Good to Grace ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Whether you share my faith or not, please look carefully at this quote from Paul’s letter to the Christ-followers in Ephesus.  No matter what anyone tells you that you must DO, redemption (salvation) comes through faith by way of grace.  It is not from anything we can do because it is a gift.  Please dwell on that for a moment.

Jesus is not after your money, your freedom, or your independence.   He wants you to accept a gift from him.  The idea is that he extends grace to us so that we can have faith.  This is done out of God’s love for us.  His love moves him to express himself through grace and all we have to do to receive it is to accept the gift by faith.

No matter how good we are we cannot earn a gift.  If we could, then it is not a gift.  I cannot merit redemption.  It is our hearts that the Father desires.  I must place all of my trust in the grace that God gives me to journey toward him by following his Son.  It is my faith that sets me on the path.

Once there more grace is extended to help me see where my love for the Father is incomplete or flawed.  As I accept the grace given and respond to it, I am also better able to love my fellow humans.  Paul goes on to say, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The good we wish to do gains its value after the Father has reclaimed us through the gift of his Son.  He created us to do good things but they only find their value after we accept his grace through faith.  It is through grace and love that we benefit those around us.  When we express the Fathers love through obeying his commands to love others, that is when we are extending grace.

I was explaining administration to someone last week.  The word means to minister through others.  The Father administers his grace through us when we show others his love.  Our benchmark is love but the love flows through us to others by the Father’s grace.  As I journey home, I realize that I must remain what I have always been.

You see, Dear Reader, as much as I know about following Christ, I am not very good at it.  I fail to follow.  I get my own ideas about how to follow and they are wrong.  It is only when I love through grace and mercy that I am able to reflect the Father’s love.  I am simply a door warden hoping to share some stories and help others find the door.  I only wish for you to follow me on my media pages.  What I really desire is for you to follow Christ.  Here is a writing by someone that inspires me.  It is long but worth the read.  Please remember, Dear Reader, that I love you whether you accept what I am saying or not.  I do, however, pray that you can find the grace to see the Father’s love for you.

I Stand by the Door - An Apologia for my Life - Samuel Moore Shoemaker

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So, I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.
Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So, I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So, I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get partway in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do anymore.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So, for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.
Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.

So, I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
'I had rather be a door-keeper
So, I stand by the door.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
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If we could buy redemption by being good, it would not be worth the price that was actually paid for it.

Good to Grace ~ Warriors

Greetings Dear Reader,

I realize that as someone who places love and grace above everything, “Warriors” is an odd title for my post this morning.  I am, however, in good company.  The New Testament writers often framed what we do in the metaphor of being soldiers in a conflict.

Even when things are peaceful and sublime, we must not forget that we are at war.  The difference is that our front lines are not visible as the battles are always first fought in the heart and mind.  Our weapons are not made of steel and wood.  Still, we are in a battle every day and often at every moment.  To those who oppose us, every kindness is an act of war. 

It is not the kind of war we can see.  When we prepare each day for this war, all of our weapons and armor are given to us.  We do not have to earn them though we may have to prove some of them.  That all we need to withstand our enemies is given to us freely is another mark of the permeation of grace in our lives.  Redemption, truth, righteousness, the Gospel, and the Word of God are all products of grace.  We have covered that redemption and righteousness are products of grace working in us.

That we can comprehend the truth of God is also an act of grace on his part.  It is part of the great gift that grace is.  The Gospel; the good news of Jesus is a product of grace.  Faith is only possible because of the grace we are given to have it.  We are armored fully through grace and the only weapon in our hands is the Word of God wielded in love and grace.

I realize that this metaphor assumes a great deal of belief.  If you have journeyed with me for very long, you know that I do not reject anyone who does not believe what I believe.  What I must do is understand that I battle daily in this armor and with this weapon.  As I put it on, I must realize that if it is done with anything other than love, I fail to wear it effectively.   The thing we leave out of the list is the cloak that covers it all; love.

We are warriors of grace, Dear Reader.  Whether we engage directly with those who need our love or stand by the door for those seeking a way into our ranks, we fight.  The journey is constantly a march.  It is one we take up when we rise and keep with us when we rest.  We fight through the day choosing in our minds and hearts how we will deal in grace.

It is not possible to otherwise make our way.  When we choose not to stand or fight in love and grace, we choose to aid darkness.  There is never a moment when we are not fighting for or against the light.  There are no secular issues.  I cannot divide things between war and peace until we are home and all is back to good.  Until then, I will fight for you, Dear Reader.  I will love you, and the Father, and our enemies.  I can only do any of this because of grace that flows to us from the love of the Father.

 No Rusty Swords – Michael Card

Don't you know the battle's raging
And you got to join the fight
There's an army of the darkness
And an army of the Light
There's a side that fights for Satan
And a side that's for the Lord
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords

Christ has made the final move
So, our side is sure to win
He became like us so we would have
A chance to be like Him
It seems strange so many fall back
When the victory has been won
You just need to ask yourself
Which side you're on
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords

There's a fact you need to understand
Before you join our side
You need to know when Jesus calls
He bids you come and die
He's invaded Satan's kingdom
And He's claiming all His own
When the battle's over
He will lead us home
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords
And on this battlefield, there are no rusty swords

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn
Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          
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We are at war.  We fight every moment of every day.  The difficulty is that we sometimes switch sides during the battle.

Good to Grace ~ Seven Layer Cake

Greetings Dear Reader,

When I taught Information Technology at the college level, one of the primary things students had to master was the Open Systems Information (OSI) model.  It is a seven-layer set of protocols that explains the flow of information through a network.  Each semester my networking students had to come up with creative ways to demonstrate their understanding of the OSI model.

Over the years students presented nesting dolls, video games, and even a song to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas.  One group of students made a list of thirty different ways to remember the layers of the model.  My favorite project over those years was the seven-layer cake presented one fall semester.

It was not just that the cake represented the layers of the model well.  It was delicious, stable, and beautifully created.  The cake was colored like a rainbow but each layer had an increasingly richer flavor.  As I have been thinking about the nature of grace this week, it has occurred to me that it is like this cake but the layers of grace are infinite.

The Father extends grace to us to draw us to him.  When we respond to that grace, he then gives us more to follow his Son.  As we begin to draw closer in our journey with the Son, he extends grace to every area of our lives to teach us how to love him better.  He gives us the grace we need to see how to love our fellow travelers as he loves them.  The Father even provides the grace we need to extend grace to those we encounter on our journey. 

Grace carries with it all the rich flavors of love that are available when we align our hearts with the Father.  We receive it layer upon layer as we yield our hearts and minds to love, kindness, and mercy.  We can taste the sweetness of patience, generosity, and humility as we serve them to others.  All of this flows to us and through us in a conduit of grace.

It is vital that I savor grace at every opportunity, Dear Reader.  In grace, I receive and in grace I am able to give.  The Father is the source of all grace both as I accept it and as I pass it on to others.  It is faith that allows us to receive it and even that is built upon generous servings of grace from the Father.  Grace becomes rich, delicious, and a constant delight to us as we experience it.  Oh, and in case you were wondering Dear Reader, grace is never fattening no matter how much we take in or pass on to others.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn
Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          
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When we see the journey of our lives through the Father’s eyes, we will see layer upon layer of sweet grace that allows us to become good.

Good to Grace ~ Will and Grace (Not the TV Show)

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have a friend who dances between belief in God and unbelief.  The thing he says that keeps him believing that there may be a God is free will.  My friend is very intelligent.  He has reasoned his way to the understanding that the only genuine deity would be one that gave us the freedom to choose him.

Once we accept the truth that we are not good enough to merit the redemption that we need, we must also see that we have a choice to make.   This choice is whether we put our faith in the source of our redemption or reject it.  The logic goes like this:  We are given the grace to see that we need redemption.  Then we are given the grace to understand that we cannot redeem ourselves. 

At this point, we have a choice.  Many choose to think that they do not truly need reclamation.  It is one of the lies that leads to so many of our human ills.  We choose to reject the God that made us and loves us.  Too often it is based on the actions of his followers.  We measure the Maker by the children that have disobeyed his instruction to love everyone.  As is our human nature, we judge God based on those who misrepresent him.

You see, Dear Reader, the Father loves us enough to give us a choice.  Anyone can come to him and request the gift of redemption through faith.  The grace is always there if we choose to move past our will.  We want to believe that we do not need anything beyond ourselves.  What we really need is to accept by faith the grace that is offered for the forgiveness we need.  If we add anything else to the process, we fail to see that it is grace alone that allows our faith to be sufficient.

The One who made us gives us the grace needed to recover from our rejection of him.  He does not, however, force us.  He gives us a choice and that choice is governed by our will.  The Father constantly extends grace to us in order to draw us to him.  The call is constant and the choice is open as long as we have life.  Our will and God’s grace live in a constant pas de deux.   We are foolish enough to try to lead this dance when the only thing that works is to give that role over to the Father.

I must live in this dance between will and grace moving in step with the Father as led by the Son.  I must listen to the music that calls me to follow the Son home believing that he will supply all that I need for the journey.  Anything else, Dear Reader, will cause missteps and failure.  The beauty is that the Son always is there ready to take up the dance with us again when we choose it.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn
Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          
Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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“And the universe wheels and whirls like a dervish in perfect seven-step time.
The Lord made the Danse, He taught her the steps, and He causes the songs to shine.”

Good to Grace ~ Not Good Enough

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am close to someone who, no matter what you do for him, it is not good enough.  There is always something you should have done better or forgot to do at all.  Nothing is ever seen as complete or viewed as the best you could do with what you have.

In the journey to be lovingly unoffendable, this person is a constant test of my resolve.  A good friend of mine just mentioned last night that learning to be unoffendable is not easy and that sometimes it really hurts.  The journey we are on is filled with moments where our best is not good enough for us to be unhurt and sometimes uninjured.

Whether we accept it or not, we are all on a journey back to God.  The difficulty is that we are not good enough to be worthy of reaching him.  The very best among us is still light years away from the goodness of God.  We do not like this truth.  It is inconvenient and tramples on our pride.  It is grace that gives us the ability to take even the first step in seeing that on our own, we are not good enough.

There is the other side of the issue as well.  There are those who believe that no matter what is done that is good, he or she is never good enough.  Whilst it is true in relation to the Father that we are not good enough, that is not the measure of our worth but only our state.  We can never be good enough to merit God’s favor but grace wishes us to see that even before we embrace him, he favors us with his love.

It is not our good that matters.  We are worth the effort in God’s eyes at the deepest level.  It is that the Father first loves us and then extends grace to us asking that we embrace it in order to love him.  My good thoughts, words, and deeds are never enough without the grace of the Father first creating the path for me to follow to him.

The journey home is impossible with only the good I do.  The path only appears when it is illuminated by grace, Dear Reader.   I am free to follow it or not.  When I do, however, I find that I am always following the Son, Jesus.  It is that light of grace seen through faith that shows us the way.  Please, feel free to walk with me.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn
Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          
Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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The very best person we know is not good enough without grace.

Good to Grace ~ Why Grace?

Greetings Dear Reader,

A friend posed a question that is clearly part of what must be explored to address our journey properly.  In approaching grace, one must understand why grace is necessary.  It begins with my introductory quote, “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fear relieved.”

My friend asked this: “What part does fear play in this journey? Grace teaches us fear, and also liberates us from fear if we let it in. So maybe some of the good works that are set as ‘reserves to ensure redemption’ are born of fear that pre-dates acceptance of grace…whether tempting faith or testing faith.”

If you read me regularly, you know that I believe that fear is the seed of all that we do that is selfish, unloving, and wrong.  I will not take a deep dive into that here.  I will say that when I am honest about my motivations when I am selfish, I can trace it to fear of not having, not being safe, or not being loved. 

All of our fears stem from our inner understanding that we are not as we should be in relation to the Father.  We can never be what we are designed to be on our own.  We will not create that utopian world that we so richly desire.  Our lives are filled with fear because we strive to be good when we are not in harmony with the One who personifies goodness.  At the very essence of our need for grace is the honest fear that we cannot reach the goodness of the Father on our own.

We cannot merit the goodness of God any more than an ant can achieve the sentience of a human.  My friend is correct that we carry some fear that we need to merit the Father’s favor into the time after we have accepted grace.  When I do this, it is because I have lost my understanding of the vast unplumbable depths of grace.  It is grace that teaches me my need for the Father’s love. 

That grace is what draws me into the place where I can even see my need for redemption.  Then it shows me that I cannot merit redemption on my own.  Out of the love the Father shows us our need to fear not embracing his grace.  This first move is the prime act of grace.  It is love allowing fear so that we can be freed from that fear by grace.

Then once we accept redemption by grace, we still feel that lingering need to merit what we have been given.  For me, it is like someone giving me a very thoughtful Christmas gift. I know that I do not deserve it and I feel self-conscious about someone loving me so much.  Instead of pure gratitude, I indulge my fear that I am not good enough.  The essence is that this is not how grace works.  It is by grace through faith that we are relieved from that fear.  Any good we do after that is a response to grace and not a maintenance of grace. 

We live out grace, Dear Reader, by loving others and the Father.  The grace from the Father that enables to love is what can cast out the residual fear that we need to maintain our redeemed status.  It is the love that we accept and give that generates our understanding and application of grace.  As my friend suggests, it is the employment of our faith that grace is sufficient that mitigates our fear.  Love is employed from the Father by his giving us grace and he in turn asks us to use love to extend grace to others.  It is all to evidence our transformation and not to merit or maintain it.  It is the ongoing gift we receive from the Father.  It is fear, un-arrested by grace that causes us not to love as we should. 

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn
Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          
Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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In giving good over to grace, we must allow grace to dissolve any residual fear that we need to merit favor.

Grief to Grace ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

We can grieve too long or not at all.  Both are unhealthy.  Both lead us to places where grace is needed more than our grief.  If we hold onto grief and do not make our way to grace, we hinder our journey.

We cannot carry grief over losses without them turning to anger, bitterness, or sadness.  When grief takes root in us it grows into its own powerful entity.  It keeps us from forgiving or finding comfort in the Father’s love.  When we carry our grief too long it will isolate us from others and insulate us from hope.

Greif becomes selfish after a time.  It is not wrong to still feel the loss but we must not hold onto grief.  We must both accept the grace we are given to move beyond grief and give grace to others in our grief.  It is the transportation to the grace that heals our hearts.  

We cannot love as the Father commands without moving from grief to grace.  We cannot receive the Father’s love without grace.  If I hope to follow well, I must deal in grace and most importantly when it comes to grief.  My losses are nothing compared to what we gain in Christ.  My hurts turn to hope when I believe that the Father has it all under control. 

This time is the opportunity to work it out so that others can be loved and so that I can love.  Eventually, every tear will be gone because the Father will wipe them away.  There will be no more grief.  Let us prepare for this Dear Reader by turning our grief to grace now.  We will walk easier and share more good things.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

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BLOG Archive:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/ 

Grief to Grace ~ All Lives Matter, BUT…

Greetings Dear Reader,

We understand as a community the anger and pain of loss.  When the towers fell in New York, we dropped our differences for a few days and were one people grieving loss and unjust violence.  We know that all lives matter but we do not live that way.

Our society has many ills that scream that all lives do not matter to us.  Our nation is filled with the homeless, suicidal veterans, human trafficking, and many forms of prejudice.  We murder the unborn for the sake of convenience.  We tolerate racism even if we are not racist.

All lives matter but we do not live like it.  Jesus makes it clear that all lives matter but there were times when he also made it clear that prostitutes' lives matter, children’s lives matter, and even Roman Soldier’s lives matter.  He was concerned about the Samaritan, the Gentile, and the sick.  He made it clear that at times there are groups who matter and need specific attention.

My obligation in following Christ is to listen when someone feels that his or her life does not matter to me.  I am obligated to pay attention when a group of people feels oppressed.  Further, I am compelled to love them so deeply that I work against oppression and prejudice of any kind.

The current outrage calls me as a Christ-follower to love those who are outcast or mistreated.  It demands that I not care about politics or opinions but, rather, that I use all that I have to treat others justly.  I must respond to Black Lives Matter without regard to anything but the degree to which Christ loves them.

The violence and hatred that accompany the grief are wrong.  On any scale, it is not acceptable to do violence just because we are angry, hurt, or feel a loss.  On every scale, it is our obligation to respond to prejudice with love and justice.  The obligation of the Christ-follower is to love every human in every instance.  When I fail to hear the cries of those who feel mistreated, I am guilty of failing to love them as well.

The broad brushes with which we paint currently are all negligent of the truth.  The Father has painted us all individually even though some of us are very similar.  If we think for a moment that we are exempt from responsibility for our brother’s welfare, we are wrong.  We need to remember that the first murder was a result of envy and neglect of love.  Jesus would be reminding us yes, he cares for every life, but right now, we have a community that is in pain and needs our love more than any of us realize.  They need our care, justice, compassion, and kindness.  We need to help them turn their grief to grace by owning our failures to love them like Christ does.  We cannot demand that they speak equality over lives that matter when we will not treat their lives with the same equality.  If we respond to every complaint, true or false with love, we cannot go wrong, Dear Reader.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

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Medium         Instagram 

BLOG Archive:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/ 

Grief to Grace ~ Two Sides of the Same Coin

Greetings Dear Reader,

Part of the difficulty in turning grief to grace is the unknown.  If we allow our grief to be transformed, we are unsure of what will happen.  We cannot be certain that we will find the peace we need.  It turns out that fear in which we indulge is the reverse of the coin of faith.

So many avenues exist that are possible when we forgive, restore, or relent in our anger.  The person upon whom we have mercy may not have changed their attitude or actions.  The hurt we have may be worsened.  Others may never live up to our expectations.  We fear that if we learn to accept the loss, whatever it may be, that our hopes and expectations will not be met.

We get lost in the process because of what we believe.  We believe that people will leave, die, or continue on unchanged.  We fear that if we let go of our grief from past harm that we will be harmed anew.  We will not transform our grief into grace because we do not realize that fear is faith.  It is faith in the wrong things.

As I work to recover from the darkness that had such sway over me, I realize that my fears were faith in the darkness being more powerful.  It does not matter where the darkness resides.  If it is our fallen nature or an outside source, we can still find it in us to move to faith in Christ instead of that darkness.  We can grieve that we are broken.  We can allow Christ to provide the grace for us to see the grace we can give.

I need to become a conduit of that grace in every aspect of my life.  Unless I bring every facet of my own fear to heel, I cannot be gracious.   I cannot hope to deal in grace if I carry the grief of things I cannot control.  In recognizing that my fear is faith in the wrong things, I find the power to turn my grief to grace.  I find the focus shifts to Christ in every situation that is painful.

Once again, Dear Reader, the answer comes down to where I focus my mind and heart.  Even in the places where the pain makes me weep and despair wishes the stage, there is hope.  There is the chance to turn death into a fighting chance to live.  We do not even have to find the strength to fight.  Christ promises to provide the grace for us so that we can in turn extend grace to others.  It always comes back to following Christ with all our hearts.  That only works when we exchange fear for faith.  Fortunately for us all, that exchange never closes and belief is the only currency required.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

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Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

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Grief to Grace ~ The Logic of Leisure

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the things that we see often when others are grieving, is that they are told to rest.  Even in the grief of daily lives that are not as we wish; it is rest that can restore us.  As a society, we do not rest as we should.

When we grieve over things it drains us of strength.  We must make the time to rest from our grief.  The difficulty is that when we do not see our grief, we only feel the weariness.  We spend the energy we have chasing things that still grieve us instead of things that restore us.  We do not leave space for real rest and restoration.

Another layer of difficulty, however, exists.  The grief that we have not processed or even that which we have denied robs us of rest.  It takes our leisure time and fills it with pain and fear.  We allow our thoughts to focus on loss and want instead of turning our grief to grace.

We need leisure to make the time to process and heal.  Failing to do so saps us of strength and faith.  We become ensnared in our grief and lose the grace we need to continue the journey.  We lose trust and fail to have faith that things will unfold as they should.

I must learn to balance life with proper rest.  I must use leisure time to work through things that keep me from grace.  The idea is to find ways to have grace in every situation.   It is the Father’s grace that is there to remind us of our need to have the same for others.  So, I ask you, Dear Reader, to allow us some time to rest.  Both of us can find a way to rest and restore each other as we allow the grace of the Father to work through us.  Then we can journey further, better able to wield love, and be protected from offense. 

Chasing Cars – Grace Gaustad

We'll do it all, Everything
On our own

We don't need anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say how I feel

Those three words are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace to remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where; confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

Facebook       Twitter        

Medium         Instagram 

BLOG Archive:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/ 

Grief to Grace ~ On Monday

Greetings Dear Reader,

I wonder if we consider how we treat Monday.   I am sure you are wondering what Monday has to do with grief or grace.  To understand, first one must consider all the things we say about Monday because for most it is the beginning of the workweek.  People who work a different schedule will even say “Wednesday is my Monday.”  We blame the day for what we do in our lives.

The other side of that is we often start new things on Monday.  When have you ever heard someone say, “I am starting my new diet on Saturday?”  No one starts a diet on Saturday even if it is their Monday.  The point is that we use Monday to carry ills that are ours.

So, now that you understand what I mean, I would like for us to consider that all of the things we grieve on Monday are things that we are allowed to grieve but must also work to change.  Most of our reasons for maligned Mondays are related to our dissatisfaction with other things.  I am thankful for the work that provides for my needs and the place I have to live.  It does not mean that I do not still desire to derive my income solely from my writing and wish for Project Tortoiseshell to be realized. 

I must allow that moment of grief that it is not so to be lived each Monday when I arise knowing that I am not where I wish to be in these areas.  Then I must accept the grace to trust that the Father is working things out.  I must use my faith to live out the requirements to count on the Father and follow the Son.  If I malign Monday, I am not allowing the flow of time to be part of my faith and following.

It is in choosing to live in grace on Monday that I can find peace from the grief of my situation In learning this I can learn to identify what grieves me about where I am and seek to change it.  We find the things we grieve about our situation and turn them to seeking the grace that the Father offers to live out who we are meant to become. 

Nothing in our lives is beyond becoming a better reflection of our faith and following if we allow it.  Monday can become the day where we celebrate the vast grace in our lives that already exist.  We can have a moment of grief for the things we wish were here.  Then, we can again seek the grace to become that which we would rather be.  That, Dear Reader is the journey, and Monday is just a day.  

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

Facebook       Twitter        

Medium         Instagram 

BLOG Archive:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/