Serendipity

I find it by strange, divine appointment that yesterday I listened to Maslanka's 4th Symphony jubilantly ring out the Doxology through the hundreds of hearts gathered in the Meyerson, today my beloved grandfather passed away, and in two days I present/conduct the project Believe It Anyway, discussing the nature of trial, faith, and death and what it means to wrestle with God.

I don't know what this means. I don't know how to fit it all in my brain. I know less how to fit it all in my heart.

I will just continue to sing, "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow..." and mean it with every fiber of my being. And mean it so hard that tears might squeeze out of my eyes.

Musing with Gödel

Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand./The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock,/the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.

~Proverbs 30:18-19

What is the destination of a sovereign hand we cannot understand? It's a paradigm that frames our journey in beauty I think.

Faith is where it begins. And faith is where it will end, whether we like it or not.




*here's where this train started*

Character

Christians are Christlike: none deserve the name of Christians that are not so, in their prevailing character....The branch is of the same nature with the stock and root, has the same sap, and bears the same sort of fruit. The members have the same kind of life with the head. It would be strange if Christians should not be of the same temper and spirit that Christ is of; when they are his flesh and his bone, yea are one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and live so, that it is not they that live, but Christ that lives in them.

/Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections

Wedding Day

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church.   /Ephesians 5:31-32

What is this mystery? What is the wonder of what will happen today?

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel....that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.   /Ephesians 3:6, 10

When two incompatible people (made so by sin) are brought together in marriage, and by God made compatible through Christ Jesus, God's infinite wisdom is put on display. And today, God's wisdom will be made famous in mine and H's life, and then, when the real trouble comes in our life together, God's fame will truly resound as sweetly and clearly as the bells that ring today.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Salut!

 

 

December 24th, 2012, 11:31 pm

I have been privy to ponder as of late. And ponder is indeed a verb apropos to times like these. As my mind thinks on the events of life that have led up to now, I have found myself nothing but grateful. I am a lucky one indeed. God has showered me with gifts: loving parents (including soon-to-be-in-laws, joyful Christmases, an incredible bride (8 days!). I have also marveled at the incredible way lives are weaved together on this earth.

The winds are changing, and the sails are being stretched to new heights and angles. This is a good thing. Amidst it all I am reminded that we exist for a very simple reason, and that by God's grace we were given the power to do it.

Sure, this might have been a pagan holiday assimilated by the Catholic Church to "convert" non-Christians, but I'll never put down remembering as a bad thing.

Merry Christmas!

Improvements

I've updated my sidebar! Take a gander.

Encouragement

It's such an incredible thing to find myself now doing what little I can to help others through the inevitable should-I-really-be-studying-this crisis that I so recently journeyed through (with the help of others too). I really am so glad that I struggled (and still continue to struggle sometimes) with my decision to immerse myself in the study of music for my baccalaureate degree. I have been forced to really understand myself and my volition, for living an apathetic lie is waste of time.

And so I encourage you, too, to wrestle. Wrestle with your mind. Wrestle with your soul. Wrestle with God. Through the strife and strain you will come to understand yourself as a human, and you will find yourself humbled, which is the only thing humans should be. You will be forced to defend yourself, you will be forced to know your weakness (and you will be forced to come to the disheartening conclusion that we often waste precious energy defending parts of ourselves that really should be done away with), and you will be forced to feel your opponent, knowing your opponent as well as yourself (for often your opponent is yourself). You will understand what is truly important, and the things which are stronger will dominate the things that are weaker. You will find yourself pruned. And like a vine after winter, you will bloom stronger and sturdier than before come summer.

Take heart, for it is in the crucible that the measurements are drawn, and the contents are purified. And do not avoid the crucible for the sake of ease and comfort. For living an apathetic lie is a waste of time. Once you understand yourself, you will finally be able to release yourself for the sake of others, and that's where the real work begins.