May 12, 2010
Driving over to church today, we passed a dead skunk by the side of the road. It occurred to me that skunks are really quite pretty animals, with their shiny black fur and crisp white stripes. Then, of course, I thought of their smell. As far as I know, there is no creature that likes, or even tolerates, the smell of a skunk. Dogs downright glory in the smell of poop – they will roll in it, cover themselves with it, even eat it. But they run from the smell of a skunk.
If there was something about me that nobody could tolerate, it would bother me. But it doesn’t seem to bother a skunk. In fact, one gets the impression they sort of revel in the power it gives them. And that is what happens to humans when nobody loves them. They turn to power instead. Then, the more power they get, the more their ability to love, even to receive love, wastes away. Maybe skunks are a sign to us, a warning, about the potential for human toxicity – that we, too, might be or become noxious to anyone who comes near.
What if some such human skunk began receiving love? Would the process work in reverse – the more love they receive, the more the need for power diminishes? Would others then begin to see and admire the beautiful jet coat with its crisp white stripes?
It sounds like pie in the sky, doesn’t it? But that seems to be God’s plan for each one of us.
Posted in Inter-Species Relationships | 6 Comments » | Tags: Christianity, God, human condition, love, nature
April 2, 2010
I used to spend time just sitting and thinking. Did you? I’d get a cup of tea, and lounge on the sofa, and stare out the window. All kinds of thoughts would flow through my mind. Soon, I would notice something beautiful – the way light bounced around among leaves blown by a breeze; or the grain of something made of wood; or the graceful arc of a stem on a plant. Colors, patterns, lines.
Today, I did it again. It was hard, tearing myself away from the computer screen, the television, even books and magazines. Some synapse kept firing, sending the command to my body to reach for the remote, or get back to my desk, or at least pick up a book. It was a lot like the one that fires every time I walk past the snack drawer in our kitchen, urging me to have a piece of chocolate. To not respond to those tiny firings is actually painful, like being poked mentally with a pin. I start, and then have to purposefully – not resist, exactly – merely fail to obey.
After awhile a kind of peace began to fill me from my belly up. Eventually it reached my brain, and after that the inertia was all on the side of staying where I was. Certain colors of things became almost tactile, causing a responding warmth in my heart. The way my cat moved, the texture of her fur, mesmerized me. I was not just looking at things as objects outside of me, but receiving them, even in some sense going out to meet them. I felt that I was being nourished through my eyes.
Seeing by gadgets, and knowing the world through them, gives a severely attenuated vision, a thinned and weakened shadow of the wholeness of what is on offer, like seeing with half an eye.
Posted in technology | 7 Comments » | Tags: human condition, imagination, nature, technology
April 2, 2010
I’ve been thinking about men. No, not THAT way! Just wondering – in our day and age, how do boys learn to be men? How do we all understand what it means to be a man?
The last few decades have brought us considerable angst about women, and what is valuable in women, and what little girls should aim for in life. And there has been a lot of disparagement of men. But I hear very little about what makes an admirable man. In decades and centuries past, they wrote about “manly virtues” – honor, courage, loyalty, steadfastness, responsibility, even self-sacrifice. I don’t hear much about such things, any more, except in regard to our military. Do these ideals still define a “manly man” to us?
If you are a man, what and how did you learn about this? Books? Role models – father, teacher, boss, friend? Popular culture – movies, music, television? Are there conflicts among these sources? Are our boys and young men being offered these ideals, or others?
Posted in Men | 10 Comments » | Tags: generation gap, human condition, ideals, Men, morality
March 28, 2010
Driving Up-Valley today, I was struck afresh by the advent of spring. Everywhere were green grasses, green trees, green hedges, even green weeds. So much green! God must love that color, since he has made so many shades, and apportioned them so liberally over His earth, and planted that same love in the hearts of His children.
Each kind of plant has its own shape and shade, so that seeing a landscape of them is like looking at a symphony of greens, patterning together in brights and mutes, rounds and spikes. Each leaf and bladed is glowing with the light of life, seemingly longing to burst open and pour it out. Silently but to an open heart, they sing a mighty Alleluia Chorus all around us, praising the God who made them with every leaf and twig of their being.
These humble creatures far outstrip us in their constant and whole-hearted praise, and in their perfect obedience to the life ordained for them. And yet, we so easily see them, if at all, merely as the furniture of our own busy existence.
Posted in Inter-Species Relationships | 4 Comments » | Tags: creation, mystery, nature, spring
March 11, 2010
For those of you who are interested, and keep asking me, I continue to wait with strained patience for word from my publisher, OakTara, about when my two novels will be published. My contract was signed in June 08, but like all publishers, it seems, they are utterly swamped with manuscripts to be read and other pressing business. I did hear from them in December that work on The Forest and The Wisdom of Ambrose would begin shortly after the first of the year, but to date, am still waiting. I have noticed that some other new authors who were signed about the same time have begun the process, so I have hope that I am near the front of the queue.
Thank you all for your continued interest and encouragement! I hope one of these days to have a more exciting announcement.
Posted in Publishing | 3 Comments » | Tags: novels, The Forest, The Wisdom of Ambrose
March 11, 2010
Recently, on a friend’s blog (see “Thoughts on God and Life” in my links list), a heated discussion took place about the value of social activism in a Christian’s life. Opinions ranged from assertions that social activism is THE business of every Christian, to assertions that an over-emphasis on it presents a great risk to ”true” Christian living. With, of course, many stages in between.
I recognize in myself a defensiveness toward pressures to social activism. I feel guilty about it. Over the years, I have put myself into various venues – a career in the field of social services, volunteering in various programs – and while this salves my conscience somewhat, in the long run it makes matters worse, because I am always brought to the realization that I am just not very good at this sort of thing. I begin feeling like a failure as a Christian. And then the defensiveness kicks in, and I begin saying, “Yeah, but I do have gifts that are other than that, and maybe some of us are just not called to activism, but to other kinds of ministry.” And then begins an internal argument about “my” gifts and whether I am using them well, and whether they are really what God wants from me, or are they just excuses to stay in my comfort zone?
One of the distinctions that I think needs to be made is that between personal, individual service, and service programs. I believe God brings particular people and situations into our lives and expects us to respond in love, however that may best be manifested by us. But I have a deep skepticism about service programs (no doubt a result of seeing the reality of government programming in my career). They seem to get so quickly off-track, and then one is committed to something that really isn’t effective in feeding the poor, or whatever the goal is. Yet, there are programs that do very good work, and there are people, I am confident, who are called to this kind of ministry.
So what say you all? There is surely a gospel emphasis on feeding the poor, healing the sick, welcoming the outcast, etc. How do you view your responsibilities as a Christian (or not) in meeting this demand?
Posted in Christian Duty | 6 Comments » | Tags: activism, Christianity, discipline, ethics, morality, service
March 10, 2010
Okay, so we are well into it. How are you doing? I think I like the route I’ve chosen, which is an amalgam of different practices, some only done once a week. Probably the most meaningful has been memorizing Psalm 84. I have never been much into memorizing scripture, but my eyes are opened. In the process of learning it, each word and phrase stands out and each offers me meaning I would have missed on just reading. This is not one of those outstanding psalms of which most people know at least a line or two – but it has become outstanding to me, rich and fruitful. Thanks, Christine, for the suggestion!
Posted in Lent | 4 Comments » | Tags: Christianity, discipline
February 21, 2010
I talked today with a young man I know who is in prison for life. Whenever I see him or hear from him, I am struck anew by the tragedy of a man’s whole life lived literally in a small cage, without opportunity to work, learn, create, produce – except as he can scrape together books, paper and pens from the generosity of others. In spite of all, he is God’s man there, living as a Christian among men whose religion is often hate, where even other “Christians” revert to the prison status quo outside of weekly chapel. Just to be willing to say in his quiet way, “I am a Christian,” and to follow that up with tolerance, forbearance, patience, and compassion for the bent and lost around him, takes great courage and steadfastness.
The situation of this young man, and others like him, who live in poverty and oppression, without hope of improvement, show our prison system to be a self-engendering disgrace.
Posted in Life in Prison | 6 Comments » | Tags: Christianity, discipline, human condition, prison, reaching to God
February 4, 2010
Reading the creation story in Genesis, I suddenly pictured myself tucked safely under God’s arm, watching as He worked, day by day calling more and more of His universe into being.
“Let there be light,” He said. Now, I can conceive of utter darkness, no-light. But what would it be, from eternal darkness, when there never had been light, to first imagine it? What creative magnificence! And why? To God, darkness is not dark; the light and the dark are all the same. So why make light?
When He made humans, He gave us eyes that let us see light. In fact, we see only in light. Our eyes depend on light, and in a sense, the dependence is mutual, because the light needs eyes to be known. It’s almost as if they were made for each other. And light is closely bound up with life. Light is what makes plants grow. And lack of light makes our spirits wither into depression.
And yet, even now, we do not fully understand light. Is it matter, or is it pure energy? Are we animals, or are we spirits? Mortal, or eternal beings? Such questions, I believe, are the very stamp of God’s authorship.
We live our lives bathed, soaked, in this marvelous light that God thought up and made, this light that we love and need, but take for granted and do not understand. This mystery. This is God.
Posted in Light | 4 Comments » | Tags: Christianity, creation, God, human condition, imagination, miracles, mystery
February 4, 2010
Lent is coming. February 17. A time for being intentional about clearing away some of the obstacles between ourselves and God. There is a standard practice of giving up something – chocolate, alcohol – for the forty days (minus Sundays) before Easter. I’m not sure what that does for one’s closeness to God; I suppose the “giving up” can be a way of humbling oneself. I wrestle with it (maybe because I am so resistant to humility!). Anyway, I’ve never found “giving up” to be all that humbling – it mostly just proves to me that I can do it, and that is pride.
A friend of mine is giving up watching the news on television. Now that strikes me as a good Lenten discipline, because her intention is to re-balance what she is putting into her mind. She wants to see if she will be less anxious and preoccupied with negative thoughts, give God a chance to have more access.
I guess one way to approach the problem is to consider what areas of your life contain obstacles – various innocuous-seeming addictions, like daytime TV or exercise or sleazy romance novels, or, yes, even chocolate. Or there may be areas where there is a lack – good reading, exercise, raw vegetables – that need to be added.
These are my meanderings. I’d like to hear yours. Lent is fast approaching, and I haven’t yet settled on a way to observe it productively.
Posted in Lent | 13 Comments » | Tags: Christianity, discipline, morality, reaching to God
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