Reflections on the Christian Life Archives - Page 18 of 19

We have a beautiful Christmas tree this year. But I couldn’t appreciate it yesterday. There were so many things to do. I worried that it didn’t have enough water. First, I jumped up to add water to it. Then all of the presents to open. We had to get through all of them. And there was breakfast and then clean up and lunch and to get to all the rest that we needed to do.

We all know the routine. We fill our days with so many good things that we struggle to taste and enjoy them all.

This morning I am happy.

This morning I was able to enjoy the Christmas tree.

I am sitting and looking at the intricate detail. The tiny little ornaments and the reflected lights. There is so much to look at. But it is not overwhelming in this moment. It is just a joy to take it in and not to have to stress or worry about anything in particular.

How could I get to this place today when I couldn’t yesterday?

It is the quiet of the morning and no one else is awake yet (other than our beagle and she is mostly sleeping again anyhow!) I was able to sip a cup of coffee and read from my Bible.

This morning I read from the book of Daniel. In it I read of the dream of king Nebuchadnezzar. This dream was an amazing and grand dream. It encompassed all of human history and told of the many kingdoms that would come and go. In the end they would all become as dust on the threshing floor when the final kingdom is established.

I asked myself, “Why did the Lord give this dream? Why did Nebuchadnezzar need this? And why do we need this?”

The answer came in the form of the Christmas tree in front of me.

The world is filled with complexities along with so many things to do and think about. We rush around and fill our days with activities. We build empires. These empires are the most important things to us it seems. But while they may last for a season, they will eventually become dust. They will pass away. They will become as dust on the threshing floor. They will all be blown away. But in their place, we will have something permanent and right and true. We won’t be bothered or care about the others blowing away because of what replaces it. It will be right and true.

We can rest in this knowledge. We can pause and stop running around. We can sit and enjoy and know that there is a plan.

I can relax. I can look at the lights on the Christmas tree not worrying about the details. I can just enjoy them. I can look with wonder at the intricate details of the many ornaments. (Sarah loves Christmas ornaments.) I can just enjoy them. And for the 1^sttime today I can feel peace. I do not have to do everything or rush or hurry. I can and should stop and enjoy.

It is a hard feeling to communicate. I don’t know if I can adequately do so, but I will try.

There are lots of things for you to obsess or worry about today. There are lots of activities that you feel that you must get done. There are so many good things for you to do today. But for one moment can you understand that they are all temporary? What seems so important in this moment is perhaps not as important as you might think.

Can you break free for one moment? Can you keep the forces of the now from robbing you from a single moment of enjoyment and peace? As I type this the clocks chime at me. They are yelling at me that time is passing. But I am going to be strong. I am going to ignore them and fight against them. I am not going to let them rob me of the now.

Can you do the same? Can you understand that there is a greater plan and that there are greater days to come? It is enough for now to pause and enjoy what is in front of you. Just look at the lights on the tree. Look with a sense of fun and joy and peace at the ornaments and how they reflect. Or look at the small and intricate ones buried in the inside of the tree.

The “things” that you have to do will all be gone as a puff of dust. You will later get to a day by the graciousness of God and by his redeeming power when we can enjoy the world. If we are His children and accept Him and His grace, then He will bring us to that day. It will be a day when all the “things” suddenly make sense. We will get to slow down and taste and see and hear and enjoy them all. We won’t be struggling or running with frantic things to do. We can enjoy His creation in the way that He intended.

But for now, He gives us glimpses of that day. For me it is in the Christmas tree in front of me.

I didn’t fill the water up yet. I can do that later. I am just sitting and looking at it. I am not trying to figure it all out. I am just enjoying it and feeling a sense of deep peace. God is in charge. All the things that worry me are temporary. They will be blown away as dust. For now, I can just sit and enjoy. I can dream of the day when we finally will be able to just enjoy the world. We won’t be sick or tired. We won’t feel loss or grief. We won’t be stressed over building empires. We will be happy to be together. Every blade of grass and every leaf on the trees and every curving hill will bring beauty and enjoyment and peace to all of us.

For now, it is enough to look and breathe and enjoy the Christmas tree.

We have a beautiful Christmas tree this year.

”While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

In this Christmas holiday season we often read or hear read the story of the nativity. It is a grand and humble story. It warms our hearts. In this season of the nativity, I hope you will enjoy a reflection on my thinking on life.

As is usual in this blog, I honestly and openly reflect my thinking. Not everyone will agree with me. That is ok. But there is richness in the dialogue and how we all can learn from each other. These are the thoughts that fill my heart and mind this holiday season.

I enjoy a good novel.

In it there are of course some important elements. The characters and how they are developed is very important. They can’t be one dimensional. They must have some complexity. The narrative must flow well.

But above all there must be a plot. The plot cannot be too obvious. It has to develop and flow over time. It weaves in and out of the characters lives and we go on a journey of discovery as we read. If it is too obvious we will lose interest in the book. If there is no plot we end up wholly unsatisfied. But the masterful book is one in which we wonder what is going on. We are eager to find some purpose or meaning and how things can or might tie in.

The most excellent novels have elements that you see but perhaps don’t even really notice and then later they tie in with remarkable and profound meaning. They hit you and you are suddenly amazed at their significance. It all starts folding together and it makes sense. The pages that have gone before this point become cherished friends. You love them and are so glad you got to know them because now you know how important and how significant they were to what was really going on the whole time.

I like to think my life has been a great novel. It thrills me to see events that at the time didn’t seem to mean a lot and how they have come back years later to be of profound significance. There were thrilling times. There were slower times that were spent on developing the main character in the novel. But now I see how important those times were and even the mundane parts of the story now jump out as being ever so important.

Why does this matter?

What is reality? Are our lives meaningful? Are they the product of a skilled author who profoundly knows in advance what elements must be weaved in and out of our lives? Is our story being created for us? Will we be able to look back and read through it and appreciate it? Will we even love some of the passages for how profound they may seem in retrospect?

Or are our lives just happenstance? Do we stumble along doing the best that we can as we scribble on the pad of paper kind of inventing things as we go? Is it like the game where each person adds a line onto the story as we go around the room. These stories can be funny as each person goes up and down different tangents. But these stories are not elegant. They usually leave you unsatisfied. They are like a sweet that you munch on. It may taste good for awhile but doesn’t really leave you satisfied. They are not the full meal with all of its content that leaves you satisfied and happy at the end.

I have strong beliefs in this regard. There is no question in my mind which is reality.

I have seen it played out already. The story has been well written so far. It has so much more depth to the story than I would have added if I had written it myself. I think I would have written an obvious story without the subtleties that I now see and appreciate. I probably would have left out some things unless it made me look better or more dramatic. But mostly – I just would have written a much more dry and direct story.

The beginnings were humble. The plotline took time to develop. The first portion spent a lot of time developing the many characters and personalities. There were a lot of mundane details that I didn’t really appreciate at the time. But now I see how much color and realism and depth they added to the story. In retrospect I wouldn’t change them. I also love to go back and reread some of the parts. Some of the parts are painful. I reread them because I need to. They are important. Some are fun or funny. I tend to skip over some of the more embarrassing parts. I probably would love to cut those pages out but the author felt that they were necessary.

What am I trying to say?

There is purpose and meaning to all of our lives. It is startling and amazing and beautiful. It is more than what you could even imagine. I honestly believe that one of the joys of heaven will be to look back and see the incredible meaning behind it all. Like the sweet taste when you read the last page of a treasured book will be the joy of realizing that God was in charge the entire time. In spite of the difficult or stubborn characters in the book He was able to carry through an amazing story and weave it all together.

God is there. He is the author. He dreamed up who you would be, was there when you were conceived and was there as you grew in your mother’s womb. Your birth was not a surprise to Him. He has loved you before you could even know what love was. He was watching and cheering for you when you made good choices and perhaps wincing a bit as you made bad choices. He was pulling things together and calling to you with the goal that you would come to Him so that He could heal you and perfect you. You are His creation. You were made by Him and for Him and so that you could enjoy Him and He could enjoy you.

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This is one of the 4 spiritual laws that were popular in the 70s. It was an appeal to help people realize that He is a loving and personal God.

Please do not misunderstand. The story that He is writing for your – or His “wonderful plan” – is not a simple one. It is not a perfect plan because you and the whole world are part of a fallen creation. It is part tragedy. It is drama. There is comedy at times also. It is mostly a redemptive story. Oh – and by the way – you are NOT the protagonist. You are really not even the main character. Truth be told – if you had the ability to read and grasp the entire novel – you would see that you are but one character in a much grander redemptive story that pulls multiple elements together with the ultimate goal of declaring the glory of God.

It is not health and wealth. While the story may have moments of beauty there are a lot of times that it is not pretty. As in most profound novels there are parts of it that are truly painful and tragic. We cannot nor should we trivialize or try to neatly explain those away. The story is gritty and real. It has deep flaws in many of the characters and fractures in many of the events. Parts that could be just perfect are fractured or flawed by the fallen circumstances and characters that make up that chapter. The glory and the beauty comes in how the protagonist – both as the narrator and author – but also as one of the characters in the story – pulls it all together throughout the story and in the end.

God is there.
He created you.
He knows you and loves you.
You are fallen and flawed.
But God is much greater and amazingly He can pull you just as you are through a story – a redemptive story – and bring you to Him. There He can perfect you. And someday – we can sit before Him and in great wonder and love hear the author explain it all so clearly that our hearts will overflow.

That is the world.
It is God’s world.
Please, please, please – don’t miss seeing it!
It happens to be one of my favorite books and I deeply hope you can appreciate it with me.

Can you indeed speculate and dream with me for a moment?

Can you think that your life may indeed be a well written novel? What might have to now looked like scribbles or fragmented story lines, might actually be intricately woven together soon to make wonderful and logical sense. It is not a perfect story. Any good novel does not have perfect characters and perfect actions. There are always twists and turns.

But, as a child on Christmas Eve, can you engage in wonder in the thought that there might indeed be an author for the story that is your life? Can you let the Christmas lights reflect off of your rosy cheeks and glisten in your eyes. Could you look for the author and the story that He is writing as you turn the next pages of your life into the coming year?

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