Back To Nornal

This evening I have taken down my Christmas tree and all of the beautiful decorations.  They have been packed away into boxes and stored away until next year.

 

I always feel sad taking down Christmas decorations.  I love putting them up every year and then I get used to them: they brighten up the room and they brighten up dull, December days.  They become a part of the decor.  They become familiar.

 

I don't like the gaps and spaces and expanses that are left when the tree has been taken down and all of the shiny, shimmering decorations have disappeared.  But even more, I dislike the fact that I soon become used to my flat sans decorations again.  Everything seems 'back to normal' and it's almost as if Christmas never happened. 

 

Whilst I've packed away my decorations, I don't want to pack away the meaning of Christmas and the message of God coming to earth to dwell with mankind.

 

Whilst he's not writing about Christmas decorations, I think James' advice to his readers about remembering what we learn about God is relevant.  James encourages his readers to make an effort to remember what they have learnt, rather than learning something and instantly forgetting it, in the same way that we can look at our reflections in a mirror for a moment and then forget what we look like.  Or, in this instance, in the same way that we can pack away our Christmas decorations and forget that it was ever Christmas at all.

 

"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."
 

[James 1:22-24 NLT]

 

 

Whilst the decorations are tidied away until next year, I want to keep the real message of Christmas - the truth of Immanuel: God with us - unwrapped and unpacked and open in my heart and my life.  Until next year.

 

 

 

Doughnuts

The only thing that I don't like about eating a doughnut is having someone nearby say, "Try to eat it without licking your lips!"

 

I have tried this once and only once.

 

And I only got a few mouthfuls in before I stopped. 

 

I find it the most irritating thing ever.  I don't like the feeling of sticky sugar coating my lips and making them feel fuzzy.  There is nothing at all enjoyable about the challenge.

 

I don't like the feeling of sugar on my lips.  But the Bible urges us to keep something on our lips, without wiping it away: His Word.

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful."

[Joshua 1:8 NIV]

 

There is not much point reading something and instantly forgetting it, letting it dissolve before it has taken root.  In the same way, we should keep God's words constantly in our minds and our hearts and on our lips.

"But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."
 

[James 1:22-25 NLT] 
 

God urges us not to just to read and remember and obey His words, but to always have them on our lips. To keep them on the tip of our tongues, to let them flavour the words we use.

 

In the same way that the sugar can't help but stick to our lips when we eat a doughnut, I want God's Word to stick to my heart and to stick to my lips, every time I read it.

 

 

 

 

Guilty Pleasures

Ben and Jerry's Vermonster.  Häagen Dazs Pralines and Cream.  Galaxy whole nut.  Plain tortilla chips.  Thai Sweet Chili Crisps.  Salt and Pepper crisps.  An entire tub of sweet/salty popcorn to myself.

 

These, to me, are all what the world calls 'guilty pleasures'.  Things I know I shouldn't finish off in one sitting, but struggle to stop once I've started because they're too tasty.  I listened to part of a discussion today on the radio about guilty pleasures and what people indulged in which they knew they ought not to.

 

But isn't the phrase 'guilty pleasures' a bit of an oxymoron? 

 

Nigella Lawson writes,

"I don't call them guilty pleasures because I don't believe anything pleasurable should feel guilty."

 

Well said Nigella.

 

If something is pleasing or 'pleasurable' and enjoyable, why should we feel guilty?

 

I think sometimes we can feel guilty because we have a misconception about God: we think that He is a spoilsport who frowns on what we see as 'fun'.  We don't think He has a sense of humour and imagine that He is only interested in the serious stuff.  He tut-tuts or looks away when we are enjoying ourselves, because we ought to be sensible and straight-laced all the time. 

 

One of the things I love about our church is how much fun we have and how much we enjoy ourselves.  And that's the way it's meant to be.  God created us to live full and fulfilling lives and part of that is enjoying the good gifts that He has given us.

 

The Bible says,

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father."

[James 1:17 NIV, emphasis mine]

 

The good things in life are from God and He gave them to us for our enjoyment.

 

The problem comes when these good gifts are abused and distorted.  When we start using people as a way to meet our own needs or to satisfy our desires.  When we can no longer say 'no' to these pleasures.  When they start to 'control' us, rather than us being in control of them.  When we really can't put down the tub of ice-cream, or put the biscuits away whilst there are still some left in the packet. 

 

You can have too much of a good thing.  As anyone who has overeaten can probably testify.

 

That's when these things cease to be pleasurable.  They become compulsive, obsessive, addictive.  We end up with 'guilty addictions,' not 'guilty pleasures'.

 

And so the good gifts that God has given us become tainted, stained with our own dependence on them.  What was given as a good and perfect gift is ruined and reduced to something which we feel we need in order to be happy.

 

It is not God's intention for us to feel guilty about enjoying the good things in life: He gives them to us for our pleasure.  But we need to make sure that we don't become dependent on them for our happiness or our fulfilment because, ultimtely, they can't satisfy our deepest needs and desires. 

 

Only He can.

 

 

 

True Colours

Today I have been to the Edvard Munch exhibition at Tate Modern.

It was completely fascinating.

Although most famous for his work "The Scream", this exhibition focused on his other work: paintings and sketches and photographs which considered the themes of loneliness and loss, and the view of the artist through his own eyes and those of others.

One of the most fascinating things was that in 1930 he suffered a haemorrhage in his right eye. Given that his left eye was already damaged, he was unable to paint for several months until his sight gradually returned to his right eye.

However, during this period of recovery, Munch still sketched and painted. He painted what he could see through the pain and through his suffering and there was an entire room dedicated to these works called "The Averted Eye."

These paintings ranged from colourful concentric circles to 'ordinary' images - him in bed, the view of the room around him - dominated and distorted by smudges and circles: he literally drew what he could see.

It seems that even though his work was affected, he continued painting and made the most of his situation. He had learnt to see potential in his problems, hope in the middle of his hurting.

You could say his haemorrhage revealed his true colours.

"His notes around this time suggest that he understood that the damage to his eye had enabled him to experience new visual sensations that would not otherwise have been available to him." 

[My guidebook]

We have the same choice: so often when we face setbacks, we stop working. We focus on the smudges and blurs in our vision and are unable to see past them. But if we are like Munch, we will learn to see the potential in our own problems and the scope in our setbacks.

Life won't always be easy; sometimes the worst things we could imagine will happen. But in those times we can decide whether to give up, or to persevere in spite of difficulties.

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." 

[James 1:0, 2-4 MSG]

When troubles and trials come your way, trust in God and look for the potential. Let them reveal your true colours.

Digestives

Is there a more perfect biscuit than the humble digestive?

 

Sweet enough to dunk in your cup of tea (and better than some biscuits at holding its shape), yet salty enough to not make you feel sick after half a packet.*  Essential for any cheesecake base and delicious sandwiched together with chocolate spread.  Unassuming and humble, the digestive biscuit is both a British tradition and a household staple.**

 

Apparently the name 'digestive' came from the belief that these biscuits were good for your health and your digestion in particular.  Partially because of the sodium bicarbonate in the original recipe and its use to relieve indigestion, and partially because of the use of whole wheat flour, which is also good for digestion.

 

In the same way that digestives are good for our health, the Bible is good for our spiritual health and well being. 

 

But we shouldn't just read it - it was meant to be chewed over.  We are meant to meditate on it, to get the most out of it:

"Study this Book of Instruction [the Bible] continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it."

 

[Joshua 1:8 NLT] 

 

Meditating on the Bible is similar to chewing and digesting our food.  We chew it slowly, letting the different juices and flavours seep out.  And we keep on chewing and digesting throughout the day - reflecting on the different things that it reveals and working it out in our own lives - learning to follow and obey what it says.

We won't learn much if we treat the Bible like ice-cream: something that we swallow quickly and which dissolves on the way down, before we have had the chance to meditate on it. 

We need something to chew on.

"But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."

[James 1:22-25 NLT]

 

Digestives: good for our health.  Digesting God's Word: good for our spiritual health.

 

 

* Although I do strongly object to its accompaniment to the cheeseboard.  That's just wrong.

** And currently on offer in Sainsbury's.