Already and the not yet – Maybe Next Year

Greetings Dear Reader,

I realize we are several months away from resolutions and weight loss plans.  We are also on the back side of summer where we ponder the things we wanted to do but did not.  We vow we will do them next summer.  None of them happen if we do not do them.

One of the things we must do is to turn the not yet into already.  Some things take planning, funding, and execution.  Some things require that we begin them.  Summer plans must wait until summer but may need planning in the previous fall.  Some things require the moment.  It is the latter that we must never relegate “maybe next year.”

Part of embracing the already is using each moment to follow Christ more closely.  No matter the cost or pain we must abandon the things that hinder the journey.  No matter the challenge or difficulty we must be better today than yesterday.  I already need to do better but I am not there yet.

I can plan that vacation for next summer.  I can dream of things I want to do and become.  I can imagine and visualize.  None of that matters if I do not make the internal things already.  I must continually build on the progress I have already made to get to the place in following Christ that I have not yet achieved. 

Living in the already, even in changing what needs changing, means the I see and act on the now and never say maybe tomorrow, later, or next  year.  It means I live in the moment.  I live in the already to shape the not yet.

Magic Every Moment – Dan Fogelberg

I awoke this morning to a shattering sound

And I went downstairs and found these shards of glass strewn all around

There upon the floor I found this poor broken dove

And it made me realize how very fragile is this life that we so love

I came back up to bed and I held you so tight

And I prayed up to the Father, oh I prayed with all my might

That He'd always keep you with me, that He'd always keep you safe

And when I went downstairs I found that dove had somehow up and flown away

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

On a high and windy island I was gazing out to sea

When a long forgotten feeling came and took control of me

It was then the clouds burst open and the sun came pouring through

When it hit those dancing waters in an instant all eternity I knew

There's so much we take for granted--there's so much we never say

We get caught up in the motion of just a living day to day

We are fettered to the future, we are prisoners of the past

And we never seem to notice 'til our lives have finally

Slipped right through our grasp

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

You can see forever in a single drop of dew

You can see that same forever if you look down deep inside of you

There's a spark of the creator in every living thing

He respects me when I work but He so loves me when I sing

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Come as You Are – All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

Greetings Dear Reader,

From the Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

I realize that we do not always know when we are wandering.  Jesus promised that we would be wanderers:  “The wind blows wherever it will.  You see the impact and hear the sound. You cannot tell where it comes or where it is going.  So is everyone that is driven by the Spirit of God.”  It is possible to both wander and follow.  It is not possible to just wander and not follow.  We get lost. 

Fortunately when we realize we are lost and admit we want to come home the journey is very short.  We do not have to clean up, shape up, or heal up.  We only have to come as we are.  We really can come as we are.  We can do it every day if necessary. 

We have so many things that haunt us.  So many things that we might have done had we not wandered try to convince us that we cannot come home.  We ponder and wonder as we wander when all we really need to do is admit that we want to come home to Christ.

It takes both humility and arrogance to do this.  We must humbly admit that we have gotten lost and wandered to far from following.  Then we must absurdly ask to be allowed to follow.  I have chased money and “love” instead of Christ.  The damage from my wandering echoes still in the lives of my Sons. 

I may have for a moment felt that I was where I wished to be.  What I was really doing was following things that were not Christ.  In my wandering I have found that it is wandering in the wrong direction that is the problem.  I am designed to wander but only because I follow the Wanderer.  When I stray I can come back in a moment.  The journey back to Christ is only a moment and repeatable every moment if I am willing.

The Lion’s Share – Dan Fogelberg

Grand slam, your moment's at hand

The day holds a costly bargain

Lost lamb asking the lion's share

Homespun, a prodigal son

Comes begging a humble pardon

But no one rises to hear his prayer

Lone star, you've wandered so far

And long in the unfamiliar

That now you travel a map unknown

Star bright, a constant delight

To those in the dark and still your

Birthright's to shine in the night alone

Living in the shadows

Of the things that might have been

Torn between the blessing and the curse

You may starve the hunger

But you'll never slake the thirst

For the nectar you remember

But you'll never taste again

Nonesuch, your Midas' touch

Has gilded your heart and left you

So much playing the prince of clowns

Hell-bent, empty and spent

Just look what your gamble's got you

Exiled, far from the sacred grounds

Living in the shadows

Of the things that might have been

Torn between the blessing and the curse

You may stop the hunger

But you'll never slake the thirst

For the nectar you remember

But you'll never taste again

Grand slam, your moment's at hand

The day holds a costly bargain

Lost lamb asking the lion's share

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)