October 17, 2007 by mark.
I was thinking the other day about how I talk with God. Even from the earliest age I remember talking to Him the same way I would talk with a close friend. My prayers have never been in King’s English! That ran off the tracks very early on. They have had an informal quality and that has worked well for me.
I wonder how others see, feel and experience conversations with God. How do we know when God speaks to us? How do we know if He is distant from us? How do we know if He is right beside us? How can we be assured of His presence in our lives?
It seems to me that trust is the basis of all human relationships and so it is with God. Another question is how can we learn to trust God? Even more important when we feel like God has disappointed us and let us down. Ever felt that way?
Answers to these quesitons and more are not easy. But they begin the conversation if you will to a deeper understanding of who we are in God’s eyes and how He views us as His children.
Often when a couple has problems and seeks out counsel the first thing the counselor will look for is if the couple can talk with each other. If not that can be the first step. Simply talking and opening up. Relationships flourish with good communication. So does our relationship with God.
Why not consider starting a conversation.
-Mark+
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January 18, 2007 by mark.
C.S. Lewis writes in his classic book, Mere Christianity many profound and engaging topics about the Christian life. Here is a selection I have found most helpful in looking at how to approach the bible.
“I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal’
No in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of colored paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only colored paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be of more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.”– C.S. Lewis
Scripture contains many topics and verses that bring us comfort, make us angry, leaves us puzzled, and provokes us to consider the wonder of God. It does not always give the answers we would desire or provide us with the map we would most want.
Walks from the beach sustain us. The view is delightful. However, God asks us to let go of that picturesque the view at times in our life and head for open water. We often think we are heading into the great unknown when we take risks in our faith. How can that be? The unknown is only unknown to us… not God.
God is already there. And He calls us to where He is!
-Mark
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December 22, 2006 by mark.
As we celebrate this most blessed event, the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am reminded of the Christmas hymn, “In the bleak mid winter” by Christina Rossetti. The words seem simple but are quite profound. “What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man I would do my part; yet what I can— I give him— give my heart.”
As we begin to see ourselves the way Jesus does, as His beloved, may we have the courage to give our hearts, our very lives, wherever we may be on our journey through this life, to the one who gave Himself for us so our lives could be made whole.
Wholeness is found in Jesus… the babe in the cattle trough… the King of all creation. What prevents us from reaching out to Him to find that wholeness we so desire? For each of us the answer to that question may be quite different. What answer makes sense to you?
May the God of all hope who gave His only Son for us so that we may know the fullness of His love grant us his peace in this most holy season.
Mark+
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November 21, 2006 by mark.
My five year old son asked me the other day, “Daddy, what do you want for Christmas?” As the lump in me throat subsided I looked at him and smiled. He would not understand but I replied anyway, “I have every dream I have ever wanted because you are my son.”
Ten years ago, five years ago, my answer would have been different. Maybe on some level that is copout but the older I get the more I find greater fulfillment in the relationships of my family and friends. Things don’t matter nearly as much. Thankfully.
I can’t help but thinking about dreams during Christmas and Advent. How they shape and lead us in our own personal story and how they connect to God’s great story.
Mary had a dream. A young Jewish girl with a man she loved and cared for but with a bit of a problem. She was pregnant. And Joseph was not the father. Her dreams colliding with reality… how was this going to play out? How would her dreams of a marriage, family, and home meet with this child she was carrying of the Most High God?
Mary was so young.
Thirty three years later she witnessed her greatest fears come to life. The crucifixion of her beloved Jesus. Her dreams dying each passing moment of his anguish. The flashbacks of his birth in that lowly cattle stall in Bethlehem. Presenting her son in the Temple with Joseph to receive his most Holy Name. The miracles, signs and wonders. Water turned to wine in Cana…at her request.
All for what purpose? Was this what the angel meant when he said to Joseph, “You are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary sang a beautiful song when she began to accept she would conceive a son. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Even then the dark shadow of the cross was looming ever closer.
She did not realize dreams do not end with death. Every dream she had for Jesus could not be compared to the moment she saw her risen son…her risen Lord.
Her risen dreams.
Mary’s song is our song. Even in the midst of suffering. If we will allow it our suffering will bring glory to Jesus. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
God’s peace,
Mark+
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October 25, 2006 by mark.
Some time ago I asked a friend, “What is God doing in your life.” Her response was quick, “Good question. Not sure.”
We discussed it over a cup of coffee and she shared with me that God was far away and not up to much. “If he were wouldn’t I feel something?”
Maybe or maybe not.
Then I remembered an old saying, “If the only tool you have is a hammer then everything begins to look like a nail.”
However, I understand what she meant. Silence. A period where life feels flat or in a holding pattern. God seems distant, remote.
Many times I have made the mistake in thinking or feeling God was distant when in actuality it was the silence that bothered me. In our world silence is a precious commodity we crave… we just don’t realize it. Silence bears our soul up to our conscious mind. Sometimes we are frightened by what we see.
Our feelings must not be the only gauge or tool we use to recognize how, when, and where, God is at work in our lives. Silence is one of the tools God uses to draw us to him and make us pause from the hurriedness of life’s demands.
Another saying (Two for one today) “We are human beings not human doings.” How does that apply to our own day to day activities? Where are the natural pauses?
Seeing what God is doing in our lives means slowing our pace and relying on him to work with us where we are in our walk with him. When we allow silence to be part of the process of emotionally calming down and recentering, we enter into a holy space with our Lord.
And, it is enough to be in that holy space with him… in his presence. This is where peace, joy patience, loving kindness… the fruits of the spirit are acquired.
This is not some spiritual, philosophical mumbo jumbo… silence is part of the conversation we have with God.
So I ask you, “What is God doing in your life?”
Mark+
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