A poem I wrote
“God, I did all you wanted.
I passionately served you.
What was it all worth?
Cuz here I am alone.
Now you led me to this cave.
It has been nearly forty days.
It just doesn't make any sense.”
Then you said to stand on the mountain...
You said, “just wait here for me.
I'm going to pass by you,
just watch the mountains shatter.”
So I watched everything cave in,
crash down,
and burn.
And you asked me again why I'm here.
“I'm here, alone, and I don't know why;
all I was doing was following you.
Why would you leave me in this cave?”
But you don't apologize
because your will is perfect,
and everything shattered,
caved in,
crashed down,
and burned
all at your command.
“Let it be,” you said, and it was.
And it was, and it wasn't, and it will be,
or maybe it won't be.
Sometimes I don't want to be obedient
because it seems ridiculous.
If I'm being honest, it just doesn't make sense.
And I may never understand.
But one thing is for certain:
obedience is too easy
if you already know what is to come.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Thin Lines
I'm finding that life is so complex because there's nature and nurture, predestination and choice, decisions to make and destiny to accept, and on top of all those factors interplaying to create reality as it is, there are the thin lines and boundaries, which we create because we can't handle things being so complex, that are actually quite blurrier than we like to let on between my thoughts and God's, my will and God's--in essence all the aforementioned factors of nature, nurture, predestination, choice. We're not comfortable with the fact that we might love someone because God wants us to love him or her, thus it is both our will and God's will, our heart and God's heart, it is a choice and a predestined predisposure to love that person, it's a decision that must be made and a destiny to accept.
It is, furthermore, taking into account that maybe the lines are meant to be blurry, that maybe things are meant to be complex, and since it is so... it's too simplistic for me to feel like I'm the only one who is hurting or has the best viewpoint because the complexity is, everyone seems to have a different reality when it comes to certain situations. And sometimes it isn't a matter of whether something is right or wrong, sometimes it's just this or that. We want to boil things down to right or wrong because we like the lines, we are comfortable with having lines... but it can't always be that simple. It's too bad sometimes because if it were just a matter of right and wrong, things would be easier to get over.
It is, furthermore, taking into account that maybe the lines are meant to be blurry, that maybe things are meant to be complex, and since it is so... it's too simplistic for me to feel like I'm the only one who is hurting or has the best viewpoint because the complexity is, everyone seems to have a different reality when it comes to certain situations. And sometimes it isn't a matter of whether something is right or wrong, sometimes it's just this or that. We want to boil things down to right or wrong because we like the lines, we are comfortable with having lines... but it can't always be that simple. It's too bad sometimes because if it were just a matter of right and wrong, things would be easier to get over.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Choice
"I always thought that there was this one perfect person for everybody in the world, you know, and when you found that person the rest of the world kind of magically faded away, and, you know, the two of you would just be inside this kind of protective bubble, but there is no bubble, I mean if there is you have to make it, I just think life is more than a series of moments, you know, we can make choices, and we can choose to protect the people we love, and that's what makes us who we are and those are the real memories"
-Forces of Nature
So it's not that I think movies offer a lot of truth or something, but here's why I quote that...
I mentioned before that I stressed about deciding what school to go to, but God is down either path. God is with me wherever I go... He is going to take care of me. That's the same with choosing what I do after I graduate now. I've applied two places: an environmental school and an internship at a non-profit in DC. Let's say I get accepted both of these places. *crosses fingers* I believe that I could go to the environmental school, and God would be there, and that would offset a set of events. Or I could go to the internship, and God would be there too, and that would just offset a different set of events. And if it is predestined that I do one of those... how could I ever make the wrong decision? Wouldn't whatever decision I make be the correct one? But obviously I have to apply places and make a choice--take some action--because if not, nothing is going to happen.
If I don't choose to cultivate relationships, I won't have any.
If you take someone like Mother Theresa... this amazing woman prayed and said, "God tell me where you want me to go, and I will go without delay." She felt called to go to Calcutta when she was on a train, and so when she got back to her nunnery or whatever it's called, she got right to action and asked permission to leave. They didn't let her go. But she didn't stop trying. I say all this to say that Mother Theresa is all about action.
I just think it is dangerous to say that everything is predestined because doesn't that make you just feel like you should just sit back and let things happen to you? But if you never move, you just stay where you are. And if you never move, you are making a choice; the choice is inaction.
-Forces of Nature
So it's not that I think movies offer a lot of truth or something, but here's why I quote that...
I mentioned before that I stressed about deciding what school to go to, but God is down either path. God is with me wherever I go... He is going to take care of me. That's the same with choosing what I do after I graduate now. I've applied two places: an environmental school and an internship at a non-profit in DC. Let's say I get accepted both of these places. *crosses fingers* I believe that I could go to the environmental school, and God would be there, and that would offset a set of events. Or I could go to the internship, and God would be there too, and that would just offset a different set of events. And if it is predestined that I do one of those... how could I ever make the wrong decision? Wouldn't whatever decision I make be the correct one? But obviously I have to apply places and make a choice--take some action--because if not, nothing is going to happen.
If I don't choose to cultivate relationships, I won't have any.
If you take someone like Mother Theresa... this amazing woman prayed and said, "God tell me where you want me to go, and I will go without delay." She felt called to go to Calcutta when she was on a train, and so when she got back to her nunnery or whatever it's called, she got right to action and asked permission to leave. They didn't let her go. But she didn't stop trying. I say all this to say that Mother Theresa is all about action.
I just think it is dangerous to say that everything is predestined because doesn't that make you just feel like you should just sit back and let things happen to you? But if you never move, you just stay where you are. And if you never move, you are making a choice; the choice is inaction.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Trusting
Honestly, sometimes I just want to scream. I don't know why things have to be so hard and complicated; why can't we just be? Why do we always have to second guess things? Does God intend for us to be so wishy washy? THIS is the problem with meaning. No one knows themselves what they mean or how they feel, so how in the world can someone else even begin to understand how someone feels? And since we can't know if we feel something because we do or because we are just fooling ourselves, and we, likewise, can't know if someone else feels something for real or not, then what are we left with? All we can do is cast down everything that sets itself against the pretensions of Christ.
Romantic movies have set us up believe that if things are meant to be, you will both pick the same elevator floor, or that you can write your phone number in a book and the right person will find it in a second-hand bookstore. But what if that's not how God works. What if what it takes is commitment? What if trusting God means being committed to not running away--trusting that if you feel led to, it's okay to choose to pick the same floor on the elevator as someone else? What if trusting God means trusting that He has given you a love, a passion for someone or something, and He wants you not to ignore it?
Romantic movies have set us up believe that if things are meant to be, you will both pick the same elevator floor, or that you can write your phone number in a book and the right person will find it in a second-hand bookstore. But what if that's not how God works. What if what it takes is commitment? What if trusting God means being committed to not running away--trusting that if you feel led to, it's okay to choose to pick the same floor on the elevator as someone else? What if trusting God means trusting that He has given you a love, a passion for someone or something, and He wants you not to ignore it?
Thursday, January 1, 2009
God is Bigger
I remember at LCBC this summmer they were doing a series about different characteristics of God. There was one particular sermon that sticks out in my mind, and I don't really recall what characteristic they were focusing on that day or anything, but at the beginning of the sermon, David Ashcraft asks who had been to the Grand Canyon. He said how gorgeous it is and how much he loved visiting there, and then he said that he wanted to show the people who have never been there just how awesome it is. So he takes his piece of gum out of his mouth and tries to mold it into the shape of the Grand Canyon as a representation. Well obviously, this is just absurd because a piece of gum does not compare to the beauty of the Grand Canyon.
It makes me think about how we can't possibly understand the scope of God's nature. Any explanation that we have of God falls short because there's no way to describe that kind of immensity, that scope of timelessness.
God is just that big.
So I just think that God is way bigger than any "doctrines of grace" or doctrines of Arminianism. This is something Joy and I talked about recently. It was interesting that she brought it up because I had been thinking it. She posed the question, "What if free will and God's elect coincide?" Maybe they do. In a more easily understandable example... sometimes we pray to God as Father, sometimes as Savior, as King, as Lover of our souls. You can see the difference especially with girls who are taught that Jesus is their bridegroom. Jesus is, in essence, the perfect boyfriend. Well, guys certainly don't view Jesus that way. I know that people have different roles also, but not in the complex way that God does. God plays all roles at all times. He meets you right where you need him. I can sometimes be a friend to my mom, but mostly, I'm a daughter. We are stuck in those roles to one another. But God is all types of relationships, all forms of love at the same time.
So isn't it possible that God is all things, and you can approach him differently depending on who you are. I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm stepping on ultimate truths because that is definitely not my aim, but what if predestination appeals to me because I like the view of God's love securing me. It isn't forced love to me, but rather God grabbed me so I couldn't fall off the cliff. He loved me that much that He didn't just reach out his hand, He grabbed me! On the other hand, some people like to feel a little more freedom in choice, and so if they want to feel that God held out his hand, and they chose to take it... well, I used to argue that this was a fundamental difference in the nature of God. But what if it isn't? What if God is both views put together?
I wouldn't expect our logic to understand it because God is God, and we are not. He is so much bigger than anything we can understand! And that is AWESOME!
It makes me think about how we can't possibly understand the scope of God's nature. Any explanation that we have of God falls short because there's no way to describe that kind of immensity, that scope of timelessness.
God is just that big.
So I just think that God is way bigger than any "doctrines of grace" or doctrines of Arminianism. This is something Joy and I talked about recently. It was interesting that she brought it up because I had been thinking it. She posed the question, "What if free will and God's elect coincide?" Maybe they do. In a more easily understandable example... sometimes we pray to God as Father, sometimes as Savior, as King, as Lover of our souls. You can see the difference especially with girls who are taught that Jesus is their bridegroom. Jesus is, in essence, the perfect boyfriend. Well, guys certainly don't view Jesus that way. I know that people have different roles also, but not in the complex way that God does. God plays all roles at all times. He meets you right where you need him. I can sometimes be a friend to my mom, but mostly, I'm a daughter. We are stuck in those roles to one another. But God is all types of relationships, all forms of love at the same time.
So isn't it possible that God is all things, and you can approach him differently depending on who you are. I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm stepping on ultimate truths because that is definitely not my aim, but what if predestination appeals to me because I like the view of God's love securing me. It isn't forced love to me, but rather God grabbed me so I couldn't fall off the cliff. He loved me that much that He didn't just reach out his hand, He grabbed me! On the other hand, some people like to feel a little more freedom in choice, and so if they want to feel that God held out his hand, and they chose to take it... well, I used to argue that this was a fundamental difference in the nature of God. But what if it isn't? What if God is both views put together?
I wouldn't expect our logic to understand it because God is God, and we are not. He is so much bigger than anything we can understand! And that is AWESOME!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)