A Good Old Quote

Came across this quote when I was watching Middlemarch the other night. Struck a chord in me. 

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

― George Eliot, Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life

Happily Ever After....

Have you ever noticed how obsessed our society is with Fairytales. Most children’s movies and many adult movies follow the fairytale guidelines: Good triumphing over evil, prince meeting princess, everything returned to its rightful peaceful place and everyone living happily ever after (unless you are the bad guy). We love reading about fairytales (William and Kate, Mary and Fredrick) and love pretending our own lives are a fairytale (big white weddings) but unfortunately life does not usually follow the fairytale formula. Good does not always triumph over evil, the prince does not always get to save his princess and usually things remain in this chaotic mess with no one living happily ever after. So why do we love fairytales so much. Perhaps there is something inside all of us that longs for peace and love to conquer all and for the good to triumph over evil. We all long for a happily ever after. 

So what if I told you there is such a thing. In this broken and evil world there is the perfect fairytale and we are all welcome to be a part of it! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16; “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8. Love truly can conquer all: all our failings, all our fears and allows us to live happily ever after into eternity. This world is evil but as the Author of this great fairytale says “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. So don’t just take my word for it, if you would like to know more about this real life fairytale then you must read the book (The Bible) and see for yourself if you want to be a part of it!  

How Inconvenient

So I had just settled down to my perfect Friday night in. My selection of chocolate was wide, my bowl of strawberries full and my cup of chai tea hot. I was just in the process of deciding which Disney Classic to watch first when the phone rang.  It’s hubby and he is in need of his medication and some cash which is in the car… in the garage… whilst he is at work (a good 20+ minutes away). Sharing a car had never really fazed me much up until this point in time but the thought of leaving my comfortable couch to deliver my husband’s forgotten goods in the middle of winter (I know it’s Brisbane winter and I shouldn’t complain but I was still cozy inside and it was cold outside) seemed like the most inconvenient task one could ask!  However, I knew that it was the proper wifely thing to do so after pushing the disgruntled cat off my lap and storming around to find my jacket, uggies and car keys I made my way to Ken’s  work. Every red light made me seethe with anger (and I seemed to get every one of them) and as I drew closer to my undesirable destination I was at breaking point. I huffily pulled over at the factory and waited for my husband to come and collect his belongings. I tried to put on a brave face to hide my crankiness and convince him that I was the humble loving wife he needed, not the selfish human I knew I really was. Of course he saw right through my facade and felt bad for asking me to do such a task. As I drove home I got to thinking, maybe that wasn’t just an uncomfortable and inconvenient coincidence. Maybe it was divine intervention to give me another lesson on love, not my own love, but God’s unfailing love.  You see, God’s love is neither convenient nor comfortable. He calls us to love the unlovable and reach the unreachable. How can broken people answer such a calling? By letting Him replace our humanity with His divinity, by letting Him replace our pride with humility and by letting Him take the reins to our lives and surrendering to His will, His perfect will. I know the illustration of me taking my husband his medication and money may seem like a stretch to the point I am trying to make but I have not told the whole story. My husband is in his second week of night shift. He works 5 12 hour shifts a week, three weeks night and three weeks day, which includes Friday and Saturdays. The last thing one wants to do on a Friday night is be at work for 12 hours and yet my husband was. As I sit here now sipping my luke warm tea I realise that the task of leaving the house to bring my husband what he needed was not really a chore but a joy! I have just finished reading an autobiography about Michelle Perry called “Love has a face”. Michelle Perry is an ordinary one legged woman who grew up in an ordinary middle class home who has allowed God to use in her in incredible ways in the remote region of Southern Sudan. In her book she admits that she is human, she loves coffee and mascara and camping was never her idea of a good time, and yet, there she is living in a mud hut in the middle of a dusty war torn nation. Why? Because she let God direct her footsteps and that is where he led her. Every day she has the opportunity to show God’s love to starving and homeless African orphans and broken families. It is not comfortable and it is certainly not convenient, but it is God shining light into the darkness and bringing hope to the lost through the power of His love!

Proverbs 16:9 ~ In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

1 Corinthians 13 ~ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Romans 8:38-39 ~ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Oh the peace that passes understanding

Life is certainly full of uncertainty, with twists and turns that come along when we least expect them. Two weeks ago I lost a dear friend and brother quite unexpectedly. Just like a rock tossed into the lake, the ripples of this tragic event have been evident around the world, with all those who have known my brother feeling the effects of this great loss. In my own life, the ripples have also left their impact. Waves of emotion, both rational and irrational, sweep through me day after day, leaving me confused and exhausted. The only comfort is clinging to the one thing I know is true: God’s love for my brother, my family and me. I have found great respite in listening to worship songs and spending time reading the words of my great heavenly Father. Death has truly lost its sting for those who belong to the family of God. The pain is there for those of us who are left behind to pick up the pieces and there will always be a Joash shaped hole in our lives that cannot be filled. But the peace, oh that blessed peace that truly does pass all understanding.  

Psalm 34:18 – 19 (NIV) The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; 

My dear sweet brother and I at Christmas 2011.