The Complete Guide To Sorting Out Your Life

In a charity shop today I came across a book with a very ambitious title.  I can't quite remember how it was worded, but it was something like The Complete Guide to Fixing Your Life.  Or The Complete Guide to Sorting Out Your Life.

 

Naturally, I was intrigued.

 

I must say I was rather disappointed with the contents as it was primarily a book about changing your diet to incorporate more fruit and veg and unrefined foods etc.  Not quite the life-changing tome the title suggested.

 

There have definitely been times in my life when I have wished for such a guide to life.  A guide which would have fixed everything or sorted it all out.

 

I think often we can look at the Bible as a collection of interesting thoughts or 'catchy' proverbs.  Along with Shakespeare, it is probably one of the most quoted and referenced books.

 

But it is so much more than a collection of dusty, over-used proverbs or snappy phrases.

 

I love how Jesus described His words,

 

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living.  They are foundational words, words to build a life on.  If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.  Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit - but nothing moved that house.  It was fixed to the rock.

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.  When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”

[Matthew 7:24-27 MSG]
 

The words in the Bible aren't just catchphrases for us to toss around and slip into conversation.  Or rather, if that is all they are to us, then we will never understand their true meaning and their true power in transforming our lives.

But when we work the words of the Bible into our lives, when we build our lives upon them, when we make them our foundation, we find ourselves equipped with a complete guide to truly sorting out our lives.



 

False Start

As someone who is ever-hopeful for snow, the weather forecast for this weekend has left me feeling rather excited. 

 

However, whilst I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the white stuff, I heard an article on the radio yesterday about the problem that this sudden cold weather will cause to lots of wildlife.  Apparently with the recent milder weather, the birds and the bees have been mistaking the season for the beginning of spring and have been starting their spring-time activities.  What's more, there are many flowers and blossoms blooming in fields and gardens, which will be killed off if it snows.

 

This cold weather will come as a bit of a shock.

 

Life can be a bit like that too.

 

Sometimes we feel sure that we have turned a corner, that spring is on the way.  Things in our lives seem to be finally working out, our lives seem on track.

 

And then the snow comes.  Winter returns.

 

A false start.

 

It is always difficult to pick ourselves back up again after a fall or to continue after a disappointment.  When we fail and fall, it is difficult to try, try, try again.  Instead, we feel like giving up.  Like curling up and hiding and not bothering anymore.

 

But the Bible says that when we fall, God will always pick us back up.  And with His strength, we can continue.

 

        "If the Lord delights in a man's way,

        he makes his steps firm;

        though he stumble, he will not fall,

        for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

 

        [Psalm 37:23-24 NIV]

 

 

We may fall and endure many Winters, but Spring will always come again.

 

 

 

 

 

Have A Break

I re-read this poem today and forgot how much I liked it the first time round:

'How To Leave The World That Worships Should' by Ros Barber       

Let faxes butter-curl on dusty shelves.
Let junkmail build its castles in the hush
of other people’s halls. Let deadlines burst
and flash like glorious fireworks somewhere else.
As hours go softly by, let others curse
the roads where distant drivers queue like sheep.
Let e-mails fly like panicked, tiny birds.
Let phones, unanswered, ring themselves to sleep.

Above, the sky unrolls its telegram,
immense and wordless, simply understood:
you’ve made your mark like birdtracks in the sand
now make the air in your lungs your livelihood.
See how each wave arrives at last to heave
itself upon the beach and vanish. Breathe.

It is a beautiful reminder that there are much more important things in life than faxes and emails and deadlines and phonecalls.  There is much more to life than work.

Sometimes we can be so consumed by our 'To-do' lists (I often cheat and add things that I have already done, just so I feel I have achieved something), we forget who we are apart from our work.

It is good to stop and rest and breathe.  More than that, it is essential to stop and rest and breathe and have a break from the heavy demands of work.  And we can find rest in the shadow of God.

        "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

        will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

        [Psalm 91:1 NIV]

I love the words of this song, 'I Love Your Presence' -

        "In the glory of Your presence
        I find rest for my soul
        In the depths of Your love
        I find peace
        Makes me whole."

 

Today, I need a break.

 

 

A Good Read

One of my absolute favourite things is reading.

 

I can happily lose myself in a good book for hours on end.  I love how I can get lost between the pages.  I love the vivid descriptions of places which carry me away.  I love the detailed depictions of characters, which are so realistic, it is as if I know them as real people.

 

I have been reading a really good book over the last few days and am just pages from the end, but I've been deliberately reading slowly, longing for it to last a little bit longer because I'm enjoying it so much.

 

There are very few books that I will read over and over.  I tend to think there are so many I want to read, why waste my time?  But there are some which I will happily lose myself in again and again and again because I love them so much.

 

I was talking with a friend the other day about our attitude to reading books and reading the Bible and how different they often are. 

 

Often we can feel reluctant to read the Bible, because we feel that we've read bits of it before.  Some of us have even read the whole thing before.  We know what happens.

 

But when we read the Bible, it is not so much reading a book as entering into a conversation.  Each time we come to read it and re-read it and re-re-read it, it speaks to us in a different way.  Different words and verses and passages stick out and resonate with us when we had simply skipped over them in the past.  New meanings and implications strike us with every reading.

 

Because it is the living word of God.

 

"For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

[Hebrews 4:12 NIV]

 

 

When we read the Bible we are not just reading a dusty old book written by an ancient author.   We are reading the words of our living God, the creative author of our lives.

 

Now that's a good read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Going To The Cinema Is Still So Popular

I listened to an interesting article this morning on the radio about the future of the cinema and whether or not films were still popular.

 

There has been a lot of talk lately around this topic, especially with the latest James Bond film breaking box office records.

 

Films, it would seem, are still a very popular form of entertainment.

 

It reminded me of a talk I heard recently about the spirituality of the cinema experience: we sit in silence and whisper in hushed and reverent tones as pictures are played out before our eyes.  We sit back and watch as a story unfolds.  A story of the battle between good and evil. 

 

And we find ourselves caught up in the story. 

 

I find it really interesting as well how popular 3D films are becoming: not content with simply watching these stories and feeling caught up in them as we watch, we now seem to want to be surrounded by them.  Immersed in them.

 

We want to be part of these stories.  We want them to be our stories.

 

Perhaps there is something in our cinema-going which speaks, not just of our love of stories, but of our desire to enter into these grand narratives, of our hope and desire for good to win out over evil. 

 

These are themes and stories and patterns which are repeated and played out in the Bible, and which culminate, ultimately, in the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

In His story, we find a grand narrative.  We find a fierce battle between good and evil.  And we find that good wins out over evil.

 

Describing the resurrection, Paul writes,

 

       “Death is swallowed up in victory.
       O death, where is your victory?
       O death, where is your sting?"

 

       [1 Corinthians 15:55 NLT]

 

 

What is more, in Jesus' story, we find an invitation to enter in, to fully immerse ourselves in the plot.  To become a part of the story. 

 

If we want to.

 

 

 

 

Thinking About Easter Already?

I've just popped to Sainsbury's and spotted that they already have hot cross buns in the bakery.  It seems that the moment Christmas ends, Easter - at least in the retail world - begins.  I even remember my brother buying a Creme Egg one year on Boxing Day.

 

This rushing to the next big event usually bothers me: why can't we just enjoy the moment?

 

But this evening, it got me thinking.

 

This weekend, we have celebrated Epiphany and have remembered the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus. 

 

They brought gifts for Jesus which were symbols of great importance: gold, to reflect and acknowledge His Kingship; frankincense to show His purity and holiness and to reflect His role as a Priest, interceding on our behalf; and myrrh, an oil used to anoint dead bodies and a sign of what would happen to Jesus.

 

I always wonder how Mary and Joseph reacted to these gifts, especially to the myrrh.  They must have known what it was usually used for.

 

They knew that their Son was the Son of God and that He had come to fulfil what had been foretold about bringing peace and restoration to mankind.  But did they know that the way that this peace and restoration would be achieved was through the death of their child?

 

And if they did, would they really want to think of it, so soon after His birth?

 

Whether or not they thought about it, it is the reason that Jesus was born: to reconcile man to God, through His own death on the cross. 

 

 

        "Surely he took up our pain

        and bore our suffering,

        [...] he was pierced for our transgressions,

        he was crushed for our iniquities;

        the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

        and by his wounds we are healed."

 

        [Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV]

 

I am fully aware that Easter eggs and hot cross buns are appearing in supermarkets for financial reasons.  But perhaps, rather than complaining about them, we should use them to remind us what Christmas was all about.

 

Perhaps it's not wrong to turn our attention to Easter so soon after Christmas.  After all, there is no Easter without Christmas.

 

 

 

Everyone Likes A Bargain

When we were growing up, we used to listen to the 'Just William' stories by Richmal Crompton on long car journeys.  One of our favourite family quotes, which is still used today, is one of the characters overhearing another saying, "Wasn't it a bargain?" (with "bargain" being pronounced as a rather bunged-up "bargun").

 

Whenever I am in charity shops, or at jumble sales, I enjoy rifling through clothes and books and crockery etc. and I am always secretly hoping that I will find something valuable which has gone unnoticed and has been given a price which doesn't really reflect its true worth.

 

I am always in search of a "bargun".

 

On a few occasions, I have been in luck. 

 

And when I have struck gold, I haven't minded how much I've paid, because I know it's worth more than the price on the tag.

 

I read this verse this morning and it reminded me of this "bargun hunting":

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

 

[Matthew 13:44 NIV]

 

 

To everyone else, this man must have seemed mad.  To sell everything he owned in order to buy this field.  But he was willing to give up everything else to gain this treasure.  He had understood its worth.

 

He had found a bargun.

 

But I know that my reaction to God's Kingdom is so rarely the same as this man.  I am not willing to give up everything in order to gain the treasure.  I don't want to give up my dreams, or ideas, or priorities, or hopes, or opinions, or values, or time, or money.  I want to hold on to them.

 

But in so doing, I cannot 'gain' the treasure: the man in the parable had to sell all that he had in order to buy the field and get to the treasure.  He couldn't have them both.  And so he gave it all up.

 

But to this man, what he gained far surpassed what he lost.

 

Had Richmal Crompton retold the parable, I imagine she might have allowed the man to say of the field and of the treasure, "Wasn't it a bargun?"