god

Encore

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE” (G K Chesterton).

I’m all for maturity, but I believe in some cases we would do well to grow younger. Not younger as in acting childish but more like having a childlike wonder and awe.

God, for all the wonders and miracles you did in days of old, we say to you, “Do it again.”

God, for all the mercies and grace you have lavished on us today, we say to you, “Do it again.”

God, for every time you give us not what we deserve or have earned but what Jesus has earned for us, we say to you, “Do it again.”

May we never tire of God’s great mercies or grow weary of His unfailing love and grace toward us. May we be as astonished at our own salvation with each passing day as we were the day before.

God, as you have faithfully acted throughout all our days and nights, do it again.

 

 

I Need a Vacation from My Vacation

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I loved my vacation with the family. It was great and a good time was indeed had by all. But I need another vacation to recuperate from the previous one.

I need a few days where I can hibernate in a hammock with only the occasional bathroom and food breaks. No television, no radio, no smart anything. Just that hammock and a good long book. And the periodic coffee beverage.

I also want to eat all the chocolate my grubby little hands can stuff into my face without getting fat. In other words, I can’t always get every little thing I want and it’s probably a good thing I can’t. Not everything I want is good. Or beneficial. Or realistic.

In the mean time, I will settle for one very comfortable bed where I can hibernate. Until 5 am tomorrow morning.

Pleasant dreams, everyone.

 

 

Beginnings and Endings

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“The underlying premise of this book: the splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom.” (Brennan Manning).

I’m always a little sad at endings. Today was the end of my vacation, and while I know it can’t go on forever (or I’d be broke and fat) I still get a little sad knowing that the experience is coming to and end.

Still, I have some good memories (and a few good photos) to cherish from the past five days. Plus, I got some really snazzy hiking boots.

Every day you get to be alive in has a beginning and an ending. No matter how good or bad or indifferent the day is, it still only lasts 24 hours. While some days seem longer, they’re really not.

Every day you get to be alive is another opportunity to choose. You can choose to be grateful for what you have or envious over what you don’t. You can choose to give thanks or grumble. You can choose to serve the Lord or chase after the latest tin god that’s fashionable for a season. As Bob Dylan said, “Everybody’s gotta serve somebody.”

So, tomorrow is Tuesday. Hopefully, fall weather is on its way.

And as a reminder, once you understand that you are the beloved of your Heavenly Father and start living out of that, every day gets better. Not perfect, but better.

 

Happy Monday

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“Success is to wake up each morning and consciously decide that today will be the best day of your life” (Ken Poirot).

I still think Monday is a rude way to start the week. It feels like being sucker punched in the face every time. After the calm that is Sunday, Monday comes in and seriously disturbs my calm.

Still, I’m thankful for Mondays.

Mondays remind me that I’m still here and that I still have a purpose.

Mondays make me thankful for Fridays and the weekend.

Mondays are another day to discover that God is still good and that I am still blessed.

Mondays, as insanely crazy as they may feel sometimes, are still only 24 hours long– the same as every other day– and all Mondays eventually come to an end. I promise.

Currently, Mondays are good because Monday is when I get my overdose of nature when I go hiking through Radnor Lake State Park. I still say getting outdoors and exercising is one of the best and most underutilized antidepressants.

As my old boss used to say, any day without a toe tag is a good day. Even Mondays.

 

Starbucks Beverages and Cuddly Kittens

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I had my first salted caramel mocha frappuccino at Starbucks today after work. Actually, it was an unsalted caramel mocha frappuccino since they ran out of salt. How do you manage to run out of salt? How many more times can I come up with variations on the word salt?

The beverage was glorious. The only improvement that could have made the experience perfect was if the weather was about 10 degrees cooler. But I’m weird like that. I like a little chill in the air to awaken and invigorate my senses. Everything smells better in cooler weather.

Right now, I am in bed and there’s a little torti kitten burrowed under the covers. My old cat Lucy hated to be covered up but Peanut seems to prefer it. It’s funny how different they are yet at the same time they have much in common.

My favorite part is knowing when I go to sleep tonight I can turn off the alarm and not have to wake up at that ungodly hour of 5 am. I still think it should be illegal to wake up before the sun’s out.

Oh, and I always like to have my ceiling fan on when I’m sleeping. Even in the dead of winter. Is that weird?

 

 

Old Movies

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I revisited another old classic movie. This time it was Woman of the Year with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. I believe it was their first collaboration and the beginning of a lifelong romance between the two in real life.

I can’t entirely explain it, but there’s something special about these old movies set in a bygone era. In some ways, I prefer the old to the new. I think what we’ve gained in terms of technology and communications we’ve lost in terms of interpersonal relationships, ethics, morality, and general quality of life.

I’ve said it before (more than once), but if I could only have one channel for the rest of my life, I think I’d go with Turner Classic Movies. It’s the next best thing to having an actual time machine like the one Rod Taylor used in that H. G. Wells adaptation. I do think I’d like to step into one of those movie sets from the 40’s or 50’s and live there.

I’m definitely not one to say that everything new is crap and everything old is perfect, but I do think movies were much better when the emphasis was more on character and story and less on CGI and blowing stuff up. I like new movies when they are character-driven, usually smaller budget films that qualify more as art films than blockbusters.

I understand that those old movies often created an illusion of the ideal rather than represent the reality, but it’s an illusion I’d escape to any day. I don’t need reality TV because I get enough reality from Nashville traffic and the occasional headlines from the internet.

Everyone needs some black and white cinema in their lives. Everyone needs to experience the classics like Casablanca and To Kill a Mockingbird. Check out TCM from time to time. You won’t regret it.

Closer to Fall

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“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost” (Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Cezanne).

I get seriously annoyed with people who actually enjoy summer days when it’s over 90 degrees and the humidity is like walking into a sauna. With cooler weather, you can always add more layers. With hot, you can only take off so much before it becomes illegal (not to mention immoral).

According to my timeline, fall starts in 9 days, but the current weather has felt very autumn-esque. The last two days have been drizzly, grey, and a tad on the colder side. That kind of weather activates cravings in me for all things pumpkin spice, caramel apple cider, bonfires, hayrides and (best of all) flannel.

I look forward to the day when I can realistically wear flannel and not sweat to death. I believe there will be flannel in heaven– maybe those robes we wear will have flannel lining. Flannel is like a hug that you get to wear all day long.

Anyway, this being Tennessee, I’m almost certain there will be some kind of resurgence in hotter weather, with the politically incorrect name for that being Indian Summer. Then hopefully, fall will come back for real and stay a while and bring some color to the leaves.

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns” (Letter to Miss Eliot, Oct. 1, 1841, George Eliot).

A Good End to the Day

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“And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again” (Van Morrison, Sweet Thing).

I’m currently tucked into my bed with a purring feline burrowed under the covers and hanging out near my feet. I never said she was a normal feline, but she’s fun to have around and can at times be extremely cuddly and affectionate. I believe with all my heart that rescues are the best kind of pets to have, as they are the most grateful animals.

It was a grey drizzly kind of day all day. We never got the gallons of rain forecasted from the remnants of Hurricane Irma. It was more of a soft misty kind of rain that made me long for a fireplace and a hot cup of tea.

I had Astral Weeks by Van Morrison playing in the car on the way home from my obligatory stop Chick-fil-A after Kairos. It seemed like the perfect music for unwinding at the end of the day. And I had chicken noodle soup and no, I wasn’t sick. I chose it because it fit the rainy day perfectly.

It may only be Tuesday, but so far this week’s shaping up to be another good one. Hopefully, the sun will come out sooner than later, but I woke up again this morning, so I’m not going to complain too much about a little rain.

 

 

Sixteen Years Later

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Scott Willens, who joined the United States Army three days after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, pauses while reflecting by the South Pool on friends he has lost while on deployment during anniversary ceremonies at the site of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2012 in New York, New York, USA. POOL/Justin Lane/EPA

I will forever remember where I was and what I was doing on September 11, 2001. It’s etched in my memory the way that November 22, 1963 is for the older generations or even December 7, 1941 for those few who are still alive to recall the day that will live in infamy.

I had just walked into the office of my job in the Recreation Outreach Center at Germantown Baptist Church. My boss called me into his office and pointed me to the television displaying the aftermath of the first plane having flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings.

Neither one of us knew what was happening yet. Most at that time thought it was a freak accident. It wasn’t until the second plane struck the other WTC building that it became clear that it was very much a deliberate terrorist attack on American soil.

After all the smoke and debris cleared, just shy of 3,000 people had lost their lives. As monumentally horrific as that was, it could have been so much worse. Most of the people who worked in those buildings hadn’t made it into work yet, and many were led from the second building to safety before the second plane hit.

In many ways, you can almost use it as a historical marker. You can point to life before 9/11 and life since then. Air travel has drastically changed in the sixteen years since.

Maybe one good thing to come out of the tragedy is that we can’t take freedom and liberty for granted anymore. It’s not a given that everyone is a fan of democracy and there’s no guarantee that what we have will last forever.

It’s just one more reminder that, aside from death and taxes, the only true constant in this life is God. Every day you get with your loved ones is a gift and a blessing not ever to be taken for granted.

Sixteen years later, we still remember.

Your Portion

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Today in our prayer time at The Church at Avenue South, the topic was about how the Levites didn’t get a portion of the Promised Land as did the other tribes of Israel. Instead, they got cities within the tribal territories. God said to them, “I will be your inheritance.”

The girl leading the prayer time went on to talk about how hard it must have been for them to see everyone else receiving a visible inheritance but them.

She went on to say that many people feel that way. They see others finding love, marriage, and family while they wait for their special someone. They see others prospering in their calling while they still wait for theirs.

The natural response is envy and bitterness. It’s easy to jump to quick judgmental conclusions such as “Why them and not me? Certainly I deserve it much more than they, don’t I?”

But think of this. If you belong to God in Jesus, He is your inheritance. Whatever the desire in your heart that still remains unfulfilled, it will find its ultimate fulfillment in God Himself.

The intimacy and companionship of a marriage? The joys of a family? God has promised to be all that our hearts desire. Whatever the need, His grace is sufficient. He is truly enough.

The secret in the waiting is learning to be content no matter what. To choose gratitude for all you have versus being bitter about what is lacking. To live to the fullest every moment and not waste the present by pining for the future or regretting the past.

I’m thankful that God is enough for me, not that I don’t forget sometimes or have my moments of envy and bitterness. Still, the best and most beautiful moments are when I can truly say, “Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.'”