REASON TO CARE

Living on the West Coast, I am constantly surrounded by "Green" messaging.  Bring your own reusable cloth bag to the grocery store and get bonus points.  Bring your own tumbler to Starbucks and get 10 cents off.  Buy local.  Buy organic.  Use less paper.

Last Sunday, our sermon was about what our attitude should be toward creation.  Interestingly, the early church saw people in relation to themselves, each other, God and the rest of creation.  In our small group, we had a lively discussion about this.  On one hand, how does my recycling one tin can make a difference in the world?  And if I'm not the CEO of a large corporation, what say do I have in who can clearcut the Amazon forests?  It seems like one individual can do little to help with this global crisis.

I can appreciate this perspective, but my own stance is this:  If I respect God, I will respect His creation.  My recycling one tin can has more to do with my relationship with the Creator than it does with the effectiveness of the act.  In being careful about my choices and thinking through how I'm impacting the earth, I am honouring the fact that God has entrusted me with this place I live in.  I may not hold an influential position to stop the destruction of rainforests, but I do live in a country that provides facilities and opportunities to be kinder to this planet.  So I will do my best, though I'm far from perfect.  Because at the end of the day, when I stand before the Lord, I know I am accountable to Him and Him alone. 

The earth is not my god (as it seems to be to some people out here...), God is.  But it so happens that God made this earth and called it "good."  So I think I would do well to treat it as such.

"In the beginning, God created... the earth."

~ Genesis 1:1 ~

HOUSE CLEANING AND GOD

Mondays are my clean the house days.  On top of dusting, I do the floors, the bathroom and the laundry.  I find great satisfaction at the end of it all: to look around and see that all is clean.  I especially love it when the sun is out and light fills the house, confirming that dust and dirt are thoroughly gone. It tires me out, but I really am very satisfied.

I suspect that God has the same sense of satisfaction when He cleans us up.  I imagine that when He looks at us and sees that the dirt of sin or false understanding have been removed, that our original colours and beauty are able to shine without obstruction or contamination, it brings His heart much joy.  And satisfaction.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God."

~ Psalm 51:10 ~

BEAUTY FROM THE PAIN

A most curious incident happened at dinner last night.  Tim's parents are in town and they wanted Greek food, so we tried out a place nearby.  The ambience was quite nice and we decided to go for some lamb and some seafood.  We were pretty much enjoying our dinner and joking about who would take the last oyster when Tim decided he would just take a tiny piece of it to try.  No sooner had he popped it into his mouth when "pft!" he spit out a small white chunk of... pearl!  The waitress would not believe that we found a pearl in the oyster.  Apparently, it had never happened before.

Aside from being amusing, I found the appearance of this pearl as strangely timely.  You see, this past Saturday, as I was praying for a friend, I saw a picture of a pearl and the words, "The discomfort will result in beauty" along with it.  It was a message for my friend, but I also think it was a message for me and for Tim.  We are in a place where things are not comfortable and we'd rather squirm out of it.  But I believe that God wants us to persevere.  To allow Him to shape the pain into something beautiful, precious and lasting.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
       because the LORD has anointed me...

to provide for those who grieve in Zion—
       to bestow on them a crown of beauty
       instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness
       instead of mourning,
       and a garment of praise
       instead of a spirit of despair. 

~ Isaiah 61: 1 & 3 ~

TIME, DEATH, LIFE AND LOVE

I have had the pleasure of being introduced to a very fine writer, in my opinion. I haven't met him in person, but I have enjoyed the characters and insights in his novels. His name? Wendell Berry. I came across the quote below in his novel Andy Catlett. Andy is an old man, writing about his adventures as a 9-year-old boy. Ponder, and enjoy.

"Time is told by death, who doubts it? But time is always halved - for all we know, it is halved - be the eye blink, the synapse, the immeasurable moment of the present. Time is only the past and maybe the future; the present moment, dividing and connecting them, is eternal. The time of the past is there, somewhat, but only somewhat, to be remembered and examined. We believe that the future is there too, for it keeps arriving, though we know nothing about it. But try to stop the present for your patient scrutiny, or to measure its length with your most advanced chronometer. It exists, so far as I can tell, only as a leak in time, through which, if we were quiet enough, eternity falls upon us and makes its claim. And here I am, an old man, traveling as a child among the dead.

"We measure time by its deaths, yes, and by its births. For time is told also by life. As some depart, others come. The hand opened in farewell remains open in welcome. I, who once had grandparents and parents, now have children and grandchildren. Like the flowing river that is yet always present, time that is always going is always coming. And time that is told by death and birth is held and redeemed by love, which is always present. Time, then, is told by love's losses, and by the coming of love, and by love continuing in gratitude for what is lost. It is folded and enfolded and unfolded forever and ever, the love by which the dead are alive and the unborn welcomed into the womb. The great question for the old and the dying, I think, is not if they have loved and been loved enough, but if they have been grateful enough for the loved received and given, however much."

- Andy Catlett, in Andy Catlett by Wendell Berry

A PRAYER FOR THOSE I LOVE

"God, cajole and nudge them, draw,
delight, and dream them close,
drift them along love's eddy, dare them,
inch them to yourself and with each inch,
yield them a yard of joy. Touch them;
with tears teach them.
Tangle their thoughts in yours"
- adapted from Luci Shaw, God in the Dark

13 WEDDINGS & 9 FUNERALS

I don't know what it is this summer, but it's been full of weddings and funerals. The wedding part was expected. The funerals, not so much.

Over the last couple months, nine (9!) loved ones of people I know have died. They have either been spouses, parents or children of my friends, coworkers or people at church. And quite a few of them battled cancer in their last days. It's gotten to the point where I'll hear the news and I'll think "Oh no, not another one..." And although it's no laughing matter, a small part inside of me wants to laugh for the sheer absurdity of so many deaths in frequent succession.

It makes me feel helpless. It feels like every other night, Tim and I are praying for someone else who's losing or lost someone dear. It makes me wonder when death will come to our doorstep.

And yet, I am discovering that God is stronger than death. As I allow myself to fall deep into His embrace, I find I am no longer afraid of what life might throw at me. I look at nature and see that even among the forests, there are dead branches mixed in with the live ones. And somehow, life always wins. Suffering is part of being human on this side of eternity. But I have hope in a God who is able and who will redeem it all.

"Death has been swallowed up in victory."

~ 1 Corinthians 15:54 ~

SACRED SPACES

I am working out a theory: To enter into the deepest place of pain in others is to enter one of the most sacred spaces possible.

When someone trusts you so much as to allow you to look into the open wounds of their heart, it draws out of you a response of quietness, respect and gentleness. You recognize the need to tread softly, to be unhurried and to accept the mystery. And suddenly, you are aware that God is there.

Surely [God] took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.
~ Isaiah 53:4 ~