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Book of the Month: Schola Caritatis: Learning the Rhythms of God's Amazing Love

  Starting a new feature for the next several months called Book of the Month.  I will present one of my books and tell you a little of the ...

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

his song of love

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

What song do you listen to each day?  Do you listen to the song of those around you who demand that you become like them?  Do you listen to the song of the voices within you who continually tell you that you are not enough?  Or do you listen to the song of the One who made you and wants you to know the depths of his delight and affection?  Because the song you listen to the most is the song that your life will sing to others.

“Is that a joyous choir I hear?  No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.” (Zephaniah 3:17, TLB) Listen to the song of delight and affection he is singing over you today.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

your ways

sometimes i just can’t
understand your ways
much less explain them
they are too deep
and too mysterious
for my little mind to grasp

sometimes your ways
look too hard and too sad
and even a bit too harsh
to actually come from
your loving hand

but for some reason
you are the one
who brings beauty from ashes
who brings joy from sorrow
who brings life from death
who turns mourning into dancing

for how can we appreciate
beauty if not for ashes
or joy if not for sorrow
or dancing if not for mourning

for some crazy reason
you chose to bring about
the best things of this life
via the most painful

so instead of trying
to understand your ways
i will just keep on dancing
and keep on trusting
even when i can’t see
what you are up to

for your thoughts
are not my thoughts
and your ways
are not my ways

Monday, October 14, 2024

plans

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

If you want to walk with God, you had best check your plans at the door.  Life with him is as beautiful as it is demanding.  It is an amazing dance, an awesome adventure, and a challenging journey.  It is a journey in which we are not in control, he is.  We do not charge ahead with our agenda and invite him to come along.  We follow his lead; he doesn’t follow ours. 

Our job is to stay attentive to his voice, in tune with his will, and aligned with his purposes.  Life with him is about his plans, not our own.  Fortunately, his plans are to prosper us, not to harm us.  His plans give us “a hope and a future.”  His plans, although they might demand a lot of us, are always for our good, our benefit, and our growth.  We just have to trust in him.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

mercy

hang on to the scar
the hurt you have caused
let it teach and guide you
into deep humility
and acute awareness
of your immense need
for divine mercy

but let go of the guilt and shame
or it will eat you up inside
it will leave you consumed
with yourself rather than
consumed with your God

you can’t fix this mess
because you’re not
supposed to be able to fix it
that is the work of hands
much bigger than yours

so the scar remains
as a reminder of the hurt
that is still being healed
but will one day make all
stronger than ever before
but with a different
kind of strength

welcome to this new land
the world of weakness
where living from your flaws
and failures and frailties
opens you up to His strength
and His divine mercy

Sunday, October 6, 2024

shepherd and sheep

The Lord is my shepherd; I am his sheep.  He will take full and complete care of me; I do not need to worry.  In a barren land, he finds me green pastures and makes me lie down.  In a dry and arid place, he leads me to still waters where I can drink and be refreshed and renewed.  He guides me in the good way, so I don’t get lost or confused, all for his name’s sake. 

Even when the stench of death surrounds me and darkness overwhelms me, I will not fear for he is right in the middle of it with me, protecting me and directing me with his staff and his rod.  His love and his power bring me so much peace and comfort. 

He sets a table for the two of us to share an elaborate and intimate meal together.  He pours fragrant and healing oil on my head to show me that I am loved and valued.  My heart, just like my cup at his table, is always filled to overflowing with abundance and delight.  He pursues me unceasingly with his goodness and his unfailing love, so that I may live in his house, with him, forever.

Thursday, September 19, 2024

little lamb arise

 I went out looking for Jesus one day.  My twelve-year-old daughter, the light of my life and the joy of my heart, was on the verge of death.  Jesus was our last hope.  I didn’t want to leave her side, but I was desperate.  So, after I heard that he was returning from the region of the Gerasenes, I went out to meet him. 

Unfortunately, I was not alone.  Thousands of people were waiting on the shore that day for his boat to return.  Word had spread; people were everywhere!  I’d never seen such crowds.  But I was determined.  If he could help my little girl, I would walk through hot coals to make that happen.  She was everything to me, the apple of my eye, and she was dying.  There are no lengths a desperate father will not go to in order to help his beloved child.

Luckily, I was able to make my way to him.  It doesn’t hurt, I suppose, to be a synagogue ruler after all.  Thus, the crowds parted and before I knew it, I found myself face down on the ground before him, pleading for the healing of my little lamb.  And when he agreed to come with me, I was overjoyed.  A glimmer of hope began to grow in my heart.

But before we had gone twenty feet, he stopped and started looking around.  He said someone had “touched his clothes.”  Of course someone had touched his clothes, there were people crowding all around him.  His disciples even reminded him of that.  But he insisted on finding who it was.

Then a woman fell down before him on the road and admitted that she was the one who had touched him.  She went on to tell him that she had been bleeding for twelve years and had tried everything to be healed of her affliction, but instead of getting better, she had just gotten worse.  He waited patiently as she told him the whole story—twelve long years’ worth.  The same amount of time my little girl had been alive. 

I was starting to get a little panicky and frustrated over the delay, until I heard what he said to her: “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  He called her daughter.  This woman was someone’s little girl too.  In fact, he wanted her to know that she was his little girl.  She was God’s daughter.  You see, he was not just healing her body but also healing her soul.  She needed to know that she mattered.  She needed to know that she was valuable.  She needed to know that she was loved.  And now she did. 

From that moment on, I knew everything would be okay.  I knew my little girl was in good hands.  Even after some of my friends met us on the road telling us that my daughter was dead, Jesus was not deterred.  He never flinched.  He just kept walking. 

To make a long story short, he came into our house and brought peace to our chaos, joy to our sorrow, and life to our death.  He took our daughter by the hand and whispered in her ear, “Little lamb, arise!”  How could he have known that’s what I called her?  Absolutely amazing!  And as soon as he took her hand, our little lamb stood up.  She was alive again!  Jesus had entered into our desperation and brought celebration, taken away death and brought about life.  Only God could do something like that.  

That day I learned a valuable lesson: When it comes to life in the kingdom, desperation creates some of the very best soil for God to do his work.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

a prayer of transformation

“Dear Lord, it does not take much for me to forget you. The world, my world, has so many ways of demanding my attention that I quickly allow myself to be turned away from you. You are present in this world, in my life, in all that happens. But your presence is quiet, gentle, and unspectacular. Silence, solitude, quiet prayer, a peaceful conversation, and reflective reading help me to recognize that you are with me, that you call me, that you challenge me and, most of all, that you invite me into your house of peace and joy. Yet the loud voices of the world, the endless variety of “musts” and “oughts” and the illusion that everything has the quality of an emergency, all these things pull me away from the place where you dwell and make me live as if I and not you have to save the world.

A few days away from this house of prayer has made it very clear how easily I am seduced into thinking that everything except you is worth time, attention, and effort. Lord, I pray tonight that you deepen and strengthen my awareness of your presence, so that I can live in the world without being of it. Let the last two months of my stay in this monastery make my encounter with you as strong and deep and lasting as that of Saul on the road to Damascus, so that I can see the world with the new sight you are giving me. Amen.” ~from A Cry for Mercy by Henri Nouwen