Magic Every Moment ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

All of creation has something to show how beautiful it is.  Whether you like sunshine or storms there is wonder to be found in the world.  There is great beauty in the small and the large. There is wonder in the tiny and the vast.

Whether it is the natural occurrence of the Fibonacci sequence in plants or the master building of ant hills and bee hives there is order and design.  The complexity of the cosmic dance amazes me.  The world has so much to remind me of the depth and creativity of the Father.

It is in the creation that I find the wonder of the Creator.  It is in this that I am reminded that what is to come is promised to be better.  It will beyond what I can imagine.  I follow the Son through whom the Father created all things.  In him I find things that I would like to be.  Creative is one of the primary things.  I must use the wonder of creation to move me to follow more closely and more creatively. 

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ Biblical Sunshine

Greetings Dear Reader,

The storms continue to run through our unseasonably cool days.  Yesterday my Daughter and I had to drive to a neighboring town just after one of those storms.  As we passed through the rolling hills west of us the rain abated.

As the storm broke up the sun shot down through the clouds.  The rays splayed out across the green fields and stretches of wood igniting patches of it in brilliant light.  It intently reminded me of the pictures from my Grandfather’s family Bible.  The most significant picture was the one after the flood where the ark is on the mountain.

Ever since I can remember I have called this effect “Biblical Sunshine”.   The memory of looking through that old giant Bible on my Grandfather’s coffee table is always a pleasant one.  The event of seeing Biblical Sunshine always triggers it and reminds how much beauty there is in a freshly watered world. 

The magic in those moments comes from deep inside me.  There is a depth to the beauty and love of that beauty that is unique for me.  I shared my thoughts on it with my Daughter as we drove.  We both reveled in the way that the world can be so very lovely in storms and in that which follows the storm. 

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ ARP 273

Greetings Dear Reader,

If you do not already know what ARP 273 is you will.  When I first saw the image of it I was immediately transported to a night during my ninth summer.  I was in a place with no light pollution and clear skies.  It was overnight camping in a vast field.

ARP 273 - Hubble Space Telescope

The sky erupted with so many blazing stars.  Several shooting stars spent their brief brilliant lives to draw out my wonder.  It was the first time I felt the vastness of the universe.  I felt so small and so vast all at once.  When I read Thomas Traherne many years later I found his view of stars to echo my own. 

Century 1:34 Would one think it possible for a man to delight in gauderies like a butterfly, and neglect the Heavens? Did we not daily see it, it would be incredible. They rejoice in a piece of gold more than in the Sun; and get a few little glittering stones and call them jewels. And admire them because they be resplendent like the stars, and transparent like the air, and pellucid like the sea. But the stars themselves which are ten thousand times more useful, great, and glorious they disregard. Nor shall the air itself be counted anything, though it be worth all the pearls and diamonds in ten thousand worlds. A work of God so Divine by reason of its precious and pure transparency, that all worlds would be worth nothing without such a treasure.

ARP 273 is a pair of interacting galaxies in the Andromeda constellation.  The forces of the intertwining galaxies imitate tidal like movement on a literally cosmic scale.  This vast beauty, brought clearly to our attention by the Hubble Telescope captures the great magic and majesty of the cosmos. 

We see the stars in moments.  Sometimes we venture out to see them and sometimes we are surprised when they impose their beauty upon us.  When I make the time to notice I am reminded of the magic in those moments.  I am reminded that the heavens declare the glory of God loudly and clearly.  They declare it magically every moment.

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ Distant Lightning

Greetings Dear Reader,

As I was departing the Duck Pond after the baseball game last night lightning could be seen off in the distance flashing orange warnings in the clouds.  The storm was not yet close enough to hear thunder.  The smell of rain was already in the air.

I know that thunder and lightning cause fear in some folks.  For me it is a symphony.  When I was young I lived in an old Victorian house where the windows rattled when the thunder rolled.  During summers at the beach I would watch lightning play in the clouds our at sea. 

I have seen lighting play tag with mountains and the thunder that follows echo through valleys.  I have been close enough to a lightning strike for my hair to stand out from the wave of static.  I have seen Saint Elmo’s Fire on a tall ship. 

There is such great wonder in the rush of lighting across the sky.  The energy and release are thrilling to me.  I recognize the danger and that could be part of the excitement for me.   Still I find the storm a beautiful part of creation.

At the center of that joy is the understanding that the power of the storm is nothing compared to the one who forges the lightning bolt.  In the storm I remember to ponder the whom the storm obeys.  I remember to see past the wonder to the Wonder Maker. 

It is in the remembering, amidst the exhilaration that I find the true magic.  The one who wields such great ferocity loves me.  He cares about every hair on my head; even when they are standing out from a nearby lightning strike.

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ Motes of Dust

 Greetings Dear Reader,

In the Thomas Traherne quote I with which I began he mentions how a mote of dust appeared as gold in the sunlight to his young eyes.  I remember lying on our pink Herculon sofa as a boy.  I would smack the arm and watch the dust dance golden in the afternoon sun.

The couch was itchy, lumpy, and uncomfortable but the simple beauty of that dust in the sunlight caused me to forget about it.  As long as the afternoon sun cooperated I would find my imagination’s fire ignited and fed by the dancing gold.  The beauty of the simple can be so very refreshing.

When something is beautiful to me I am motivated and inspired.  That small boy watching dust in the sunlight had a much simpler view of beauty.  Dust has become my enemy as allergies and sneezing have caused me to avoid it.  I want to recapture the wonder.  I want to see that the simple beauty is all that one needs. 

I see that wonder in my Grandsons.  They find the world still wondrous and adventurous.  I will have to look for an opportunity to introduce them to sunlight spinning dust into gold.

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ Sunrise Sunset

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am almost up before the sun.  My Grandfather would say that I “break day with a brick.”   This often affords me the opportunity to see some magnificent sunrises.  My favorite sunrises are at the beach.  I was privileged for some years to live on the Atlantic coast.  I saw a beautiful sunrise every morning and was in the frame of mind to appreciate it.  I also lived on the beach on the gulf for a couple of years and would often savor the light show of the sun sinking into the Gulf.

I was reminded of this on Monday morning when my friend Jessica posted a picture of a brilliant morning sky on the last day of Spring.   It was brilliant and the sunrise of her amazing smile was part of the picture.  Her greetings on mornings when I see her is like a new day.  She gets the idea of magic in the moment and does so much to share it with others.

One of my favorite sunrise memories is with my eldest Son.  We experienced a magnificent pink and orange sunrise when we went out for apple fritters one morning when he was a boy.  The magic of that moment when we both reveled in the artistry of the Creator is a constant reminder of the beauty that can be in a moment if we take the time to see it. 

The first thing created was light.  The first It is in the Light that life is found for me.  It is in embracing the moments of sunrise that we can see the opportunity of a new day.  We can be better today than yesterday.  We can be new and renewed.  Let there be light and the things that bend and shape it to catch our attention.  

Dawn Spawn

By Aramis Thorn

January 1, 1995

Salmon dawn swims against the darkness,

Spawning another day.

Yet it is we who face the peril of fighting the flow,

Ours is the call to return

to that place,

to that time,

to our birth.

It is our internal call to move upstream,

to climb the falls,

to defy the very nature of things,

to prevent the death of day.

So that when today’s fight against the ever-encroaching darkness is done,

We have given birth to more light, more love, more life.

So that that day will come when day will never need spawning again.

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ A Single Drop of Dew

Greetings Dear Reader,

So many things come to mind when I ponder a dew drop.  Memories of running through dew drenched clover in my bare feet as boy speak to me of summers with my Grandfather.  The time I came upon an orb web covered in morning gems of dew is vivid in my mind. 

Growing up in the south I encountered many dewy mornings.  The vast ocean of humidity would cling to cool surfaces.  Morning sun would dance upon the gems in such beauty that even those torpid days of high summer had moments of beauty and wonder. 

Pondering a drop of dew reminds me of Honeysuckle in the spring.  You could extract a single taste of nectar from the flowers in the morning if done properly.  That I was taught this by the first girl I kissed does not hurt that memory at all.  Thinking of that forty-plus years later is sweet. 

I enjoy the look of morning mist hanging in the air.  I like the way dew beads up on a clean waxed car.  It used to gather on my Grandfather’s close line.  I would shoot at the clothes pins with my BB gun and cause a rainbow spray in the morning sun.

The moments where I notice the dew remind me how alive and beautiful the world can be for me.  I may not see it always.  When I choose to though it reminds me that the world has great wonder when I choose for it to have it.  The handiwork of the Creator is enhanced by the dew.

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.”

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Magic Every Moment ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

In my series on Answer the Pepperoni I posted the Dan Fogelberg song, Magic Every Moment.  It is posted again below.  In addition to understanding the unique value of every human I need to understand the value of creation as it shows me the love, power, and creativity of the Father.

Ann Taylor

I would be clear that I believe in intelligent design.  I also respect the scientific world and believe that they can live in harmony.  I do not claim to know all the answers about the difficulties others find with intelligent design.  I also refuse to reject scientific data just because it requires me to have more faith. 

This will not be a logical Aristotelian polemic for that belief. Rather, I need to walk through the metaphoric logic of the Designer who designed me and the wonder of what he does.  Thomas Traherne first comes to mind.  In his Centuries of Meditations he explains that we are meant to enjoy the natural world.

Century 1:25 “Your enjoyment of the World is never right, till you so esteem it, that everything in it, is more your treasure than a King's exchequer full of Gold and Silver. And that exchequer yours also in its place and service. Can you take too much joy in your Father's works? He is Himself in everything. Some things are little on the outside, and rough and common, but I remember the time when the dust of the streets were as pleasing as Gold to my infant eyes, and now they are more precious to the eye of reason.”  

I think that as we get caught up in the day-to-day living we forget to see the universe in all its wonder.  We become less aware of the amazing nature of nature.  Living in a city hinders us from some of it.  Spending so much time in doors contributes to it. 

It is my need to be reminded of the amazing beauty that surrounds me and how it declares the nature of the Creator to me.  It is my love of the Creator that compels me to see his artistry and who it is that asks me to move toward the renewal, reclamation, and restoration of that creation.  Please walk with me for bit Dear Reader.  We may discover some beautiful things.

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.”

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What are We Made For – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

We are made by God for his purposes.  We manage to muddle that all of those purposes are loving and good.  All of life is not “good” but God promises to be good to me in all of it.

If I disconnect from my purpose then I leave a void that makes me less than I really am.  No matter what I see to fill that void with it will not satisfy.  I am not meant to be a deep theologian.  I am not designed for long discussions in higher criticism. 

It is easy for me to have faith and to love people.  I like making others feel accepted.  I struggle with injustice and selfishness.  I am made for a purpose although I am not always sure what it is.    

So I follow.  The journey is both wonderful and tearful.  The purpose is found in the following.

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.”

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What are We Made For – One of a Kind

Greetings Dear Reader,

We do not understand our uniqueness enough.  We do not see how much effort God has put into our existence.  We run the gamut from believing we sprung accidentally from primordial ooze to thinking we are an alien science project. 

I hold the waning belief that we are created by a God who loves us and wants to know us.  He claims to have created us as unique individuals.  He made us to know him, love him, and enjoy him.  

We have a purpose.  We all have gifts, talents, and abilities.  I wish that one of mine was the power of flight but for some reason God ruled that out.  I can write.  I enjoy being good to people.  I can sing a little and play a couple of instruments.  Many others do all of these things better than me.  I am a small fish in a vast ocean. 

I am, however, one of a kind.  God knew all that I would be before he laid the foundations of the earth.  He knew and responded to my choices for ill of good.  He is working out his design in me. 

When I feel loss, unloved, unwanted, or unneeded I can find some solace in this.  I will not pretend that knowing this heals all.  It could but my fallen nature does not allow it.  I doubt and I fail.  In Christ alone all can be mended.  He made me unique to be his then I ran away. I am one of a kind made by God and I rejected my maker. 

My Grandfather used to tell a story about a little boy who built a model sailboat.  His father helped him cut the wood but he glued, nailed, and painted it.  It was bright red with a blue stripe all the way around.  It had three white sails.  .

He took it out to a local lake to sail it.  A high wind arose and his precious boat was blown away.  He mourned its loss and moved on to other things.  A few weeks later he was walking down the street and in the window of the local pawn shop was his boat.  He went in and told the proprietor about his boat.  The unyielding man insisted that he had bought the boat and that the selling price was thirty dollars. 

The boy saw thirty dollars as an unreachable sum.  He did odd jobs, saved his allowance, and watched every day to make sure his boat was still in the window.  After three long months he had enough money.  He went to the shop and purchased the boat.

As he left the shop he cradled the boat in his arms.  He whispered to the boat, “You are twice mine.  I made you and I bought you.  You are twice mine.”

We are uniquely made.  We are one of a kind.  When God lost us he bought us back.  He paid for redemption with his dearest blood.  That is truly a comfort. .

In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand:

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

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.”

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What are We Made For - Freedom

Greetings Dear Reader,

We want freedom in so many ways.  We do so much to get the freedom we want.  It seems to me that so much of that is futile, selfish, or wrong.  We are meant to be free but we seek it in the wrong way. 

No matter what we believe we are not free from God.  Not believing in something does not make it non-existent or ineffectual.  God is sovereign and in that sovereignty he gives us choice.  We are free to choose him or not but not free from the consequences of our choices.   

We must not sin to feel free.  It only puts us in deeper forms of bondage.  It only makes our debt to God deeper.  One cannot fail to love others and be free.  One cannot fail to love God and be free.  These are the rails on which we must run.

Yes there are rails.  We are not a roaming animal.  We are more like a train.  We can go many places but must stay on the tracks.  Freedom is found in obedience.  I must not put people in bondage to dead orthodoxy or false following.  I must also assure I do not follow anything that hinders my freedom to follow Christ. 

Anything that limits me from following Christ with all my thoughts, feelings, and actions is bondage.  Freedom is found in faith and following.  We are designed to be free.

If You Want to get Free – Waterdeep

In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine

I heard the word of the Lord

He said "Take off your shoes, this is holy ground too

You know I came for the sick and the bored."

Beneath the selling of beers

And the welling up of tears

Out beyond the beam of the remote control

There's a whispering voice

That the humble ear ears

that says "I am still waiting for you to ask just to be made whole."

And the bush it was burning on the mountain top

And though the leaves never blackened, the fire didn't stop

That's the way that it works in this old life of sin

You gotta let the fire burn you just to get clean within

I am so often deterred from my actual intent

by distractions in a cellophane wrap

And the cruel voice that taunts me when I open them up

to find just one more box full of crap

It's where you're mocked while you abstain

and then cursed when you give in

It's all a game that's impossible to beat

But there's a peaceful refrain God'll sing in your brain

when you put the nails to your hands and your feet

And the smell of our sacrifices

still fills up my head

There's just a few left at the altar, Lord

all the rest of them fled

And we've cried and we've tried

We've sweat and we've bled

But we don't just need atonement

We need to be raised from the dead

When they took down the cross from that dark hillside

The blood on their hands was the blood from his side

That's the way that it works, That's the way it must be.

You gotta let His blood stain you of you want to get free

If you want to get free

Don't you want to get free?

I think you want to be free.

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.”

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What are We Made For – Happiness?

Greetings Dear Reader,

We pursue happiness.  We want to be happy.  Whilst it is not wrong to be happy we forgo things like righteousness and holiness in seeking happiness.  We make our happiness the priority and abandon honor, integrity, and obedience in the elusive pursuit of happiness.

The quest for happiness is never ending.  Like so many other elusive solutions to our condition we seek happiness when we should be seeking things that last.  Happiness is a product of our inner response to external circumstances.  We cannot find true happiness in this way if our responses are not Christ centered

True happiness comes from having the mind of Christ in any situation.  It comes from doing right no matter what the cost.  The tainted temporary happiness we accept when we compromise our faith actually leads to pain and suffering.

When we do wrong to make ourselves happy we step outside of our design.  We act outside what is good and right to be happy.  We may get a feeling of happiness but the guilt and pain of sin will out. 

I must not think about my own “happiness”: but rather seek to do what is right no matter what the cost.  I may feel pain, loss, fear, and sorrow.  I am not made to be happy.  I am made to feel the joy that accompanies Christ no matter what the cost.  If I do this there is a joy that will supplant any fleeting happiness.  That is the thing for which I am made.

What Kind of Joy is This – Steven Curtis Chapman

Anybody in their right mind

Would've given up their preaching and headed for home

They've been warned a hundred times

But something inside them keeps giving them hope

And just when you think they'd be crying

Instead of the tears, there's joy in their eyes

What kind of joy is this

That counts it a blessing to suffer

What kind of joy is this

That gives the prisoner his song

What kind of joy could stare death in the face

And see it as sweet victory

This is the joy of a soul that's forgiven and free

Anybody else with his pain

Would want to shake their fist at heaven

And give up the fight

'Cause trouble had been Paul's middle name

Ever since he'd been captured by God's blinding light

But just when his hope should be dying

If you listen you'll hear him singing a song

What kind of joy is this

That counts it a blessing to suffer

What kind of joy is this

That gives the prisoner his song

What kind of joy could stare death in the face

And see it as sweet victory

This is the joy of a soul that's forgiven and free

What kind of joy is this

The Father has promised his children

What kind of joy is this

That Jesus has come to reveal

What kind of joy could give hope in this world

To someone just like you and me

This is the joy of a soul that's forgiven and free

I've found this joy for my soul is forgiven and free

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.”

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What are We Made For – Enjoyment

Greetings Dear Reader,

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?”  Before I delve into the answer I want to consider the question.   Eventually almost everyone asks about the reason for our existence. 

The first part of the answer is obvious and important.  “The chief end of man is to glorify God…”  I could spend a week easily discussing the ways in which I should glorify God.  I could spend as much time discussing the ways in which I fail. 

What amazes me is that in something so stiff as a Catechism the second part exists.  I do not wish you to think that I have negative thoughts about Catechisms.  They have their place and value.  The problem is that they are too often learned in rote and not really learned.

That this particular one encourages us not only glorify God as our chief end matters.  The second part is that we are to “…enjoy Him forever.”   We are created for the purpose of enjoying God.  The idealist part of my brain thinks about how beautiful the world would be if we all thoroughly enjoyed God.

If we would all strive to enjoy God would live in a much better world.  We are made to enjoy him.  We are created to find joy in his love for us and the world he has created for us.   Thomas Traherne posits “You never know yourself till you know more than your body. The Image of God was not seated in the features of your face, but in the lineaments of your Soul.”

We are created to enjoy God by being created in his image.  If we really work to enjoy God it will lead us to joy. It will lead us to great things.  I must pursue the enjoyment of God in every way possible.  I am made to do so.  I am created with the need to do so.

We are all on a journey back to God.  Perhaps if we work harder at enjoying him on the way it will make the journey less burdensome.

Joy in the Journey – Michael Card

There is a joy in the journey

There's a light we can love on the way

There is a wonder and wildness to life

And freedom for those who obey

And all those who seek it shall find it

A pardon for all who believe

Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind

To all who've been born of the Spirit

And who share incarnation with Him

Who belong to eternity stranded in time

And weary of struggling with sin

Forget not the hope that's before you

And never stop counting the cost

Remember the hopelessness when you were lost

There is a joy in the journey

There's a light we can love on the way

There is a wonder and wildness to life

And freedom for those who obey

And freedom for those who obey

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.”

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What are We Made For – Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

Whether you believe what I believe or not Dear Reader there is merit to some of the more positive things that God has to say about us.  Some of the things God says about us are mind boggling.

God tells us, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

David writes, “You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother.  I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.  My bones were not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop.  Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus. Every day [of my life] was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place.  How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast in number they are!”  Psalm 139:13-17.

Job, in the midst of his suffering declares, "God's Spirit has made me. The breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

This is just the edge of the whole.  We are made.  We are made FOR something.  Every one of us has a purpose.  There is not magical formula for discovering it.   There is no secret spell that will reveal is.  It is all at once over-simplified and infinitely complex. 

When I speak of purpose I am not here pondering careers.  The question is much larger.  Why did God make me?  What my purpose?  On that question hangs so much that is so vital.  Walk with me if you will.  I could use the company as I try to rediscover and renew purpose.  I know what the answers are.  I need help in applying them well.

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.”

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