itsawonderfilledlife

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 15:1

it is always darkest before the dawn

A simple yet profound proverb … yet, most experts would say that it is not true that it is physically darkest just before the dawn.

I think it is a saying because we so desire the hope in believing that that things will get better, when we are in our darkest places.

Today is the day after the winter solstice … the day after the longest day. From this day on, the days get longer, lighter. Light is on its way. The thought of more light makes me feel … lighter.

“Quiet my mind when it is already certain that nothing could possible be different.”

Kate Bowler

When the heaviness of the dark comes, whether that dark has to do with time of year, or situations in life, sometimes one has to realize that we have no control in the situation … except our response. For darkness, it just comes, seeming to push out light. But, we do not have to embrace the darkness. Maybe we have to learn to live with it, but we can also choose to focus on the light.

Advent doesn’t deny the dark within us
Advent isn’t afraid of the dark around us
Advent doesn’t rush through the dark ahead of us
Advent sits in the dark and yearns
for the light of the only One
who went to the the Tree of Calvary
-Ann Voskamp

The light is coming. It is coming to the Northern hemisphere, it is also coming to us through the advent season, as we await the celebrations of the coming of our Messiah and as we await his return. He is the light of the world. He comes to brighten our world, to take away sin, heartache, disappointments, disease, struggle, death. For now he has paid the exorbitant price of our human sin. When he returns, he will make all things new, a new garden.

And so, we look toward the increasing light of the Son.

I am writing a new commandment to you,
which is true in Him and in you,
because the darkness is passing away
and the true Light is already shining.”

1 John 2:8

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King David lamented,

“How long O Lord”

We lament still today. He came once and we still await his return.

And while we wait, we lament.

We lament and we rejoice, simultaneously.

Lament and rejoicing go together, for to lament is heavy, hard and heart rending. To end lament with rejoice is to infuse hope into a situation where we do not see any.

As I hear the Christmas hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, I hear lament. I hear the story of longing for a redeemer. We are still longing.

As I read Isaiah 64, I also hear lament, right from the first verse:

Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!
    How the mountains would quake in your presence!
² As fire causes wood to burn
    and water to boil,
your coming would make the nations tremble.
    Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
³ When you came down long ago,
    you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations.
    And oh, how the mountains quaked!
⁴ For since the world began,
    no ear has heard
and no eye has seen a God like you,
    who works for those who wait for him!
⁵ You welcome those who gladly do good,
    who follow godly ways.
But you have been very angry with us,
    for we are not godly.
We are constant sinners;
    how can people like us be saved?
⁶ We are all infected and impure with sin.
    When we display our righteous deeds,
    they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
    and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
⁷ Yet no one calls on your name
    or pleads with you for mercy.
Therefore, you have turned away from us
    and turned us over to our sins.

⁸ And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
    We are the clay, and you are the potter.
    We all are formed by your hand.
⁹ Don’t be so angry with us, Lord.
    Please don’t remember our sins forever.
Look at us, we pray,
    and see that we are all your people.
¹⁰ Your holy cities are destroyed.
    Zion is a wilderness;
    yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.
¹¹ The holy and beautiful Temple
    where our ancestors praised you
has been burned down,
    and all the things of beauty are destroyed.
¹² After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us?
    Will you continue to be silent and punish us?

O God, our help in ancient past … our hope for years to come,

You are our God, the only wise God, who does what must be done for your whole of Creation … us as well.

We come to you with expectancy of your return, of your righting all that you created, all that you love.

May we continue to seek you as we wait with groans and yearnings.

Amen

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As the advent season began, it began in the dark.

Jonah had been given a task by God and he didn’t like it, not one little bit.

As he attempted to flee his calling, things went from bad to worse (he had to know that would happen!!) and he was swallowed up by a whale.

From inside the whale, Jonah reflected on his situation.

It was dark and damp and dank. There was not even a hint at light … figuratively or literally.

He was stuck with nothing to do, but reflect … and pray. And pray he did!

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 
(still his God, even in the dark)

He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
(he prayed about his distress and how God answered his prayers!)

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
(Jonah acknowledged God’s listening)

You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.
(He recognizes God as his salvation)

“When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
    to your holy temple.
(

“Those who cling to worthless idols
    turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah 2

Despite the fact that God had asked Jonah to go to a place and people he didn’t want to go. And despite the fact that God allowed him to be swallowed up by a whale, Jonah prayed and called and remembered and praised God. Not only that but he said, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah knew that he could only truly live if he understood that the God who wanted him to go to Nineveh was the same God who was his salvation.

And, Jonah was spit out onto dry land … back into the light, just like how the end of advent comes with the presence of the light of the world. Even when our lives go dark, yet we can praise him.

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Be joyful in hope
patient in affliction
faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12

Joyful in hope …

That’s easy to say … sometimes.

Other times it is more of a challenge. Until we remember that to be joyful is not necessarily happy, but to be living in the assurance that we are not alone, that we only see a part of the picture, that happily ever after is a human construct, not an eternal reality.

For, Jesus himself is the one that said (John 16:33),

“in this world you will have trouble”

So … we need to understand that joy is about Jesus in us … happy is just about us.

“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs.
It’s not.
Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go.”
-Twitter Post by Matthew @CrowsFault

I love that quote (above) about hope. Because hope is formed in the trenches, in the hospital rooms, and funeral homes. It is present in the offices of bosses, and bankers, and lawyers. It sits with us at big family gatherings, and office parties, and on the streets surrounded by people, but fighting to feel the presence of (the) one who cares.

Hope is messy.

Christmas is messy. Advent is messy.

Waiting for saving is to sometime be in a position of rigidity from our head to our toes, hands formed into fists, teeth clenched tight. It is then when we are holding onto hope with a death grip … truly holding on for our life.

And, that’s okay. That is what Christmas is about too. So that we have the One who is our Hope in troubled times.

Whether a holy or a broken one, hallelujah is to praise joyously … there is hope in both.

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Week 4
Let the Light In

“I realized that
songs,
good feelings,
beautiful liturgies,
nice presents,
big dinners,
and many sweet words do not make Christmas.
Christmas is saying ‘yes’ to something beyond all emotions and feelings.
Christmas is saying ‘yes’ to a hope based on God’s initiative …
It is into this broken world that a child is born
who is called Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, Savior.”

Henir Nouwen

There is so much to like about the Christmas season. The cheery moods, the delicious foods, the gift-giving, the parties, the concerts and church services, the music, and on, and on, and on.

Though it is all good, it is rather hollow, rather meaningless, without a relationship with the one who is celebrated this season.

I recently read a writing that went something like this …

stop to ponder the babe in the manger
stop, really stop
just be still, quiet
and think of his human, infant form
think of the parents near him
think of his father in heaven

now, stop and think about why he came

who he came for

let it sink in
how personal this gift is to you (and I)

If you try this. If you stop and ponder this babe, I think you will be amazed at how the truth will hit you, how much thankfulness fills your soul.

If you are reading this. If you think you hear whispers in your soul. If you need to thank the one who came (and will come again). If you need to live for something other than just good feelings and emotions. If you need real hope …

So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”

Hebrews 3:7-8

Open up your heart, yourself, to the One who came at Christmas.

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Week 3
Faith

“Is God a good god?
Faith is not just that god is
but that he is good,
he mean us well,
he know more than we do?

Max Lucado

Is God a good god?

Can we trust him?

We are now days before the end of the waiting season, the advent season. Days away from the celebrations that mark the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah and the hope of his return. This Son of God who was all human, all God. This God who had to turn his back on his Son … for you and me.

It’s messy … this advent, Christmas, Easter trifecta. But that is what it is … a three-part whole story, for there is no advent without the birth, no anticipated birth without the crucifixion …

and none of it makes any sense at all, without his rising from death.

So all of it,
from the darkness, the sin
to the waiting,
to the birth,
to the life,
to the arrest, trial, torture and death

has meaning.

Is God good? A tough question that we can only answer when we consider the whole story.

“Malachi prophesied about a coming Messiah.
And for 400 years, they waited.

There is purpose in your waiting too.
God’s silence doesn’t mean his absence.

Often when life feels darkest, God is nearest.

Ian Simkins

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Week 3
Faith

Time …

such a valuable resource!

We think that time only exists here, in this life. We think that purpose only lives here. We think that all there is is here and now. We think that today and all of our hopes for today is all that matters. We want our prayers to be answered, people to be healed, families to be happy, troubles to be no more … and we want them now and how we might dream them to be fulfilled.

But, we are myopic … blind as a bat to the bigger story.

Only God himself has a view on the rest of the story (I can hear Paul Harvey’s voice as I write that). Only He knows how the pieces of our lives fit together … with each other. Only He can make beauty from the ashes of our lives.

Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.
Philippians 4:4

But God asks to live this life, never without Him. And a life with him means a life with joy … that unmistakable joy that has nothing to do with our current circumstances. It is a joy that comes from belief, the faith in Him. When Paul wrote the above words about rejoicing, he was instructing other believers how to live … and his joy-filled message came from prison. This man was in chains. He did not know what any tomorrow had in store for him.

The beautiful hymn It is Well with My Soul, was written our of loss, tragedy and brokenness as Horatio Spafford stood on the deck of a ship sailing to meet up with his wife in England … in the very spot where his four daughters drowned.

though Satan should buffet
though trials should come
let this blest assurance control
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
and hath shed his own blood for my soul
it is well
with my soul

His words show us he understood joy in the midst of unspeakable loss. He does not communicate Pollyanna, sugar-coated joy, but an understanding that in his trials, his utter helplessness, Christ had ensured that the state of his soul was solid, secure. Because of this he could still have hope.

“Someday we won’t need to hope. Someday we don’t need courage. Time itself will be wrapped up with a bow, and God will draw us all into the eternal moment where there will be no suffering, no disease, no email.”

Kate Bowler

Advent is all about joy, but it is also all about waiting for someday.

Someday when the pieces of the puzzle come together.
Someday when the misery of the heartache, the loneliness, the torture ends.
Someday when fear is extinguished.
Someday when … Jesus returns

In the meantime … rejoice always!

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Week 3
Faith

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
-Hebrews 11:13-16

I don’t say this in many social situations, but I love a good funeral.

I love hearing the stories of someone’s life, the footprint that they left on this world, the people they loved, the stories that seem to never be told until after. A good funeral motivates me to live differently … with the end in mind.

In Hebrews there is a hint at the end goal of these heros of the faith.

all these people were still living by faith when they died

The faith they held onto during their lives was in their grasp until their dying breath. But, it is not necessarily because they got to see the fruit of their faith during their lives. They held onto their faith because …

they had faith,
not in the fruit of their lives,
but in God who they trusted
had their lives in the palms of his hands.

CS Lewis spoke of such faith :

“If we find ourselves
with a desire
that nothing in this world can satisfy,
the most probable explanation
is that we were made for another world.”

These heros of faith knew that this earthly walk was temporary, that the greatest life experience was to happen after death (something that is etherial to me). They knew that while here, on this side of heaven, their life was about the One who gave it, so they trusted Him with their todays, their tomorrows.

Years ago, I was feeling quite hopeless about a situation in my life. A wise woman gifted me the following phrase (and I hold tightly to it even now) :

This (today) is not the end … while there is time, there is hope.

And, if I were to add to her words, I would say,

And there is time, even after I take my last breath.

Thank you, God, for the reminder that today is not the end, that your promises go on beyond my life and that the best is truly yet to come.

Amen.

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Week 3
Faith

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
-Hebrews 11:17-19

My favorite, most personally challenging biblical example of faith is the one known as Abraham’s test, or Abraham’s sacrifice, or God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

It is the story of the long-awaited, promised son of Abraham. The one who would bless the nations, the one known as the child of promise. One day God asks Abraham to take Isaac and to go and build an alter for a sacrifice … Isaac to be the one sacrificed (I have written a two-part post about this story. To read it, click the following … God’s Test: Isaac (Part 1) ).

At the last moment, in that moment of the eleventh hour, God provides a ram for the sacrifice … a replacement for Abraham’s son … a replacement for all who have sinned (therefore all of us).

This story of Abraham and Isaac hints at the coming Messiah. It hints at the great cost of the sacrifice that would come, the sacrificial lamb who would be our atonement … the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world.

I think that beyond the hints at the cost that God paid for us, it is also a parallel story that many of us can relate to (even if we do not want, or do not understand). For we all have loved someone and for those of us who have loved a child, the thought of God asking for the spilled blood of one’s child is unimaginable. For to ask such a thing is too much … it is too great a sacrifice.

Yet … that is what God has done. That is the choice he made to save us. That is what the waiting is for … for the birth of one whose life trajectory was toward humiliation, torture, crucifixion and, ultimately, death …

for us …

Faith costs … it cost God, his son and it costs us in having to accept such sacrifice in humility.

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Week 3
Faith

Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter.

It begins by defining faith for us …

 faith is
confidence in what we hope for 
and assurance about what we do not see.

Then the chapter goes on giving examples of those who were living examples of ones who had faith in God … his promises and plans … above what they could see.

As I write this post, my dog is illustrating another example of faith … faith diminished by fear.

He drinks a significant amount of water each day (thanks to a new ‘special’ food), so I replaced one of his little water dishes (because he has three in the house) for a large one. He is not impressed! For some reason, even though it looks exactly like the previous (except in size) he is scared of it, will not drink out of it.

Earlier this morning, I sat on the bathroom floor (yet again), trying to lure him to it, to show him that it’s contents are indeed familiar and good. I put my finger in the water then moved it near him so he could taste it. Gradually I moved my finger closer and closer to bowl, so that he would have to move toward it to get the water drops. Then I gradually moved treats closer to the bowl. But, each time he would reach an invisible line which he refused to cross.

I decided to try something new today. I placed treats on the rim of the bowl and moved it to where you see it in the image (above), then placed a couple of treats on the opposite side of the bowl. Then, I closed the door (as shown in the pic). I figured he would just leap over the bowl … an easy task for him) or push the door open (again, something he has easily done numerous times in the past).

The thing is he did neither … he moved back and forth by the opening, he moaned, he growled, he stared through the opening longingly … but he was not able to get over, or past. the bowl.

his fear
diminished his faith

As I watched him struggle, I was mesmerized by his fear … perhaps in my pup I saw reflected how my own fears have, at times, held me captive. Situations in all of our lives can cause us to fear, but do stay in our place of fear … even when there is a way out … even when we know we can rest in the security of our faith in God.

Faith in God is a trust in Him even when the doors are shut and it seems there is no way our, except over or through that which we fear the most.

As we are in the waiting of advent, as we consider our faith, I would suggest considering a couple whose faith must have been tested by intense fears …

By faith Joseph,
though unmarried but betrothed (engaged) to Mary,
when he discovered that she was pregnant …
and he knew it was not his child.
Though he planned to divorce her quietly (for betrothal was a legal commitment)
Though the law of land was behind him
and would have supported, encouraged him
to disgrace her, to stone her.
Though he knew that tongues would wag
behind his back,
for the rest of his life,
in his sleepy hometown,
of the sin he had nothing to do with …
He awoke from his revelatory dream of the angel

“Joseph did what the angel of the Lord
had commanded him
and took Mary home as his wife.”
Matthew 1:24

By faith Mary,
though young and unmarried.
Though facing the possibility
of being abandoned by her betrothed, Joseph.
Though facing the possibility of being rejected by
her community,
her friend,
her family.
Though she knew she would surely be
humiliated,
abused,
and disbelieved by all who heard her story.
Though facing the possibility (probability)
of social disgrace, maybe even stoning.
Responded, then lived her words,

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38

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