Behind the thing you love

I once lived in a building with very tall trees out the back. Big, beautiful trees that I loved. It became apparent that they were a hazard to the building next door, so they had to be cut down. I was so sad about it. I couldn’t imagine the back yard without those trees, the rippling green leaves, the birds.

When they came to cut them down, yes, it was like butchery, all sawdust and noise, reducing the elegant trees to lumber. I thought the place would never be the same again. And it never was. Instead it was full of sky, beautiful and ever-changing. The back rooms of the building filled with light. The space the trees occupied was cleared, creating a new thing, more beautiful than I could have imagined. I loved the trees. The absence of the trees revealed another kind of beauty.

There’s a poem by Kenneth Koch, inspired by a railroad crossing sign that says “One Train May Hide Another”. One thing in our lives may hide another, unexpected thing. Even a thing we love may be blocking out something more beautiful, more beneficial for us. The trees were beautiful. The light and space are more beautiful.

When something we love is suddenly removed from our lives, yes, it might seem like butchery, but perhaps there’s something new, or something hidden, that we will see in the space it leaves behind. Not every loss is a blessing, but look carefully at the space that is left. It may reveal to us a new blessing that we could not have imagined.

Isaiah 60:17                         Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones. I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler.

Ecclesiastes 3:11               He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Haggai 2:9                            “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place I will grant you peace,” declares the Lord Almighty.

Mirror, mirror

There used to be a thing in carnivals and funfairs when I was a kid, called the Hall of Mirrors. It was usually a narrow maze, lined with curved and bent mirrors on the walls and ceilings. As we made our way through, everywhere we turned, we saw ourselves as distorted and ugly. It was disorienting to see different, twisted images of ourselves on all sides, but we laughed, because we knew it wasn’t real.

The world we live in gives us feedback all the time on how we’re doing, who we are, and who we seem to be. It’s how we interpret someone’s reaction to what we’ve done, or the way we might dwell on things we did, or didn’t do, or things we think we can’t do. The thing is, that’s a just a mocking mirror, reflecting a distorted image of us back to ourselves with all our flaws exaggerated.

What ordinary life shows us is not who we really are. It’s not me and it’s not you. What you really are is perfect in Christ, loved beyond belief by God, blessed beyond measure regardless of your own messing up, or how you look to yourself or to others. He knows who you really are, and He can see you perfectly. We can look in the world all we like, but we’re never going to see that perfect image.

But still, this is where we live, in the world that is a narrow hall of mirrors. Everywhere we turn we will see the reflections. We can’t avoid it. You can’t avoid it. But know this, that it’s just a distortion. Know that the real you is perfected and loved and hidden in Christ, and choose to live out of that.

 

Ephesians 1:4                     For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

John 17:16                           They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Colossians 3:3                    For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Ephesians 2:10                  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Knowing more than is written

I grew up inland, but am spending time on an island where rain sweeps across the ocean, a thick white line on the horizon, smudging the distant islands, bearing down on the coast. These are sudden, summer storms that catch out tourists in their pleasure boats so that they need rescuing, despite their tide tables and navigation charts.

Local fishermen shake their heads. They also have tide tables and navigation charts, but they don’t rely only on them. They have a relationship with the sea;  they know its nature. They know where each current will take them, how the tide will work with them or against them, when they should sail out and when they need to head for home. It’s an understanding that has nothing to do with what they have read. It comes from experience, maybe while being taught by someone older, certainly from spending time out there on the water. If I’m leaving safe harbour, I know who I want on board.

Knowing God is like that. It’s not the same as knowing about Him. It means knowing his nature, knowing what you can trust Him to do, where He might take you, how He will support you, when you can step out in faith and when I should not. It’s a knowledge that will enable you to move confidently, trusting Him, not what you have learned.

I love the sea, but will never know it like the local fishermen. God, on the other hand – God the almighty creator of the universe – has an open invitation for us, for you, to spend time with Him, so He can help you to get to know Him. Theology is fine and useful. So are tide tables. But it’s knowing the sea that counts on the ocean. And it’s knowing Him is what will enable you to navigate life.

It’s there, an invitation to wisdom, just waiting for you to ask.

1 John 4:8                            The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Ephesians 1:17                  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Psalm 138:3                        On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

Proverbs 3:5                       Trust in the Lord with all your heart and  lean not on your own understanding

Living below the water line

There’s a beach I love, a storm beach, long and wide and great for walking. I must have walked it hundreds of times now, and so have tens of thousands of others over the years. And yet it shows no trace of our walking. The tides wash in and out, cleaning off our footprints, leaving the beach perfect, smooth and damp, a clean canvas every day.

We live our lives imperfectly, and mess up in big or small ways all the time. I used to believe that God maintained a record of all of that, preserving the tracks of my imperfection. I thought I’d started with a beautiful clean canvas and gradually filled it with indelible marks that would be one day forgiven, of course, but for now were clear and visible to God.  I thought it must be disappointing for Him. I believed I must be a disappointment.

But it’s not like that. God forgives and forgets constantly, not occasionally, renewing our lives through Grace. The tracks of our imperfection are wiped as soon as they are made. This forgiveness of sins – it’s not something that will happen eventually. It’s already done.

Here’s the thing: we are not leaving footprints on a beach that will be erased when the tide finally comes in. We are walking below the water line. His forgiving, living water pours out to forgive and renew us all the time.  No matter how crowded and cluttered the world is, He sees us in the pure and perfected work that Grace is doing in our lives. He loves us, pure and simple. Our sins leave no trace in his memory, because of where He has placed us, because of our position in His love.

We are living below the water line. We can live bravely, not afraid of messing up. We don’t have to worry about the tracks of our past, or even of our future. God’s forgiveness isn’t something that might happen. It already has happened. We can follow where He leads us in the freedom of Grace, the beauty of His forgiving love.

Hebrews 10:17-18            Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Hebrews 4:16                    Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Luke 15:24                           ‘For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

2 Corinthians 3:17           Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Stop what you’re doing, and be

A good friend once said, “I’m a human being, not a human doing,” and I laughed because it seemed so true, and because we were both so busy then, doing so much, and I wondered where our humanity was. Our lives are busy most of the time. We have people to look after, and work or study or survival to take care of, so that still time becomes rare. And yet we are created as beings, to be, to be loved.

Honest to God – taking a moment to be still, to consider who made us and why, to think of Him, and let Him feel the joy of you turning to Him – taking that time won’t hurt you. It may do the opposite of hurting you. It may just fill you with such grace that everything you touch will be smoother and easier when you go back to it.

I know you’re busy. He knows you’re busy. Give Him a minute to help. Take a while to be with Him. Just be.

Being is really all you were made to do.

 

Luke 10:41-42                    “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Ephesians 2:8                     For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

1 Kings 5:4                           But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.

Matthew 6:33-34             But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Don’t be jealous of trees

We raise our kids to be independent, celebrating the day they first tie their shoelaces, or make their own sandwich, or ride a bike. We value that independence in ourselves too. We want to get to a place where we can look back on our lives, and see what we have achieved. We admire people who seem to make an impact, and cast a long shadow on the world. They are like strong, tall trees that have grown from little seeds.  We call them role models, and try to be like them.

Jesus used a different image – he called us the branches of a vine. Now vines aren’t beautiful and independent like trees. They creep along the ground unless someone pins them up to catch the sun. Their stems are thin, and useless for building or burning. And in this image, we’re not even the vine itself, we’re just branches. We depend on the vine for everything. It seems a pathetic existence compared to being a mighty oak tree.

Except that in this image where we are branches, God himself is our vine. We are weak in our own right but the life that runs through us is His life. That pure divine Grace just wants to pour into our daily lives: our homes and streets and schools, our Monday mornings and Friday nights. There’s no limit to what we can produce right where we are, precisely because of our weakness and our dependence. As long as we can rest in that state of balance, choosing to draw life from Him, we are blessed beyond measure.

We are small. But we are significant.

So let’s not be jealous of trees.

John 15:5-8                         “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples”

Proverbs 3:5-6                   Trust in the Lord with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight

2 Corinthians 12:9            But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

What’s your boat for?

When Jesus needed to preach to a crowd people at the Sea of Galilee, at the beginning of his ministry, he stepped into Simon Peter’s boat and asked him to push a little out from shore. Then he sat and taught the people from the boat.

Simon Peter was a fisherman. His boat was for catching fish. Everybody knew that. When Jesus stepped into it, though, it still looked the same, but it became His pulpit and platform, a place from which the message of Grace could be broadcast.

What’s your life like? What’s the thing that keeps you busy, that defines your life? Is it all about your job? Or your family? Or your relationships? Do you really know what it’s for? Do you sometimes think it’s not up to much?

Simon Peter was just a fisherman, and he wasn’t planning to change his life that day. He had a small boat that didn’t travel far. But in that smallest of journeys, pushing just out from the shore, it fulfilled a purpose that could not have been imagined.

We don’t always know what our lives are for, or what marvellous things might happen to them when Jesus suddenly steps in. We don’t know how the simplest things about us will be used. God might invite us to offer them, so he can use them to bless the world in ways we can’t even dream of. We might not even be able to see how His message is shining through from our ordinary-looking days.

Don’t worry about what kind of boat you’re in. Don’t worry about how it could be used. Don’t worry about how far it will go, or if it is big or important enough. Don’t worry about keeping it safe. Just look up and be open to see Him when he asks to step in, push out a little from the shore, and get ready to be amazed.

 

Luke 5:3                               He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

1 Corinthians 2:9               However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him

Revelation 3:20                 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

John 15:16                           You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Salvage

Did you ever think about the close connection between the words salvation and salvage?

Salvation is a really clean word, sanitised and abstract. Sometimes Christians use it in a pious way to describe themselves. It gives a picture of smug sheep, branded with salvation and headed for heaven, looking down on the ones who are not so “chosen”. We hear a lot about “eternal salvation” as though it were something that only kicks in after we die. That makes salvation just a ticket to heaven, a reward for some kind of audition or test that we must have passed, which brings the focus back to us, and our brilliant performance that has earned us this prize. Something to be proud of.

Salvage is a brilliant way of thinking about salvation in these circumstances, because that’s all about rescuing something that is demonstrably broken and lost. You can salvage wreckage from the sea (perhaps with someone clinging to it), or old broken things from a junkyard. You can’t salvage anything that is doing OK on its own. Salvage is messy and individual and takes a lot of work, but only on the part of the one doing the rescuing. The person being saved only has to agree that they are in need of rescue, that they will not reach land on their own, that they need this. There’s nothing to boast about if you’ve been salvaged; you can only be grateful, not smug.

Thank God for His salvage. Thank God He picked me up, paddling hopelessly towards the horizon, and patched me back together with His beautiful grace, making me a new thing. I was rescued, once I finally had enough trust to accept rescue.

And thank God this is not an elite thing to boast about, but an offer for anyone who asks, who wants out of this average mess we live in. Do you want to be salvaged, made safe, beautiful and new? All you have to do is reach out to take hold of the outstretched hand of God, and say yes.

But I can’t see His hand, you might say.

It’s OK. You don’t have to.

He can see yours.

 

Ephesians 2: 8-9                          For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Galatians 3:28                              There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 11:28                            “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Be a leaf!

Leaves thrive by opening to the rain, growing towards the light, letting the wind blow through them, holding their connection to the tree. Green leaves are beautiful, and more than that, they are essential. Through a process called photosynthesis, they take in carbon dioxide from the air, the “bad air” we breathe out, and they turn it into oxygen which we need in the air we breathe back in. This is also how the plant gets food. Just by growing on the tree, and resting in the light, they clear the air all around them, and this process feeds them. You can’t see the difference that makes – it’s not visible – but you would sense its absence.

It’s interesting that they only do this in daylight. They don’t do this transformation on their own. Without light, they reverse the process, taking in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. In light, they do what is impossible for us.

They need light to grow also; they seek it and grow towards it. Apart from that, they rest. All the other things they need they take from the tree. Light is the only thing they actively seem to seek.

We live through our connection to God, our tree of life. We seek His light, and He supplies everything we need – the living water that is His grace. If we rest in that relationship, letting Him work through us, then all around us will be changed, subtly but importantly, the air cleared and cleaned. It may not be clear what’s happening, but things will be better. The thing is, we don’t have to make an effort to let God transform things all around us. And this costs us nothing; in fact it feeds us to let us work through Him in this way.

We only have to be leaves – resting in Him, staying connected to Him, seeking His light all the time.

Proverbs 11:28                  Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

John 4:13-14                       Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 15:5                             “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Jamming

Yesterday I met a man from a French-speaking country in Africa, and we shared a meal with some friends.  He had perhaps a dozen words of English, and I speak hardly any French. So we smiled at each other over dinner, and exchanged some words through our friends. I liked him – he had a gentle spirit, but you couldn’t say we communicated. After the meal, he took out his guitar, and our friends insisted that we play together. The thing is, we both play traditional music from our own countries. I don’t know his, and he doesn’t know mine. I didn’t think this would work.

He tuned up and began to strum; I listened to the patterns and began to riff along. Soon we were playing a new tune that didn’t come from his tradition or mine, music neither of us knew. We sat beaming at each other as we played, listening to this new sound that was growing up between us.

So what has this got to do with Grace?

Music has rules. Traditional music especially has old, well-respected rules. Laws, you might say, like religions. Knowledge of the rules makes it easy to join a music session in my own tradition – I know where it’s going, and can follow the patterns: AABA; I-IV-V-I. Music by the numbers makes pretty good music. It always sounds like the real thing.

This time, though, we came from different traditions and were ignorant of the rules. We had to really focus on the sounds we played while we were playing, and follow those instead of the rules of our separate traditions. We had to really listen. We played something unfamiliar to both of us, something that was new but beautiful, and perfect, in that recognisable way of music when it rings pure and true. This came from a sensitive giving and taking of cues, from listening while we played. If we’d focused on the rules instead, it would not have been possible.

It was daunting until we began. But when the music showed up, we grew closer in this shared recognition of something we loved. It was joyful. It felt a bit like worship. Like Grace.

The rules of music are good to know. They’ll stop you from messing up, but the rules are not the music. They only describe, and point towards music. Knowing the rules will help you play accurately within your own tradition. Knowing music itself will let you play something new and wonderful, with anyone, from any tradition, who also knows music.

The Law is good and useful, and if you know and obey it, you won’t mess up. But if you know God, then through His grace, He can lead you somewhere new. Yes, it’s daunting until you begin, but if you focus on Him instead of on the rules, no important rules will be broken. If you listen to Him, step out a little and trust, something new and amazing and joyful will certainly happen. That’s Grace.

Ephesians 5:19    speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord

John 1:17   For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

Romans 6:15    What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!