And May God Bless Us...Everyone!

Tiny Tim was on to something when he uttered these now legendary words.  Each year, when I’m so fortunate to watch “A Christmas Carol”, I’m reminded of what a wonderful tale of redemption it truly is.

Oh, we all know the story.  Scrooge is a broken soul, one who has lost all sense of joy, and only lusts after money.

But, in the span of one magical evening, he’s shown the error of his ways, and comes around to see that life truly is beautiful, and glorious, despite its inherent flaws.  We as spectators rejoice in Scrooge’s re-discovery of the joy of life.  And, hopefully, we’re reminded that all too easily, we can become very much like Scrooge if we’re not careful.

Life, through a series of a thousand small cuts, can sometimes rob us of our joy and enthusiasm.  It can seem drab, without meaning at times, and altogether unfair.  It can seem all too cold, all too often.  A lot of times its not the big adversities that knock us down.  It’s the thousands of little ones that pile up, and seem to drown us with their accumulated weight.

We simply can’t let this happen dear readers.  Our lives are so short, in reality.  I’ve heard it said we are only here what amounts to a parenthesis in time…one tiny span, in the ever advancing wheel of time.  Yes, life can beat up on us over time, and the accumulated arrows and blows of a lot of mundane problems can weigh on us.  But ask yourself, whenever you start to feel downtrodden, aren’t I truly better off than I think?  Isn’t life still full of beauty, if I but choose to see it?  Can’t I not say ENOUGH to my worry, and throw it off like so much accumulated dust?

Can’t I turn to a caring God, and ask Him to help me?  To love me?

Tiny Tim was crippled, and his family didn’t have a whole lot of money.  What they did have…in abundance…was love.

Love is enough folks.

-The Minister

A Prayer Within a Song

My favorite hymn is probably “Be Thou My Vision”.  The melody is ancient, a bit haunting, and more than a bit beautiful.  It’s a simple song really, yet always moves me like no other hymn I know (save for maybe “Amazing Grace”, or lately, “Silent Night”).

Why is that?  I may have finally discovered why, after listening to just about the most beautiful rendition of the hymn I’ve ever heard (from Corrine May, on her CD “The Gift”). 

The reason is it’s a prayer, all contained within a beautiful, deceptively simple song.  It’s a prayer asking God to provide the vision, to provide the insight to help us navigate life’s challenges.  It’s a song designed to help us reach out to God, in song, in a way that’s both beautiful and fulfilling (as I’ve said before, singing helps us truly emote in ways that the spoken word simply cannot hope to accomplish).

I’m not altogether sure who actually wrote this wonderful hymn.  The melody is indeed ancient, going back centuries, and I believe the words were translated from older versions of the English language.  Whoever wrote it, well, I believe they were divinely touched to create this wonderful song.

When you combine prayer and music, well I believe you wind up with a very powerful force.  I’ll bet God appreciates hearing prayers that are contained in beautiful melodies.

Hey, even the Big Guy likes a little variety once in a while!

-The Minister

Clouds

I’d just gotten done with a run the other day, and was stretching upstairs in our house, when my wife called up to me to go look out our back windows.  Being a good husband, I did what I was told!

What I saw was beautiful.  A very low-lying thin cloud was flowing past our back yard.  You could see through it for the most part, but it was indeed a cloud, and made everything a bit foggy for a while. 

Its funny, when one is flying in a plane above the clouds, you look down and they almost look like they’re a firm substance, just like the ground.  As a kid, whenever we flew, I’d imagine that I could just hop right out of the plane, and run along the clouds with no worries.  There would be that many of them at times, and they just looked so solid to me.

It strikes me that so many of the things we put our faith in are like clouds in a sense.  They seem firm and unchanging when viewed from above, but upon closer examination, one can notice the flaws and holes.  When we put our complete trust in the institutions of man, for example, without any spiritual compass to guide us, we are destined for disappointment eventually.  Sooner or later, we’ll discover that these institutions are flawed, like all of us humans are, for that matter.  They seem so rock solid at first glance, but they break apart after further scrutiny…just like clouds.

The older I’ve become, the more I’ve discovered that I need to put my faith in something more rock-solid.  God is more solid than any cloud, more solid than any man-made institution for that matter.  Certainly, we can be disappointed in God at times, just like we can be disappointed by human beings.  But, ultimately, He’s there, and we will again feel His touch, His presence. 

To be fair, I’m not of the belief that human beings aren’t capable of producing wonderful creations, or right-working institutions.  They certainly are.  But, the problem with us humans is we’re also flawed creations, imperfect, and all too often, a little bit self-centered (I speak from experience).  If we put ALL our faith in mankind, well, eventually, we’re going to find we need something more, something eternal, something unchanging.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

-The Minister

2 Darn Great Blogs

I've found 2 absolutely terrific blogs over the past couple of days (both found in Blogger, by the by), and I thought I would recommend them (of course, first, I have to start re-gaining readers to whom to recommend these blogs....kind of helps when I start writing again, eh?).

The first is "The Happily Ever After Project".  The author is determined to live her life NOW, and to live it well, in accordance with what truly brings her happiness.  I find this inspiring, especially in a world that teaches us all too often that we will never truly be happy until "xyz" happens for or to us.  Meaning, we fall prey to the fallacy that we have to "arrive" at our destination in order to be happy, versus smelling the fruits of our labors along the way.  Well done!

The second is the "366 Random Acts of Kindness" blog.  I was blown away when reading this one.  Here is an individual who, in spite of having a full plate of committments, found time to perform a random act of kindness a day for an entire year.  How fantastic is that friends?  I guarantee that while the author brought a lot of joy to the receivers of these acts, he brought the most joy to himself.

I urge you to check these out when you can.  Fantastic blogs, done by people trying to live life purposefully, deriving happiness from everyday experiences.

Mundane indeed eh?

-The Minister

Singing (in the rain, shower, or otherwise)

To be able to sing (however badly) is such a wonderful gift.

When we sing, we can express things we can’t ordinarily express as well with the spoken word.  It touches something very deep within us, and allows us to belt out our emotions in a way that is so satisfying, on so many levels.

Each year Mrs. Minister and I participate in our local Community Chorus.  The Chorus puts on a concert for our small town each and every Fall, and its just a lot of fun to participate in a group, and sing for our neighbors.

I've found its also pretty darn cathartic to sing.  The first year we participated, I’d experienced some life setbacks going into our practice season, and really wasn’t that excited to sing in a choir.  But, as soon as we started to sing the first notes, almost immediately, I began to feel better.  Just the very act of singing a song, of lifting my voice in unison with friends and neighbors, had the effect of making me feel better about life, and still does.

I don’t exactly know why this is so, but its true. As you might expect, from reading my other posts, I have a hunch we’ve been given a gift in our ability to sing, from the Big Guy Himself.  Whether we can truly carry a tune or not, just the simple act of singing a song lifts our spirits, and helps us emote that much better about what’s going on in our lives.  Singing does this like no other ability we have.  Give it a try yourself.  Next time you’re in the shower, belt out your favorite diddy.  I’ll bet you that you’ll feel a bit better after you do.

I’ve read where in Heaven the music is supposed to be absolutely divine, and never ceasing.  I do hope this is the case.  I can vouch for the fact that here on Earth at least, being able to sing is a heavenly gift.

-The Minister

Chaos

('Tis been a while.  I intend to do better, and keep up this time!).

1/3/13

Christmas has come and gone, once again.  And with it, I’m reminded once again that God is always present, even in times of chaos.

Chaos isn’t always necessarily bad though.  I glimpsed that first-hand, when I watched all of my various nieces and nephews tear open their Christmas presents on Christmas morning.  That was pure chaos.  Chaos in the best sense, in terms of unbridled joy and enthusiasm for the magic of Christmas morning.  It was wonderful to watch, all this joy being barely contained in the room in which we sat.  And, yes, God was there, laughing and dancing with every single tear of the wrapping paper.

God was also present in the chaos of a school shooting, which has become all too commonplace in our society these days.  Certainly it did not seem like it, at least at first.  I heard many times “where was God” asked in the wake of this most recent horrific event.  I understand that, as the question certainly can seem merited in times of disaster, man-made or otherwise.  And, more than likely, somebody close to the crime will lose their faith over it, questioning how a loving God could ever be a party to this kind of thing. 

But, I know God was there.  God was there in the outpouring of support for the victims and their families.  God was there in the flowers, the displays of emotion, the quiet healing times, and certainly during the tears.  He was there.  He was always there.

The thing is, we got this little thing known as Free Will out of the bargain, when everything got set into motion, and we humans eventually came around.  Free Will is the ultimate double-edged sword, great in one respect, and, as witnessed when yet another senseless act of violence occurred, horrifying in another.  We can create beauty in this world, and unfortunately, we can also create acts of unspeakable horror.

Yes, at times, life is chaotic, and seemingly random.  But, if you look hard enough, He’s still there.  During chaos, God is right beside us, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying…but, always, there.  I’m as guilty as the next person in failing to see Him immediately, because I’m focused too much on the Chaos, and not His healing touch in its midst.

I read recently a book by John Ortberg entitled “Who Is This Man?”, about the historical Jesus and His impact on the world.  What stuck with me the most was a passage in the end of the book.  Mr. Ortberg convincingly lays out the case that Jesus was the intersection of Heaven and Earth, and that whenever an ordinary human being acts like Jesus (by being loving, compassionate, patient, etc.), Heaven and Earth intersect in the same manner as when Jesus walked the Earth.

I saw these intersections in a small town in Connecticut.  I also saw them on Christmas morning.

He’s there folks, He’s still there.  

-The Minister