Traumatic Tuesdays - crushed

A healthy spirit conquers adversity, but what can you do when the spirit is crushed? Proverbs 18:14 (The Message)

The goodness of life competes with wrongness. At times we have enough goodness flowing through us to just overcome. At other

Monday - back to basics. Good is, because God is

My phone got soaked. I was filling in at football training and there was a downpour. When the game ended, my phone was ended as well. I'm using a knock-off Nokia from China right now. I can tell it isn't quite right; the way the back doesn't snap in when I inserted my SIM was one hint. More obvious is the double images on the screen. It will work, but it isn't what it should be.

I feel that way. The series of shifts over the last stretch of time (I'm not sure when it started but I'm afraid it is not over) have been modifications on top of modifications such that it is difficult to feel very solid and assured. There are too many double images; too many pieces that don't 'click'.

So what should I do? Stop and find good. So I do. I look up and see a leaf and choose to notice the way it stretches out with veins delivering goodness to the tips of the plant and bringing goodness back. It is a system of goodness. How and why? I believe that lesser things came from greater, not greater from lesser. Life, order, goodness is a lesser display of the ultimate goodness. The personal Being who gives existence to all else. It is something I say and think so often that it could just roll of my fingertips, but that does not help me. I need help. I need the core of me to take in goodness from what is out beyond me and intentionally acknowledge it. I cannot borrow copies of things thought or spoken previously. I need to choose to observe and process today. I do, and it gives me rest in goodness.

Hebrews 4

¹Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it...

⁴For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."...

⁹There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. ¹¹Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

God created and rested. Creation reminds me of him and his completion. I must not allow my heart to harden. I must use what I can to remember him and his promises. When I do, I can faithfully enter into the rest I need.

shalom

eccesiastes poem

http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/poem-ecclesiastes/

This life, filled with vanity.
This life, filled with divine gifts to enjoy.

The enjoyment of prosperity?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy.

The experience of all pleasure and laughter?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy.

To experience our fill of bread and wine?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy.

To taste all the delights of life?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy.

To possess superior wisdom?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy.

The fruit of labor and toil?
A vanity, a vapor.
God’s gift to enjoy

http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/poem-ecclesiastes/

for the rest of the poem

thanks to JM for the link

Mac

just got my new computer.  a macbook pro.  i've wanted a computer that just works.  hopefully this will be it.

after opening it up i went to the web and chose which site to go to first.  i figured telosxelot would be a nice start.  

for the last couple of months everything has been defined by transition and flex.  now we are in a house that is more or less functioning and i'm more than ready to establish a routine.  part of that routine is to write.

here's praying for a good stretch in the upcoming year.  i pray for simple routines which ensure investing in the most important things but leaving room to respond to surprising things.

Translator's Handbook - Ecclesiastes

What then is the real message of Ecclesiastes? To decide this issue we must look to the text itself. Despite the lack of a tightly organized structure or progression of ideas, there is an amazing number of repeated expressions and refrains that characterize this book. Among the most important are:

— the word ''vanity'' (hevel) and the longer ''vanity'' refrain ''vanity of vanities'' (hevel hevalim); this key word occurs 38 times.

— the ''calls to enjoyment'' (2.24; 3.12, 22; 5.18; 8.15; 9.7-10): ''There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat, drink, and find enjoyment in his toil.''

— the thematic question (1.3; 3.9; 5.16): ''What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?'' along with other occurrences of the word ''gain'' (yithron) in 2.11, 13, 15; 3.19; 6.8, 11.

By examining these expressions, their use and occurrence in detail, we can hope to find a unified message.

The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure. (Isaiah 33:5-6)

The LORD = I AM – the uniquely self-existent source of all, especially of personhood

Is exalted = stands above all is in value and significance

For he dwells on high = I AM's existence is transcendent… a whole different range of perspective

He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness = the people of I AM will experience correction and 'ought-ness'

And he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge = he makes life what it should be

The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure = the genuine priority of the Self Existent One is the most valuable thing the people have.

For me, I constantly have to come back to the reason why. Why is there something instead of nothing and why is the something at odds with itself? Why is there and expectation which exceeds experience? Why the gap? I return again and again to the conviction that it is so sensible and necessary that the source of all contingent and intertwined reality (me and the stuff I bump into) has its source in a uniquely Self-Existent One. However, that doesn't bring immediate peace. The awareness that YHWH {{{is}}} swirls the anguish of how poorly i am. I have loose ends, dead ends… to no end. Something is not what it is meant to be. I am not right with the I AM.

That is the hope of Jesus, Yeshua, YHWH saves, I AM helps. What is the treasure? Knowing that the gap between i am and the I AM is the essence of my current situation, and that it is not interminable and futile and toxically vaporous. There is reason to trust that wrong will be set right and things will be what they should be and understanding and choices will be life sharingly vibrant and soothing.

I AM is my terrifying clarity and joy.

The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure. (Isaiah 33:5-6)

poem of aging

Oh, how sweet the light of day,
And how wonderful to live in the sunshine!
Even if you live a long time, don't take a single day for granted.
Take delight in each light-filled hour,
Remembering that there will also be many dark days
And that most of what comes your way is smoke.

You who are young, make the most of your youth.
Relish your youthful vigor.
Follow the impulses of your heart.
If something looks good to you, pursue it.
But know also that not just anything goes;
You have to answer to God for every last bit of it.

Live footloose and fancy-free—
You won't be young forever.
Youth lasts about as long as smoke.

Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young,
Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes,
Before your vision dims and the world blurs
And the winter years keep you close to the fire.

In old age, your body no longer serves you so well.
Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen.
The shades are pulled down on the world.
You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt.
The hum of the household fades away.
You are wakened now by bird-song.
Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past.
Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.
Your hair turns apple-blossom white,
Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.
Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest,
While your friends make plans for your funeral.

Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

It's all smoke, nothing but smoke.
The Quester says that everything's smoke.

Ecclesiastes (The Message)