We’re at that age

Chronological age doesn’t reflect the internal reality. Usually a girl is seventeen in her head before she celebrates her thirteenth birthday. When she turns eighteen, she is insulted when the bartender asks for her ID because he thinks she is sixteen.

Then, at age twenty-five, she changes her mind and stops trying to add years to her appearance. For the next couple of decades, she will look and feel younger than her age. On her thirty-first birthday, she doesn’t appear to be a day older than twenty-four. At forty-five, she feels thirty-seven–a figure that will reflect her mindset for many more years to come.

At sixty, she may reluctantly turn fifty. Then, at sixty-five, she will do another about-face and tell her new girlfriends at the club that she is a perky seventy-one. A decade later, pretending to be a dapper ninety-something, she’ll wonder how she got to be so old so quickly.

What matters

What is going to matter when you are on your deathbed?

When you are just a few breaths away from death, what is going to matter?

Is it going to matter whether you graduated from college?

Is it going to matter whether or not you’ve written a song, or painted a picture, or done anything?

Don’t you think you’ll wish when that time comes, that you had really loved God the way you said you did?

The Pit

I’d like to tell you a story.

It seems that a man fell into a deep pit, and couldn’t get himself out. He was in a world of hurt, and pretty unhappy.

Pretty soon, a Subjectivist type of person came along and said, ‘I feel for you down there,’ but did nothing.

An Objectivist wandered by next, and said, ‘It’s logical that someone would fall down there.’ But he just stood around looking too.

A Pharisee said, ‘Only bad people fall into a pit,’ and put his nose in the air and kept walking.

Then, a mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit. But all he did was calculate.

A news reporter wanted the exclusive story on his pit, ‘Man in a pit! Why is the government responsible?’ but was too busy interviewing everyone in sight to help.

A fanatic fundamentalist shouted, ‘You deserve your pit!’

Then a government tax-man asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.

A self-pitying person then whined, ‘You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen MY pit!’

Then a Christian Scientist came by, and said, ‘Just believe that you’re not in a pit.’ But that didn’t seem to help.

An optimist said, ‘Things could be worse!’ But the pessimist disagreed, and said, ‘Things -will- get worse!’

A Wiccan said, ‘MURPHY! You &*$%^#@,’ while a New Ager jumped into the pit to share the experience.

A Baha’i looked over the edge of the pit and said, ‘See the pit 2441 as a Spiritual Experience!’

A Hindu said that the man’s karma had put him into the pit, while a Moslem murmured that it was God’s Will that he was in the pit.

A conspiracist rubbed his hands together in glee, and said, ‘-They- threw you into the pit! I -knew- it!’

A Jew said, ‘Why are we -always- in a pit?’

A Communist shouted ‘Why are you in the People’s Pit without permission?’

An Alcoholic muttered to himself, ‘It’s not -my- fault you’re in the pit…..’

A Liberal said, ‘Those Conservatives must have dug this pit!’

A Conservative said, ‘See where Liberalism has gotten you?’

A TV Evangelist came by and promptly took up a collection from the bystanders.

Then, several well-meaning people came by, and wanted to help, but they were too busy arguing whether to throw him a ladder, or a shovel, or to hire a helicopter with a rope ladder, or to call the fire department or police to manage to get anything done.

But then, a Good Samaritan came along, looked at the man in the pit and at all the others standing around pursuing their own agendas, and said, ‘Let’s get you out of the pit.’

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos554.htm

Red Veil

RED VEIL, originally uploaded by ajpscs.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

–1 C 13:12

Disturb our peace

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, Jesus Christ.

-Sir Francis Drake, 1577

A dream is a wish your heart makes

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true.

I found myself sitting on a log in my backyard today, with an audience of hungry squirrels and trees that shed hot glowing leaves as they slowly burn out, like stars. Isn’t it funny that when you’re young, you cry so that people will take notice? And now it only happens when it’s certain no one’s looking. There were so many things going on at once in my mind; I just couldn’t find the right words to say what I wanted to say. I don’t even know what I would have said if I had had the words. In that moment, I felt like a child who cries because he’s tired and doesn’t know how to tell his mom and dad how he feels, because he has no language yet. I felt like a very young child. It was comforting to believe that the Father knows the word before it’s even on my tongue. That I don’t have to say anything and He understands exactly what I feel without me having to explain myself in words. This song suddenly came to me and the downpour stopped as I started singing these words.

Hope is a very peculiar thing. It dramatically illustrates the capability of the human brain to construct imaginary representations of the universe, allowing us to disengage from the present, recall the past, and forecast the future independent of any current sensory input. Consciousness then enables us to choose among these past, present, and future scenarios and integrate them into coherent plans for action. What is it?

Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic but is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable. But in reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.

What Sweeter Music

In 7th grade, I sang in Patapsco Middle School’s Chamber Choir and this was one of our Christmas concert pieces. I ended up keeping my chorus folder and years later, found the sheet music stuffed under my piano chair. I hadn’t realized in middle school what a beautiful song this was, arrangement, lyrics, and all.

What sweeter music can we bring
than a carol for to sing?
The birth of this our heavenly king,
Awake the voice! Awake the string!

Dark and dull night fly hence away
and give the honor to this day
that sees December turn’d to May,
that sees December turn’d to May.

Why does the chilling winter’s morn
smile like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly shorn?
Thus on the sudden, come and see!
The cause why things thus fragrant be.

Tis’ He is born who’s quickening birth
gives life and lustre, public mirth
To heaven and the under earth.

We see Him come and know Him ours
who with His sunshine and His show’rs
turns all the patient ground to flowers,
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.

The darling of the world is come
and fit it is we find a room
to welcome Him,
to welcome Him.
The nobler part of all the house here is the heart.

Which we will give him and bequeath,
this holly and this ivy wreath.
To do him honor who’s our king
and Lord of all this reveling.

John Milford Rutter

Little Flower Child, Play a song for me

Little Flower Child, Play a song for me, originally uploaded by Carina Olsen (Kat’s Photography).

If I go to Jesus, He will make me glad
He will give me pleasure when my heart is sad.
If I go to Jesus, happy I shall be.
He is gently calling little ones like me..
–Fanny J. Crosby

I woke up this morning with this song in my head. I didn’t realize that I was singing it until the words came to me. I don’t remember dreaming about anything so I couldn’t help but wonder how that song floated it’s way into my unconsciousness in the night. This hymn is probably not the most theologically sound one out there; I can already hear people saying that this promotes the health and wealth gospel. But let’s not go there, shall we.

As much as God is way over my head, in His grace I’ve been given glimpses of His nature over the years I’ve walked with Him. This song reminded me that God likes to keep it simple and childlike. I understood a little bit more today, why Jesus loved the children so much. Their hearts are so uncluttered and free of this world.

Flower Children

Peace and Love was the sign of the flower child
In the sixties, the young were passive not wild
They believed in peace, love, – giving, and sharing
Often judged, – not by their deeds, but for what they were wearing

Their parents were hardcore, most of them survivors of war,
worked hard for their children, to see they were provided for
To them freedom had a whole different meaning,
Found it hard to understand – why their children were so alienating

Lack of understanding made the young feel as though they were caught in a trap
The discrepancy between these age groups, became commonly known as the generation gap
Those involved in this epoch of time, all believed the world was in need of a revolutionary change.
Their acts of rebellion, were acts of love, divinely prearranged.

These baby boomers, with their idealistic dreams,
their hearts overflowing with love; – this is what made them gleam
What happened to this generation of peace seeking warriors?
They became doctors, lawyers, actors, and bill collectors.

It’s a shame from their vision – they had the world beginning to listen. For the uniting of the world, it seemed, – was about to be Christened.

–David Tanguay

What it is..

“It is nonsense,” says Reason.
“It is what it is,” says love.

“It is misfortune,” says Calculation.
“It is nothing but pain,” says Fear.
“It is hopeless,” says Insight.
“It is what it is,” says love.

“It is ridiculous,” says Pride.
“It is careless,” says Caution.
“It is impossible,” says Experience.
“It is what it is,” says love.

              –Translation by M. Kaldenbach

http://www.metroministries.org.ph/home/

“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked.

Butterfly Girl, originally uploaded by Lars VanDe Goor Photography Art.

“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”