In which I am amazed by the love of the Father | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Calm of Mind, All Passion Spent, in Mid-October Days, when the Light is Golden

Anita Mathias — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 09:45:50 +0000

Viktor Frankl , the Jewish psychiatrist imprisoned in Auschwitz, said there were two races of men, the decent and the indecent, and he observed both races among the German concentration camp guards and the Jewish prisoners. Well, when my children were younger, they were convinced that there were two races of men, Mathiases and non-Mathiases. Mathiases […]

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At the End of Broken Dreams, an Open Door

Anita Mathias — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 11:05:20 +0000

About 20 years ago, in Williamsburg, Virginia, we used to sing this in church, “At the end of broken dreams, an open door.” I sung it because I liked the lyricism, but I had no interest in the open door at the end of broken dreams because then the dreams would have to be broken, […]

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On Nourishment for the Soul

Anita Mathias — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 23:31:50 +0000

I love beaches. There was a five year period in which I did not see the sea–my three years reading English in Oxford, and two years at Ohio State getting a Masters in Creative Writing. And then I saw a lot of the sea, when we lived in Stanford, Palo Alto, in Northern California while […]

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When Waves of Mercy Crash Over My “If Onlys”

Anita Mathias — Sat, 17 May 2014 10:26:11 +0000

Motherhood. The land of If Onlys. * * * If only I’d been calmer when I was pregnant with her. If only she’d had a higher birth weight. If only I had breast-fed longer, If only I had used better childcare, Or no child-care. If only I could have home-schooled, Or read to the girls […]

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A Revelation of Divine Love Changes the Deep Structure of our Being

Anita Mathias — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:12:35 +0000

The longest distance in the world is the eighteen inches from the head to the heart. Until our personal revelation of the love of God, we limp as Christians, impelled by duty, not desire, not love. But we really, really change in the deep structure of our being, when we realize what Karl Barth described as the […]

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In which Christ says, “I will let nothing be wasted.”

Anita Mathias — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 21:08:53 +0000

I will “let nothing be wasted” (John 6:12). “Nothing, Lord?” “Nothing.” * * * Not the weary years, Not the silent tears, Not the loneliness Which caused that deep, echoing silence in which we could hear you? None of our failures Which silenced the insistent voices Of those who might otherwise have found […]

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In which I Remember that God Loves Me

Anita Mathias — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 18:11:30 +0000

Nowadays, when I look around my house and see mess, or when my eyes fall on expensive books I have bought but haven’t read, or I remember a project I started enthusiastically but haven’t completed, I tell myself the same thing: “God loves me.” When my blog is not growing; or I have been snubbed; […]

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Will We Let Anything Separate God from Our Love?

Anita Mathias — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 19:14:10 +0000

In Romans, Paul says that nothing neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No matter what we do, no matter […]

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Poor Me and Amazing Me: Which Narrative is Yours?

Anita Mathias — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:48:59 +0000

Sometimes, going through my Facebook newsfeed, I see two narratives: Poor Me and Amazing Me. Poor Me status updates are largely negative: ill-health, the misadventures of children, looming deadlines, crushing work loads, exhaustion, the intransigence of schools, employers, medical services; the inadequacy of tax-payer money funnelled towards their needs, the anguish of the entitled! And […]

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Good News for Those who’ve Blown It

Anita Mathias — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:47:58 +0000

Image: Caravaggio You can live with Christ in the closest possible Intimacy; have a Spirit-given breakthrough Understand that he is the Son Of the Living God, know He speaks the words of eternal life. You can see him on the mountain, transfigured. And then… babble, Something about building booths, Because you don’t know what to […]

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