Thunderstorms

I am deeply in love with thunderstorms.

I miss them in winter, so much so that I have to go to rainymood.com to soothe the absence.

I am unsure why I love thunderstorms so much, but I imagine it must have something to do with the fact that I've always equated them with God.

I remember being little, shorter than the counter tops, hearing the thunder, seeing the lightning. During particularly close, forceful storms, every time the lighting flashed my siblings and I would say, "Wow!" and wait for the thunderclap, counting the seconds.

My Mom would point us to God, his power, his authority over creation, and his compassion for us. We would discuss the science of storms, and the Source of them, so I did not feel fear, but fascination.

The rain and thunder represent compassion and strength, bringing life, and humility. I am nothing compared to a thunderstorm; the thunderstorm is nothing compared to its Creator. The lightning flashes, the rain pours, and the thunder booms out of some necessity to praise the God of the heavens and the earth.

I hear you, thunderstorm, and I love you deeply. 

You remind me of my Heavenly Father, who loves me deeply. 

Welcome back.

"I wish only to bring out the idea which lies behind both the poem and the print. The dusting of the white paper, that it may receive in its purity the image of the pine-tree, trembling with life, is a symbol of the sweeping clear from the mind of all accumulated prejudice that it may receive the impress of beauty in all its freshness and power. That such a preparation is salutary, who can doubt? For we guard ourselves against impressions, we entrench our minds in habits, we refuse simply to see with our eyes, to trust our senses, but must continually be referring to some external standard or other which, perhaps, is not only not valid in itself, but has no real correspondence with our own intuitions and experiences.

"To sweep the mind clear of prejudice and preoccupation is an essential condition of apprehending beauty as it really is."

- from Flight of the Dragon

The Tip of a Pen

I saw this video over at The Rabbit Room. You can go look at their website, because they have a ton of amazing, wonderful things posted every day.

This video is so very, very worth watching.
Then, if you want to, check out the artist's website. 

Wants

I don't want to be a "professional" Christian. I don't want to go through the motions and the routine of faith or religion, walking with half-closed eyes and with boredom or complacency, simply doing the "right thing" because someone might be watching. I don't want to speak or share half-heartedly.

I want to see myself for what I am: an amateur, a messy child with grubby hands, running arms-outstretched toward my Father, the one who has washed and redeemed and loved me, the one who delights in me and is close to me no matter whether I can feel his presence or not. Maybe, especially when I can't.

I want to know my mistakes so I can see God's correction. I want to study the cracks in my frame so I can see God's grace fill every gap, overflowing and submerging me in grace that says perfection is attained through Christ Jesus, not through my efforts. I can stop trying to scrub my hands clean. They've been scrubbed clean by greater hands than mine. 

I want to sit still and listen, learning the sweet, sweet words of Jesus until I know them by heart and love them all the more. I want to lift my hands and sing, and dance for joy because joy is there and ready to be embraced. I want to embrace joy.

I want to see my strengths and be ready to use them for a good purpose, not holding myself back in case my strengths are not strong enough. I want to leap into and lean on the Everlasting Arms, comfortable and confident in their steadiness.

I want to be thankful for tears, for frustrations, for weakness, because these things drive me somewhere good. They drive me to Someone, to the Helper, to the Answer. I want to recognize the delight found in my Saviour, recognize it until it bubbles up in me and I can't help but laugh at the sheer joy of grace. I want to be amazed at the depths of the riches of the knowledge of God, his unsearchable ways, his vast wisdom and knowledge.

Amen.

Paul, the man who relied on Christ

It can be easy for me to forget about the weakness of Paul, because he was such a brilliant theologian, a masterful evangelist, a bold minister, a gospel-centered teacher, and a devoted leader of the church. 

Paul, though, was never hesitant about listing his own failures and weaknesses. He relied on Christ in all things. 

What brought this to mind was reading Philippians. In my personal Bible reading, I prefer to read whole books or letters of Scripture in one sitting in order to get the full message and context of what was written, as far as I am able. In Philippians, Paul wrote something that struck me as being the reality, not only of Paul, but of all believers. 

Look at the following two verses:

I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. (Philippians 2:28)

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Did you notice the word, "anxious"? Here is the striking reality: Paul did not teach, preach or write as though he were speaking from a lofty position toward lesser believers, though he could have. He did not write condescendingly as though he had a depth of insight unavailable to the Philippians - though he did. He did not instruct them from a position of closeness to Christ, giving them the sense that they were far off while he was near to the Saviour. No, he spoke as one on their level. He spoke as a believer needing the grace found in Christ, just as much as they did. 

In the first verse, Paul admits to being anxious. He was anxious for the Philippians, for they were worried. Epaphroditus, Paul's fellow minister for the gospel, had been sick, and he was distressed because the Philippians had heard it, and Paul was anxious for all parties. Epaphroditus had been ill near to death, so one can imagine that it was all-around a sorrowful, worrisome experience. 

Paul includes himself in those who are worried, yet in the second verse, he instructs them not to be anxious about anything! Do you see the mercy in this? Paul, who very likely did take his requests to God, who spent much of his life on his knees in prayer and supplication, who gave thanks to God on a regular basis, reached out to the Philippians with the comfort of knowing that he was just like them - weak, anxious, and in need of Christ. Paul doesn't say, "Do this, do not do that, and get things right, will you?" No, he says, "I fail in my weakness just as you. I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Romans 7:15). Let us therefore go together to the foot of the cross. Let us go together and sit at the feet of our Lord." Paul reminds them by way of his own weakness, by way of his own frailty, of the beauty of the Saviour - the Saviour that shows no partiality, the Saviour Who accepts the weak with the strong, the ignorant with the wise, the lowly with the lifted up, the poor with the rich, etc. 

Paul shows that for all his brilliance and faithfulness, just like the Philippians, he needs God. With that in mind, I'm sure Paul was also thinking of himself when he instructed them to take all their requests to God with prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. Paul reminds the Philippians, as well as us that no matter how wise, how learned, how faithful, or how bold for the gospel, the reality of our need of Jesus remains a constant. 

Snow

Don't kill me. It's just a title, okay?

We're getting close to that time of year in Canada, where the snow starts falling and doesn't stop until June(ish). Now, Canadian snow is quite something.

My little sister Tiana has a pen-pal in Texas, who talks about snow there, and how it almost covers the grass. We think that's very cute.

When the snow finally starts in for real, rolling up its sleeves and shouting "alright, alright, I'm ready!", EVERYTHING is covered. Tonnes and tonnes of snow falls down. Mountains of snow.

It's always amazing to me how my perspective of the landscape changes from winter to summer.

I feel much shorter in the summertime.

So, I think for me, and my overall experience with snow over the course of twenty-one winters, does add something to my reaction to this verse:

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

The thing about the snow here, is that it thoroughly covers everything. There is no chance for any ground to be showing. Everything is white and covered over, and you'd be hard-pressed to dig all the snow away and reveal the ground beneath.

There is no sin too great for God.

He is ready and waiting to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It's all gone. He thoroughly forgives and covers us.

There's something beautiful about snow, eh?

Enjoyment of Beauty is Natural To All

I came across a good quote today:

"Who can doubt it? Even the uneducated will admire a natural scene or be sensitive to the colour of the day or to the character of the season. The remarks of the rudest peasant about the weather have an aesthetic side. As for the capacity of simple people to notice the essentials of artistic beauty, it is a commonplace." ~ Ernest Dimnet

I do not know who Ernest Dimnet was. I do not know what he was famous for, what he believed, or what he thought every day as he got out of bed.

What I do know is that he was correct in one thing: people, no matter who they are or where they are, love beauty. People can relate to one another through a picture they see; through a marvelous sunset which stretches across the sky, bathing it in unbelievably gorgeous hues; through the simple life found in Spring, the promise found in Winter, the glory of being alive.

New Life. There is beauty in this, and everyone feels it. No matter who they are.