"It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising; but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it"
thought one:
the other day i was praying, "Lord, please show me what i should do in the spring."
and i thought, "Gee, what would i do if someday God answered back, 'Rebekkah, I couldn't care less what you do with your spring.'"
thank You, Lord, for caring. [seeee?! what arrogance!! i even assume You read my blog!]
thought two:
Having spent the past three months with some "little ones"... "hermanitos"... kids hanging around the kingdom but not hung up on it... i've got some theologizing to do.
for instance, it's 6:30 a.m. My darlings want to sleep. They want to bathe themselves. They want to fix their hair or cook breakfast or anything besides kneel on a hard floor. if they don't "feel" it, should they still be "forced" to pray?
so i'm far away from cold floors and my reluctant angels, and i now have time to think again. from the dusty crevices of my theology file, i encounter a term: "means of grace." now, don't quote me on this, but from what i understand, it refers to "spiritual" stuff you do to show God you're serious about wanting to receive His grace.
maybe you might not feel all 100% excited about it, maybe you're not even "feeling" like you've been regenerate, but in humility you do what you know and ask God to make it real. God, who has been know to resist the proud but give grace to the humble, is supposed to respond to the genuine invested seeker by more grace, ie: the desire and power to do His will, often refering to repentance and regeneration. [my more sagacious readers, feel free to correct me or tweak my words on any of this.]
so i'm hmmming over whether one can "force" others into means of grace when i read something interesting. Known as "the Parable of the Sower" (Mttw. 13:18-23), i honestly thought i had heard it analyzed to death. (Forgive my arrogance.) But juxtaposed against my mental landscape, here's what i got.
Some seed falls on "stony ground" because the hearer has no root in himself, but endures only for a little while.
Now this hearer received the word with "joy" and lovely emotion, but didn't have no roots! I pray more than i knew i could that my girls and the little ones i know will get a whole soul-full of emotion socked to them someday and will come weeping and leaping and downright excited into the Kingdom. but that's God's work. what can be done before is to get these "hermanitos" used to sticking it to the flesh. used to getting up early. used to looking different. used to saying "no" to conformity. used to having reverence before God. when the love comes, ALRIGHT! but until then, there's the soil of their soul that needs a shovel and a strong hand.
ay mis hermanitos....
thought three:
everybody complains about how social security isn't enough to live on, right?
well, per my gov't teacher, SS was never meant to be lived on. when the concept was developed back in the day, where did old folks go when they couldn't work anymore?
To their families. SS was meant to "add more stew to the pot" of the family economy, not to make condo rent and car payments and pay for cable. Hmmmmm...
the other day i was praying, "Lord, please show me what i should do in the spring."
and i thought, "Gee, what would i do if someday God answered back, 'Rebekkah, I couldn't care less what you do with your spring.'"
thank You, Lord, for caring. [seeee?! what arrogance!! i even assume You read my blog!]
thought two:
Having spent the past three months with some "little ones"... "hermanitos"... kids hanging around the kingdom but not hung up on it... i've got some theologizing to do.
for instance, it's 6:30 a.m. My darlings want to sleep. They want to bathe themselves. They want to fix their hair or cook breakfast or anything besides kneel on a hard floor. if they don't "feel" it, should they still be "forced" to pray?
so i'm far away from cold floors and my reluctant angels, and i now have time to think again. from the dusty crevices of my theology file, i encounter a term: "means of grace." now, don't quote me on this, but from what i understand, it refers to "spiritual" stuff you do to show God you're serious about wanting to receive His grace.
maybe you might not feel all 100% excited about it, maybe you're not even "feeling" like you've been regenerate, but in humility you do what you know and ask God to make it real. God, who has been know to resist the proud but give grace to the humble, is supposed to respond to the genuine invested seeker by more grace, ie: the desire and power to do His will, often refering to repentance and regeneration. [my more sagacious readers, feel free to correct me or tweak my words on any of this.]
so i'm hmmming over whether one can "force" others into means of grace when i read something interesting. Known as "the Parable of the Sower" (Mttw. 13:18-23), i honestly thought i had heard it analyzed to death. (Forgive my arrogance.) But juxtaposed against my mental landscape, here's what i got.
Some seed falls on "stony ground" because the hearer has no root in himself, but endures only for a little while.
Now this hearer received the word with "joy" and lovely emotion, but didn't have no roots! I pray more than i knew i could that my girls and the little ones i know will get a whole soul-full of emotion socked to them someday and will come weeping and leaping and downright excited into the Kingdom. but that's God's work. what can be done before is to get these "hermanitos" used to sticking it to the flesh. used to getting up early. used to looking different. used to saying "no" to conformity. used to having reverence before God. when the love comes, ALRIGHT! but until then, there's the soil of their soul that needs a shovel and a strong hand.
ay mis hermanitos....
thought three:
everybody complains about how social security isn't enough to live on, right?
well, per my gov't teacher, SS was never meant to be lived on. when the concept was developed back in the day, where did old folks go when they couldn't work anymore?
To their families. SS was meant to "add more stew to the pot" of the family economy, not to make condo rent and car payments and pay for cable. Hmmmmm...
posted by berekkah at 8/29/2006 04:44:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
r,
t1 - God is going to talk to you through the wise people to whom he has joined you. Don't miss out on an answer coming from flesh-and-blood because you wanted "a word from the Lord."
t2 - Catechesis, Catechism, Catechise. The young people in our care need the means of grace. They need that and more. They need to learn the alphabet of the faith: the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments. They need to know the basics of the Ecumenical Councils regarding the Trinity and the Incarnation.
They should learn both the forms (prayer, Scripture reading, church attendance, et al) and the substance (who is God, who is man, what is the Church, et al). As you know, the fact that it might be "boring" is irrelevant.
Rote memorization is our friend.
j
"catechesis" is now the word of the day. thanks. :)
~> "but he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and UNDERSTANDS it, who indeed bears FRUIT and PRODUCES..."
i'm liking the idea of kids who know the Word and the Faith from their youth and don't need a "sabbatical" in the world to activate their devotion to them... exciting times, bro..!
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