Fully Restored

Today I have bought myself yet another shampoo and conditioner that claims to restore my nearly-dead hair.

 

My hair isn't in dreadful condition, but the ends are in a shocking state.  They are split and flyaway and fuzzy.  Today's wind/rain combo left me feeling and looking like Bertha Mason.

 

I'm not sure how much it will help my hair, but I am a sucker for a new product.

 

I am always on the lookout for the next thing that will restore and revitalise my hair, rather than acknowledging that the thing that would help my hair the most would be to stop dyeing it so much or straightening it so regularly.  If I looked after it better, I wouldn't need to spend so much time or money trying to restore it.

 

But rather than fix the real problem, I spend my time and money trying to alleviate the symptoms of the problem.

 

I think in a spiritual way I often chase after different things to 'restore' me too.  Rather than dealing with the 'root' issues (no pun intended), I will chase after things which will make me feel better in the short-term: things that will make me feel confident and secure and happy.

 

Instead, I need to return to God, who promises to fully restore me.

 

I love these Old Testament promises -

 

"The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost."

 

[Joel 2:25 NLT]

 

and         

 

          "This very day I’m declaring a double bonus—
          everything you lost returned twice-over!"

 

[Zechariah 9:12 MSG]

 

Rather than just dealing with the superficial symptoms of my problems - both hair and spirit-related - I need to go back to their roots and deal with the real causes.  And I need to ask God to come and fully restore me.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Bath Time

I listened to an article this evening about how taking a bath is becoming less popular: most people these days opt for a shower or a modern 'wet room'. 

 

The main reason being baths are too slow for today's fast-paced life.

 

But that is exactly the reason why I love taking a bath.  I love having time to myself when I know I won't be disturbed or interrupted by phone calls or texts or emails or notifications.  I can spend an hour or so reading a book or listening to music with a glass of wine.  And I leave the bathroom feeling completely relaxed and rested, having taken time out from the busyness of life.

 

And the reason it is so relaxing is because there is no rushing about it. 

 

There is no such thing as a 'quick bath'.  A bath should be indulgent and lengthy.  When the Romans used to take baths, they usually lasted for several hours.  They were long and relaxing and restoring.

 

The Bible talks about God providing this kind of restorative rest for us:

 

         "The Lord is my shepherd;
         I have all that I need.
         He lets me rest in green meadows;
         he leads me beside peaceful streams.
         He renews my strength."

 

         [Psalm 23:1-3 NLT, emphasis mine]

 

Sometimes we judge our successes and our worth on our busyness.  If we are always rushing somewhere or other and are constantly flapping about because we have so much to do, we sometimes feel more important.  We can get to thinking that the world might stop if we did. 

 

And we think this about God too.  We can think that He will value us more, or be more pleased or impressed with us if we're one of those people who is constantly doing something for God/the church/others.

 

But this verse says that God lets us rest.  It is His desire that we take time out so that we don't burn out.

 

Perhaps it is not that baths are too slow for our lives, but that our lives are too fast for baths.  Perhaps we need to slow down and give ourselves more time and space to relax.

 

As for me, I'm off to run a bath...

 

 

Rubble and Rebuilding

Walking home this afternoon, I spotted a derelict building that I have never noticed before.  The windows were blocked up and ivy was crawling up the walls.  As I glanced to the left, I saw a pile of rubble towering over the nearby car park.

A picture of despair and hopelessness.

Or is it?

My first reaction was to think: What a shame.  A beautiful old building has gone to waste and a pile of rubble has been left behind where another building once stood.

However, whilst these two things certainly wouldn't make it into a promotional ad for the town, God showed me something beautiful about them.  They are not an end in themselves.  They are a sign of hope and potential, a signal of something new on the way.

Sometimes we need to be broken in order to be rebuilt.

In their book, 'Deep Church', Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing outline four key processes for the rebuilding of the church, based on Haggai 1.  I think that the principles are just as relevant to us as we seek to rebuild ourselves:

Some rubbish needed to be cleared - reformation.  Some stones could be retained as good material - retrieval.  But new wood was needed from the mountains - renewal.  And a promise of acceptance, salvation and glory remained - revival.

We can't rebuild without sometimes first unbuilding and getting rid of what has gone before.  Sometimes we need to remove false ideas and ideals; we need to demolish and destroy lies and strongholds which have choked us.  We need to get rid of what was, to make way for what will be.

But that doesn't mean that we need to get rid of everything in order to rebuild.  Sometimes we can use the rubble and fashion it into something new.  This is one of my favourite verses in the whole Bible: 

"You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again."

[Isaiah 58:12 MSG]

 I came across this profound statement the other day (on this blog - http://brokencameras.com/tag/pain/) and I have been thinking about it ever since:

"Ruin is the starting point of transformation."

I know that in my own life, it has been in moments of complete brokenness, when everything I have lovingly built up has been razed to the ground and the foundations themselves are shaking, that I have found new life.

And in this broken state, Jesus promises to be close to us and to help to rebuild us:

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners."

[Isaiah 61:1 NIV]

Sometimes we need to be broken in order to be rebuilt.

On the Rocks

I have seen lots of steep cliffs and jagged rocks this week on holiday and I have heard lots of tales of shipwrecks.

Dramatic tales of boats which have been smashed and shattered against the unforgiving coastline. Ships wrecked and lives lost on the rocks.

Sometimes our lives can be 'shipwrecked' too: we come up against unexpected and unforgiving 'rocks' of our own and we find our lives (or, at least, aspects of our lives) shattered.

Jobs are lost, money is tight, relationships fail.

Our lives are on the rocks.

But when we find ourselves shipwrecked, there is one Rock in whom we can trust.

“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God."
[1 Samuel 2:2 NIV]

This Rock won't shatter our lives, but will save them; He won't ruin our dreams, but will restore them; He won't shipwreck our hopes and our hearts, but will provide a solid foundation on which we can build anew.

"He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."
[Psalm 62:2 NIV emphasis mine]

When we find our lives on the rocks, let's remember that we can always trust in the Rock.

Near Death Experience

When I moved into my flat just before Christmas last year, I did a 'big food shop' and overspent on all sorts of things to set me up for the next few months.

One of the things that I bought was the obligatory basil plant.

It sat on my window sill in a cheery blue pot and I occasionally watered it and, even less frequently, actually used the leaves in any form of cooking.

Until one sad morning when I realised that insufficient watering had led to a withered, wilted, yellow, dry plant.

It was on its way to the bin when I thought: It's pretty much dead.  Why not water it and see what happens?  It's not like you can drown it.

So I did.

I drenched it in water and by the end of the same day, it had been restored to life.

But this is not the basil plant's only near death experience.

This has happened at least six times since.  I don't know why, but I manage to forget to water it for days on end.  And then just when it seems as though I really will have to admit defeat and throw it out, I water it and it is miraculously restored to life.

Nearly seven months later, it is still going strong.

It can be the same with us and our faith: we can feel dried out, shrivelled up, weary, hopeless, fed-up and ready to give up.  But in these times, if we immerse ourselves in God's Word and drench ourselves with His love, we can be restored.

"Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless live."

[John 4:14 MSG]

"He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul."

        [Psalm 23:3 MSG]


          "I'll refresh tired bodies;
          I'll restore tired souls."
          [Jeremiah 31:25 MSG]


When we're experiencing 'near death' moments in our faith, let's give it one last go; let's soak ourselves in God and His Word and His love and see if that doesn't revive our souls.