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The Jeweler’s Shop

“He continually lives in expectation. Only this is, as it were, on the far side of all those different loves without which man cannot live. Take you, for instance. You cannot live without love. I saw from a distance how you walked down this street and tried to rouse interest. I could almost hear your soul. You were calling with despair for a love you do not have. You were looking for someone who would take you by the hand and hug you.


How am I to prove to you that on the other side of all those loves which fill our lives- there is Love! The Bridegroom is coming down this street and walks every street! How am I to prove to you that you are the bride?”—

The Jeweler’s Shop, Karol Wojtyla

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Lesson in Love

One of the most important lessons about prayer was inadvertently imparted to me my boyfriend several months ago when he was in his first semester of medical school. Being a med student, he rarely has time for anything besides studying- myself included. Well, about two months into school, we began talking less and less. I really felt disconnected from his life and felt things seemed distant between us. When we talked about this, I was surprised to hear that he didn’t feel that way. In fact, he told me that though we hadn’t been talking on the phone much at all, he still spent lots of time reading through old emails and texts I had sent him. He also said that he spends so much talking ABOUT me to other people, that sometimes he just forgot that he hadn’t actually talked TO me. Naturally, I was not too happy at the fact that he seemed to prefer spending time leafing through old messages rather than having real time conversations with me in the present. To him, it sincerely seemed like a good substitute at the time and he hadn’t really given much thought about it. But after we talked about it, we both agreed that talking about/thinking about/reading about the other person could never take the place of actually spending time with the other person and the impact of that on the growth of our relationship. 

Then it hit me.

How often do I do the same thing to God?? How often to I read quotes and random bible verses, facebook posts, blogs, etc. about God and count that as “prayer time?” Too often. How often do I just listen to a podcast as I drink my morning coffee and afterwards feel like i’ve fulfilled some quota of Jesus-time for the day? How often do I think of God/talk about Him with friends but forget that I haven’t talked to Him that day at all. All of these things are good and worthwhile…they help us stay encouraged and to encourage others…but they can never take the place of time alone in dialogue with the Lord. Speaking and listening to God. Pouring out my heart, my joys, struggles, etc and waiting for His voice to speak to me. Waiting…yea, waiting on God. Relationships don’t grow just by us thinking about them. We must spend time with those we love…and we must be generous with our time. =)

Just something to think about as we go deeper into Lent. 

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.

Somebody is talking. Who is talking? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’…

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’– what business have you to be disquieted?

You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’– instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.

Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (via set-apartgirl)

The Struggle

I was at a concert last weekend and during parts of it, Mike, the lead singer of Tenth Avenue North, gave reflections on some of the songs. Some of what he said I really needed to hear and so I wanted to share those thoughts with you in case it may be something you need reminding of as well. I’ve noticed over the past year that one of the things I often fear is suffering. It’s tempting to always pray that God would make my life easy and convenient. I can see how God sometimes allows suffering for my growth, in retrospect. But at the time it’s actually happening, it’s still it’s so hard to trust that suffering is truly for my good. Anyway, their latest album is called “The Struggle” and that’s what it’s about- struggle and suffering. Mike talked about what he called “pain between the pictures” which means, when you look at a photo album of memories, nobody really takes pictures of the bad times in their lives, the times when we’re faced with trials.  But..the hard times between the happy pictures, the painful moments that nobody wants to take pictures of…those are often the times of your life where God is doing the most in your heart. When things are the darkest, that’s when God’s often doing the most good. If we doubt that, we need simply to look at the cross, since God allowed his perfect Son to suffer for our good and the good of the whole world. Sometimes God doesn’t want to change our circumstances, He wants to change us. So instead of asking God to make our lives easier or more comfortable, ask him to continue with the “madness” and the struggle because he is preparing our hearts here to be ready for His kingdom one day in heaven. So I pray that God would bless you with His peace amidst your times of suffering.

 ***
All I hear is what they’re selling me
That God is love, he isn’t suffering
And what you need’s a little faith and prosperity
But, oh my God, I know there’s more than this
If you promise pain, it can’t be meaningless
So make me poor if that’s the price for freedom

Don’t stop the madness, Don’t stop the chaos
Don’t stop the pain surrounding me
Don’t be afraid, Love, to break my heart
If it brings me down to my knees [Tenth Avenue North-Don’t Stop the Madness]
***
‎”God does not abandon us, but he does allow us to be tried. Just as the juice of the grape has to ferment in order to become a fine wine, so too man needs purifications and transformations; they are dangerous for him, because they present an opportunity for him to fall, and yet they are indispensable as paths on which he comes to himself and to God. Love is always a process involving purifications, renunciations, and painful transformations of ourselves - and that is how it is a journey to maturity.”~Pope Benedict

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