Be yourself - Everyone else is taken (Oscar Wilde)
Today I am going to start living
As only I can live,
I am going to walk in the bush
Listen lovingly to friends,
Take time to hear the birds sing
Love my wife
Be present for my children,
And, wonder at this precious gift
Of life and dreams and time,
Just today, is all I have,
Today I am going to live.
This started out as a reflection in Psalm 128 but I didn’t really get to the Psalm. My thoughts went to what love is about and how even its brokenness give more love to share.
Love’s deepest expression is formed in heartache,
Understood in the shattering of broken dreams,
Scattered across the room,
Each word flung in reckless anger,
Bringing destruction,
Tearing down.
Completely.
Each broken piece is designed to reach out,
Seeking that other broken heart,
Instead of scattering pain,
Words are chosen that hold the touch of Eternity,
Life rebuilt,
Lifting up,
Restored.
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane, the pessimist the parachute.
George Bernard Shaw
When hope smiles
When hope smiles,
“Possible” is not a winsome regret,
It’s an opportunity,
That opens with a new day,
With the sunrise smiling back at me.
When hope smiles,
“Work” is not a drudgery,
It’s creativity,
Born from a Creator,
Well done his voice says to me.
(Chris Gribble)
I wrote this poem when considering the importance of hope in my own life. Two key thoughts for me centred around the words possibility and creativity. Both of these emerge from the idea that “work” is an intrinsically good thing.
Despair is the antithesis to hope. Despair also is the voice of regret and drudgery. Hope makes possibilities possible and reimagines work as a creative expression of who we are. When we lose our way in our work then it can become life draining instead of life giving.
Hope is an important ingredient in making ideas work. Professor Martin Seligam is considered an authority on optimism – In his findings he describes some of the differences between optimists and pessimists.
For example he writes about the differences in how the two mindsets view setbacks. The pessimist globalises the setback while the optimist limits it to the one event.Then in the case when something goes right the pessimist will say that it’s a once off event while the optimists believes that it will continue.
The resilient person views a setback as something that can be changed in the future.
Creative, possibilities – Well done. This is the voice of hope.
“When hope smiles…”, possibility emerges.
“Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
~ C. S Lewis
Question One – Where did I see God today?
I took time to spend time with God first thing in the morning. It was good. A listened to the Psalms and wrote about them.
Question Two – What am I thankful for today?
I am thankful for rest. Then creativity. For people. To be able to work in a team.
God’s provision.
Question Three – What did I feel today?
I felt good about the day. There was time to get everything done that needed to get done.
Question Four – How do I feel about tomorrow?
I haven’t planned tomorrow but it looks positive. There are good things happening that I want to be a part of.
Question One – Where did I see God today?
Gerad Manly Hopkins words “For Christ plays in ten thousand places, / Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his.”
Question Two – What am I thankful for today?
Connection with two friends. Time spent sharing deeply together.
Playing touch football with a group of friends.
Question Three – What did I feel today?
I felt good. A good mix of time alone. Reflection and activity.
Question Four – How do I feel about tomorrow?
There are a couple of tasks that I need to do that I am not looking forward to. I will do them and they will be finished.
My Accusers Voice
The accuser screams,
You are worthless,
Harsh words echo
Deeply wounding
Seeking despair
Attacking weakness
Betraying confidence
Desiring revenge
A voice of pain
Anxious uncertainty
Self destructive
Wishing hate
Empty hope
Suffering
There are the deep valleys that come from living in a broken hearted world. These valleys are full of shadows that obscure the path forward. Our inner reserves become quickly depleted because we feel lost and our vision becomes increasingly limited. This limitation develops insidiously like the physical disease of glaucoma when our spirits are depleted we see less and less but at first we don’t recognise its effects.
God steps into our world and his light pursues relentlessly the shadows that seek to overcome his light. We feel this most when we are broken and our hearts laid open. When we are devastated from facing hate’s lash and its stinging words. When we feel like every avenue of faith is blocked. Our story intersects with David’s at the point where it feels like there is no hope.
Is it so wrong to be rescued? I know that I struggle with this. The broken hearted person knows what it is to be humbled. They know what it is to have their world turned upside down, to be in a place where the darkness threatens to overwhelm every glimmer of light. The descent into brokenness brings God’s child to knowing that their deepest need can only be met through being rescued. This is the moment where all pride is released, and we can rest in our Father’s loving embrace.
You rescue the humble,
but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.
O LORD, you are my lamp.
The LORD lights up my darkness.
There are times where I feel like I am totally in over my head. These are the places where the enemy seems to have the upper hand. It’s comforting to know that our God rescues us from this situation. These are those times when life’s deep waters threaten to inundate us. Like a drowning person we clutch for something to save us. This is where God speaks loudest to those who turn to him.
He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
At that point where life feels like it’s about to be snatched from us we will take any solution but over and over David cries out to God. And, God responds by reaching down from heaven, he seeks us out and we are saved from the darknesses, suffocating he moves us from being in over our head to being able to draw breath again.
They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the LORD supported me.
What is worse when travelling through a valley is to be down and then be attacked. David experiences this with the betrayal of his closest friends. He know the deep pain that comes from the rejection of his love towards them. It’s a difficult lesson to learn that our enemies are not capable of returning love because they are locked into their own prisons.
He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
But, then God brings us to a place of safety because he takes delight in us. His words to Jesus at his Baptism echo in our lives today. You are my beloved [Child] with whom I am well pleased. Our Father sees us as his beloved child because our presence on earth delights him. He rescues us and brings us to a new understanding of his love in the midst of the accusations, the betrayal, the hatred. From the brink of despair God brings us to the threshold of new hope, because he is our deliverer.
Praise be to God.