How to support a friend who's supporting a friend who's grieving?
I think the answer is, I don't know. But one thing I do know, Jesus knows what this is like, he's been there. He's grieved, lost & comforted all in one chapter. In the Psalms David cries out to the LORD to save him, and the LORD does! Conclusion? Our God is faithful, and will not leave us!
The best I can do is to remind myself & my friend of this, and trust to God's wisdom to help & guide... "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him".
Thursday 26 January 2012
Sunday 22 January 2012
The most Beautiful Thing
"Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
...
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”" Luke 7:44-47,50
Someone wise once told me that no matter how I felt, if I praised God he would bless me. At the time, I really, really did not want to listen. "But you don't understand how I feel, you don't know how badly I've done wrong".
The truth of the matter is, however you feel & wherever you are, glorifying God is the most important thing - ever. The woman in this story was a sinner, she was accused of wasting precious oil, of being too unworthy to approach Jesus. Yet she was not blinded by her own iniquities but fully aware of the need to bless this man, Jesus.
This is not a post to dampen your feelings, to tell you to ignore them and paste on a smile as you try harder to worship. Luke describes how as she washed his feet the woman was weeping, for what reason we can only guess, but the fact remains that she came as she was - full to the brim of emotions & problems. Then Jesus describes her act as "a beautiful thing" (Matthew 26:10). And yes, what could be more beautiful than praising and anointing our Saviour!
Truthfully, this story is a hard one to follow. But it is told for a reason - "I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Matthew 26:13). What reason? That we might know that we can come, broken as we are, and offer the simplest of praise. And it does not stop there. After being blessed by the oil & tears, Jesus turns to woman and wipes clean her sins, he forgives and restores her.
We can be so tired, so broken that we forget to praise, or even refuse to. It can seem like such an effort to turn weeping into joy, to actively 'have to' praise & glorify God, or guilt tripping ourselves into worship on a Sunday morning. I don't know exactly in what state this woman approached Jesus, but I know that she offered up blessings to him, and in return he blessed her with much more than she could have imagined. I know my own sinful soul, and I am so encouraged that my praise is not worthless, so encouraged that Jesus desires only my heart and my love of him, so encouraged that he accepts my praises - little or big, in sorrow or in joy!
So be encouraged, your praise is worth it in spite of your own failings. There are 10,000 reasons for your soul to sing, and put your hope in him, our Saviour and Lord.
...
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”" Luke 7:44-47,50
Someone wise once told me that no matter how I felt, if I praised God he would bless me. At the time, I really, really did not want to listen. "But you don't understand how I feel, you don't know how badly I've done wrong".
The truth of the matter is, however you feel & wherever you are, glorifying God is the most important thing - ever. The woman in this story was a sinner, she was accused of wasting precious oil, of being too unworthy to approach Jesus. Yet she was not blinded by her own iniquities but fully aware of the need to bless this man, Jesus.
This is not a post to dampen your feelings, to tell you to ignore them and paste on a smile as you try harder to worship. Luke describes how as she washed his feet the woman was weeping, for what reason we can only guess, but the fact remains that she came as she was - full to the brim of emotions & problems. Then Jesus describes her act as "a beautiful thing" (Matthew 26:10). And yes, what could be more beautiful than praising and anointing our Saviour!
Truthfully, this story is a hard one to follow. But it is told for a reason - "I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Matthew 26:13). What reason? That we might know that we can come, broken as we are, and offer the simplest of praise. And it does not stop there. After being blessed by the oil & tears, Jesus turns to woman and wipes clean her sins, he forgives and restores her.
We can be so tired, so broken that we forget to praise, or even refuse to. It can seem like such an effort to turn weeping into joy, to actively 'have to' praise & glorify God, or guilt tripping ourselves into worship on a Sunday morning. I don't know exactly in what state this woman approached Jesus, but I know that she offered up blessings to him, and in return he blessed her with much more than she could have imagined. I know my own sinful soul, and I am so encouraged that my praise is not worthless, so encouraged that Jesus desires only my heart and my love of him, so encouraged that he accepts my praises - little or big, in sorrow or in joy!
So be encouraged, your praise is worth it in spite of your own failings. There are 10,000 reasons for your soul to sing, and put your hope in him, our Saviour and Lord.
Monday 16 January 2012
No giving up...
I'm just so tired.
I don't want to keep this up.
"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall"
"I can't do this on my own, I'm no superman..." I'd like to think I am, that I can do this on my own... But I can't! Keep wondering what's wrong... And where are you?
And where are the rest of you?
Exhausted, and it's only day one...
"Holding unswervingly to the hope we profess" Even youths grow tired & weary (and this one's nearly asleep...) but we hold on. Not giving up.
I don't want to keep this up.
"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall"
"I can't do this on my own, I'm no superman..." I'd like to think I am, that I can do this on my own... But I can't! Keep wondering what's wrong... And where are you?
And where are the rest of you?
Exhausted, and it's only day one...
"Holding unswervingly to the hope we profess" Even youths grow tired & weary (and this one's nearly asleep...) but we hold on. Not giving up.
Saturday 14 January 2012
Camouflage/Teenage Dreams
"...Why are you staring
Do you still think that you know?
Looking for treasure
In the things that you threw
Like a magpie
I live for glitter, not you
We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden...."
We hide behind all sorts of things, the world we built around us becomes our camouflage... To hide from others, or even ourselves...
"Trying to be ordinary, was it me who was the fool?"
Oh, I wonder...
"It's nothing like the life we wanted..."
And me? I hide behind all sorts... but is it like the life I want?
Thursday 12 January 2012
Food for thinking...
"I feel like I travel, but I never arrive
I want to thrive, not just survive..."
What's the difference?
Monday 9 January 2012
Grace
"So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe that it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside"
It's not about trying really really hard... No matter how many times I say this, I can never seem to remember to act on it!
"If you live inside the massive promise of Romans 8:28, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest." Piper
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
If my life had a tag line, that would be it. Nothing rebounds, envelopes, completes & restores like Grace.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30
What could be more amazing than the maker of the heavens offering, choosing, to take my burdens upon himself? And it is for his glory that he does so!
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe that it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside"
It's not about trying really really hard... No matter how many times I say this, I can never seem to remember to act on it!
"If you live inside the massive promise of Romans 8:28, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest." Piper
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
If my life had a tag line, that would be it. Nothing rebounds, envelopes, completes & restores like Grace.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30
What could be more amazing than the maker of the heavens offering, choosing, to take my burdens upon himself? And it is for his glory that he does so!
All these good things I do, all these worries I have, He takes them all and makes it beautiful. Nothing can separate us... Nothing! I love my Saviour.
Friday 6 January 2012
The unnaturalness of Death
Why do we grieve? There is some part of us, some part that still remembers what life was like before death... How life was formed back in the garden, and the perfectness of that first relationship.
Death is not natural, even Jesus wept at the grave of his friend.
Even though I am not yet grieving, and even though I know the pain that will come, I cannot help but wonder at a God who shared with us his pain at the loss of what was perfect.
The process of mourning & grieving is not one I shall look forward to, but I rejoice that my God has gone there before me, and will go with me through it. When I compare the pain of death to the beauty of the cross, it seems in some way that grief is a reminder of what is to come: full and complete restoration to a perfect relationship with my saviour.
I do not want to belittle loss, or hope that I will be able to ignore the pain, but I want to know I am not alone in this, and that life is not without purpose - he holds us in the palms of his hands...
Death is not natural, even Jesus wept at the grave of his friend.
Even though I am not yet grieving, and even though I know the pain that will come, I cannot help but wonder at a God who shared with us his pain at the loss of what was perfect.
The process of mourning & grieving is not one I shall look forward to, but I rejoice that my God has gone there before me, and will go with me through it. When I compare the pain of death to the beauty of the cross, it seems in some way that grief is a reminder of what is to come: full and complete restoration to a perfect relationship with my saviour.
I do not want to belittle loss, or hope that I will be able to ignore the pain, but I want to know I am not alone in this, and that life is not without purpose - he holds us in the palms of his hands...
Wednesday 4 January 2012
Ought, should & am...
When I look back at last year, and I look around at life now, I am overwhelmingly aware of my own failings...how I try and try and try to be better, to be the person I think people want me to be...
But we are not called to spent our lives looking back, to beat ourselves up with relentless shame that we are not who we ought to be, or should be. I can change what I look like any day of the week, but I can never change my heart, change what has been or could have been or will be. This is all completely out of my control, this is not something to overwhelm or frighten, but a reminder that I am not in this alone.
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
I ought to be better, I should try harder... But I am loved as I am.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
But we are not called to spent our lives looking back, to beat ourselves up with relentless shame that we are not who we ought to be, or should be. I can change what I look like any day of the week, but I can never change my heart, change what has been or could have been or will be. This is all completely out of my control, this is not something to overwhelm or frighten, but a reminder that I am not in this alone.
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
I ought to be better, I should try harder... But I am loved as I am.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
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