Waited too long?
Sometimes I know I need to do something,
but I’ve waited too long, and so to do it now would just be weird after so
long. So I don’t. But then when I think of it again, I know it needs to be
done, but then it has been even longer. Like apologising or asking forgiveness.
Like phoning a friend because we said we’d have tea together sometime. Like
writing this blog. I wonder what keeps me from these things… there is no one
keeping record. And they are usually really good things and welcomed by others
no matter the space in time. Well, I decided to write anyway. My options were
not very wide – either do it, or give up on it completely. I wasn’t ready to
give up just yet. Here follows a random assortment of thoughts I am thinking.
To have a body
I have been thinking a lot about what it
means to be human, and particularly what it means to be (not just to have)
a body. So much in our time points us away from the boy… perhaps most notably
seen in movies like Inception, Avatar, the Matrix… the real people spend their
lives sleeping or in some coma-like existence, while the superior them face
heroic trials. Or even the whole virtual world. We create an image of ourselves
on Facebook that highlights only certain parts of our lives. There is a whole
lot in my (western) culture that devalues the body by doing just anything to it
or with it, and I mean anything. An ordinary existence is no longer acceptable.
Washing the dishes or cleaning up after the dog are considered despicable.
But we do have bodies, and we are ordinary
people. Only because you have a body can I touch you, look you in the eyes,
experience you with all of my senses. Because we have bodies, I can relate to
you, and there is a me and you to relate. We stub our toe and we
remember that we are not god. And then we remember that God came as a body. I
wonder if Jesus ever stubbed his toe? The very fact that He is a human affirms
the value in our bodies. And His suffering gives meaning to ours. It is not for
nothing that we suffer. It is not for nothing that we have bodies.
To glorify
I learned through a study by Beth Moore
that to glorify means to reveal. To glorify God means to reveal God. Psalm 19
says the heavens declare the glory of God… what do they tell us about Him? He
is big (that is an understatement), He is creative, He is beautiful, He is
powerful, and so much more. We are to do everything for the glory of God (1 Cor.
10:31). In acting kindly, waiting patiently, giving generously, trusting
faithfully, we are revealing Him! But because of sin we have all fallen short
of being able to reveal God (Rom 3:23). Our only hope of being able to reveal
God is Christ in us; He is the mystery that has been revealed to us (Col 1:27).
God’s glory is revealed to us (He is made known to us), and is revealed through
us (we make Him known). How are you glorifying Him or not?
Friends
My last thoughts, at least for now, revolve
around the topic of friends. I am profoundly grateful for the people in my life
I have as friends. (This does not exclude family.) How rich I am to look around
me and see the people who love me and whom I love. It is a joy to share all of life
with each of them. We will never be fully known in this life. Instead of that
scaring me of from even trying to begin, it is an encouragement to dive deeper
into friendship, certain that no matter how well I may know someone, they are
always capable of surprising me. I think I shall choose to live life in an attitude
of openness to surprise, and not only in friendship. It means I always have
something to look forward to.
