The issue called The Price of Wisdom yielded these gems:
“Truly precious, priceless things are often mined from deep, dark places.” With what our country, and indeed our world, is doing currently- slowing sliding towards violence and war, hard times the likes of which we have never seen seem inevitable. But the quote above offers a ray of hope. In coming dark times and places, things which are precious will be found - qualities of character, development of ideals worth dying for, sight which sees what is truly of lasting importance. We have lived such a shallow life in the last years; skating along day to day without looking or striving towards anything of substance- just picking up the pretty stones which lie on the surface of life, so we have missed the precious things that are indeed hidden in the deep, dark places. We have been collecting fool's gold, not the real, precious metal found in the depths. However there may be something even better than our hard won treasures. Wisdom says in Proverbs 8:10-11, “Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.” Will we chose folly or wisdom?
“If we are truly at the end of our strength, then there is no more possibility of self-rescue. It is only God who meets us with redemption there.” Part of our national character is independence and self reliance but that is also part of our weakness. “If we are truly at the end of our strength, then there is no more possibility of self-rescue. It is only God who meets us with redemption there.” “Therefore those who follow Him and serve Him also find His true power exerted in their weaknesses, sufferings, and defeats.” I have the strong feeling that we are soon coming to a time when our own strength will not be equal to what we face. Only knowing that there is strength beyond our own gives us hope for the future. God provides the way through, not the way to avoid problems and difficulties.
Here is something philosophical to think on as well: How do you know it's not a disaster when good times come? How do you know it is not a blessing when difficult times descend? “God works in mysterious, counter-intuitive ways.” His ways are not our ways; He tests us all the time and that does not mean He does not love us. I have written about acceptance before; “acceptance is not a glamorous virtue.” Here is the goal of acceptance: “Always intend good. Never wish harm to anyone. There is power. Let it do what it will do. Trust God’s goodness, whatever happens.”
The issue called Do Not Lose Heart yielded these gems:
“The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.” I've been feeling exhausted with all the political debate. It's important, it's essential even and yet because it has gone on so long, I am weary of it. I think if you are truly engaged - wholeheartedly - engaged, then you don't give up because you care deeply about the outcome.
Mark Burrows and John Ohlson, in the article called, Love is a Direction share this: “Discerning the right direction - a thoughtful description of what love is at its core - enables us to move ahead not with optimism but in hope.” In our very confusing and obscure world, we have having a hard time, or at least I am, in finding the right direction. I badly need hope but I had not seen before that it might be possible to have hope without optimism. I am not optimistic! They go on to say, “In such precarious and demanding conditions, what we need most is a compass and not a map, a directional guide that can help us locate our bearings.” So very true! It seems everyone is screaming, “I know the way!” and it can't be that they all do since some lead in one direction, others in the opposite way. I think our principles are intended to be our compass and the Bible our moral compass. In order to go some place else, you need to know where you are now. And if we are blind, as wisdom suggests, then how are we to find our way?
One way is to let everything happen to you: beauty and dread. The authors go on:
“The point is that everything will happen to, us, whether we will it or not. Storms will come in our lives, interrupting our certainties and destroying our plans. We will confront crises in our lives. Unexpected storms will obliterate the path we’ve chosen. We will face the temptation to lose heart. In the midst of all this, the practice we most need is one that keeps our attention on the journey immediately at hand—particularly when the familiar way seems lost or taken from us. The practice that helps us find our heart begins with our attention to the next step we must make. It reminds us to attend to what we can do in the present moment, given the finite conditions we face.”
Rainer Maria Rilke says, “In life one cannot awaken often enough the sense of beginning within oneself. There is so little external change needed for that since we actually transform the world from within our hearts.” I think that means that you must start out from within yourself. You can’t go anywhere without making a change within yourself, even if it is just a change of intention. Love is not a destination, it’s a journey. It is from within that we decide to proceed on that journey, with hope.
Robert Corin Morris writes in The Heart is Always Beating, “Hope may spring eternal, but heart comes first. Without our human capacity to ‘take heart’ or ‘summon courage’ our hopes are powerless at best, utterly hopeless at the worst. But how does the heart revive in the face of discouragement? What is the emotional and spiritual alchemy that transforms trepidation into boldness, fear into courage?” I was very interested in how a renewed heart or courage might be found. He says that is is found within because the wellsprings of courage are built into our very nature but at the same time we are built to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Our heart, which is seen as the ground from which both our intentions and actions arise, “can move us toward action even in the face of challenge, overriding the power of the fight/flight mechanism that would paralyze us. Though inner voices may say ‘run and hide,’ and the signs of the times may urge us to lose heart, the God-rooted power at the center of our nature may give us courage.” This is well expressed in the spiritual “There Is a Balm in Gilead”...“Some times I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain, But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again...”
While I was waiting to board my plane, an email newsletter by Rabbi Daniel Lapin arrived. What he had to say also brought hope to my heart.
“It is a time to strip away the illusion that we are independent and self-directed and to recognize how much of the wrong way that we think and act is a function of following the crowd,” reflected Rabbi Daniel Lapin.
“We
are not only influenced by others, but we are also the influencers. When I
succumb to complaining, cowardice or anger, I affect my spouse, children,
neighbors and co-workers. Contaminated by my attitude, they will be more likely
to behave the same way. If I lower my standards and speak rudely or profanely,
others will more easily do so as well.”
“It is
wrong to think of peer pressure only as negative. When we smile despite our
pain, we also influence others. When we express gratitude and are gracious to
others, the effects of that ripple outward as well. If we are courageous and
cling to standards, immune to what ‘everyone else’ is doing, we make it easier for others to do so as well.”
He ended with this quote, which I have seen before: When we
change ourselves, we change our families. When we change our families, we
change our communities. When we change our communities, we change our country.
When we change our country, we change the world.
So by the end of my trip, I found that I had hope renewed and courage found when they had been misplaced.
