest questions and expecting honest answers, which in turn demand the time it takes to listen. But how wonderful to have filled that gap in someone's day or your own!! I cannot stop reiterating how wonderful life really is. It is so fulfilling in and of itself and it blossoms. Life is always enlarging itself. It is exponential.
Winter reminds me of rest, solitude, reflection, challenge, and the wonderful feelings of provision. Providing food, warmth......protection from the elements. It is a necessary time of year, not a hibernation (as it is often compared to), but a regeneration. Time to till up the furrows of our mind, challenge ourselves and see how far we can step outside the box of our comfort zone. Winter provides us with time for that.
In time the wintery mantle will be,
Shed from the rooftops, garden and trees.
Sunshine quickens the rivers and brooks,
Trickling life into crannies and nooks!
Down with knitting,the books, and food
Up with gumboots, sweaters and mood.
Winter has left us our thoughts and our fears,
Taught us to treasure another good year,
Left us to tend to the garden we made.
A garden of dreams and ideas, and bade..
Us farewell as we sail into spring
Cultivating all that the winter did bring.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
A "Spiritual" Affair
I found myself thinking about a line that I wrote in my last blog. It was something like this.........”Christianity is not a “spiritual” affair......” I think I want to clarify what I meant by that. I certainly don’t wish to confuse people about their spirituality and I understand that to some it may seem a bit obtuse to say something like that. Everyone can be misunderstood, especially if you want to.
I guess that the above quote was used to suppress a lot of negative feelings and images that I have. It was a nice way of saying to the reader that we need to keep it simple. This is not something that was designed by God to be complicated, although we have founded entire Universities and Theological Seminaries in order to defend our different points of view. This is simple. As simple as love is.......or isn’t?
Have you ever wondered about love? Why do I love someone so much that I am willing to commit to an entire lifetime with them? How can love span 2,3,4,5 and 6 (or more) children and not be diluted and remain so strong? It is simple or not? It is. And it’s not. It is straight forward, doesn’t require a lot of thought and yet it is complex and can change the course of many lives.
I need to keep it simple. I also think that a lot of Christians need to keep it simple. We have spent centuries muddying the waters. We take what suits us and leave out the rest and that varies according to denomination and theology. Shame on us! What a legacy of hypocrisy and confusion, and in the wake of that, a trail of eviscerated corpses that have just a breath of life left in them.
Jesus upturned the tables in the temple because the moneychangers and merchants had turned the house of God into a business. Doesn’t sound too far off.......does it? I believe that He will again clean house and be aware that only He can, He took on that job once and He will certainly take it on again.
I once asked myself if I wanted to be a part of the multitudes. How great would it have been to sit through the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes, and the Lord’s prayer? To be a part of the five thousand fed by Jesus, to see the blind regain their sight, and the sick pick up their beds and go home....whole again. Then I remembered that the multitudes threw down palms at Jesus’ feet when He rode into Jerusalem and the next day they demanded He be crucified. I realized then that I didn’t want to be a part of the multitudes. I was not even happy with the behavior of the Disciples, how they scattered and were afraid and denied Jesus. Right then I wished I was a dog. A dog that would follow it’s Master regardless of public opinion, regardless of the status quo. I even imagined this dog with it’s tongue hanging out in the hottest part of the day, waiting and watching to see what He would do next, where He would go and I realized that I wanted to be like that.
Not blindly following, not stupid, but ever watchful, ever faithful, ever true to the Master I know. The Master who always has my best interest in mind even when I don’t know what that might be. Trusting, loyal and honest. Aren’t these the things we admire in animals and yet when a human being demonstrates these qualities we judge him to be weak.
It was the multitudes who were weak. It was they who refused to listen to what Jesus said when it got radical. “Too hard”, they thought. And with little thought to the consequences they had him crucified, which by the way turned out just fine. It was designed to turn out fine. The crucifixion wasn’t the problem, the change in consensus was. How entirely fickle.
I believe that if you know that you know the truth, then and only then can you be confident in it, and that confidence is not built on experiences or feelings, but rather on following and pursuing God “doggedly”. Knowing Him.
This is what I was getting at when I said that Christianity was not a “spiritual” affair. Yes, things move on a spiritual plane, yes we become grafted members of the Children of Israel, yes, yes, yes to a lot of things, but we don’t feel these things, we know these things. And we trust that God will continue to be and do that which He said He would do.
And the people said........Amen.
I guess that the above quote was used to suppress a lot of negative feelings and images that I have. It was a nice way of saying to the reader that we need to keep it simple. This is not something that was designed by God to be complicated, although we have founded entire Universities and Theological Seminaries in order to defend our different points of view. This is simple. As simple as love is.......or isn’t?
Have you ever wondered about love? Why do I love someone so much that I am willing to commit to an entire lifetime with them? How can love span 2,3,4,5 and 6 (or more) children and not be diluted and remain so strong? It is simple or not? It is. And it’s not. It is straight forward, doesn’t require a lot of thought and yet it is complex and can change the course of many lives.
I need to keep it simple. I also think that a lot of Christians need to keep it simple. We have spent centuries muddying the waters. We take what suits us and leave out the rest and that varies according to denomination and theology. Shame on us! What a legacy of hypocrisy and confusion, and in the wake of that, a trail of eviscerated corpses that have just a breath of life left in them.
Jesus upturned the tables in the temple because the moneychangers and merchants had turned the house of God into a business. Doesn’t sound too far off.......does it? I believe that He will again clean house and be aware that only He can, He took on that job once and He will certainly take it on again.
I once asked myself if I wanted to be a part of the multitudes. How great would it have been to sit through the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes, and the Lord’s prayer? To be a part of the five thousand fed by Jesus, to see the blind regain their sight, and the sick pick up their beds and go home....whole again. Then I remembered that the multitudes threw down palms at Jesus’ feet when He rode into Jerusalem and the next day they demanded He be crucified. I realized then that I didn’t want to be a part of the multitudes. I was not even happy with the behavior of the Disciples, how they scattered and were afraid and denied Jesus. Right then I wished I was a dog. A dog that would follow it’s Master regardless of public opinion, regardless of the status quo. I even imagined this dog with it’s tongue hanging out in the hottest part of the day, waiting and watching to see what He would do next, where He would go and I realized that I wanted to be like that.
Not blindly following, not stupid, but ever watchful, ever faithful, ever true to the Master I know. The Master who always has my best interest in mind even when I don’t know what that might be. Trusting, loyal and honest. Aren’t these the things we admire in animals and yet when a human being demonstrates these qualities we judge him to be weak.
It was the multitudes who were weak. It was they who refused to listen to what Jesus said when it got radical. “Too hard”, they thought. And with little thought to the consequences they had him crucified, which by the way turned out just fine. It was designed to turn out fine. The crucifixion wasn’t the problem, the change in consensus was. How entirely fickle.
I believe that if you know that you know the truth, then and only then can you be confident in it, and that confidence is not built on experiences or feelings, but rather on following and pursuing God “doggedly”. Knowing Him.
This is what I was getting at when I said that Christianity was not a “spiritual” affair. Yes, things move on a spiritual plane, yes we become grafted members of the Children of Israel, yes, yes, yes to a lot of things, but we don’t feel these things, we know these things. And we trust that God will continue to be and do that which He said He would do.
And the people said........Amen.
Friday, October 19, 2012
God
I have been asked to write down my thoughts on the subject of God after a conversation I had with my daughter. We talked for over 2 hours and I seriously doubt I can replicate the whole conversation, but I will try to cover some of the points that were interesting to her.
We were speaking of relationship to God, judgement within the Church, loosely quoted scripture and the Big Picture. We also touched on the difference between men and women in relationships in general and how that carries over into our relationship with God and how our very own expectations can get in the way of that relationship.
The first thing that comes to mind is that between the Old and New Testament God was silent. I believe that that was a total of 400 years. The Jews, chosen by God, had been in constant communication with God through the prophets, priests and kings. The last word they had was that the Messiah was coming.............then the silence began. I would call that a "killer" move on God's part. I have done all these things for you, called you out, chosen you, preserved you, protected you and shown you how much I love you................in other words, I have waited for you. Now you wait for me.
This to me is an example of the Big Picture. As a Jew you could either expect God to do what he always did in the past and when he didn't you could question Him or you could study what he was doing in the past, where he was going with all this and you could trust that because he always did what he said he was going to do, that he would continue operating in that vein. Even if it took 400 years.
I believe that this is what makes a believer a believer. They believe. They don't need signs and wonders..............they know God. They have spent time investigating, maybe even testing the character of God and seen that He is true. He never changes, He is always the same. Job demonstrates this. That is why God allowed Him to be tested, because to Job it wasn't about what God does, it was about Who God is. Job knew God, he knew that God was good, he knew that he was a part of the Big Picture and he never questioned what was going on even when it was as painful as it was. His only question was, what is the Big Picture here? He never cursed God because his perspective didn't allow for that! To curse God Job would have had to put aside all his convictions and all his knowledge of the character of God, he would have in essence had to lie to himself. It was impossible for him to do this and that is why God allowed Satan to test him.
As individuals and individual believers we pass through a myriad of experiences in a lifetime. We are formed by our upbringing, genetics and outside influences. We see life through this lense and make decisions and judgements accordingly. This is not wrong, this is life and God knows it! He made us this way and he put us here. Thus in my mind therein lies the reason. God is interested in a relationship, He wants you to want Him, just as we all long for this sense of belonging. He wants to meet you on common ground and that common ground is Love! Ask yourself what love is. Is it a fuzzy feeling? Is it uncontrollable urges? In my opinion love is commitment, putting someone else's needs before your own. That is what God wants for you and ultimately what you want for Him.
To recap: Relationship! God loves you, He wants you for Himself, He is committed to you, He knows you, He accepts you and He does not Judge you! Remember He put you in your skin, your family, and your community. He is not unaware of who you are.
The only responsibility we have, in my opinion, as Christians is know Who God is. It is in knowing Him that we can love Him. It is in knowing Him that we can rest securely in our faith. Write a research paper on God. Pick up the Old Testament and find out what kind of Person He is, how does he handle stuff, how does he feel about humanity, what was He like in the beginning and how does that compare to the end. Is He a liar, is He fair, how does He demonstrate His love. Try to be as objective as possible. We all have some Christian influences in our lives...........try to forget everything we learned, everything we heard, good and bad, try to see this as if for the very first time.
As far as judgement within the Church, well I don't really want to spend much time on that. I don't think that it is a "Christian" anomaly. Humans tend to practice this behavior whenever they form groups. A group of neo-Nazis judge non-whites, a group of environmentalists will judge industrialists, a group of Republicans judge Democrats, a group of farmers judge city dwellers and so on. This is inherent in our nature. Whenever a group of people get together they begin to seek out a leader and then move in flock formation. Uniformity creeps in and 'Voila" you have a Club! No big surprise there. The Church is not immune because it is made up of people. In other words don't be surprised when you are judged within the Church, you would be judged elsewhere too. Unfortunately this reflects back on God because many people have made Him the Villain.
As far as dealing with loosely quoted Scripture, I believe that the only way you'll be prepared for that coming at you is to know it yourself. Scripture is often quoted out of context and for all intents and purposes to make the one quoting it feel more important than the one being quoted to! This is not what scripture is for, it is designed to reveal the character of God to the believer so that we can boldly stand before Him. It is to help us with life's questions, to give us instruction so that we can attain wisdom.(not knowledge) And it is inspired which causes me to regard it highly. The Holy Spirit, according to Scripture itself, breathed the words which we read and we need to be careful with how we dole it out to others. This reminds me of how Jesus said, Don't worry about the inconsistencies of your neighbor until you have taken care of you own!
Relationship with God is personal. It is between you and Him. It is not something that you can make another person experience and it is not experienced in the same way as another person's relationship with God. We as finite creations have a tendency to anticipate what something will be like. We anticipate the movie to be great after hearing so much about it, our expectations rise and after having seen it we are often disappointed. Why would that be any different that what we hear about other people's relationship with God. We can only be disappointed if we have expectations. Without expectations we can live in complete freedom.
Jesus stated the His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, part of the Trinity, God Himself. God we know, from scripture, is truth, love, and unchanging. If these things are true about God and Jesus is telling us the truth, why are we having such a hard time? Why does it feel difficult? Why are we not experiencing freedom?
I would say that our expectations are keeping us from enjoying a real relationship with God. We need to take ourselves a few steps back...........as far as it takes to have an unadulterated look at God. We need a clean slate, need to imagine meeting Him as a person for the first time, we need to spend time getting to know Him, we need to put out of our minds all the things we may have learned as Christians and read scripture with a thirsty mind. And then we need to make a decision. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Did he sacrifice his life for my sin? Does he live? Is he coming back? And if the answer is yes then we need to know that we now walk in truth. That is all that matters.
God is not complicated. He has shown us all facets of His nature. He has been transparent telling us what happened in the beginning, where we are now and what will happen in the end. It doesn't get much simpler than that. He is not out to trick us, own us, abuse us, use us, abandon us or anything else like that. These are things we do to each other. God is not us He is divine and has saved us from ourselves.
I guess what I am trying to say is that being a Christian is not a "spiritual" affair. It is an acknowledgement of what is true. C.S. Lewis wrote of his conversion to Christianity and titled it "Surprised by Joy", and that was the sum of his expectations. He continued living his life although with a renewed sense of who he was in Christ and everything else was a bonus.
God is good isn't that enough?
We were speaking of relationship to God, judgement within the Church, loosely quoted scripture and the Big Picture. We also touched on the difference between men and women in relationships in general and how that carries over into our relationship with God and how our very own expectations can get in the way of that relationship.
The first thing that comes to mind is that between the Old and New Testament God was silent. I believe that that was a total of 400 years. The Jews, chosen by God, had been in constant communication with God through the prophets, priests and kings. The last word they had was that the Messiah was coming.............then the silence began. I would call that a "killer" move on God's part. I have done all these things for you, called you out, chosen you, preserved you, protected you and shown you how much I love you................in other words, I have waited for you. Now you wait for me.
This to me is an example of the Big Picture. As a Jew you could either expect God to do what he always did in the past and when he didn't you could question Him or you could study what he was doing in the past, where he was going with all this and you could trust that because he always did what he said he was going to do, that he would continue operating in that vein. Even if it took 400 years.
I believe that this is what makes a believer a believer. They believe. They don't need signs and wonders..............they know God. They have spent time investigating, maybe even testing the character of God and seen that He is true. He never changes, He is always the same. Job demonstrates this. That is why God allowed Him to be tested, because to Job it wasn't about what God does, it was about Who God is. Job knew God, he knew that God was good, he knew that he was a part of the Big Picture and he never questioned what was going on even when it was as painful as it was. His only question was, what is the Big Picture here? He never cursed God because his perspective didn't allow for that! To curse God Job would have had to put aside all his convictions and all his knowledge of the character of God, he would have in essence had to lie to himself. It was impossible for him to do this and that is why God allowed Satan to test him.
As individuals and individual believers we pass through a myriad of experiences in a lifetime. We are formed by our upbringing, genetics and outside influences. We see life through this lense and make decisions and judgements accordingly. This is not wrong, this is life and God knows it! He made us this way and he put us here. Thus in my mind therein lies the reason. God is interested in a relationship, He wants you to want Him, just as we all long for this sense of belonging. He wants to meet you on common ground and that common ground is Love! Ask yourself what love is. Is it a fuzzy feeling? Is it uncontrollable urges? In my opinion love is commitment, putting someone else's needs before your own. That is what God wants for you and ultimately what you want for Him.
To recap: Relationship! God loves you, He wants you for Himself, He is committed to you, He knows you, He accepts you and He does not Judge you! Remember He put you in your skin, your family, and your community. He is not unaware of who you are.
The only responsibility we have, in my opinion, as Christians is know Who God is. It is in knowing Him that we can love Him. It is in knowing Him that we can rest securely in our faith. Write a research paper on God. Pick up the Old Testament and find out what kind of Person He is, how does he handle stuff, how does he feel about humanity, what was He like in the beginning and how does that compare to the end. Is He a liar, is He fair, how does He demonstrate His love. Try to be as objective as possible. We all have some Christian influences in our lives...........try to forget everything we learned, everything we heard, good and bad, try to see this as if for the very first time.
As far as judgement within the Church, well I don't really want to spend much time on that. I don't think that it is a "Christian" anomaly. Humans tend to practice this behavior whenever they form groups. A group of neo-Nazis judge non-whites, a group of environmentalists will judge industrialists, a group of Republicans judge Democrats, a group of farmers judge city dwellers and so on. This is inherent in our nature. Whenever a group of people get together they begin to seek out a leader and then move in flock formation. Uniformity creeps in and 'Voila" you have a Club! No big surprise there. The Church is not immune because it is made up of people. In other words don't be surprised when you are judged within the Church, you would be judged elsewhere too. Unfortunately this reflects back on God because many people have made Him the Villain.
As far as dealing with loosely quoted Scripture, I believe that the only way you'll be prepared for that coming at you is to know it yourself. Scripture is often quoted out of context and for all intents and purposes to make the one quoting it feel more important than the one being quoted to! This is not what scripture is for, it is designed to reveal the character of God to the believer so that we can boldly stand before Him. It is to help us with life's questions, to give us instruction so that we can attain wisdom.(not knowledge) And it is inspired which causes me to regard it highly. The Holy Spirit, according to Scripture itself, breathed the words which we read and we need to be careful with how we dole it out to others. This reminds me of how Jesus said, Don't worry about the inconsistencies of your neighbor until you have taken care of you own!
Relationship with God is personal. It is between you and Him. It is not something that you can make another person experience and it is not experienced in the same way as another person's relationship with God. We as finite creations have a tendency to anticipate what something will be like. We anticipate the movie to be great after hearing so much about it, our expectations rise and after having seen it we are often disappointed. Why would that be any different that what we hear about other people's relationship with God. We can only be disappointed if we have expectations. Without expectations we can live in complete freedom.
Jesus stated the His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, part of the Trinity, God Himself. God we know, from scripture, is truth, love, and unchanging. If these things are true about God and Jesus is telling us the truth, why are we having such a hard time? Why does it feel difficult? Why are we not experiencing freedom?
I would say that our expectations are keeping us from enjoying a real relationship with God. We need to take ourselves a few steps back...........as far as it takes to have an unadulterated look at God. We need a clean slate, need to imagine meeting Him as a person for the first time, we need to spend time getting to know Him, we need to put out of our minds all the things we may have learned as Christians and read scripture with a thirsty mind. And then we need to make a decision. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Did he sacrifice his life for my sin? Does he live? Is he coming back? And if the answer is yes then we need to know that we now walk in truth. That is all that matters.
God is not complicated. He has shown us all facets of His nature. He has been transparent telling us what happened in the beginning, where we are now and what will happen in the end. It doesn't get much simpler than that. He is not out to trick us, own us, abuse us, use us, abandon us or anything else like that. These are things we do to each other. God is not us He is divine and has saved us from ourselves.
I guess what I am trying to say is that being a Christian is not a "spiritual" affair. It is an acknowledgement of what is true. C.S. Lewis wrote of his conversion to Christianity and titled it "Surprised by Joy", and that was the sum of his expectations. He continued living his life although with a renewed sense of who he was in Christ and everything else was a bonus.
God is good isn't that enough?
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Flickers
It seems to me that many of the birds here are now finished their nesting and are busy raising the young that have emerged. I watched two young flickers leave the nest 2 days ago and the parents are actively feeding them and caring for them where ever they may be. Thanks to all the wonderful bird sites on the internet I could gain a little more understanding as to the habits of some of these birds and have found my knowledge to be more than lacking. There are so many birds here.......chickadees, flickers, bluebirds, house finch, grosbeaks, wood ducks, swallows, great horned owls, sandhill cranes, mallards, canada geese, cedar waxwings, robins, cowbirds, yellow headed blackbirds, coots, red winged blackbirds, kestrels, all kinds of hawks and the list goes on!!!!! The sounds of young birds in the nest, young birds in the trees fills the forest with song during the long daylight hours we so enjoy at this time of the year!
There is one bird I have failed to mention who makes its presence known all through the day. The raven. The young were flighted quite early in the spring and spent most of their time making sure the parents knew where they were and that they were hungry! Now they make their rounds throughout the forest and farm learning all there is to learn and keeping us on our toes with their antics. I have observed the parents placing their young in the field near a small creek for the day. (daycare, I suppose) From here they come and go, feeding them throughout the day. While the parents are gone the young play with each other, toss sticks and pick through the piles of horse manure. Most of their activity seems to be more for entertainment value than anything else. They are able to fly and can fly to the nearest tree for safety but spend most of their time on the ground waiting for Mom and Dad to bring lunch. So interesting to watch.
I have always been observant of my surroundings and now taking the time to really observe has been so rewarding. I haven't had to go far as I am so blessed to live close to all of this, a walk through the woods, a quick canoe ride in the swamp meadow, and a horse back ride to the farther reaches of my home.
Taking time, breathing deep, watching the cycle of rain and sun, listening to the myriad of sounds around me and laughing along with the whatever strikes me as funny.
As species specific as some of these bird's behavior is, there is still an element of individuality. They seem to be able to judge what is right for them and it doesn't always match what is "normal" for them. They function within the parameters of their instincts, with a twist. Sometimes it works and sometimes it is a disaster. Like the young flickers that built their nest only 5 feet from the ground and all the young were later found pulled out and dead on the ground below. Or the young flickers that built their nest here by the tent, same distance above the ground, and all the young fledged out and flew away.
Why? Life is like that.
There is one bird I have failed to mention who makes its presence known all through the day. The raven. The young were flighted quite early in the spring and spent most of their time making sure the parents knew where they were and that they were hungry! Now they make their rounds throughout the forest and farm learning all there is to learn and keeping us on our toes with their antics. I have observed the parents placing their young in the field near a small creek for the day. (daycare, I suppose) From here they come and go, feeding them throughout the day. While the parents are gone the young play with each other, toss sticks and pick through the piles of horse manure. Most of their activity seems to be more for entertainment value than anything else. They are able to fly and can fly to the nearest tree for safety but spend most of their time on the ground waiting for Mom and Dad to bring lunch. So interesting to watch.
I have always been observant of my surroundings and now taking the time to really observe has been so rewarding. I haven't had to go far as I am so blessed to live close to all of this, a walk through the woods, a quick canoe ride in the swamp meadow, and a horse back ride to the farther reaches of my home.
Taking time, breathing deep, watching the cycle of rain and sun, listening to the myriad of sounds around me and laughing along with the whatever strikes me as funny.
As species specific as some of these bird's behavior is, there is still an element of individuality. They seem to be able to judge what is right for them and it doesn't always match what is "normal" for them. They function within the parameters of their instincts, with a twist. Sometimes it works and sometimes it is a disaster. Like the young flickers that built their nest only 5 feet from the ground and all the young were later found pulled out and dead on the ground below. Or the young flickers that built their nest here by the tent, same distance above the ground, and all the young fledged out and flew away.
Why? Life is like that.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Practice
I hope I haven't lost my readership, it has been a while since I posted my last bit of "wisdom". Not that I was out of things to say but mostly because I was lazy! The weather was rainy and it just made for an easy excuse not to do anything.
I spent alot of time thinking about a lot of things like, youth, maturity, priorities, must-do's and things that we really don't need to do. I am not sure what exactly the thoughts around those things were but I do remember a sense of cliche! It funny how we hate cliches but they are often so true.
I have been watching my kids make decisions. I am very proud of them, they make good decisions. They have a sense that time is running out on them and that they need to do this or that before it is too late. For myself, on the contrary, time seems to slow down and it is never too late. Maybe it is all that forward thinking that many of us are caught up in, projecting ourselves down the road 10 years from now could be exciting, could also be scary!
Living in the present, is not just living, it is comprised of mindfulness, thankfulness, observation, and relaxation. Think of it as a 10 day vacation in 24 hours. Learning to enjoy what we have, when we have it, is an art. It must be practiced, as practice makes perfect!(there's a cliche). When we do this we extract every minute of every day. Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted and time does not slip past us unnoticed and untended. We have mastered time, we have made the Old Man slow down and sit a while and together we have walked through the day and savored it.
It is not rocket science this "living in the present" stuff. It is there for each and every one of us to have, we just need to reach out and take it. We may find excuses, like I did about my blog, but as we practice the newly found knowledge it becomes an integral part of our everyday life. It seeps in and saturates us and as we then move through our daily activities it oozes out towards the ones we love. Many thing become effortless, things that we thought we may never achieve, begin happening, taking shape, transpiring...........health, a sense of belonging, achievement, love,peace of mind and then some. What some might consider work to get to becomes a simple path that we are on, a river that we float down, filled with smells, sounds and memories that we will never forget.
Life has not passed us by.
I spent alot of time thinking about a lot of things like, youth, maturity, priorities, must-do's and things that we really don't need to do. I am not sure what exactly the thoughts around those things were but I do remember a sense of cliche! It funny how we hate cliches but they are often so true.
I have been watching my kids make decisions. I am very proud of them, they make good decisions. They have a sense that time is running out on them and that they need to do this or that before it is too late. For myself, on the contrary, time seems to slow down and it is never too late. Maybe it is all that forward thinking that many of us are caught up in, projecting ourselves down the road 10 years from now could be exciting, could also be scary!
Living in the present, is not just living, it is comprised of mindfulness, thankfulness, observation, and relaxation. Think of it as a 10 day vacation in 24 hours. Learning to enjoy what we have, when we have it, is an art. It must be practiced, as practice makes perfect!(there's a cliche). When we do this we extract every minute of every day. Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted and time does not slip past us unnoticed and untended. We have mastered time, we have made the Old Man slow down and sit a while and together we have walked through the day and savored it.
It is not rocket science this "living in the present" stuff. It is there for each and every one of us to have, we just need to reach out and take it. We may find excuses, like I did about my blog, but as we practice the newly found knowledge it becomes an integral part of our everyday life. It seeps in and saturates us and as we then move through our daily activities it oozes out towards the ones we love. Many thing become effortless, things that we thought we may never achieve, begin happening, taking shape, transpiring...........health, a sense of belonging, achievement, love,peace of mind and then some. What some might consider work to get to becomes a simple path that we are on, a river that we float down, filled with smells, sounds and memories that we will never forget.
Life has not passed us by.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)