Lingering Things - Memories

Greetings Dear Reader,

While cooking breakfast this morning it occurred to me again just how much I love my cookware. It was a birthday gift five years ago. Care and proper use has allowed it to last well. My appreciation for the gift lingers after many years. It causes me to wonder how others hold remembrances like this.

I look around the office in which I write at other things that have been gifted to me over the years. There is a small pencil and paperclip holder that was my younger son’s first gift to me that he picked out. There is a carved dragon given by a friend when she returned from Asia. Also on the shelf with the pencil holder is snail pot made by my son when he was in the first grade. That same son and his lovely wife also gave me a set of swords and a shield designed just for me.

I could go on. There are many things I use daily that were gifts from others. I remember them and the moment of the giving. I cherish the people and the connection I feel to the expressions of love shown me through the gifts. Some of the items are from people who have for one reason or another moved out of my life. Some of those memories have become bitter sweet but the love is still there.

Whether it is my Grandfather’s commentaries or my cracked dragon jar, I ponder the people and the memories when I see, use, or dust the items. It is not the material possessions that matter but the people forever connected to them in my mind. I wonder sometimes how I pass on the memories. For now I will bask in the sweetness of them and ponder a path to preserve their significance.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

Babies and Bath Water

Greetings Dear Reader,

I went through a period of time many years ago where I did not go to church for a long time. I was disillusioned with the church and mostly with the people who attended church. I found many reasons not to go and used those who attended but did not care for Christ or his purpose as an excuse.

My eldest Son invited me to attend the church I now attend for the purpose of showing me there were still good churches and to spend time with me. Almost five years later that is the church I still attend. None of the things I see about the Church in general have changed but I realize that my abandonment was because of my own pride and self-centeredness.

I was using my high beliefs as an excuse to be lazy and disobedient to Christ. I had grand ideas about how to serve God but as I have learned over the last couple of years, they were my ideas and not Christ’s. During my sabbatical of pride I did much to hurt my family and friends. I was a poor example of the grace and kindness that Christ wishes us to show to others.

I can only imagine how often the leadership of churches that motivate their congregations to actually follow Christ are wounded by those who look at the others in the flock who need to follow and use that as an excuse to leave the church. I left myself without an accountability to someone who has a more mature walk with Christ than I did and it caused me to become narrow and self-contained.

As I saw the church overflow with those who only attend church on Resurrection Sunday, I felt that old judgment of others creeping up in my heart and mind. Yesterday I was reminded that I need to rejoice in that. Someone who is seeking a place to rest their fragile faith was also there Sunday and through their eyes the church was a place of joy and refuge. I never again wish to return to the place where I take the things of God as common or something for me to pass judgment upon.

Christ’s example was to attend the synagogue even though the Pharisees had corrupted his message and his purpose. If I am to follow Christ then I must follow his example in everything and not just the things that please me. My son led me to a place where the truth is taught and by some, even lived. This church does much to make the small world it influences a better place. Any church I attend will be imperfect just because I attend it. I cannot hypocritically be part of the whole baby and bath water process. Some good people are working to lead others to truly follow Christ. How can I not lend a hand?

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

Actions or Intentions

Greetings Dear Reader,

A friend of mine posted something profound on her Face Book page. She was quoting a friend of hers and so the posting here is another ripple in the pool of wisdom from someone I do not know. Her post asked this question: “Why do we judge others on their actions and ourselves only on our intentions?” This question pierces deeply into the years of my life I am currently assessing.

It is so easy to see what I have intended at times and dismiss what I have caused. My eldest son pointed this out to me some time ago and I have been pondering it much of late. I have seen in myself and others how easily we dismiss what we have caused because we intended differently. I know that this behavior in me was learned from others but that does not change that I must monitor how I impact others with what I do no matter what I intend.

Means and methods must align with who Christ is and how he would do things if I am to hope for a Christ centered outcome. I must examine what I want in every situation to assure that it is in alignment with who Christ is. Too often I think I know best when I have not observed what Christ is already doing or considered that my way may not be Christ’s way of handling a situation. I must step back more often.

If my life is not aligned with Christ in any area, my intentions do not matter. My only true intent must be to follow Christ is all that I do. If all my actions and intentions spring from this then I am much less likely to cause harm by putting my intentions into wrong or hurtful actions. When Christ meets me at the end of the path, what will it be worth if all I have to offer is a bag of failed intentions surrounded by wrong actions?

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

2010 Holy Week Sunday

Greetings Dear Readers,

Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed. I love you all collectively and Individually. Have a wonderful Resurrection Sunday.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

2010 Holy Week Saturday

Greetings Dear Reader,

This will be very brief. I would ask that you ponder closely exactly what it means to you that tomorrow we will celebrate the cornerstone of our redemption. The death has no eternal meaning that is good without the resurrection.

“Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my savior….”

But Sunday’s coming.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

2010 Holy Week Friday

Greetings Dear Reader,

Today so many celebrate, leave for vacations, and end their Lenten fasting. We should celebrate, laugh, rejoice, and smile. However, there should be a corner in that smile. As Tony Campolo has clearly pointed out, “The Kingdom of God is a Party.” We often forget though, that we paid for the party with our dearest blood.

I urge you to run to Sunday and the celebration of the Resurrection but not without remembering that the feast we share was bought dearly. None of us could afford the bill but God loved us enough to be the designer of a way. I have been in a room where people I loved and trusted were about to betray me, deny me, and hand me over to judgment. I deserved it. Christ did not. I fought for my “rights.” Christ sadly allowed his friends to flee and then watch as he was tortured and beaten for their crimes against him.

I revel in Sunday. I sing at the top of my voice for the redemption purchased for me. I also know that it was MY sin that held him to the cross. It was my war against God that caused him to send his own Son as an emissary of peace whom I promptly killed. Every time I question God’s goodness I need see only what Christ did and still does for me to know that I am wrong.
I am a poor follower of Christ. I am a poor knight in service of my King and am unworthy to bear his coat of arms. None-the-less he bids me do so and I obey. I fail, I fall, I flag but he constantly lifts me up to point me toward the empty tomb and his love for me. How can I help but give him all my devotion and fealty even when I do not understand how life unfolds around me.

There is time to think as we rush toward Sunday. Please use some of it to consider what price was paid for us to shout, “Christ is risen; He is risen indeed.”

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."

2010 Holy Week Thursday

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am intrigued by the things that I focus on at this time of year. I have read over my writing for the past few years regarding Holy Week and realized that my view has transitioned so much from my religious roots. The trappings that so many have put around this day mean little to me but there are things that have also grown in my thinking.

I find the contradictions of redemption so amazing. As a writer of fiction I try to stay keenly aware of what constitutes the unbelievable. Michael Card wrote, “No fiction this fantastic and wild, a mother made by her own child. That helpless babe that cried was God incarnate and man deified. Oh’ that is the mystery.”

What fascinates me and is significant to today is that God used death to give life. We invited death into the world through our sin. The entire ecosystem was transformed to a death based ecosystem. Things had to die for life to continue. It is an acorn that dies in the soil that yields an oak. We consume plants and animals to sustain our lives. God turned that death into a fighting chance for us to live. He used the contradiction of death yielding life to redeem us to himself.

That Christ would die for me still astounds me. It was in April of 1974 that I accepted this truth and the journey has been one of toil and struggle but filled with joy. As we remember that today Christ is beaten, mocked, tortured, and killed for us, it is both sorrowful and joyous. The sorrow that my beloved Christ would have to die for my failures is harsh and bitter. The joy that he used that necessity to bring me life is one that moves me to become all that I can to reflect his love and compassion for others who still need him.

I will never be all that I wish to be and I am sure that I will fail many more times before I reach the end of the path. I am also sure that I will arise each day and give myself back to Christ in the hope that I may follow him a little more closely in both the gall and the honey of life. We live is a death enshrouded world but a new world is on its way. It is Maundy Thursday, but Sunday’s coming.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."