A friend's comment last month gave me food for thought about longings.
Of course everybody longs for something: success, wealth, happiness, peace, a lifelong romance, a child, a tropical vacation. But life so easily becomes a quest to fulfill our longings, or at least to get as close to fulfillment as possible.
My friend was talking about how sad she feels every time she puts away her youngest child's outgrown clothing, knowing that her family won't need them anymore. She loves having a baby in the house, and it makes her sad to realize that her fourth will be her last. And, even if she and her husband decided to have a 5th child, that baby would grow up too. (Okay, a quick aside: I can empathize with her, but I can't totally relate. I love Huckle and Sally, but TWO is plenty. Sometime feels like more than plenty.) My friend feels torn between two temporal pleasures: the pleasure of having a baby and the pleasure of watching a baby grow up. She can never have both permanently -- it's an impossible outcome of human life.
Anyway, my friend ended this wistful talk by saying that this longing serves to remind her of heaven. And I think that's such a beautiful reflection. None of our longings can be perfectly fulfilled on earth. My friend's children cannot stay babies. But, instead of feeling frustrated or unfulfilled, we can turn that longing heavenward and remember what is waiting for us: a perfect existence without want or sorrow or unfulfilled longing. All our longings are for a perfection that is heaven.
It's a little like Plato's concept of Forms: we recognize objects on earth (for example, dogs) not because they all look alike or because we've seen a perfect object (dog) but because they represent a perfect, non-material object. Our longings are a craving for perfect fulfillment -- a perfect fulfillment that does not exist on earth (rationally, it's ridiculous to pursue something so impossible) but that we recognize through our eternal souls. Our longings for perfect fulfillment are the watermark of heaven imprinted on our souls.
Lord, use my longings for Your glory. Turn them from selfish dissatisfaction to signposts reminding me of heaven, where foolish desires fade and the deepest desires of my soul will be satisfied by your presence.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Super Power
(Written 3/2010)
I have been trying to master a top-secret superpower lately: a power I’ve always known but never fully grasped its potential. And it’s more amazing than I could have ever imagined.
Here’s how it works:
You confide to me a challenge you face? SHAZAM! I pray for you.
You look sad or angry as you walk past me? POW! I pray for you.
You cut me off in traffic? BAM! I pray for you (you little prick).
It’s incredible. I know, because I’ve been praying lately about bad situations in my life and, as a result, have seen firsthand the power of prayer. My mom’s battle with breast cancer? ZING! Covered by prayer. My dad’s potentially serious accident? WHAM! Covered by prayer. Severe depression of someone close to me? KAPOW! You wouldn’t even believe the power I’ve witnessed.
And one of the greatest parts about it: the person I’m praying for (the prayee?) not only doesn’t have to know he or she is being prayed for but doesn’t even have to believe. Think of Elisha praying for his patroness’ dead son. He was dead! But he still benefited by coming back to life – you can’t get much better than that! Yes, the power of prayer.
It’s like J. Sidlow Baxter once said, “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” (ZAP!)
But don’t get me wrong. I don’t take credit for any of these changes. It’s not really my super power. I’m more like Sherlock’s Dr. Watson. Or Batman’s Robin. Or the snotty little kid that brags about how strong her daddy is compared to yours. I’m the sidekick that comes along for the ride, helps in a really minor way, and then stands there smiling smugly as the power is unleashed and has its profound effects. But it still feels really great. God tells us just to pray about it, and He’ll handle the rest. And then He really does.
This is still new. Like I said, I’ve always heard about the power of prayer and believed it. But now I’m really, truly using it. And that elusive “peace that passes all understanding” that I’ve been chasing for years? Got it, Baby. (POW!)
And I also recognize that there’s a second step I need to take: removing the top-secret from the super power. Think of Peter in the first chapters of the book of Acts. At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had taken hold of the apostles and they began to amaze the crowds by speaking foreign languages, Peter then stands up and explains this power source to the crowds. Not secret there!
In the very next chapter of Acts, Peter and John heal the man lame from birth. Again, a huge crowd gathers to gape at the miracle, and Peter uses the opportunity to witness about the source of the power and how each believer can draw from it. Prayer is a power to share. You use it to promote God’s work, and then you explain it to others so they can use it. You pass it on.
I’ve seen the power. Now I need to pray for bravery to witness about it. Strange how hard that seems. When I absolutely love a store or a product or a book, I have no problem telling everyone I know about it. So why am I keeping this super power top secret?
No fear: I know exactly how to go about getting that bravery. ZING! Acts 4 includes a beautiful prayer for boldness as God’s witnesses. And the prayer is so powerful that the house shakes.
Secure the picture frames, here it comes...!
I have been trying to master a top-secret superpower lately: a power I’ve always known but never fully grasped its potential. And it’s more amazing than I could have ever imagined.
Here’s how it works:
You confide to me a challenge you face? SHAZAM! I pray for you.
You look sad or angry as you walk past me? POW! I pray for you.
You cut me off in traffic? BAM! I pray for you (you little prick).
It’s incredible. I know, because I’ve been praying lately about bad situations in my life and, as a result, have seen firsthand the power of prayer. My mom’s battle with breast cancer? ZING! Covered by prayer. My dad’s potentially serious accident? WHAM! Covered by prayer. Severe depression of someone close to me? KAPOW! You wouldn’t even believe the power I’ve witnessed.
And one of the greatest parts about it: the person I’m praying for (the prayee?) not only doesn’t have to know he or she is being prayed for but doesn’t even have to believe. Think of Elisha praying for his patroness’ dead son. He was dead! But he still benefited by coming back to life – you can’t get much better than that! Yes, the power of prayer.
It’s like J. Sidlow Baxter once said, “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” (ZAP!)
But don’t get me wrong. I don’t take credit for any of these changes. It’s not really my super power. I’m more like Sherlock’s Dr. Watson. Or Batman’s Robin. Or the snotty little kid that brags about how strong her daddy is compared to yours. I’m the sidekick that comes along for the ride, helps in a really minor way, and then stands there smiling smugly as the power is unleashed and has its profound effects. But it still feels really great. God tells us just to pray about it, and He’ll handle the rest. And then He really does.
This is still new. Like I said, I’ve always heard about the power of prayer and believed it. But now I’m really, truly using it. And that elusive “peace that passes all understanding” that I’ve been chasing for years? Got it, Baby. (POW!)
And I also recognize that there’s a second step I need to take: removing the top-secret from the super power. Think of Peter in the first chapters of the book of Acts. At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had taken hold of the apostles and they began to amaze the crowds by speaking foreign languages, Peter then stands up and explains this power source to the crowds. Not secret there!
In the very next chapter of Acts, Peter and John heal the man lame from birth. Again, a huge crowd gathers to gape at the miracle, and Peter uses the opportunity to witness about the source of the power and how each believer can draw from it. Prayer is a power to share. You use it to promote God’s work, and then you explain it to others so they can use it. You pass it on.
I’ve seen the power. Now I need to pray for bravery to witness about it. Strange how hard that seems. When I absolutely love a store or a product or a book, I have no problem telling everyone I know about it. So why am I keeping this super power top secret?
No fear: I know exactly how to go about getting that bravery. ZING! Acts 4 includes a beautiful prayer for boldness as God’s witnesses. And the prayer is so powerful that the house shakes.
Secure the picture frames, here it comes...!
Tasty Tossings? Trash Talk? (the title possibilities seem limitless!)
I don't usually give much thought to the roadside trash I jog past, except to wonder why people can't hold on to their garbage until they get home. But every now and then, a piece of trash gets me wondering. That CD wedged in the brush -- did you decide you didn't like it? did your CD player eject too hard and the car window was down? does it contain important evidence of a white collar crime?? or a master criminal's evil plan to destroy the earth??? Okay, probably not, but it's worth considering if it distracts my mind long enough to get me back home without thinking about how tired my legs are.
Anyway, today's item of wonderment was a vanilla extract bottle. It's easy to imagine people (thoughtless, inconsiderate people) pitching the soda can, empty cigarette pack, and chip bag that flanked the vanilla extract bottle. But under what circumstances does one toss a vanilla bottle from their car? Baking on the go? Do-it-yourself Vanilla Coke? Emergency cologne to impress a date? Desperate enough for alcohol to down a bottle of vanilla? Apparently, that's not as far-fetched as I thought while jogging.
http://www.ispub.com/journal/the_internet_journal_of_family_practice/volume_4_number_1_17/article_printable/adolescent_ethanol_intoxication_from_vanilla_extract_ingestion_a_case_report.html
How sad! I think I'll go back to imagining that pollution is the saddest thing going on here.
Anyway, today's item of wonderment was a vanilla extract bottle. It's easy to imagine people (thoughtless, inconsiderate people) pitching the soda can, empty cigarette pack, and chip bag that flanked the vanilla extract bottle. But under what circumstances does one toss a vanilla bottle from their car? Baking on the go? Do-it-yourself Vanilla Coke? Emergency cologne to impress a date? Desperate enough for alcohol to down a bottle of vanilla? Apparently, that's not as far-fetched as I thought while jogging.
http://www.ispub.com/journal/the_internet_journal_of_family_practice/volume_4_number_1_17/article_printable/adolescent_ethanol_intoxication_from_vanilla_extract_ingestion_a_case_report.html
How sad! I think I'll go back to imagining that pollution is the saddest thing going on here.
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