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BEAUTIFUL BLESSINGS: A Little Relief

Pause & Consider No. 3

A FEW THOUGHTS to CONSIDER

My last post was heavy. This one is on a positive note. (Yay!!!) I wrote this collection about three weeks ago. God offers much by way of the beauty found in living. Children, flowers, sky, clouds, rainbows, friends, loved ones, music, smiles, gifts, hugs and all such blessings are what gets us up in the morning.

Life would be utterly barren without them. My heart is full with their beautiful blessings. Look for the beauty and I believe you will find it. Praise and gratitude cheers us up and rains down God’s favor upon us. Wonderful, wonderful. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. Amen.

PRAYER
Prayer is powerful. I’ve come to appreciate its immediacy.
Prayer is comforting. I’ve come to anticipate its helpfulness.
Prayer is communication. I’ve come to value its resourcefulness.
Prayer is life. I’ve come to depend on its life-giving, life-sustaining properties.

DANCE WITH ME
“Come little children, dance with me.”‡  A Trappist monk from the Vina Monastery heard these words in a song while he was walking and praying one day. His heart responded. Tears flowed.
For years he could not think of it or speak of it without tears forming, so precious  were the words to him. “Come little children, dance with me.” The imagery delights. The message: light, loving, joyous. Let’s let their lightness uplift us as we go about our tasks today. You are invited to “dance with Him.”

GOD FIRST
Let your heart fill with God and His grace to you. He loves you with great passion. Take care of yourself. God will set you free. Let go of fear. It is your greatest hindrance. Walk in freedom and grace. God first in everything. God’s love flows freely. Let it cover you today.

MIRACLES
Miracles happen every day. We are part of a miracle. Miracles have divine purpose. Our lives have divine purpose. Miracles are supernaturally enabled. They are not possible without God’s initiating and completing. “Open my eyes that I may see, Visions of truth Thou hast for me.”

BELIEF
Spiritual belief is foolishness and utter nonsense to the unbelieving person. To the believing person, spiritual belief is life, hope, and joy. For them, their personal relationship with God is their Source, energy, and delight. One must experience this to understand it.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS
“All this pain” is the way the lyrics begin in “Beautiful Things”.” “All this pain” resonates with me. Every couple of months it seems I go through a difficulty. Some are hurtful. Some are depressing. But all challenge me to think clearly, pray, and deal with it. Usually I learn something. Truly “He makes beautiful things out of us.”

We used to sing “Beautiful Things” in church. I hope it blesses you. God is making something beautiful in and out of you.

 

‡Full Quote: Brother Paul Bernard

“My relationship with God evolves just like a personal relationship does, and I guess for most of us, because of our Christian religion, it’s centered on Jesus. . . . The Scriptures are just pointing to the whole ‘salvation history’ and the romance between God and the human race. . . . So it’s God revealing Himself to the human race, and then this being handed down through the Jewish people up until Jesus, and then moving out into the non-Jewish world. . . .I did have one experience where I heard . . . . I don’t hear it physically, but I heard a very beautiful song. It was just a phrase. For years I couldn’t even say it to anybody else because I’d get so choked up with it, you know, and tears would come down. But it was ‘Come Little Children, Dance with Me.’ And it came out in music. I can’t sing it for you because even now I would get choked up if I did. But I felt that was God talking to the human race: ‘Come Little Children, Dance with Me.’ And if you think about that, that is so beautiful. . . . I thought of people dying and they’re going to dance with God, you know. Wow! . . . . And as I said, boy, I just cried and cried and cried. And every time I would sing it I would cry, you know, and I just couldn’t tell anybody that until several years later.”

-Brother Paul Bernard, Abbey of New Clairvaux from Orchards of Perseverance

WE TOO: How the Church Can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis by Mary DeMuth (Harvest Hill, 2019)

Mary DeMuth, advocate for the sexually abused, has written a clarion call to the church. You can’t ignore her purpose or passion in alerting the Christian community that it’s time to WAKE UP. She means it. This book is a cumulative work with lots of citations. The girl did her homework. But it’s also personal. DeMuth’s own heart-breaking story chronicles the trauma and devastation of being sexual abused. Past abuse follows the survivor wherever they go. Sexual abuse is monstrous. DeMuth skillfully peels back the layers to expose the truth about assault, predators, victims, PTSD, sexual abuse in the church–historically and institutionally. She painstakingly covers all the bases so we aren’t left in the dark, nor are we uncertain as to where this is heading. The church is taken to task by DeMuth, and rightly so. She challenges the system that has long protected the abuser (perpetrator) rather than the abused (victim). You don’t believe this? Google it. Many examples exist of institutional abuse on the Evangelical watch, which includes missionary settings, Christian schools and universities, youth groups, and churches. I used to be in denial–I didn’t want to believe this could be true–but it is true, and it is epidemic. DeMuth verifies how the survivors of abuse are often further traumatized by those who simply do not believe them or fail to address the issue head-on. This allows the perpetrator to move on to their next victim, as they often do. There are also the coverups–which reek of dishonesty, deceit, and greed (or fear). For those who think this only happens in other places and not in their neighborhood, think again. They are sadly mistaken. We as Christian people cannot live in denial any longer. The truth is at our doorstep. It is of greatest urgency that we call a spade, a spade. With grave intention, we must believe and protect the hurting, vulnerable, and wounded among us. We’re not in Kansas anymore. One caution is in order. This book may trigger you if you have sexual abuse in your present or past. You might want to have someone who has spiritual depth of insight walk through this journey with you.