I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16.33 (NIV) Stuff happens. Sometimes crazy stuff! But take heart - there's something better to focus on amidst anything. Someone who knows you. Who's got you. Who loves you. And who will never tire of being there when you need.
So peace! Where are you finding yours? Because even though we have reminders like this in the Bible that Jesus gives us peace, I think us humans are still pretty good at being anxious, busy, sometimes empty... Pretty good at being peace-less. But I find peace when I can move myself above all of that, and focus on something else. For me, that revolves around God and it revolves around creating - putting something back into the world, rather than just consuming all the time. Using time in a different way; when it doesn't matter when it will get done, just that eventually it will. For me, I've been finding peace in having pretty flowers on the window sill to remind me of seasons and that things stay underground sometimes and grow out at others. For me, peace is in the time I spend stirring, kneading, smelling, and waiting as I bake goodies to share. For me, it's in the brush strokes (real, and more recently digital too!) and water sprays and even in some cases the clacking of the keys on my keyboard as I create something new. For me, it's in the songs I sing and the words I read as I lift my eyes to remember my God. Why not take some time to find peace in this time of space? Do things differently - without an agenda or deadline. Of course, neither you nor I can make everything like that! There are still things we need to do by certain times, or in certain ways. But it's still important to actively try to do some things in ways that carry you into the stillness and peace that God designed us to need and destined to give us. Stay safe, and take care!
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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46.1 (NKJV) Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29.12-13 (NKJV) I didn't have as much time for this illustration today, but I still wanted to share it with you. At my church we do this holiday club for the kids every summer, and as part of the big celebration bit at the start, with all the kids together, we have a slot for the children to share their 'God-Sightings' from the day before. Or a wall they can add a God-Sighting brick to, or a tree they can add a God-sighting leaf to - you get the idea. The kids would come back with the most creative ideas of where they'd seen God - in each other, in pets, in a cosy bed they slept in last night, in the love of their parents, in the fun of the songs we'd just been singing together.
These two passages remind me that there's nothing that could be happening that would mean I couldn't run to God and be safe, and that whenever I look for God, God will be found. I strongly believe that God loves to reveal his character and love to us. And most of the time we're too busy to notice. So why not use this slowed time to not just get too busy again, in different ways. Keep your eyes open. Look for those God-sightings! And feel free to share in the comments below. My God-sighting today was when I went on a run earlier (I've decided to start the Couch-to-5k thing given that I'm no longer able to keep active in other ways...) and as I ran down my street I saw the edge wall of a house, just inside the window frame, where there was white tattered paint peeling off and red paint underneath. Now I'm aware if asked what that made people think of, each different person would come up with something different. But me - well, red is my favourite colour - I saw that tattered self I felt, but with something beautiful underneath ready to be revealed. Though I felt exhausted and fragile by the time I got back from my run, I also felt like there was newness and energy in this week, and confidence to have a go and new and daunting things (two such things have I've been invited to join since that run!). Keep your eyes open. God will keep you safe, and will be there when you seek him. Stay safe, and take care! Put yourself aside long enough to help others get ahead, and look out for each other, like they are the most important. Philippians 2.3-4 (translation mine) My church has started sending out daily thoughts to guide our hearts and minds back to God during this time of self-isolation, social-distancing and insecurity of what this will all mean for the future. They're callled 'LOOK UP IN LOCKDOWN' and I don't know who came up with that idea, but I love it. I'm someone who can sometimes feel swallowed up because I'm looking so intently at what's around me, or going over and over again in my head what's within me, and it's all - in my opinion - highly stress inducing.
Last week I was struggling with back pain (let's just say my home is not yet Work-From-Home-ready...), and that along with the constant changes in what we were or weren't allowed to do left me feeling frustrated and easily annoyed. I was sad that I wouldn't be able to see anyone outside of my house, and afraid that it'll last a long time. I tried to busy myself thinking of all these things I could do in my house, but every time I tried to do any of them for any length of time, my back pain got worse. I was at breaking point. And then I read these words in the first instalment of LOOK UP IN LOCKDOWN (and had some solid help (pushing!) from my husband yesterday to do something I enjoyed and which gave joy to others): "...in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others." (Philippians 2.3-4, NIV) This is the picture it produced in my mind. A woman who's put aside the thoughts of herself, the things to do with her appearance, her actions, what others think, what others see. All that is hung up on the fence, while she gets dirty for something all can enjoy. There are many ways we can think highly of others and do things for others. My favourite right now is baking - what's yours? But my favourite part of this verse, when I looked into it, is that where we usually read it as "not looking to your own interests but the interests of others..." - the word in Greek means "not watching out for yourself, but each [watching out for] others". That's what I translated it 'look out for each other'. Who can you be looking out for this week? Those in your house? Those who might not be in a house with anyone right now? People you can message, call, email, check-in with. Look out for each other. God knows we need more of that right now. Stay safe, and take care! "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, clear as glass, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22.1-2) "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say." (Ecclesiastes 1.7-8a) Water is ubiquitous. There is water we need to drink. Where I live, there is often water that falls from the sky, pin-pricks spiking through my clothes as I cycle and as clouds begin to let go. There is water we wash in. There is water that seeps out of the corners of our eyes when things become too sad, or too happy, or too overwhelming, or too disappointing. There is water that powers across the sea, crashing as waves against rocks, or cliffsides, or beaches. Water that wears down the land itself. There is water in streams, and lakes. There is water locked up in glaciers and ice-caps. There is water melting, tumbling, crashing. Sometimes life can be like water. Like everything is moving, cycling, yet necessary. What do you think? If all that I do goes into the world, yet the world is never full (complete, perfect, right, better), why do I bother? Ecclesiastes 1.7-8a. When all things are more wearisome than one can say, what keeps us going? Perhaps the utopian images of "something better" that we cling to, even if we are unable to say how it could become reality. And then we believe, somewhere deep inside us, that there can be life-giving water, that tears can be no more, that fruit can grow and sustain all year round, and that nations can be healed. Revelation 22.1-2. They are both here. We know the world is too broken for us to be able to fix it, but we also know that we've got to live this life as if we're trying to - or what's the point? This is metamodern. This is what a large majority of millennials and gen-z's feel. But it feels almost as if we're crashing around, tumbling and melting like ice-caps when we feel this way. We keep our heads above water, but only just. And what do we miss while we're so intent on surviving it? Sometimes, in the midst of it all, I need another lens through which to look.
There will be time again to fight the wrong things in the world. There will be time again to realise the world is beyond my power to fix. There will be time again to decide to keep trying to do good anyway.
But there needs to be time for silence, and to be still. |
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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