Dull weather

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

Is it “one of those days”?  Here is a little encouragement from Amy Carmichael:

Ps. 76.4 LXX Thou dost wonderfully shine forth from the everlasting mountains.

Sometimes it is dull weather in our soul.  Here is a word for such days.  Often when it is misty on the plains it is bright on the mountains.  ‘Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains’ is a lovely word, I think, but this beautiful LXX rendering, which our Lord must often have read, carries us even further.  The mist may lie low on the plains, but there is a shining forth from the mountains.

There is nothing in me.  I may be as dull as the plains are when the mist is heavy upon them, but what does that matter?  ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.  Thy righteousness is like the great mountains’ [Ps 36.5-6], and from those everlasting mountains ‘Thou dost wonderfully shine forth’.

In dull weather learn to look up to the mountains.  Refuse to look down to the plains.

May you have the grace today to look up to the mountains.

“I will bless you, even if the car won’t start . . .”

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

A week ago I gave a talk at Witnesses to Hope, and part of what I spoke about was the importance of thanking the Lord in all circumstances.  This past weekend one of the women who had attended that night, passed on to me a prayer that she found in the September issue of The Word Among Us.  Part of it goes like this:

Father, I choose today to go through my day blessing you, whether my circumstances are comfortable to me or not.  I will bless you, even if the car won’t start or the kids’ commotion won’t stop.  I will bless you in rain and in drought, in hot or cold, in feast or famine.  I will bless you because you have rescued me from sin.  I lift up your holy name and exalt your goodness because you are holy and righteous.

I will bless you, Father, when gas prices rise, and when my income fails.  I will proclaim that you are good and you hold  all things in the palm of your hand.  When insects swarm, when crops fail, when stock markets falter, even when your favor seems to flee my life, still I will bless you.  You are mysterious in your ways, yet compassionate in your wisdom.  I will trust you, Lord, and bless you, God most high.

You can read (pray) the entire prayer here.

“Not ashamed to pray”

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Today’s Sunday-poem is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

                Divina Commedia (1)

Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
   A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,
   Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet
   Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er;
   Far off the noises of the world retreat;
   The loud vociferations of the street
   Become an undistinguishable roar.
So, as I enter here from day to day,
   And leave my burden at this minster gate,
   Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,
The tumult of the time disconsolate
   To inarticulate murmurs dies away,
   While the eternal ages watch and wait.

Building up a memory for the good

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As I have mentioned before, Pope Benedict is doing a marvelous series on the psalms during his Wednesday audiences.  Here is part of his address yesterday on Psalm 126:

Dear brothers and sisters, in our prayer we should look more often at how, in the events of our own lives, the Lord has protected, guided and helped us, and we should praise Him for all He has done and does for us. We should be more attentive to the good things the Lord gives to us. We are always attentive to problems and to difficulties, and we are almost unwilling to perceive that there are beautiful things that come from the Lord. This attention, which becomes gratitude, is very important for us; it creates in us a memory for the good and it helps us also in times of darkness. God accomplishes great things, and whoever experiences this — attentive to the Lord’s goodness with an attentiveness of heart — is filled with joy.

You can read the entire thing here.

“The brimming river of God’s love”

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A commentary by Amy Carmichael on the banner scripture for this blog:

Rom 5.5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

This verse seems clearly to mean that love comes first into our hearts.  Then because love has come we hope, and that hope “never disappoints,” as Weymouth puts it.

Experience worketh hope, Romans 5.4 tells us.  And so it does.  But it also worketh fear.  If we have had long experience of the weakness of souls, and seen many a time what seemed a great blaze-up of blessing fizzle out, we do become fearful of hoping too much.

And yet the word stands.  Here it is Way’s paraphrase (vv.3-5): “I will go further, and say that we actually exult in such afflictions as ours, knowing as we do that affliction develops unflinching endurance; that endurance develops tested strength, and tested strength develops the habit of hope.  This hope is no delusive one, as is proved by the fact that the brimming river of God’s love has already overflowed into our hearts, on-drawn by His Holy Spirit, which He has given to us.”

“What do we say when we are grieved and angry?”

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An encouragement from Amy Carmichael to not respond in kind when we are accused:

Mk 8.5: And he looked around them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Mk 3.21-23: And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, “He is beside himself.”  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”  And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”

When our Lord had looked around on them with anger, being grieved for their hardness of heart, He said a loving word to a poor man who was probably a good deal troubled because of the excitement in the place.

What do we say when we are grieved and angry?  Do we speak a kind word to someone who needs it?

Some said: “He is beside Himself.”  Others declared: “He casts out devils by the prince of the devils.”  But He asked, How can Satan cast out Satan?  There was not a word of indignant self-defense, just a quiet question.  It was the overflow of the sweetness and peace of His heart.  When we are unkindly and unjustly accused, perhaps just when we have been helping someone, how do we react?  Perhaps there is not time for a long prayer in that moment of quick temptation, but there is always time for a look up to Him.  “Thy sweetness, Lord.  Thy peace, Lord.”

It will always be given.

The little word: but

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Last night at the talk I referred to a post from a couple of years ago.  I thought I would re-post it here.  Little words can be very significant in the Bible.  Here’s what I shared about the little word, “but”:

Today’s little word from those circled in my bible comes from Ps 102, verse 12: “but”.  The previous verses are a litany of personal suffering.  As Derek Kidner describes it: “The cry of one whose sufferings are unexplained.”  When one’s suffering is unexplained, it makes the suffering even more intense.  The psalmist pours forth his woe: “My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread.  Because of my loud groaning, my bones cleave to my flesh. . . I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop . . .  for you have taken me up and thrown me away.”  These are dire cries from a forsaken soul.

Yet, out of this heartfelt suffering rises the little word, “but”–and that word makes all the difference: “BUT you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.  You will arise and have pity on Zion.”  Etc.  An incredible act of trust and courage.  This is indeed heroic hope.  A hope and trust placed not in one’s circumstances but in Someone who can be trusted because of Who He is and Whose word never fails.

May this little word encourage each of us.  May we pray for the grace to use it in the midst of our own litanies, that we, too, may say: “BUT you, O Lord, are the lover of my soul.  Your steadfast love endures forever.  Your mercies are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness.”

To sing with God

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The Will of God

Time has one song along.  If you are heedful
and concentrate on sound with all your soul,
you may hear the song of the beautiful will of God,
soft notes or deep sonorous tones that roll
like thunder over time.
Not many have the hearing for this music,
and fewer still have sought it as sublime.

Listen, and tell your grief: But God is singing!
God sings through all creation with His will.
Save the negation of sin, all is His music,
even the notes that set their roots ill
to flower in pity, pardon or sweet humbling.
Evil fins harshness of the rack and rod
in tunes where good finds tenderness and glory.

The saints who loved have died of this pure music,
and no one enters heaven until he learns,
deep in his soul at least, to sing with God.

Jessica Powers