Sweet Words from Maine

And the Winner is…..

We are born contenders! Most of us enjoy some form of individual or group competition. We love to cheer on our favorite teams and challenge each other with family games, pickup basketball, and school sports. We test ourselves in attempts to better our individual swim and running times, to improve our golf game, tennis swing or pool shot or to exceed our last weight lift and number of push-ups. We want to be one step ahead, to excel, and to show our worth and in so doing to build our ego! We like being “top dog”. Most of this is done in the spirit of “good fun” and contributes to fellowship, self-discipline, and character building.

However, rivalry takes a dark turn and morphs into something unsavory and evil when it degenerates into selfishness, envy, jealousy, pride, arrogance, self-righteousness, rebelliousness, greed, anger, lust, and cutthroat behavior. Our innate “willfulness” got us into trouble in “the Garden”, is clearly evident in sand box and playground interactions, and continues life long as we vie with siblings, parents, friends, spouses and cultural and religious values! And like Jacob and Job and Jonah, we all struggle with God!

We have an inner drive to carve out “my way”, to get what we think will be pleasurable or will satisfy some need or drive that we have. We understand the inner moral conflict between doing what we know is right and good for us and wanting to do what we know is wrong and not so good for us! We are inherently like the Apostle Paul who said that he did what he did not want to do and didn’t do what he wanted to do…. (Romans 7:15) Those struggles of the conscience (that sense of right and wrong or of good and evil or of ethical and unethical behavior which enables us to act morally and responsibly) are all too familiar.

Often, we dismiss our moral failures as “missteps” or as human frailty and ultimately as insignificant because we compare ourselves with what we know about others. Indeed, we may be moral and upright, generous and kind, and as good as or perceptively better than many others. But that is an empty, meaningless comparison! We are not in a celestial competition with each other!

“Sin” is not a nice word. But it does have substantive and eternal meaning when we compare our nature to God’s and not our neighbors’. Breaking the moral law, going against conscience, knowing what is right and not doing it, and falling short of God’s glory are all facets of sinful behavior and are deeply personal in nature.

Who can say that they “…have a conscience void of offence toward God and men…”? (Acts 24:16 (ASV) That high bar proves we need deliverance from ourselves! We fail. We miss the mark, and do not rise to the level of perfect glory that God gave humanity. (Romans 3:23) We cannot cure ourselves. We are all on equal and tenuous ground because our rebellious, broken natures cannot be allowed to ruin the Kingdom of God. That is why we all need redemption. That is why God in great love and mercy took extreme action. That is the reason for Jesus, who took our condemnation and paid the death penalty so that through faith we are cleansed. Hebrews 9:14 (ASV)”

In a great paradox, a terrible and wrongful crucifixion became a cosmic victory! It was finished! Mankind was no longer under condemnation. The Kingdom was open to those who accepted the invitation to believe. And the clarion declaration of victory came three days later at an empty tomb…..

“…Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57 )

The competition is over! The Victor has been declared! And the joyful Easter cry resounds! “He is Risen.”

“He is risen indeed!”

Have a joyous Easter!

Despair or Hope

There is something poetic and literary about these beach strollers as they attempt to find enjoyment in this dense fog. While wandering about, coming and going, and disappearing into the mist, they conjure up metaphors and raise questions about the mysteries and brevity of life.

They are reminiscent of the desperate, meandering shadows of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who cried that “…life is but a walking shadow, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing”.

Or as these fuzzy images drift mindlessly about, they remind one of T.S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock, who was so isolated by senseless, anxious indecisiveness, silly concerns, and the inanity of society that he worriedly asked himself, “Do I dare to eat a peach? “Do I dare to disturb the universe? In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.”

Could those roaming souls be lost in the foggy hopelessness of meager minded, nihilistic philosophers? Are they left devoid of the redemptive purposes of the Great Creative Mind, who thinks outside of space and time and gives hope?

These ghostly depictions evoke thoughts of our fragile human condition. “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) “Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:8-14)

So, does life have no substance? Is it chaotic and meaningless?

We know about hopelessness and despair! This world is filled with violence, brutality, inequalities, injustices, avarice, and poverty. So, are we stuck in this culture of rising self and of diminishing reason and civility? Must we end with T.S. Eliot’s words “This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper”? (The Hollow Men) Can something good arise from our despair, or should we throw up our hands and curl into the fetal position? George Eliot said, “But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.” (Middlemarch).

As we approach Easter, we are reminded that Christianity is the story of Hope. Jesus not only gives us confidence to live life as it should be lived, but he also has secured the future. As he stood by a dead man’s tomb and raised him back to life, Jesus proclaimed he was “the Resurrection and the Life” and that believing in him would bring eternal life. (John 11:25) What he did for Lazarus, the dead man, is evidence of what he can do for us all.

A few days after that miracle and after a horrendous crucifixion, Christ himself arose from the dead and left behind an empty tomb, cementing forever his power over death and the hope of life everlasting for those who would trust him.

These people in the photo aren’t pictures of despair but are heralds of hope. They patiently waited for what they believed would happen. And it did. The sun came out! There are mysteries, but the haze will clear. They speak to us of the confident hope of the Christian who believes in the resurrected Christ.

God is “the God of hope who fills us with all joy and peace in believing.” (Romans 15:13)

A break in the Storm

Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Maine

When I was around ten years old, our small Church had a Junior Choir consisting of seven or eight “kids”. We were quite angelic in our little, white robes as we sang joyfully and with great gusto during Sunday Worship Service. I still remember the refrain of one of those songs:

“The Storms may come but fear not! O Noah, I am nigh! And through the upper window, you’ll see me standing by.”

In the midst of personal storms (and pandemics), believers have an unmitigated confidence, a steadfast hope, in the One who not only rules over life’s storms but enters into our pressing situations where He sheds His light and casts His love upon us.

Isaiah captures both God’s transcendence and His Fatherly love as he introduces us to God and His promise to be present with those who trust Him:

^“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

(Isaiah 57:15)

Anchored

Each day we awaken within the mist of the unknown. Sometimes we do so with fear and anxiety; but in our culture, we generally feel safe and prepared for our daily routines as we look forward to the small joys that will unfold. We are not concerned about unexpected events. When we leave for work or school or the grocery store, we expect to return home safely, perhaps tired, but well and in one piece.

However, when the winds of adversity rise and the seas turn rough (as they are now), we need stability. We need an anchor. The New Testament book of Hebrews reassures believers that in their time of need not only is God’s present but He is their source of confidence. He holds their future in His Sovereign hands……

“….Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls…” (Hebrews 6:18-19)

New Beginnings

Watching the sun peek over the horizon to gaze upon the awakening day is spirit lifting! Sunrises offer us new beginnings. Even when we carry old business forward, dawn brings freshness and excitement, a renewed hope, and an anticipation for possibilities, yet to be experienced. Even the weeping Prophet, Jeremiah, found this to be true:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:21-26

Valleys and Mountains

In his hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the mountains are his also . Psalm 95:4

Not everyone agrees with this Psalmist’s sentiments. The origin and the vastness of our universe both hide and declare great mysteries. Whether one accepts creation as secondary to happenstance, or to intelligent design, or as the Biblical narrative describes, the complexity and cohesiveness of our universe and its life are awe inspiring and quite incomprehensible despite all the scientific and technological knowledge available to us.

One of the foremost considerations or deliberations about the mysterious existence of the material universe should be that the cosmos has to have had a beginning. Since it is impossible for nothing to produce something, logic tells us that something or someone outside of time and space had to have initiated it. Scripture says that someone is God and that His power, creativity, magnificence, authority and presence are both above and within His creation.

God is everywhere. That means when we seek Him, He can be found even in the deepest, darkest valleys and the highest, peaks of the journey of our souls….

He has promised His seekers: “I will dwell in them And walk among them.I will be their God,And they shall be My people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Soaring on Eagle’s Wings

Along the Taunton River, Sullivan, Maine

^”Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

Geraniums and Grace

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To know the true character of a “home” we must familiarization ourselves with its interior, not just its facade. Sadly, some beautifully, manicured houses are filled with pain and horror. But conversely, secreted within this dilapidated farmhouse are years of warm memories, an obscured loveliness, and a question!

Behind its shabby exterior and extreme outer disrepair, beneath the tarped and leaking roof, behind the cracked and broken windows, lies beauty, brilliant and blooming. Colorful and tenderly cared for geraniums bask and grow in sun lit warmth.

The question posed by this dingy, distressed home? How frequently and shamefully do we judge character and intellect by appearance or context? Sadly, our first impressions often become our final impressions. This house reminds us that “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart”. No matter our condition, in His grace, He willingly transforms our old natures and shares the beauty of His. An old church chorus tells us that despite all our “brokenness”, all our “strife” He will make “something beautiful, something good of our life.”

Mending

These men are reminders of our need to periodically assess our lives. We’re all broken in some way, but we’re not good at pondering or seeking to repair the fraying fabric of our lives. We regularly service our cars and lawn mowers, and toys, check out our financials, and schedule our annual physicals exams. But when do we care for our disquieted minds, do the things we love to do, and address estranged or difficult relationships that need healing, not ignoring? Do we give thought to who we are and to whom we are becoming and attend to mending the emotional and spiritual breaks that allow the true meaning and contentment of life to escape?

Hard work and hard play give life quantity but not necessarily quality. God knew our need and gave us a day of rest from the vicissitudes and challenges of life. The business world recognizes it and allots recovery time from the hectic work week, time for pleasure and for family. But our lives are incomplete without reflection, without attending to our spirits, repairing our minds, and realigning ourselves with what God has said about the principles that lead to healthy, happy lives and about the purpose He has for us . Do we take the time to seek and find?

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.Acts 17:27

Change is Constant

The view from this old window– with its daisy-ed field gently rolling to the blue cove and its periwrinkled beach stretching out toward the “head” where a fir tipped cliff boldly juts into a sea, teased and challenged by a wispy fog bank–speaks a paradox. It defies the truth that “change is a constant”! Generations of people and events have flitted past this window, and they have vanished! But, whether lost in darkness or fog or foul weather, this beautiful vista has predictably reappeared without perceptible change, every day following every night, year after year.

In times of rapid technological advances, shifting cultural norms, irregular philosophical opinions and theological views, there is something in us that longs for a stable viewpoint, one that makes sense and connects the beginning with the end. Something solid. Something that endures. Something purposeful.

Christ told the parable of the two carpenters, one man built his house on the sand, the other built his upon a rock. When the rains and the winds and floods came, the house built on the rock held, the house built on the sand collapsed with a mighty crash. His point was “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”……”And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”Matthew 7:24-27