to be free

to be free means...

...to be free from ourselves,

from our untruth,

in which it seems as if I alone were the center of the world

...to be free from myself

in order

to be free for others

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

July 24, 1932

"Through Gates of Splendor" Ch 1

Studying at Books-A-Million last night. I'm a bookstore studier - the smelling and sipping of coffee, a study break to peruse the books, the sound of blurred conversations and mellow music in the background - these little pleasures make studying a treat. During last night's study break perusal, I stumbled upon 'The Gates of Splendor' by Elisabeth Elliot. I read the first chapter and decided to buy it. Here's one of the sentences that helped make the purchase...

"Were it not that I believed that Jesus was seen of men and proved Himself to be supernatural in outwitting death, I would throw the whole system back to the troubled skies and take a raft down the Mississippi today. But the fact is founding, settling, establishing. It holds as nothing else, and gives the sense that there are answers, not yet discovered, for which I must wait."

"But the fact is founding" - how that resonates. I too have felt doubt and thought it would be so much easier to "take a raft down the Mississippi". (actually, since reading Huck Finn, I have always wanted to take a raft down the Mississippi, however I don't think Elliot is talking about an actual rafting trip). But I've felt the same grounding - not from family, or friends, or habbit, or any other persuasion. It is the fact of Jesus that I cannot deny - it is settling. it is establishing. it holds as NOTHING else.

Live a Lover's Life

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless...

-the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians ch. 1, vs. 9-10

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So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much, but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary...

-Phil 1:9-10 paraphrased by Eugene Peterson

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"Live a lover's life" - haha - I like that - sounds a little edgy:) and I think it is... the love Paul prays for is certainly not the norm - most people's notion of love is probably more of the "sentimental gush". A love that is "sincere and intelligent" - seems quite radical, and crazy, and rich, and ...hard!!!

'Faith My Eyes'

So keep'em coming these lines on the road

And keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load

And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise

And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes