Living by ear

 

We need to play life by ear, feeling the notes, sensing them and following the melody, God's melody; not expecting to have everything scored for us to follow dogmatically. We need to be living in his key, matching our pitch to his. 

 

Instead, most of the time, we're singing and playing out of tune.

The amazing song of creation with its intricately twirling harmonies, resonating base notes and sublime beauty has been rendered discordant by the grasping behaviour of humanity. Instead of rejoicing in relationship, with God, with each other, with all living creatures, we have broken strings, blocked pipes and crashed chords. We look for what we can get, and take it if it's not offered, instead of freely and generously enjoying the relationships we were created to have.

It's all there in Genesis but the same story is played out through the centuries. The cast changes but the characters and plots remain the same. 

 

The only way to break the cycle, to bring the choir and orchestra back together under its conductor, is to keep our eyes on Jesus. He's the only one able truly to reconcile the seemingly disparate, the conductor who can hold all different instruments in harmony.

Are we nearly there yet?

 

Where is "there"?

 

Often we're so concerned about arriving that we forget that God is more interested in how we approach the destination than whether we actually fulfil all the goals we set ourselves.

 

I want to be successful. I want to be loved. I want to be attractive. I want to be rich/fulfilled/famous/accepted.

 

What does God want from us?

 

He wants obedience. He wants a humble and contrite heart. He wants us to live according to his standards, not the expectations of the world. 

 

He doesn't want outward compliance, religious rituals, fasting, "right talk".

 

He wants our hearts. He wants who we are because he knows who we could be.

He's ready to help us if we ask.

“Are we nearly there yet?” No parent who's taken their children on a journey will fail to recognise that question. 

“When I’m there things will be different. I’ll be more confident/successful/liked. When I’m there my life will be more fulfilled. I’ll be a better person when I’m there.” 

No person who's ever been dissatisfied with the way their life is turning out will fail to recognise those statements.

We’re so eager to get there that often we don't care how we do it or how many lessons we miss on our relentless pursuit of the journey's end.

Running away from our issues doesn't work. We may escape them for a while in a new environment but they will catch us up. The only way to be free is to face them head on, preferably with the help of Jesus who doesn't say he'll help us escape from our actions but promises that he'll be with us as we face their consequences. Facing up to difficulties alone is daunting. Facing them with a friend, "lowly and meek, yet all powerful", makes a huge difference.

Are we nearly there yet?

The experiences and restrictions of the past year have drastically changed the background to that question for many. What was once thought reliable has proven to be ephemeral. The only thing that hasn't changed is Jesus and his promises. "I will be with you always", through everything life can throw at you and even into the world beyond.

Don't worry about the things in life that change so easily. Trust in Jesus. "Are we nearly there yet?" takes on a whole new dimension when you're asking the Son of God.

Where is "there"?

"There" is God.

Pre-conceptions

 In pre-covid days, when it was still allowed, I invited a co-worker and her son to visit us for lunch. A couple of things she said struck me. "Your husband isn't at all what I expected" and "Am I how you expected me to be?"

I didn't know how to answer the second comment (the first was her problem). I don't tend to form pre-conceived ideas of what people should be. I meet them and my opinion is formed by who they are, how they behave, their attitudes and conversation.

 Isn't this how it should be?

See each person as an individual. Beneath colour, nationality, gender, culture, we are all human.

If you read secular classical literature from centuries ago, across time and culture basic human nature hasn't changed.

If you live in the developing world (Papua New Guinea, Africa) where technological developments often haven't reached the wider population, human nature is the same.

If you read the Bible from the Old Testament written centuries ago to the New (only a couple of thousand years old) human nature is the same and the reason for that is explained.

It's the height of arrogance to judge people because of their geography, era, race or culture and be blind to who they are as individuals, complete with good and bad characteristics.

See each person for who he or she is. Pray that you'll see them as God does, with compassion, as a unique individual loved by him, with more potential than most ever realise, more blindness than many seek to have cured and, if they choose, the right to become adopted as a child of God.

Jesus is the harmony that runs through all creation.

He is the one who unites all our disparate voices, draws in each one from its isolation and helps it to find its own place in the great song.

Without his loving input we are merely discordant noise, each for himself, desperately trying not to end up alone, never truly satisfying the yearning to belong, however confident we appear on the outside.

Without him we can never truly be ourselves, free in the knowledge that our uniqueness is valued by the God who sees what we are and knows what we could be and loves us anyway.

Without him we can be tempted to dampen our life's song, to try to be just like everyone else, to conform to the fears and insecurities of the world.

With him our voices can rise entwined together, individual yet combined, in a song more beautiful than any of us could imagine alone.

Second Chances

 I'd hoped I'd be able to write this post as someone who'd been able to give an abandoned dog a second chance. Unfortunately in this world things don't always work out as we hope they will. I wrote the paragraph below the morning we brought Sam home, when we thought the damage that had been done to him was reparable. Despite the love, patience and understanding we showed, he attacked me three times, biting pre-emptively as events in our home triggered memories of being mistreated previously. We realised we weren't equipped to help him and had to return him to the SPCA for his and our safety.

 

Our experience with Sam doesn't negate the fact that we are given so many chances by God, despite the fact that our behaviour towards him is often not that different from that of an enraged and aggressive spaniel. Sam's problems were the result of human  mistreatment. Our own problems are also the result of human mistreatment and bad choices, our own and those of other people.

 

God is a God of second, third, fourth, so many chances, until the one we die with is the one he finally underlines.

We had hoped that love and patience would have been enough to redeem Sam. We were wrong, his problems needed far deeper treatment.

Our problems need deeper treatment. Without knowledge of and surrender to Jesus' healing, the problems of our world and our lives will never be healed.

 

God gives us many chances to come to him and be healed. Are self-centredness, fear, stubborness, pride preventing you from approaching him before it's too late?

 

Love will heal all in the end, but only the love of Jesus and only if we take the step to accept it.