Where the music begins

After hearing some difficult teachings from the Lord, many of His followers turned away "and walked with Him no more." Jesus has just asked the twelve if they will also turn away from Him.

Peter's answer always brings tears to my eyes (though I'm not sure why):

"Lord, to whom shall be go? You have the words of eternal life."

                                                                                                 (John 6:68)    

 And it has has occurred to me:

 this is where the music begins to play in Peter's life.

Peter is convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And once that fact has been clearly understood, there is no where else to go.

(Funny, I've unintentionally got Mozart playing on Pandora as I type now.)

Anyway.

 Peter had a long, hard road ahead of him. He would deny the Lord and then repent, suffer extreme cruelty, imprisonment and death.

But none of that mattered

 once the music began to play.

Our Greatest Fear

I Cor. 16:13-14:"Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
                           Let all that you do be done with love."

Ignoring the numerical division of the verses I see a strong connection I had never seen before:

Be brave

 Be strong

Love



Isn't the fear of LOVING and being rejected one of our greatest obstacles in LOVING as the LORD loves?

 I must be brave and strong and act on faith that God knows what he's doing, despite my fears, to truly LOVE, agape style.

Knowing that GOD truly understands the difficulties of life on Earth, and that He is rooting for me

 is ENOUGH. 



'Bird Song' by The Wailin' Jennys

I think we must be related

C.S. Lewis:
"I am a safety-first creature. Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as

 "Careful! This might lead you to suffering."

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond  to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilites. I doubt whether there is anything in me that pleases Him less. And who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground- because the security (or so to speak) is better? Who could even include it among the grounds for loving? Would you choose a wife or a Friend--if it comes to that, would you choose a dog--in this spirit?"

(I think we must be related!)

No plastic on my flowers

This is very random, but the thought keeps coming back to me:

Remember that sea of  flowers, suffocating in plastic, piled at the gates of Buckingham palace in honor of Princess Diana, following her death?
The memory still makes me shudder- it was a creepy sight to me!

 Piles and piles and piles . . .

 of  plastic.

Something has been lost- forgotten.

The joy of flowers is their fragrance, their delicacy, their frailty, their brevity. A very fitting tribute for a beloved priness. But we wrap them in plastic. Why? To protect, prolong, defend them. Never the less, they are still delicate, frail and brief, we can just no longer enjoy them. And they still die.

Of course, I am of the Abraham Lincoln persuasion, that feet also need to breathe!

So

 Please.

 No plastic on my flowers.

Thank you.

The Hiding Place

.

I've heard it said:

when you pray to God, expect big things to happen!

The thing is, they NEVER happen the way I think they might, so they come at me . . .  unexpectedly!

I've been praying this year about LOVE. About learning to LOVE on a much higher plane.

 On God's plane.

And then he sends me this book.   THE HIDING PLACE,   by Corrie ten Boom.

I didn't go looking for a book on love, though I have read many. I didn't even know this was a book about love.

It was the book of the month for my online bookclub. It just came to me, there on my computer screen.

As some may have noticed, I even quoted from it, here on my blog. The tab "Thanks for the Fleas" is from the book, but I requoted it from another author who I was reading at the time.

I've heard about the book for as long as I can remember, and always meant to get around to reading it. But God dropped it in my lap and said,

 NOW.

And NOW is when I most needed and could most appreciate the true story of

 Corrie and Betsie ten Boom.

Agape love practiced on the highest level.

I recommend this book to you.

the law of kindness

It says of the worthy woman in Proverbs 31 that "on her tongue is the law of kindness."

Since love expresses itself, among other ways, through kindness, I can assume she was a loving woman.
Most of the description of the worthy woman refers to her industry and resourcefulness, her skills and benevolence. I heard a young mother comment once that her mother-in-law must be a worthy woman because she was very hard-working, resourceful, a good cook, a good seamstress-- she even canned!

But my heart cried out, "NO! She is not a worthy woman!"

 And it was for one simple reason.

 She was unkind.

 That one little statement amongst 21 verses says volumes about the woman.

But why the law of kindness?

It seems that she has bound her tongue to a law:  That nothing unkind comes off of it.
 And if a law, I assume, by her character, that she strives to keep it. She is a law abider, even in the realm of self-imposed restrictions.

In 2012 I will bind my tongue to the law of kindness as well. It will be difficult because it is often unruly-i.e.without law. But I will try, and since "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"

 I know I can succeed!