Thursday, December 25, 2003
God gave his son; Jesus gave himself, but he went even further than that...after giving more than we could ask for, Jesus allowed people to take from him. take his time, take his energy, take his power, and finally even take his dignity. he let himself be stripped bare and taken advantage of. he came as a servant king. yet everytime people took from him, he conquered. as they took his time he conquered hearts, as they took his energy he conquered questioning minds, as they took his power he conquered pain and sickness...when they tried to take his dignity, he conquered death. he let himself be stripped bare that only his glory might shine through, that what was left was a pure reflection of his Father's image. as people took from him, his heart of love became more and more exposed, his graceful spirit less and less obscured. he came in silence, a babe in an inn. yet even then the angels could not keep silent and burst out in praise of his glory. his life spoke more than any words could. as we took from him, his love increased.
~~~
i am horrified by my own behavior. we had christmas dinner tonight at aunty aileen's before leaving for the airport. she invited her cousin peter and his wife, and that nearly proved my undoing. we always make fun of papa for eating terribly slowly, and joke that that's how he keeps so skinny...because by the time he's ready for more there's no food left. well, at the dinner, we all enjoyed our oversized meal and were ready to clean up except that (predictably) papa was still eating. i glanced over to look at peter and realized two things.
1) he had more food left on his plate than papa
2) he was skinner than papa
which just goes to prove our theory is right after all. but that's when i lost it. i started laughing and could not stop myself...i was shaking with laughter and the only thing that saved me was that i was laughing silently (and it was pure torture!). it took all my self-control to not burst out roaring. i caught papa's eye and he evidently knew what i was laughing about because he started chuckling silently (yes it is possible) too. i stood up to clear the dishes. any longer and i would have irreversibly disgraced myself.
~~~
"thus, the flesh of day, in its heat and light, would gradually decline; and again the golden water would be dancing on the wall" - charles dickens, dombey and son.
day passes in and out, not always as beautifully as dickens describes, but predictably, inevitably, it passes. it is one of those things we don't have to count on, because it is one of those things we can count on without a doubt. day passes in and out, but what do we make of it?
2 weeks, 14 days, 14 times the shadows of "golden water" dance their merry dance. during the intermission, though, is when life has its chance - to move, to rest, to appreciate, to reflect, to be. each day brings a different chance, chance that gradually falls back into shadow if not taken.
day passes in and out, and we move on. or do we? would be able to tell if we were simply moving in circles? we think we are making a journey, but do we always just eventually end up right where we started?
~~~
i am horrified by my own behavior. we had christmas dinner tonight at aunty aileen's before leaving for the airport. she invited her cousin peter and his wife, and that nearly proved my undoing. we always make fun of papa for eating terribly slowly, and joke that that's how he keeps so skinny...because by the time he's ready for more there's no food left. well, at the dinner, we all enjoyed our oversized meal and were ready to clean up except that (predictably) papa was still eating. i glanced over to look at peter and realized two things.
1) he had more food left on his plate than papa
2) he was skinner than papa
which just goes to prove our theory is right after all. but that's when i lost it. i started laughing and could not stop myself...i was shaking with laughter and the only thing that saved me was that i was laughing silently (and it was pure torture!). it took all my self-control to not burst out roaring. i caught papa's eye and he evidently knew what i was laughing about because he started chuckling silently (yes it is possible) too. i stood up to clear the dishes. any longer and i would have irreversibly disgraced myself.
~~~
"thus, the flesh of day, in its heat and light, would gradually decline; and again the golden water would be dancing on the wall" - charles dickens, dombey and son.
day passes in and out, not always as beautifully as dickens describes, but predictably, inevitably, it passes. it is one of those things we don't have to count on, because it is one of those things we can count on without a doubt. day passes in and out, but what do we make of it?
2 weeks, 14 days, 14 times the shadows of "golden water" dance their merry dance. during the intermission, though, is when life has its chance - to move, to rest, to appreciate, to reflect, to be. each day brings a different chance, chance that gradually falls back into shadow if not taken.
day passes in and out, and we move on. or do we? would be able to tell if we were simply moving in circles? we think we are making a journey, but do we always just eventually end up right where we started?
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