Mélange de Révélation

A mixed bag of “randomly occuring” insights.

by

The Course We Choose

Sometimes in our daily lives certain events lead us to contemplation, and this week those events have lead me to the first few verses in Matthew 7.  Verses 1-2 say, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you,” and this got me to thinking…

Why is it so easy for us to see the speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye, and yet we totally ignore the plank in our own? And why do we even feel compelled to point it out?  We readily see the faults of others and rarely see our own. Why do we expect others to live up to the standards that we ourselves are not disciplined enough to achieve, and isn’t pointing out to others what we perceive to be their faults another way of judging them?  We are not on the other side of that fence; we don’t know what has happened over there, or what has been brought to fruition as a result of the happenings.

Matthew 6:37 says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” What if we just let others be who they are without condescension, without arrogance, and without disrespect. What if we really did love each other as we would be loved? What if we took as much time and trouble to point out to ourselves where we are lacking, spending our energy improving ourselves through meditation, prayer, self-awareness and self-control, instead of trying to perfect others by criticizing, scorning, belittling and ridiculing them?

It’s mind-boggling to me how, at times, it can be so difficult for us to accept responsibility for ourselves. We look to others, to outside sources, in any direction except in the mirror.  We want to blame someone or something for the situation that we find ourselves in, and we never even consider that the reason we find ourselves where we are is because of the choices we have made. We choose the direction, we navigate the waters, and we find ourselves in precisely the place we’ve been headed to all along. Even if we aren’t exactly aware of how we’ve come to this pass, one thing’s for certain,we didn’t take the other road, we took this one, and we are on the course we choose.

James 2:13 tells us, “There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. “ Living a wise life is about being lifted up, about lifting others up, about striving for a higher vibration – the vibration of love and patience. We cannot change others, only ourselves, and it’s our perspective that either makes a prisoner of us, or sets us free.

~SLM

by

Bread Alone

Lately, my quest for wisdom through the study of the book of Proverbs has run into a snag or two – well maybe more than a couple! I’ve been distracted with Deuteronomy and David, both of which have been enlightening, and aren’t all together all that divergent from the study of Proverbs.

In 1 Samuel, when David flees from Saul’s jealous rage, he goes to the priests at Nob, and there God provides for him the bread of the presence. The bread of the presence, a concept that even though I’m sure I’ve heard of it before, landed in my mind with such consequence that I can’t stop thinking about it.

 

The bread of the Presence:         The bread that was given to David by God

The Bread that was kept at the altar of God

The Bread offered at Wisdom’s table

The Bread of the Eucharist which is the body of Christ

The bread of Life offered by Christ

All of these “breads” are the symbol of God in our lives. We eat the bread that we may be at one with God, and that Christ (the Word, Wisdom) may live in us and we in him.

It’s interesting how in the study of scripture, the voice of Wisdom can be rather ADD, leading you in seemingly unrelated and opposing directions, only to circle back to the original thought. All the pieces are thrown at you in a whirlwind of ideas, like a fine tapestry that at first glance, tells a simple story, transforming into something else, when viewed at a middle distance, and changing again at close inspection, where it becomes evident that each of the individual threads has an entire story of its own, yet the ingenious way in which they are woven together is exactly what created the simple tale.

~SLM

by

A Matter of Faith

And Christ said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

What is faith? The Webster’s defines it as:  sincerity of intentions, complete trust, and a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. It’s a word we all use every day in many situations without really understanding it. Many times we say we have faith, but our actions belie our inner belief. We simply use it like a paper plate, something that is useful for the moment, only to be discarded when we don’t need it anymore.

Faith implies loyalty, commitment, conviction. It’s a hope, a belief, and an expectation of surety, and as such is an act of reverence.  Matthew 18:18-19 says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[a] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” But, so many times we let other considerations and influences encroach upon what we say we believe, and we decide that we, not God, have the answer, the solution. We take matters into our own hands, forgetting completely about our faith, about how whatever we bind on earth is also bound in heaven.

Sometimes (and honestly, often times) we are with God as teenagers are with their parents. We roll our eyes and say, “what do you know old man?” Not understanding, or perhaps willfully forgetting, that He does know, He does have a plan, and his resources are greater and more substantial than we can even comprehend! We get impatient; we discard our faith, never understanding that when God tags someone out of our lives, and replaces them with a new player, a fresh player, it’s because of his understanding, his comprehension, and his plan for our growth. We have to take it on faith, no matter how difficult or upsetting, no matter how painful it is, we must hold fast to the knowledge that God is trustworthy, that God is binding us to what we have asked of him.

If we dissent, if we show no conviction, it’s as if we are like Adam; we tell God “NO, not your way, my way!” But, if we keep our faith, hold fast in our belief, then we are like Christ; we tell God, “If this is my cup, I shall drink all of it,” trusting that through his guidance, we will become better versions of ourselves.

~SLM