Sorry that I haven’t posted in few days, but I’ve been down with bronchitis and an ear infection. Not to worry, I’m on the mend now. However, I’m just going to refer you to an old post. Some days, you just take the easy way out. 🙂 You can find it here: “More than Conquerors” Have a blessed Monday!
I’ve posted before about the difference between grumbling and lamenting. I just ran into another helpful delineation:
Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty. Complaint is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the Father’s heart. (Ann Voskamp)
For more on this, see “Am I grumbling?” and “Are you still on the dance floor?”
A challenge from Peter Kreeft:
No one who ever said to God, “Thy will be done,” and meant it with his heart, ever failed to find joy–not just in heaven, or even down the road in the future in this world, but in this moment at every moment. Every other Christian who has ever lived has found exactly the same thing in his own experience. It is an experiment that has been performed over and over again billions of times, always with the same result.
Try it for yourself.
I just added a book to the “What I’m recommending at the moment” tab above. This is the second time I’m reading Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace. I have benefited from many of his books. This book is about forgiveness, full of stories and full of hope. A book that gently cuts you to the heart. Philip is never one to skirt around the difficult questions, and that’s why I appreciate him so much. I may not always agree with him, but I admire his courage.
A couple of excerpts:
Charles Williams has said of the Lord’s Prayer, “No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word ‘as’ in that clause.” [“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”]
Henri Nouwen, who defines forgiveness as “love practiced among people who love poorly,” describes the process at work:
I have often said, “I forgive you,” but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still wanted to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return–if only the praise for being so forgiving!
But God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking. It is this divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life. It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments. Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive.
Are you remembering to look for beauty in your lives? In the midst of hurry and disappointments and black snow and your own shortcomings? Here’s a reminder from Ann Voskamp: “How do Christians Seek Beauty?” and “The Beauty Challenge: Because God’s Everywhere”.
You are beautiful, by the way.
An interesting twist on “love letters” from God in this piece by Jessica Powers from today’s Magnificat:
Sometimes lovely things that are lost. Beautiful things God scatters everywhere. As Walt Whitman said, (in other words), that God is tossing down love letters in the street and everywhere, if only we would watch out for them. I think I have come to see that even the contradictions and the crosses of life are his “love letters.”
I’ve begun to look for them [God’s love letters] with a certain joy–signs that tell me that Jesus is near. The unexpected delay, the negative response, the inopportune caller, the gimmick that won’t work, the nice food that got overcooked, the lack of something needed, the ballpoint pen that smudges, the mistake one can’t undo–the list is endless. Not (I hope) that I concentrate on the unpleasant things, but that they are little signs that I share in the life of Jesus.
Doesn’t this remind you of this one from Mother Teresa:
One day I met a lady who was dying of cancer in a most terrible condition. And I told her, I say, “You know, this terrible pain is only the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Jesus on the cross that he can kiss you.” And she joined her hands together and said, “Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me”.
A Sunday-poem by Amy Carmichael:
Spun-gold
We cannot bring Thee praise like golden noon-light
Shining on earth's green floor;
Our song is more like silver of the moon-light,
But we adore.
We cannot bring Thee, O Belovèd, ever,
Pure song of woodland bird;
And yet we know the song of Thy least lover
In love is heard.
O blessèd be the love that nothing spurneth;
We sing, Love doth enfold
Our little song in love; our silver turneth
To fine spun-gold.
Today I am going to refer you to another post at www.aholyexperience.com, written by Ann Voskamp. Just a little background: Ann lives in southern Ontario, is a home-schooling mom of half a dozen, wife of the Farmer, a marvelous photographer, and recent author of One Thousand Gifts (see “What I’m recommending at the moment” above). I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did: “Where the Happiness Is.”
Really, take time to read it. 🙂 Oh, and I think the first letter in the post is supposed to be an “R”, not an “M.”
Ken Libbrecht, professor of physics and a world-renowned expert in the science of snow, is well-known for his stunning photos of snowflakes. How can anyone not believe in a Creator when you look at these photos? And to think that there are no two snowflakes alike! I can hardly grasp that there are no two alike in my yard, let alone in the world. As Ken says in his book, Snowflakes, “[T]he probability of finding two identical specimens is essentially zero, even if you looked at every one ever made.” Take time, the next time it snows, to catch a few on your sleeve and ponder the One who loves you just for who you are, totally unlike anyone else.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he [Lazarus] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (Jn 11.5-6)
I can’t tell you how many times I have read those two lines, and still I am jolted when I get to the “So” at the beginning of the second verse. Your mind kind of goes: “Huh?” Was that word translated correctly? That is, unless you know the “rest of the story.” Unless you remember that Jesus knew the terrible death He was going to undergo and He wanted to prepare His friends for it. That’s how much He loved them. He only allowed them to go through such a hard experience because when He died, He wanted them to remember what He did for their brother and therefore have hope. So I am reminding myself of that today and everyday when I might question why God is allowing certain things to happen. You see, Jesus loved Dorcee . . . So . . .
Witnesses to Hope 