Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christmas Date - 1984

Occasionally, I'll read my horoscope, just for the fun of it. I don't believe they can predict my future, but sometimes the generic statements contain a germ of truth. Earlier this week, mine read...

You work in the world of the mind, and you play in the world of the heart. One person brings these two worlds together, and that's a beautiful relationship.

This is one they got so right. Many Decembers ago, I had just finished working with a particular church as music minister, and a Sunday School class there asked me to come to their Christmas party. It was a college age class (I was a little old for it), but I had been wanting to join them, and thought it was a good opportunity. Trouble was, I barely knew anyone in that class.

Well, almost anyone. There was this one girl that I knew from my old school, back when she was 10 and I was 15, and we rode the same bus. Cute kid, used to like to pick on me. Then I noticed that she was at this church, she, her mother and father. They would sit in the forth row, and she and her mother would make faces at me while I was trying to lead the singing without laughing.

So I asked if she would come with me to help me get acquainted with more of the class, to fit in. December 18, 1984. The day my life forever changed for the better, even if I didn't know it then. She took up being in a relationship with a MUSICIAN, which is like suicide, and worse yet, a CHURCH MUSICIAN, which is like slow torture THEN suicide. She made me a better man than I had ever hoped to be. She has stood by me, even when I may not have been entirely worthy. She has been there and seen me through some pretty tough times health wise, more than any woman should have to. She has loved me, comforted me, encouraged me, been strength and hope and love for me. And I hope to have been able to give all this to her as well. My life is complete, because she completes me.

I wish for everyone this kind of love. The love of a person you can trust intimately with your hopes, dreams, heart and soul. Such a love IS out there for everyone.

1. It is always there in God's love.
2. You should always love yourself, just as God loves you.(It's hard to love our neighbor as ourselves, if we don't love ourselves as God loves us!)
3. If you share love with others, the right person will share it back! 

One last thing before I go, Merry Christmas to all!

Friday, December 9, 2016

More on New Mexico - Patterns

It is amazing to see the mountains in New Mexico. Being a product of the Appalachian side of the country, I thought all mountains were green and crowded together. Thick and covered with luscious growth and trees bumping up against each other. then there is New Mexico. The first thing that hit me was the openness of the sky. Clear as far as you could see, and you could see forever. that brings me to the next thing I noticed. How immense everything is. It's like everything got super sized. I did, at first, miss the color that is the Smokies. Most of the color in those mountains are just different tones of beige. As I was ready to get my scoff on, I began to notice patterns in the rocks. Swirls and gashes and etchings created by oceans long since vanished. Each stone behemoth a potter's creation, with the prints of the masters hands visible in the finished product. Each one unique, each one beautiful. Each a testament of God's creativity.

Both mountain ranges were created through pressure. One by the pressure of the earth's crust, one by oceans carving and tearing and washing away. Both are left as distinctive, beautiful creations. We too are shaped by the pressures and events of our lives. Each of us individual, distinctive, beautiful. For beauty lies not in perfection, but in the scars and wounds of our lives. It is there where God reaches down, and touches us, heals us. It is there His hand print is visible. In the patterns of our souls.

Be proud of the person you are. You have been made a beautiful creation by the Master creator, with the touch of His own hand. His intimate, loving hand. Dwell in the love He has given.

Friday, December 2, 2016

A Holiday Wedding!

Please forgive the delay between posts! I've been quite busy over the Thanksgiving holiday, including traveling to New Mexico for a family vacation, and to officiate my brother-in-law's wedding, an incredible honor! It was a wonderful time for us, as we don't get nearly enough time with that part of the family. (It did seem a little odd, however, to have everyone watching the Vanderbilt/Tennessee game, and not be the only Vandy fan in the house! Great game - GO 'DORES!!) Which brings me to my musings today.

Weddings have been around almost as long as humans have inhabited the planet.

Boy meets Girl,
Boy hits Girl over the head with club.
Boy drags Girl into cave by hair.
And they lived happily, ever after.
The End.

Except it isn't the end. After all this time, people still get married every day. Why would such an antiquated system still be used in today's modern world?

It comes down to the meaning of TRUE love. Not just a love of attraction, although attraction is not a bad thing in itself. (If attraction is based solely on beauty, however, it's lust, not attraction. Good rule of thumb from Billy Graham - If you look once, it's admiration, If you Keep On looking...) True love changes your focus, changes your priorities, changes you. This is how Paul describes it in 1st Corinthians 13: 4-8

     Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

When two people feel that way for each other, nothing short of marriage will honor their commitment to each other, It is when two people both can say "I want to give you my heart, soul, hopes and dreams" and both can say "I want to take your heart, soul, hopes and dreams, and cherish them as my own" that marriage is justified. It is just such love that represents how much Jesus loves us. He gives himself totally, freely. He asks that we give Him our heart, soul, hopes and dreams, not to become empty slaves, but so that He can protect and nourish us, so that our heart, soul, hopes and dreams can be fulfilled. This is why true love needs marriage in today's world. This is why we, in this world, need Christ's true love.

Faith, Hope, and Love abide; these three, but the greatest of these is Love.

and...

GO 'DORES! (also Go UNM Lobos, but that's another story!)