Peace and joy

-
Dear God, 

You say I have the mind of Christ.  What then is my task on earth?  To speak of You and Your kingdom?  I have not been where You have been, though You promise me I shall one day be there with You.  I know so little of this world and all its politics, its history and its social hierarchies.  I feel like a mere infant at times, when conversations revolve around the apparent famous, and I realise I have not followed the lives of princes and princesses, kings and queens, and other governing bodies.  

Ignorance is inexcusable, I find, and yet I make every excuse in the book not to read the newspaper - the pages are too large, it is not well written, I don't understand the background - or the magazines - tacky gossip, malicious slander, cosmetics, fashion and who has dimples in what places - please, give me some meat!  Something to chew on, to make my mind tick over and not stand still.  

When it comes to spiritual matters, I feel like I am standing behind closed curtains behind which sits an audience who want to be entertained, who want to laugh and be touched, whose issues they want to deal with in a fresh and exciting manner, in a way that brings peace and joy, but one mention of You and all anticipation knots up into a ball of wire, as though You are mere Judge and not path to this joy and peace.  I reacted much the same, I guess.  I was much the same before I knew You, before I started this relationship with You.  

I think I will write to You directly from now on.  It seems nobody else is reading my thoughts in any case.  Okay, sorry for the self-pity!  Bless Your cotton socks, if You have any, and good night!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Farmer And His Sons

-
Taken from Headway's Intermediate Student's Book: The Farmer And His Sons There was once an old, dying farmer who had worked hard in his vineyard all his life.  Before he died he wanted to teach his three sons how to be good farmers.  So he called them to his bedside and said, 'My boys, I have an important secret to tell you: there is a great treasure buried in the vineyard.  Promise me that you will look for it when I am dead.' The sons gave their promise and as soon as their father had died they began looking for the treasure.  They worked very hard in the hot sun and while they were working they thought about what their father had said.  They pictured boxes of cold coins, diamond necklaces, and other such things.  Soon they had dug up every inch of the vineyard but they found not a single penny.  They were very upset because they felt that all their hard work had been for nothing.   However, a few months later the grapes started to appear on the vines.  Their grapes ...
Read more

Speech technique No.2 - the Unifying Metaphor

-
The Unifying Metaphor: As opposed to a simile which compares two objects using a specific linguistic form, eg. the man was as brave as a lion, a metaphor compares two objects by equating the one with the other, eg. he was a brave lion.   Literally the man was not a lion, but figuratively he was.   This figure of speech is used in literary works of all kinds, including poems and news articles. The Unifying Metaphor aims to unify people.   An example of an American metaphor is the Camel man.   He is healthy, strong and tanned, and he can survive in the wild bushveld with merely a pocketknife and a piece of string.   He drives a 4x4, and he works hard all day.   This is the image of the Camel man – please correct me if I’m wrong.   The logic and truth behind this image may elude us, but what unifies us is what Elgin (1980: p. 227) calls the consensus perception . As a unity, we have reached consensus about the perception of the Camel man.   The theory reminds of the Jung’s colle...
Read more

Bevor ich geboren bin, bin ich gestorben.

-
Image
Bevor ich geboren bin, bin ich gestorben. Warum bleiben dann Gefühle meines eigenen Gewissens? Warum bleiben die Gedanken und die Träume meines eigenen Lebens, wenn mich doch Gott neu geschaffen hat, mir neues Blut gegeben hat, mich in eine neue Familie hat gebracht? Ich will nicht mehr traurig sein, dass mein Leben mir wie nichts vorkommt, dass ich mir so unglaublich wertlos vorkomme, und stattdessen will ich den Glauben fassen, dass Gott mich tatsächlich in Seinen Händen trägt, und mich wirklich beschützt vom Bösen. Ich will mich vergessen, mich verlieben, und dann für andere leben, für einen Sinn außerhalb meiner Wünsche, eine Gnade und Liebe erfahren, die nicht aus dieser Welt stammt, sondern ganz weit entfernt und doch so nah. Ich freue mich auf keinen Tod, doch meiner ist schon vergangen, und mein neues Leben hat schon begonnen, jedoch sieht es manchmal nicht danach aus, und ich schäme mich, dass ich mich nicht mehr hab vertraut an den Herrn, den lieben ...
Read more