If the accuser of the brethren Has a favourite weapon, it is this: “Bad mummy.” Yeah, he’s always coming up against me “You should have nursed longer, Eaten better when you were pregnant, Given them less sugar when they were little, Read more to them, and for longer, Kept their rooms tidier, Been involved with homework, Taught good study habits. Done more, more, more.” But I will listen to another voice, Softer, kinder, gentler, Almost drowned out By this raucous accusation. A voice which says, “Do not let your heart be anxious, Neither let it be afraid. Trust in the Father Trust also in me.” “Cast your cares and your children upon me for I care for you.” I am the redeemer. Place it all in my hands. Watch me create diamonds from dust, Beauty from ashes, A garment of praise From your spirit of heaviness, The oil of joy from your sadness.”
Archives for 2012
In which I am Surprised by the Revelation of Divine Love
When I look around my room,
And my eye lights on mess,
And my actual word count
And writing goals
Bear no resemblance,
And my day is slipping away
And I am barely writing
You know what I think most often?
He loves me anyway.
* * *
It’s been a long love story,
Unrequited
On my part–for far too long.
But about fifteen years ago,
I began to remind myself,
God loves me.
And I knew it was true
In my head, intellectually.
But then the knowledge
Dripped like slow honey
From head to heart,
From head to spirit,
Until it became
The lens through which I see the world,
The music in my heart’s background,
The rhythm to which my pulses return:
He loves me, anyway,
He loves me, anyway.
The revelation of divine love.
Oh gift of gifts!
Restore it, refill it, oh Lord.
Sanctification, Or The Weight of Glory
Relentless pressure
Turns mud, clay, coal, rock,
And the bones of dead creatures
Into diamonds and rubies,
Jewels of this earth.
Ah, and when we invite him in,
The inexorable one,
The tireless pursuer,
There is the steady pressure,
Of the weight of his glory
Bearing down on our laziness,
Our smallness, our comfort zones
Relentlessly,
Until we are changed,
And our weaknesses,
Repented of, forsaken,
Become strengths,
Like shards in stained glass
Through which his glory shines.
Thoughts on the Puzzling Parable of the Ten Minas
Luke 19 11-271 God gives us almost infinite freedom.
The master says, “Put this money to work until I come back.” How should the servants do that? They are not told.
God leaves us free to choose how we use our gifts, like loving parents leave their children free to follow their own bliss and passions.
It’s the same when it comes to our spiritual questions: How much should I pray? How long should I study Scripture? How much money should I give? In the New Testament, there are no answers. It’s left up to us.
2 We live in an abundant universe in which turning one minas into ten–a staggering rate of return– is quite possible. The master is pleased but not overwhelmed by the servant’s rate of return.
Abundance is encoded in the universe, in the seeds of tomatoes and apples; in the minds of people who can dream up an infinity of good ideas; and buried under the soul which is forever turning dropped leaves and the bones of dead creatures into diamonds, precious stones and fossil fuel.
3 The rewards God offers us are exceedingly abundant, out of all proportion to the good deeds of the servants. A minas was three months salary. He turns, let’s say, 10K into 100K which is stunning. But he is rewarded with ten cities—and the minas of the unfaithful servant.
Because God is good, the benefits of serving him always outweigh the cost. The sense of peace and shalom and provision God offers us is out of all proportion to the little things we might do for the love of him.
Ten cities for ten minas! “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, we are like ignorant children who want to continue making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”).
Serving God is win-win. The master gets the ten minas; the servant gets the ten cities, and a minas.
4 We are judged fairly, on our effort, not on the outcome.
The ten servants were all given a minas each.
Some things are allocated almost equally. We each have 168 hours a week, a body, a mind, are born into families. But there are, of course, huge variables of talent, opportunity, and nurture, just as the servant who turned a minas into ten may have had more energy, intelligence, business talent and connections than the one who turned it into five.
We are not judged comparatively, but according to what we have done with what we have received. The ones who turned their minas into ten and five are each rewarded, though their rewards differ in accordance with their abilities.
5 The wicked servant is judged harshly for misjudging his master’s character. He wasn’t a hard man, in fact, but an exceedingly generous one.
The servant’s ungenerous stingy calculating spirit was just the opposite of the master’s generous spirit.
A. W. Tozer writes in The Root of the Righteous,
It is most important to our spiritual welfare that we hold in our minds always a right conception of God. If we think of Him as cold and exacting, we shall find it impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with servile fear. If, again, we hold Him to be kind and understanding, our whole inner life will mirror that idea.
The truth is that God is the most winsome of all beings and His service is one of unspeakable pleasure. He is all love, and those who trust Him need never know anything but that love.
Fellowship with God is delightful beyond all telling. He communes with His redeemed ones in an easy, uninhibited fellowship that is restful and healing to the soul.
6 A principle that’s true in the natural and spiritual worlds: “To everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
That’s just the way the world works: the rich get richer, we live in an increasingly winner-take-all society.
In the spiritual realm, God constantly tests us, and as we pass each test, we are given new opportunities, and new challenges.
“If you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.” C. S. Lewis in The Horse and His Boy
7 The spiritual life often has tests which we are unaware of.
The servants thought it was just a job: Put the minas to work. In fact, it was their destiny which was being decided. They thought they would have to turn over their profits to the master, and that was that. But those who were conscientious and dutiful were rewarded massively. Those who played safe and shirked ironically lost everything.
Similarly, the trials which come our way are often tests of character–to strengthen it or reveal it. Who hasn’t had the experience of disproportionate suffering or blessing following upon apparently trivial actions?
8 The parable is really about spiritual truth.
Spiritual truth is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, alive like a seed, like yeast.
As we obey and share what we have understood, we are given more insight. If we do nothing with our insights, we tend to forget what we have learned, and our insights vanish into the mists.
10 Life is Not Fair but God is Good
“To everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away,” might not seem entirely fair. The one who turned one minas into ten rather than five may have been cleverer, better connected, more energetic—and then in addition to all these gifts, he get the leadership of ten cities, and the minas of the lazy servant
Ultimately, we have to bow to the sovereignty of God. Life is not fair, but that’s okay for God is good, as Mark Buchanan says in this fabulous essay.
In Which I Boast of my Weaknesses
Summer (Archimboldo, 1573, from the Louvre, via wikipedia)
Paul describes “a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.” Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away from him, but Christ simply says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Perhaps Christ said: If you were never weak, my Paul, you who speak in the tongues of men or of angels; you who have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and have a faith that can move mountains; who possess nothing and give over your body to hardship–where would be my entry point? How would you ever feel the need of me? What would remind you to call out for me?
* * *
I have steadily gained weight since I left school which means I am now 115 pounds heavier than I was then! I have been tempted to consider my tendency to gain weight as a thorn in my (literal) flesh, a weakness. You know, bad metabolism, low thyroid, la-di-da. [Read more…]
Picturesque Saarburg and the Saar River Bend (Photoblog)
(guest post by Roy Mathias)
A few photos from our recent trip to Saar region of Germany: The old town of Saarburg, The Saar River Bend Nature Reserve and a nearby tarn.
The medieval part of Saarburg in built on small hill by the Saar river. The small stream, the Leuk, runs through it, and not surprisingly there is a watermill. Remarkably, Saarburg has a waterfall in the middle of the town.
To best see these pictures click on any of the thumbnails below. Navigate the carousel with the arrows. Click on the black area to return to blog format. Enjoy!
Some Ways To Trick Yourself Into Writing When You Don’t Want To
Writing on a laptop with WiFi is so sub-optimal. There are myriad distractions. When, every Sunday, Rescue Time, an app I use, tells me how much time I have spent on Facebook, Twitter, other people’s blogs and online newspapers and journals—“consuming ideas,” and how much time writing—“creating,”-I am totally horrified.
* * *
Anyway, here are a few ways I trick more writing out of myself.
1 Switch Between Two Pieces of Writing
Sometimes, when I think I am mentally tired, I am not really. My conscious has worked as much as it can on what I am writing. I am bored, or have hit a wall. I need to put it aside now for an hour or two to let my unconscious mull over it.
However, taking up a new piece of work will give me fresh energy and passion.
I find I definitely get more written if I can switch between two pieces of work.
2 Set a Timer
When I don’t feel like writing, feel sleepy, tired, lethargic, sluggish, then putting a timer for just 15 minutes, or just even 5, gets me going. The timer goes off and feels like an intrusion. I want to continue writing.
The trick with writing, as with exercise is just starting.
3 Take a Short Break
After a few days of serious work, my spirit protests. I feel as if I want a break. It really, really helps to just declare a Sabbath. I garden, I exercise, I tidy up, I pray. I watch a movie. The well refills. Inchoate thoughts jell. And then, after a few hours off, I am delighted to get back to work.
If, on the whole, you love writing, and occasionally really don’t want to write, don’t. Do other things, do something physical until the underground springs bubble up again like a geyser.
What are your favourite tricks for tricking writing out of yourself?
Thanks by W.S. Merwin (A gorgeous poem for Thanksgiving)
W. S. Merwin ( credit )
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
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