"I decided that the greatest cross would be to be without these crosses. Every time the crosses stopped for a brief time, I saw that I had not used them well, missing out on advantages to my soul by not responding properly. I could not reconcile these two opposite things: to desire the crosses for their advantages; to bear them when they caused so much difficulty and pain. Gradually I understood that experiencing crosses was more profitable than living a life that abounded with blessing. Without crosses, the soul never dies to itself. Blessings lead to self-love, which is crafty and dangerous by how it is woven into everything we do." Madame Guyon
"If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!" Proverbs 24:10
Consider it PURE JOY when you endure trials of many kinds. It is so easy to be joyful when life is good and when things are going well, and it is even easy to say then that I will continue to be joyful if things get difficult. But that shows how little I know myself! It has been interesting to read the story of a remarkable woman who lived in France in the seventeenth century, Madame Guyon. She faced trials and persecution almost constantly throughout her life, yet her attitude was so unusual in that she accepted whatever came her way as being God's will and plan and so had a peace about it. Everything should be for the glory of God- even the struggles.
Lambing was not much fun as it turned out. After the first week, I was desperate to leave and just existing until I could do that. Instead of rejoicing, I despaired. Instead of glorifying God in it, I put Him on hold and forgot. But even so, I did learn a lot from being there. And not just about how to lamb sheep! I learnt (again) that you can never know what is going on in a person's life and what stuff they are coping with. We need to deal with each other with the same grace that we have been shown. I learnt that it is easier to argue with someone speaking foolishly than to hold your tongue (Proverbs 26:4-5). I learnt that sheep are the most stupid animals. I learnt that a lot of people live with a lot of regret.
A few more quotes from Madame Guyon:
"God gives what is best for us, though not always what we most wish for. We are called to enjoy God himself and not merely His gifts. Otherwise we spend our lives running after happy little moments, feeding on them instead of God."
"How we pass the time treasuring God's gifts and thinking ourselves happy. We must not stop there, short of true rest, but go forward to God himself- through the loss of those cherished gifts."
"The gifts God gives us do not make us good servants unless we use them with deep humility. Dying to ourselves is more beneficial."
"Devotion to God grows out of pain and weariness. When God builds His sacred temple within us, He first razes our pompous self, and from its ruins He forms a new structure."
"I realized I tried to acquire by my own efforts what I could have only by ceasing from all effort."
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Behold!
Transformed by Beholding- My Utmost for His Highest, Jan 23
The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.
The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . .”
We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image. 2 Corinthians 3:18
The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.
The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . .”
Two terms down, 13 to go...
I am having a late-night stint (these do not happen often!) and figured it was about time for another blog post, what with it nearing the end of second term and all that. Keep all you avid readers updated on my life! (Well, by avid readers, I probably actually mean my Mum, maybe Rosie and a few randomers who have stumbled across this blog and have no idea who I even am...)
Life as a vet student can be best summed up as a constant battle with my eyelids. They do not cooperate in lectures- I tell them to stay open, but I am sure they plot and scheme to get heavier and heavier until I cannot help but give in. So then I tell myself I will listen with my eyes closed- the problem is that the battle then shifts to my brain which also decides not to cooperate and slowly, slowly begins to miraculously transform even the most exciting biochemistry lecture into an unintelligible foreign language. I think I am going to buy some play dough to make models instead of notes. It might help me concentrate better.
That does make it all sound rather bleak- it really isn't! I do find a lot of what we learn interesting, it is just the sheer volume that we have to know. I have been a bit complacent since passing January exams, but I know next term will require some serious study time if I am going to make it through the June lot. It seems very strange that this year represents one fifth of my training as a vet. I feel like I have learnt so little, altho I know that is probably not the case. I am in the middle of doing washing and packing ready to spend three weeks on a sheep farm in Somerset helping with the lambing.
I feel a lot more settled here this term than I did last term. It was really lovely to go home last weekend, although coming back to Bristol on Sunday evening made me realise that I have friends here now who I love dearly and it would make choosing between Alton and Bristol nigh impossible. I like this arrangement of some time in each.
Life is still ridiculously busy here, but I am getting better at making time to do the things that I consider important. Just recently I have rediscovered how awesome it is to spend time alone with my Father, listening to Him and talking to Him and reading His word. It seems crazy that we should ever wake up in the morning and not be struck with an overwhelming desire to spend time with this God of the universe who cares for us. But I know I easily get distracted and somehow my priorities get all screwed up and my desires change and something else becomes my focus. But that is totally not the best way! It means that I miss out on so much. I guess I would rather veer on the side of being too 'extreme' than of being lukewarm and average. It is very easy to be distracted.
I have been learning the truth of what the Psalmist says- 'All those whose hope is in You will never be put to shame.' Where is my hope? Recently I have been thinking a lot about joy, partly due to reading 1 Peter, and how I can have this completely inexpressible joy because of the hope and love I have in my Saviour. So often we forget that joy, we lose the joy of our salvation, we forget that it is supposed to be our strength, we settle for our garments of mourning and sadness instead of accepting the new ones of joy and gladness. Why?!
Oh there is so much I could write about and I realise this is quite a poor summation of this term! But that will have to do for now.
Life as a vet student can be best summed up as a constant battle with my eyelids. They do not cooperate in lectures- I tell them to stay open, but I am sure they plot and scheme to get heavier and heavier until I cannot help but give in. So then I tell myself I will listen with my eyes closed- the problem is that the battle then shifts to my brain which also decides not to cooperate and slowly, slowly begins to miraculously transform even the most exciting biochemistry lecture into an unintelligible foreign language. I think I am going to buy some play dough to make models instead of notes. It might help me concentrate better.
That does make it all sound rather bleak- it really isn't! I do find a lot of what we learn interesting, it is just the sheer volume that we have to know. I have been a bit complacent since passing January exams, but I know next term will require some serious study time if I am going to make it through the June lot. It seems very strange that this year represents one fifth of my training as a vet. I feel like I have learnt so little, altho I know that is probably not the case. I am in the middle of doing washing and packing ready to spend three weeks on a sheep farm in Somerset helping with the lambing.
I feel a lot more settled here this term than I did last term. It was really lovely to go home last weekend, although coming back to Bristol on Sunday evening made me realise that I have friends here now who I love dearly and it would make choosing between Alton and Bristol nigh impossible. I like this arrangement of some time in each.
Life is still ridiculously busy here, but I am getting better at making time to do the things that I consider important. Just recently I have rediscovered how awesome it is to spend time alone with my Father, listening to Him and talking to Him and reading His word. It seems crazy that we should ever wake up in the morning and not be struck with an overwhelming desire to spend time with this God of the universe who cares for us. But I know I easily get distracted and somehow my priorities get all screwed up and my desires change and something else becomes my focus. But that is totally not the best way! It means that I miss out on so much. I guess I would rather veer on the side of being too 'extreme' than of being lukewarm and average. It is very easy to be distracted.
I have been learning the truth of what the Psalmist says- 'All those whose hope is in You will never be put to shame.' Where is my hope? Recently I have been thinking a lot about joy, partly due to reading 1 Peter, and how I can have this completely inexpressible joy because of the hope and love I have in my Saviour. So often we forget that joy, we lose the joy of our salvation, we forget that it is supposed to be our strength, we settle for our garments of mourning and sadness instead of accepting the new ones of joy and gladness. Why?!
Oh there is so much I could write about and I realise this is quite a poor summation of this term! But that will have to do for now.
Friday, 13 March 2009
God of this City
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Mute Math - Typical
by Mute Math
Come on, can I dream for one day?
There's nothing that can't be done
But how long should it take somebody
Before they can be someone
Cuz I know there's got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I'm feelin' like it's now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?
Now I've lived through my share of misfortune
And I've worked in the blazing sun
But how long should it take somebody
Before they can be someone
Cuz I know there's got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I'm feelin' like it's now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?
I'm the typical
I'm the typical
Can I break the spell of the typical?
Because it's draggin' me down
Oh, I'd like to know about when
When does it all turn around?
Yeah I know there's got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I'm feelin' like it's now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?
Break the spell (of the typical)
Break the spell (of the typical)
Can I break the spell of the typical?
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Spurgeon's 'Seed in the Thorns'
I shall briefly treat of the third class, and may the Spirit of God assist me to deal faithfully with you. "And some fell among THORNS; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it." Now, this was good soil. The two first characters were bad: the wayside was not the proper place, the rock was not a congenial situation for the growth of any plant; but this is good soil, for it grows thorns. Wherever a thistle will spring up and flourish, there would wheat flourish too. This was fat, fertile soil; it was no marvel therefore that the husbandman dealt largely there, and threw handful after handful upon that corner of the field. See how happy he is when in a month or two he visits the spot. The seed has sprung up. True, there's a suspicious little plant down there of about the same size as the wheat. "Oh!" he thinks, "that's not much, the corn will out-grow that. When it is stronger it will choke these few thistles that have unfortunately mixed with it." Ay, Mr. Husbandman, you do not understand the force of evil, or you would not thus dream! He comes again, and the seed has grown, there is even the corn in the ear; but the thistles, the thorns, and the briars have become intertwisted with one another, and the poor wheat can hardly get a ray of sunshine. It is so choked with thorns every way, that it looks quite yellow: the plant is starved. Still it perseveres in growing, and it does seem as if it would bring forth a little fruit. Alas, it never comes to anything. With it the reaper never fills his arm.
We have this class very largely among us. These hear the word and understand what they hear. They take the truth home; they think it over; they even go the length of making a profession of religion. The wheat seems to spring and ear; it will soon come to perfection. Be in no hurry, these men and women have a great deal to see after; they have the cares of a large concern; their establishment employs so many hundred hands; do not be deceived as to their godliness—they have no time for it. They will tell you that they must live; that they cannot neglect this world; that they must anyhow look out for the present, and as for the future, they will render it all due attention by-and-by. They continue to attend gospel-preaching, and the poor little stunted blade of religion keeps on growing after a fashion. Meanwhile they have grown rich, they come to the place of worship in a carriage, they have all that heart can wish. Ah! Now the seed will grow, will it not? No, no. They have no cares now; the shop is given up, they live in the country; they have not to ask, "Where shall the money come from to meet the next bill?" or "how shall they be able to provide for an increasing family." Now they have too much instead of too little, for they have riches, and they are too wealthy to be gracious. "But," says one, "they might spend their riches for God." Certainly they might, but they do not, for riches are deceitful. They have to entertain much company, and chime in with the world, and so Christ and his church are left in the lurch.
Yes, but they begin to spend their riches, and they have surely got over that difficulty, for they give largely to the cause of Christ, and they are munificent in charity; the little blade will grow, will it not? No, for now behold the thorns of pleasure. Their liberality to others involves liberality to themselves; their pleasures, amusements, and vanities choke the wheat of true religion: the good grains of gospel truth cannot grow because they have to attend that musical party, that ball, and that soiree, and so they cannot think of the things of God. I know several specimens of this class. I knew one, high in court circles, who has confessed to me that he wished he were poor, for then he might enter the kingdom of heaven. He has said to me, "Ah! Sir, these politics, these politics, I wish I were rid of them, they are eating the life out of my heart; I cannot serve God as I would." I know of another, overloaded with riches, who has said to me, "Ah! Sir, it is an awful thing to be rich; one cannot keep close to the Saviour with all this earth about him."
Ah! My dear readers, I will not ask for you that God may lay you on a bed of sickness, that he may strip you of all your wealth, and bring you to beggary; but, oh, if he were to do it, and you were to save your souls, it would be the best bargain you could ever make. If those mighty ones who now complain that the thorns choke the seed could give up all their riches and pleasures, if they that fare sumptuously every day could take the place of Lazarus at the gate, it were a happy change for them if their souls might be saved. A man may be honourable and rich, and yet go to heaven; but it will be hard work, for "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." God does make some rich men enter the kingdom of heaven, but hard is their struggle. Steady, young man, steady! Hurry not to climb to wealth! It is a place where many heads are turned. Do not ask God to make you popular; they that have popularity are wearied by it. Cry with Agur—"Give me neither poverty nor riches." God give me to tread the golden mean, and may I ever have in my heart that good seed, which shall bring forth fruit a hundredfold to his own glory.
We have this class very largely among us. These hear the word and understand what they hear. They take the truth home; they think it over; they even go the length of making a profession of religion. The wheat seems to spring and ear; it will soon come to perfection. Be in no hurry, these men and women have a great deal to see after; they have the cares of a large concern; their establishment employs so many hundred hands; do not be deceived as to their godliness—they have no time for it. They will tell you that they must live; that they cannot neglect this world; that they must anyhow look out for the present, and as for the future, they will render it all due attention by-and-by. They continue to attend gospel-preaching, and the poor little stunted blade of religion keeps on growing after a fashion. Meanwhile they have grown rich, they come to the place of worship in a carriage, they have all that heart can wish. Ah! Now the seed will grow, will it not? No, no. They have no cares now; the shop is given up, they live in the country; they have not to ask, "Where shall the money come from to meet the next bill?" or "how shall they be able to provide for an increasing family." Now they have too much instead of too little, for they have riches, and they are too wealthy to be gracious. "But," says one, "they might spend their riches for God." Certainly they might, but they do not, for riches are deceitful. They have to entertain much company, and chime in with the world, and so Christ and his church are left in the lurch.
Yes, but they begin to spend their riches, and they have surely got over that difficulty, for they give largely to the cause of Christ, and they are munificent in charity; the little blade will grow, will it not? No, for now behold the thorns of pleasure. Their liberality to others involves liberality to themselves; their pleasures, amusements, and vanities choke the wheat of true religion: the good grains of gospel truth cannot grow because they have to attend that musical party, that ball, and that soiree, and so they cannot think of the things of God. I know several specimens of this class. I knew one, high in court circles, who has confessed to me that he wished he were poor, for then he might enter the kingdom of heaven. He has said to me, "Ah! Sir, these politics, these politics, I wish I were rid of them, they are eating the life out of my heart; I cannot serve God as I would." I know of another, overloaded with riches, who has said to me, "Ah! Sir, it is an awful thing to be rich; one cannot keep close to the Saviour with all this earth about him."
Ah! My dear readers, I will not ask for you that God may lay you on a bed of sickness, that he may strip you of all your wealth, and bring you to beggary; but, oh, if he were to do it, and you were to save your souls, it would be the best bargain you could ever make. If those mighty ones who now complain that the thorns choke the seed could give up all their riches and pleasures, if they that fare sumptuously every day could take the place of Lazarus at the gate, it were a happy change for them if their souls might be saved. A man may be honourable and rich, and yet go to heaven; but it will be hard work, for "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." God does make some rich men enter the kingdom of heaven, but hard is their struggle. Steady, young man, steady! Hurry not to climb to wealth! It is a place where many heads are turned. Do not ask God to make you popular; they that have popularity are wearied by it. Cry with Agur—"Give me neither poverty nor riches." God give me to tread the golden mean, and may I ever have in my heart that good seed, which shall bring forth fruit a hundredfold to his own glory.
Monday, 2 March 2009
But you're part of this world!
TREEBEARD: We have just agreed.The Two Towers
MERRY: Yes?
TREEBEARD: I have told your names to the ent moot and we have agreed: you are not Orcs.
PIPPIN: Well that’s good news.
MERRY: And what about Saruman? Have you come to a decision about him?
TREEBEARD: Now don’t be hasty, Master Meriadoc.
MERRY: Hasty? Our friends are out there. They need our help! They cannot fight this war on their own.
TREEBEARD: War, yes. It affects us all. But you must understand, young hobbit. It takes a long time to say anything in old entish, and we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.
_________________________________________________________
TREEBEARD: The ents cannot hold back this war. We must weather such things as we have always done.
MERRY: How can that be your decision?
TREEBEARD: This is not our war.
MERRY: But you're part of this world! Aren’t you? You must help. Please. You must do something.
TREEBEARD: You are young and brave, master Merry. But your part in this tale is over. Go back to your home.
PIPPIN: Maybe Treebeard’s right. We don’t belong here, Merry. It’s too big for us. What can we do in the end? We’ve got the Shire. Maybe we should go home.
MERRY: The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And... and all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. There won’t be a Shire, Pippin.
If it doesn't affect us, is it our war? Should we fight while our forest is comfortable and detatched? What if we actually got out of the forest and saw with our own eyes what the world is like? After all, we are part of this world.
Solution, Hillsong
It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Yeah
It is not too far a cry
To much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet
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