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S Is For Savior: Hope For Weary Wanderers Like Me

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.” ~ Robert Robinson

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You are small, the path is daunting, you were never meant to make your way alone. You need a savior but that savior is not you.

But you can try. You can make yourself moral, you can make yourself rich, you can carve out a life by the grit of your intentions.

You can pretend you are happy. You can portray yourself as wise. You can use other people as bit parts in your story, and write every scene around you. But the curtain will fall, the audience will exit, the lights will go out on your efforts.

Somewhere, in deepest spaces of your heart, is a lost child yearning for home.

Since the first chapter of history, humans have fled from the one place we would be happy. We’ve tripped over roots, been scratched bloody from brambles, stumbled up rocky pathways, hungry and aching for a hand-hold. The one thing we’ve refused to do is the one thing we must do.

Turn around.

And run into the arms of the one who inbreathes us, who designed us and has carved our names on his hand.* To the one who can “save us in every way a person can be saved.”

A Savior-Figure

The quote is Rose describing Jack, the young passenger on the Titanic who froze to death in the North Atlantic so she could be dry and live. Rose was going the wrong way, engaged to a man who would use, but not love her. Pursuing the lifestyle of the glittering, soul-selling rich, she needed to turn around, to find a savior who could restore her true self. Jack, a Christ figure of sorts, became an illustration of Love.

Would we admire Jack, who died for the sake of another, if Jesus hadn’t died for us first? What does true love like? Look at Jesus, our Savior.

In our Alphabet Adagio we have finally reached the New Testament. In the first four books, the Gospels, we watch all the promises of the Old Testament converge. Jesus is God the Son, the true Adam, the true Israel, the true Tabernacle and Temple. He is the new Covenant, the new King, the good Shepherd, and through him we are given new life.

What is it like to be saved?

According to the Gospel writers, Jesus came,

  • To heal and remake what is broken.
  • To seek and to save the lost.
  • To deliver us from sin and judgment.
  • To rescue us from the grip of evil.
  • To restore our relationship with God.
  • To usher in his kingdom, with a new kind of humanity as its ambassadors to the world.

A kingdom where love wins, justice reigns, evil is banished, and every person is invited to come home.

The story is not over. In the chapters ahead, Jesus will make all of God’s dreams come true.

Have you turned around your weary self and run to Jesus, your Savior?

*Isaiah 49:16

In our series, An Alphabet Adagio, we are savoring the story of the Bible, our story, alphabetically. You can subscribe to e-mail at the bottom of this website so you don’t have to miss a letter.

Photograph by Melanie Hunt
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Art As A Work Of Life

A l’oevre on reconnâit l’artisan. You can tell an artist by his handiwork. ~French proverb

“You can make art or make a product. The two are very different.”

Edouard Vuillard, The Artist's Paint Box and Moss Roses, French, 1868 - 1940, 1898, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Edouard Vuillard, The Artist’s Paint Box and Moss Roses, French, 1868 – 1940, 1898, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

My art teacher, Randy Blasquez, shared the quote on her blog. The context was art and love. “Why doesn’t love come across when you look at a painting? Because it wasn’t put into the painting! The artist was pleasing the gallery or trying to sell.”

How much of your life is spent trying to please the gallery?

The books on writing, the books on art, the books on living life to the full, all agree: Skill matters, but love is essential in any work of art.

I think you would like my writer’s group. Around the word-slinging circle you’ll find a Whitman’s Sampler of styles. We take turns being the discouraged, remind me why I am doing this member, or, less often, the poster child for astounded success. I’ve learned by watching these women wrestle with their art. Things like,

  • A good writer is generous. They bleed their fears, doubts and delights all over the page, with nothing held back for later.
  • A good writer refreshes. They peer into the fog and refuse to blink until they notice a reason for hope.
  • A good writer lights the way. With words gripped by ink-stained fingers they draw us from the dark.

Bad writing may sell books, but readers are left in shadow. A bad life may look successful, but the world is left just as dim.

Art As A Work Of Life

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

Together, we are God’s handiwork. Does your story prove that it’s true? Generous, refreshing, bearer of light, are we changed by the reading of you?

Every day, we’re given a choice–to be just another product, shaped by the world, or let God shape his image in us.

Where have you noticed God’s artistry at work in your life?

 

 

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But The Greatest Of These Is Love

Love’s redeeming work is done, fought the fight, the battle won. Death in vain forbids him rise, Christ has opened paradise. ~Charles Wesley

Mel Sunrise

What Wondrous Love

To shame our sins He blushed in blood;

He closed His eyes to show us God;

Let all the world fall down and know

That none but God such love can show.

~Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Lent is not a season of deprivation, but a return to love’s true source.

With those words we began a long lenten look at 1 Corinthians 13. In French, the word lent means slow, and for some of us slow grates. We are trained to look for quick results and stunning progress, but the journey to love takes time.

The path–with boulders to be climbed, and brambles that tear at the fabric of our confidence, and whispers on the breeze that we are fools to try–offers no short-cuts.

When the Easter hymns have faded and the chocolate eggs all been consumed, don’t forget: you were made for the hard work of Love. To let yourself be loved, and to pour out your life in love, and it is the most difficult thing you will ever attempt, and the one thing you will never achieve, unless you cling with all your might to Love Himself.

  • Do you doubt you are loved? Remember the Cross.
  • Do you feel powerless to love others? Remember the empty tomb.
  • Do you fear the cost that comes with love? Jesus says, “I am with you always, to the end of he age.”

Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

 ~Charles Wesley

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Identity With An Expiration Date

Jesus knew who he was before God and in God. He could therefore resist the temptations to live his life out of a false center based on possessions, actions or the esteem of others. ~David G. Benner

fireman dog

Mistaken Identity:

  • The poses I practice.
  • The costumes I wear.
  • The posturing that earns me the right to breath air.

False Identity:

  • What I have.
  • What I do.
  • What people think of me.

Our identities are always in crisis because the false ones come with an expiration date.

The Identity Bin

A circle’s worth of children sit cross-legged on the floor. As I, the music teacher, hand out rhythm instruments from the plastic bin, their eyes plead,

Please give me claves or castanets! Darn, boring old rhythm sticks again. How will I stand out? I can’t compete with the cabasa’s scritchy sounds. I could be something special with maracas in my hand. The teacher must like me least of all.

The music begins. The students bang their instruments as loud as they can and eye each other with envy. But at the end of the song, the instruments go back in the bin.

Exactly The Point

the Apostle Paul’s makes in 1 Corinthians 13: 8: “Hey guys, you know those spectacular spiritual gifts that have you preening in the mirror, or hanging your head in resentment? They will all go back in the bin!”

What brings us applause and approval today will share the fate of quill pens tomorrow. When Christ returns, they get tossed in the bin–no one will need them, no one will care.

  • Who needs prophetic sermons, when the sound of God’s voice fills the air?
  • Who needs scholarly expertise when God himself can be asked?
  • Who needs mountain-moving faith when the mountains have been moved for good?

Are you building your identity and sense of worth on the temporary gifts of today? Forget your clever cabasa and your clanging cowbell. Start over-performing in what matters.

The Only Identity That Lasts

And so I return again to knowing myself as deeply loved by God. I meditate on his love, allowing my focus to be on him and his love for me, not me and my love for him.

And slowly things begin to change. My heart slowly begins to warm and soften. I begin to experience new levels of love for God. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, I begin to see others through God’s eyes of love.

David G. Benner in, Sacred Companions 

Have you forgotten the gifts you envy or admire will expire? 

This is post fifteen of our Lent To LoveA Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter!

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Love Never Fails

Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me. ~Jesus Culture

out of order

Dear Complaint Department,

Life is out-of-order. Everywhere I turn, something or someone fails.

Plans come up empty, wells run dry. Hearts are broken, coupons expire.

Knees give out, idealists give in, plumbing bursts and hard drives crash.

Coffee gets cold and food will mold, buildings crumble and leaders stumble.

People we count on are late or distracted, show-offs and no-shows deliver their low-blows. Promises made, quickly fade. People neglect and fail to protect and are often inept.

In every way we let each other down. There’s no end to what we fail to be.

In the midst of the damaged, defeated and deranged, is there anything that comes with a lifetime guarantee?

Ted mt. rainier meme 3

Never Fails

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3: 21-26

Have you grabbed hold of the unfailing love of God? I invite you to listen to:

One Thing Remains by Jesus Culture

This is post fourteen of our Lent To LoveA Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter!

Photo Credit  Ted Martinson, photograph of Mt. Rainier
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Love Endures All Things Where Fickle Is The Fashion

Everything in life, contrary to Madison Avenue guarantees, can’t be cured or resolved or eliminated. Some things must simply be endured. Some things must simply be borne. Some things must simply be accepted. ~Joan Chittister

tree endures

Love endures all things. Really? I think I’ll skip to the next verse. My ideal of love involves preventing all pain, not providing the strength to bear it.

Then I look up 1 Corinthians 13:7 in the original Greek and see a glimmer of light. Translated literally, it reads like this: Love

  • all things bears
  • all things believes
  • all things hopes
  • all things endures

As opposed to: Some things, love may endure. Several things, it will put up with for a while. A few things, love will stick around until the end for, if a the ending is guaranteed.

I can’t deny the difference. My feeble, ineffective human version, versus the unmovable love of God. Twenty-six times Psalm 136 repeats this truth, a steady cadence to count on: His love endures forever. His love endures forever. His love endures forever. 

The love of God endures all things so we can become his durable ones, who hold on for the duration, even under great duress, and so reveal his enduring character in this fickle and faltering world.

Love Endures All Things

The winds of March are often cruel and blustery. And yet they typify the stormy seasons of my life. Indeed, I should be glad to have the opportunity to come to know these seasons.

It is better for the rains to descend and the floods to come than to always live in the legendary land of Lotus or the lush Valley of Avalon, where the sun always shines and strong winds never blow.

The storms of temptation may appear cruel, but don’t they lead to a greater intensity and earnestness in my prayer life? Don’t they compel me to cling to God’s promises with a tighter grasp? And don’t they leave me with character that is more refined?

The storms of sorrow through bereavement are intense, but they are one of the Father’s ways of driving me to Himself. His purpose is to softly and tenderly speak to my heart in the secret, hidden places of His presence. There is a certain glory of the Master that can only be seen when the wind is contrary and my ship is being tossed by the waves.

Jesus is not my security against the storms of life, but He is my perfect security in the storms. He has never promised me an easy passage, only a safe landing.

~L.B. Cowman from Streams in the Desert, ed. James Reimann

What does love that endures look like in your life?

This is post thirteen of our Lent To LoveA Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter!

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Love Bears All Things Because You Do Not Bear Them Alone

The Lord is our burden-bearer, and upon Him we must lay off every care. ~Hannah Whitall Smith

Love bears

Love bears all things. All things can be borne, because of love. All love will, without exception, be called upon to bear things.

Peter’s thinking could have been mine. His question is logic itself. “Jesus, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

I can almost see the scratch pad where Peter scribbled his calculations:

  • My tolerance supply,
  • divided by how annoyed I am by each grievance (on a scale of 1-10),
  • equals the moment I say arrivederci to this relationship.

Jesus hands Peter the red-circled answer. Eyes distant, his focus on a not-too-distant Friday, he swallows hard and whispers the correct solution. How often should I forgive? Seven times seven times seven times seven….

Love bears all things because on the cross they have already been borne. Now there is never a burden we carry alone.

Jesus says, “I give you the burdens of love, now let me help you bear them.”

Love Forbears

Sometimes it is good for us to have troubles and hardships, for they often call us back to our own hearts. Once there, we know ourselves to be strangers in this world, and we know that we may not believe in anything that it has to offer.

Sometimes it is good that we put up with people speaking against us, and sometimes it is good that we thought of as bad and flawed, even when we do good things and have good intentions. Such troubles are often aids to humility, and they protect us from pride.

Indeed, we are sometimes better at seeking God when people have nothing but bad things to say about us and when they refuse to give us credit for the good things we have done!

That being the case, we should so root ourselves in God that we do not need to look for comfort anywhere else.

(Thomas à Kempis 1380-1471)

What are you bearing for love of Christ? Will you allow him to lighten your load?

This is post ten of our Lent To LoveA Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter! Scroll up, look right to subscribe to e-mail.

 

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Are You Irritable And Resentful?

How can we live with brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives? ~Henri Nouwen

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Why, yes I am irritable and resentful. How did you know?

Was it my acrimonious, annoyed, bitter, boorish, cantankerous, captious, choleric, churlish, contrary, crabby, cranky, crusty, curmudgeonly, fractious, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, peevish, petulant, pugnacious, querulous, sardonic, splenetic, sullen, surly, testy, touchy, viperous, vitriolic, waspish attitude you noticed?

The problem is, I can’t fake a more agreeable, calm, cheerful, content, forgiving, friendly, grateful, happy, relaxed, at-peace demeanor.

Irritable and resentful are not compatible with Love.

Relief For The Irritable Or Resentful:

I know, dear heart, that your outward trials are painful and bitter.

And I know also that the Lord is able to sustain you through them and make you able to stand your ground.

O that you could dwell in the knowledge and sense of this: the Lord sees your sufferings with an eye of pity and also is able to achieve some good through them. He is able to bring life and wisdom to you through your trials. He will one day give you dominion over that which grieves and afflicts you.

Therefore, do not be grieved at your situation or be discontented.

Do not look at the difficulty of your condition, but instead, when the storm rages against you, look up to him who can give you patience and can lift you head over it all and cause you to grow.

If the Lord did not help us with his mighty arm, how often would we fall! If God helps you in proportion to your problems, you should have no reason to complain, but rather to bless his name.

God is exceedingly good and gracious and tender-hearted. He does not turn away from the affliction of his people in any way.

This I share in tender love towards you, with breathings to our Father, that his pleasant plant may not be crushed in you by the foot of pride or violence, but instead, may overgrow it and flourish the more because of it.

From Letters On Spiritual Virtues, Isaac Penington (1617-1680)

When you are irritable or resentful, where you find relief?

This is post seven of our Lent To Love: A Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter! Subscribing to e-mail is easy–scroll on up the page and turn right.

 

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Love Does Not Insist On Its Own Way

Stubbornness we deprecate, firmness we condone. The former is our neighbor’s trait, the latter is our own. ~John Wooden

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Why? My way is better. I have expertise and insight, my track record speaks for itself. While you were drooling in diapers I was moving mountains. It will all end better if you let me have my way.

Why? It’s more convenient for me. I’ve got everything mapped out to get from here to there. A scenic detour will mean more effort and long delays. We will get there faster if you let me have my way.

Why? I don’t trust your ability to make good decisions. In the past you’ve made some real bloopers, and no doubt you’ll make a few more. Face it, your critical thinking skills are fuzzy. I insist, let me have my way.

Why? I’m afraid, so great is my need to be admired, to manage my image and maintain my grip on the rudder. I’ll lose respect if I give you free will. I insist on everything going my way,

So you won’t be free to. Yours truly, the God you would invent.

Because God does not insist on his own way we can stop insisting on ours.

The Unstubborn Way Of Love

Our self-will is so subtle and so deeply rooted within our own selves and defends itself with so many reasons, that when we try to fight against it, we manage to lose in the end. We end up doing our own will under many covers–of charity, of necessity, or of justice.

But God’s love wills to stand naked and without any cover since it has nothing to hide.

I have seen this love. Indeed, every day I feel myself more occupied with him, and I feel a greater fire within. It is as if I have given the keys of my house to Love with permission to do all that is necessary.

May this be our prayer: “I do not want to turn my eyes from you, O God. There I want them to stay and not move no matter what happens to me, within or without.”

For those who trust in God need not worry about themselves.

From Life And Teachings by Catherine of Genoa (1447-1550)

Do you struggle to let go of control?

This is post six of our Lent To Love: A Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter! Subscribing to e-mail is easy–scroll on up the page and turn right.

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Waiting For The Sun To Rise

You must give your burden up to someone else, and you must carry someone else’s burden. ~Charles Williams

waiting for the sun

Well, there you are. Coffee mug pressed to cheek, you’re waiting for the rising sun’s warmth, and dreading the day.

You’ve considered changing your status to “Avoiding People” and heading back to bed.

The hours stretch before you like a gauntlet–flaming, spinning swords; you, dodging and dancing, stumbling out the end. You light a candle, and mutter a plea you will make it through intact.

As the sky begins to lighten, you dream of a you-centered world . People say what you wish, and fit your desires: a fantasy.

And perhaps a fantasy life is best, an alternative everything alive in your head. You get to write the script, stage every the action, provide for your every need. Applause and delight, the only part others play.

So predictable, so safe. The first step towards hell.

Descent Into Hell

It was one of the 15 Books That Found Me. A theological thriller, I purchased it because the author, Charles Williams, was an Inkling–that Oxford band of literary brothers–along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Descent into Hell is a tough, but shattering read.

The theme of the book is co-inherence–what happens to one, affects us all–and to ignore that truth is to slowly die. But when we set out to “bear one another’s burdens” we discover the path to life.

In response to pain, Lawrence Wentworth chooses to live for himself, to create an inner world of his own making. In response to fear, Pauling Anstruther turns outward and embraces self-giving love.

We follow them, as every small choice to serve self or to serve others leads one to inner torment and the other to fearless joy.

Waiting For The Sun, Again

There you are. Coffee mug pressed to cheek, you are waiting for the sun’s warmth, eager for the day. You drink in the quiet and pray for the adventures that await. Whose burden will you lift today? What sorrow will you share?

The hours stretch before you–there will be so many chances. Your dance card will fill–with the sad-eyed, the frustrated, the weary, the bitter. Even the turned-inward ones will wander your way. You’ll get no applause, no glad adoration–just a glint in their eyes, a new spring in their step.

And your own soul being saved.

(Philippians 2:12-13       Galatians 6:2)

Which way are you leaning, while waiting for the Son?

 

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