Stop and Smell...

The appreciation and affection once held for beauty is on a major decline.  Our standards have dropped, if not becoming near non-existent.  Recently, a musician by the name of Joshua Bell played two concerts.  One concert was in Boston with the average seat price costing around a hundred dollars while the other which was in Washington D.C. was free.  

Also, to this point I have failed to mention that Joshua Bell is one of the premier violinists in the world.  I think the choice as to which concert would have more a higher turnout is obvious.  I was wrong.  Because, the obvious choice for me was not the obvious choice for our nation's capitol.  

Joshua played for 45 minutes in the metro.  In that 45 minutes, only 6 people stopped to listen.  The crowd was too busy to stop and listen because they were on their way with their lives.  Granted, I'm not saying business for an entire city should come to a standstill because an artist was practicing his or her craft.  

I want to know if they appreciated it at all.  Twenty people gave him money, which totaled to the astounding amount of $32.  He made thirty-two dollars of playing his music on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.  I say all of this to propose a question I think everyone should consider.

How much have we missed?  How much beauty and passion for music, painting, poetry, dance, etc. have we lost because we are too busy?  We are busy with kids, work, wife, ex-wife, school, or church.  We are too busy in our lives to enjoy the beauty of life.  We need simplicity.  

Do we appreciate that which is beautiful when we are not specifically looking for it?  Do we even care?  It is my opinion that the world would be a much better place if there were a few more days in which we enjoyed the world around us and the gifts that God has given us and a few less meetings.  Simplicity is an inward discipline, yet it continuously creates change in our lives.  

A simple life breeds freedom.  By understanding that all things are given by God and that we have done nothing outside of God's control we can shed the silly superstitions of the morning routine and enjoy the blessing that is life.  Tomorrow, if someone was to ask me, "How much have you missed?" I would be honored and humbled to reply, "Nothing."

Thanks, to Kit for posting the article on his blog!

The article that I have referred to can be found at http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=28442

Escargot

I Think I Can...

Charles Spurgeon once said, "By perseverance the snail reached the ark."

This may quote conjures a humorous thought in my mind of a snail with beads of sweat on its brow and a contorted look on its face as it slowly pushed towards his goal.  It is reminiscent of perhaps an episode of Loony Tunes or something of the sort.  Whatever the case, this quote also makes me ask myself, "Why have I left so much unfinished?"

For our grandfather's the phrase, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going," was apt.  To my current generation the phrase has had a few changes and now reads something along the lines of, "When the going gets tough, stop because you probably weren't going to finish anyway and as long as you can justify it, quitting is ok."

There was a time in the history of our species when a person could give his word and it meant something.  There was a time when once committed, a promise or task would be completed.  It has been quite some time since modernity has allowed a "yes" to mean "yes" and a "no" to mean "no".  What is the reason for this?

While I am no sociologist or psychologist, I think that I understand some things about my peers.  One such thing, is our complete aversion to submit to anyone or anything, including ourselves.  Our hearts are so rebellious that it looks at all things as potential shackles, enemies desiring to subjugate us into an existence of slavery.

When we question ourselves on the basis of why or why not our behavior falls in certain parameters, if we answer honestly, we can usually come up with a single word, pride.  We want to be in control of everything.  We demand with every ounce of our humanity the omniscience and omnipotence of God.  We are a living internal conflict.  Spirit and flesh in a battle to the death.

The flesh has already lost but in the throes of death it wants to destroy that which it can.  The strength of its fight should not be underestimated.  It is crafty, it is deceitful, and it serves none but itself.  But, it can be disciplined.  It can be brought to submission, but it takes a lifetime of skirmishes with a bitter adversary.

If we commit ourselves to God, it is one step at a time.  Day after day, and year after year it is one step at a time.  To persevere is our calling.  One day we shall hear the death rattle of our flesh and be free of its influence.  One day we will exist and have no desire to ever rebel against God.  One day we will reach the ark.

With Fear and Trembling

I find myself in a state of deep remorse today.  Not because of something that has happened to me but rather due to what I and many Christians have become.  Pride has always been mankind’s biggest shortcoming.  Pride led to disobedience and the Fall.  It led to the breaking of the covenant with the Jews and the subsequent cycles of exile, redemption, betrayal, further exile, and destruction of the temple.  Pride led to the Pornocracy, the period starting with Sergius III lasting some 60 years though the rule of Pope John XII.  Not only were these men unfit for the papacy, but also it is definitely worth mentioning that they were not even Christians.  Pride has been mankind’s biggest struggle and it still is.

 

As Christian’s we are not exempt from the temptations of humanity but in every victory against those temptations we view it as triumph by which we were the deciding factor in the battle.  God is our strength and our salvation.  Yet, I often feel as if all of creation orbits around my desires and me.  Yes, it is a silly notion but not one that is foreign to any of us, especially in the West.

 

We have lost the fear of God.  We do not pray with fear and trembling.  We are skeptical of God’s wrath, forsaking that immutable trait for ones that are more pleasing to our narcissistic and self-preservation mindsets.  This trend is partially the fault of prosperity preaching, which is compounded by the fact that we fail to remember the power of God.

 

God does love us.  He loves us more than we can comprehend.  However, God hates sin and we wallow it like a pig in the muck.  As Christians our sin penalty has been paid through the atonement of Christ. 

 

But we often still live as we had when we were dead.  The new birth, the new life is still under attack by the old one.  When we fall victim to sin we face the repercussions of our actions, whatever they may be.  Yet, as God sanctifies our hearts these things become more of a shadow than a predator, though we are never truly rid of it in this world.  It is in that sense that we should truly praise God.  We know what it was like to be void of Christ, so it is with fear, trembling, and hope that I look to my Savior’s return and the abolishing of anything that stands in opposition to His glory.