“If I could put time in a bottle….” Do you remember that song? From somewhere in my childhood growing up in the 1970’s, this song lingers in my brain with its haunting lyric of idyllic longing.
The precious commodity of time has been a recurring theme in my reading and in my life this week. Both of the books I am reading by Frances Mayes (her latest, A Year in the World and an earlier work, Bella Tuscany) reference time in quality and quantity as critical components to her travels and life choices. In 2001, Frances and her husband Ed left tenured professorships to travel abroad, visiting all the sites they had ever always wanted to visit “someday.” After the death of a parent, a few friends, and several struggles with cancer among her friends, they decided someday was now or never.
Bella Tuscany takes place a couple of years earlier when for the first time, she and Ed can spend more than just a summer or Christmas holiday at their home in Cortona, Italy. They take a six month sabbatical and arrive in early March to spend their first spring in Tuscany. A line from her preface says it all: “I came to Italy expecting adventure. What I never anticipated is the absolute joy of everyday life—la dolce vita” (xii).
Italians live life differently than Americans. Many would say they live it better. It has a lot to do with how they approach time. Time for a sumptuous meal. Time for friends and for family. Time for a hand-made pair of shoes or a tailored Armani suit.
Time is an essential ingredient for all that is worthwhile. Its quantity inextricably tied to quality.
I do not collect time in a bottle. Everyday the hourglass of time sifts me one moment at a time, at a rate of 24 hours a day—no more and no less. What I do with that time is collected in the mind’s book of memories or it fades to nothingness and meaninglessness.
The time ahead of me still seems like a vast reservoir of opportunity. My grandmother lived to be 90; I am 42. I’m not even halfway there yet. But the number of my days is not guaranteed. I am keenly aware that I have only a few years with my children at home.
What I want is la dolce vita—to find the sweetness in the everyday, whatever the season of my life.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Book Review: Fresh Faith by Jim Cymbala
I am participating in a monthly book study through our church's women's ministry, led by our pastor's wife, Karon Walls. Karon has come up with an excellent list of Christian books for us to read this year, and I thought it would be good to share some of these with you by way of review.
The book Fresh Faith: What Happens when Real Faith Ignites God’s People by the famous Brooklyn Tabernacle pastor Jim Cymbala is one in a series that includes Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and Fresh Power. Published in 1999 with coauthor Dean Merrill, the book offers a straightforward, roll up your sleeves and take God at His Word approach to living the Christian life.
The power of this book comes not only from its reliance on Scriptural mandates and role models, but on the raw and rugged faithwalk of a pastor and his congregation as they have embraced truth and experienced a transformation among its members that has become legendary among American evangelical churches. However, Cymbala is quick to confess that neither he nor his flock has any special formula that unlocks the mystery of spiritual “success.” And it is that fresh, no-frills transparency that makes this book so appealing.
The book is structured in three sections. The first part, “Something is Missing,” addresses the absence of real vibrant faith in our churches and in our personal lives. Rather than placing blame, Cymbala takes aim at the Enemy who has stolen two of the most important weapons we have: faith and prayer. He asks, “Whatever happened to the core truth of the Protestant Reformation, namely, that we do not earn our way with God but rather receive his grace by faith?”(44). Instead of attacking the symptoms of unbelief, we must abandon our efforts to just try harder and instead place our complete faith in “God’s unfailing promises” (49).
The second section, “Getting Past the Barricades,” speaks to the circumstances and challenges in our lives that have dimmed or challenged our faith. The first is our own hurtful past: the mistakes we have made that make us feel unable and inadequate to receive God’s promises or the hurts and abuses others have inflicted upon us that cause us to doubt God’s goodness. Using Joseph as an example, Cymbala offers the hope of forgetting (“Manasseh”) and finding fruitfulness (“Ephraim”) in the land of our suffering.
Another challenge is the often gray area of how one is actually led by God on a daily basis. Can we trust God to lead us? Or are we mostly on our own? Cymbala calls for “sanctified reasoning” (70) that asks for God’s leading and then follows it as it is revealed. What often gets in the way of this, he says, is our own cleverness and our impatience to wait on God’s timing for a desired result. King Saul failed this test by offering the sacrifice himself. His lack of faith resulted in an act of disobedience that cost him his crown and his legacy. Sometimes, the test comes in the waiting as we become discouraged. Cymbala emphasizes endurance as a key component to a life-changing faith. Ultimately, however, great faith is rooted in an awareness of great grace. Life change is always an act of God’s grace and not our own effort. No matter how destructive the sin-choice or horrific the consequence, life-changing faith realizes that grace trumps it all. No exception. Faith in God’s grace to redeem is a fundamental requirement for a faith that pleases God and changes lives.
Part three, “Following the Divine Channel,” provides some concrete faith principles and paradigms that can be applied by every believer. First, he describes Abraham as a person of faith who followed (and sometimes failed to follow) God, but who endured as a legacy of faith because his faith was focused on the promises of God, rather than His commands. Cymbala’s most compelling insight comes from this emphasis on God’s promises as the basis of our faith. We tend to focus on God’s commands and have faith depending upon our level of obedience to those commands. Cymbala states, “It is true that God’s moral commands teach us where we fall short. That is necessary—but it does not bring a solution to our human dilemma. Only the promises bring us hope, if we respond in faith, as Abraham did” (152). Another key principle for gaining fresh faith is the inevitable refining process. Cymbala calls this “addition by subtraction” and encourages us to embrace, rather than fight, God’s work of purification.
Cymbala ends with a chapter with guidance on cultivating an “atmosphere of faith.” In addition to the practice of Bible study and prayer, we should look back with thanksgiving and forward with anticipation, focused always on the promises of God.
Laced with real-life stories of transformed New Yorkers and flesh-and-blood examples from Scripture, this book takes living by faith out of the theoretical and ethereal and places it right into the everyday, whether we find ourselves desperately at the end of our rope or whether we are just trying to find God in the day-to day challenges in our world.
The paperback published by Zondervan has 210 pages of text, an Epilogue of faith-building Scripture promises, and a study guide.
The book Fresh Faith: What Happens when Real Faith Ignites God’s People by the famous Brooklyn Tabernacle pastor Jim Cymbala is one in a series that includes Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and Fresh Power. Published in 1999 with coauthor Dean Merrill, the book offers a straightforward, roll up your sleeves and take God at His Word approach to living the Christian life.
The power of this book comes not only from its reliance on Scriptural mandates and role models, but on the raw and rugged faithwalk of a pastor and his congregation as they have embraced truth and experienced a transformation among its members that has become legendary among American evangelical churches. However, Cymbala is quick to confess that neither he nor his flock has any special formula that unlocks the mystery of spiritual “success.” And it is that fresh, no-frills transparency that makes this book so appealing.
The book is structured in three sections. The first part, “Something is Missing,” addresses the absence of real vibrant faith in our churches and in our personal lives. Rather than placing blame, Cymbala takes aim at the Enemy who has stolen two of the most important weapons we have: faith and prayer. He asks, “Whatever happened to the core truth of the Protestant Reformation, namely, that we do not earn our way with God but rather receive his grace by faith?”(44). Instead of attacking the symptoms of unbelief, we must abandon our efforts to just try harder and instead place our complete faith in “God’s unfailing promises” (49).
The second section, “Getting Past the Barricades,” speaks to the circumstances and challenges in our lives that have dimmed or challenged our faith. The first is our own hurtful past: the mistakes we have made that make us feel unable and inadequate to receive God’s promises or the hurts and abuses others have inflicted upon us that cause us to doubt God’s goodness. Using Joseph as an example, Cymbala offers the hope of forgetting (“Manasseh”) and finding fruitfulness (“Ephraim”) in the land of our suffering.
Another challenge is the often gray area of how one is actually led by God on a daily basis. Can we trust God to lead us? Or are we mostly on our own? Cymbala calls for “sanctified reasoning” (70) that asks for God’s leading and then follows it as it is revealed. What often gets in the way of this, he says, is our own cleverness and our impatience to wait on God’s timing for a desired result. King Saul failed this test by offering the sacrifice himself. His lack of faith resulted in an act of disobedience that cost him his crown and his legacy. Sometimes, the test comes in the waiting as we become discouraged. Cymbala emphasizes endurance as a key component to a life-changing faith. Ultimately, however, great faith is rooted in an awareness of great grace. Life change is always an act of God’s grace and not our own effort. No matter how destructive the sin-choice or horrific the consequence, life-changing faith realizes that grace trumps it all. No exception. Faith in God’s grace to redeem is a fundamental requirement for a faith that pleases God and changes lives.
Part three, “Following the Divine Channel,” provides some concrete faith principles and paradigms that can be applied by every believer. First, he describes Abraham as a person of faith who followed (and sometimes failed to follow) God, but who endured as a legacy of faith because his faith was focused on the promises of God, rather than His commands. Cymbala’s most compelling insight comes from this emphasis on God’s promises as the basis of our faith. We tend to focus on God’s commands and have faith depending upon our level of obedience to those commands. Cymbala states, “It is true that God’s moral commands teach us where we fall short. That is necessary—but it does not bring a solution to our human dilemma. Only the promises bring us hope, if we respond in faith, as Abraham did” (152). Another key principle for gaining fresh faith is the inevitable refining process. Cymbala calls this “addition by subtraction” and encourages us to embrace, rather than fight, God’s work of purification.
Cymbala ends with a chapter with guidance on cultivating an “atmosphere of faith.” In addition to the practice of Bible study and prayer, we should look back with thanksgiving and forward with anticipation, focused always on the promises of God.
Laced with real-life stories of transformed New Yorkers and flesh-and-blood examples from Scripture, this book takes living by faith out of the theoretical and ethereal and places it right into the everyday, whether we find ourselves desperately at the end of our rope or whether we are just trying to find God in the day-to day challenges in our world.
The paperback published by Zondervan has 210 pages of text, an Epilogue of faith-building Scripture promises, and a study guide.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Wedding Belles
I don’t think I have mentioned this before, but I direct weddings. For the months and weeks beforehand, I work with the bride and her mother to coordinate the plans that they have made for the bride’s special day. Then, the weekend of her wedding, I am there to pull it all together, just as planned.
In addition to directing weddings at my church (Shades Mtn. Independent Church in Hoover, Alabama), I direct weddings in the Colonial Chapel at the historic American Village in Montevallo, Alabama; and I have directed outdoor weddings in various locales: the beach, on estates, in gardens, and poolside.
As part of my spiritual journey, I consider it a great honor to assist couples with their wedding: it is one of the most spiritual commitments they make. Marriage is, in fact, the only human being-to-human being “covenant” relationship that two people will ever form. Upon the foundation of that covenant, a home is made and a family begun.
Elaborate, and often expensive, preparations are made: a question is asked, a promise is made, a ring is given and received, and wedding plans commence. Brides start their search for the perfect dress and the perfect wedding location. Will they walk barefoot in white onto a pristine beach as the sun sets? Or will she have the traditional wedding she has always dreamed of in the church she grew up in? Will the couple ride away to their honeymoon in carriage, limo, or vintage automobile? What color will the bridemaids’ dresses be? What style tuxedo for the groom? For the groomsmen?
So many decisions to be made. So many hopes resting on this one day. So much stress and anxiety for a thirty minute ceremony that will change their lives forever!
I have directed weddings long enough to sadly see some of them come undone. I have also enjoyed watching couples grow into a family as little ones have come along. To watch the mystery of two becoming one and out of that bond flow great ministry, great partnership, great love and family.
Bells in the steeple no longer ring out for each and every wedding, but they should. The belles and beaus that walk that aisle and say their “I do’s” have begun a dance together that is like no other.
Release the doves. Blow the shafar. Throw the flower petals. Strike up the band. Ring all the bells. Hold nothing back. Celebrate the beauty and mystery of it all.
In addition to directing weddings at my church (Shades Mtn. Independent Church in Hoover, Alabama), I direct weddings in the Colonial Chapel at the historic American Village in Montevallo, Alabama; and I have directed outdoor weddings in various locales: the beach, on estates, in gardens, and poolside.
As part of my spiritual journey, I consider it a great honor to assist couples with their wedding: it is one of the most spiritual commitments they make. Marriage is, in fact, the only human being-to-human being “covenant” relationship that two people will ever form. Upon the foundation of that covenant, a home is made and a family begun.
Elaborate, and often expensive, preparations are made: a question is asked, a promise is made, a ring is given and received, and wedding plans commence. Brides start their search for the perfect dress and the perfect wedding location. Will they walk barefoot in white onto a pristine beach as the sun sets? Or will she have the traditional wedding she has always dreamed of in the church she grew up in? Will the couple ride away to their honeymoon in carriage, limo, or vintage automobile? What color will the bridemaids’ dresses be? What style tuxedo for the groom? For the groomsmen?
So many decisions to be made. So many hopes resting on this one day. So much stress and anxiety for a thirty minute ceremony that will change their lives forever!
I have directed weddings long enough to sadly see some of them come undone. I have also enjoyed watching couples grow into a family as little ones have come along. To watch the mystery of two becoming one and out of that bond flow great ministry, great partnership, great love and family.
Bells in the steeple no longer ring out for each and every wedding, but they should. The belles and beaus that walk that aisle and say their “I do’s” have begun a dance together that is like no other.
Release the doves. Blow the shafar. Throw the flower petals. Strike up the band. Ring all the bells. Hold nothing back. Celebrate the beauty and mystery of it all.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
A Passionate Resolve
In spite of the bleak and often dismal backdrop of winter, the start of a new year always brings with it the promise and freshness of a new beginning-a hope for something better than what we have been or experienced before.
Resolutions are made. Or resisted. Sometimes making a resolution can doom an intention to failure, right from the start! How many have been made only to be broken before winter’s end?
A resolution can seem like self-imposed torture as a way of motivating myself to be what I ought to be, but have not been. The die- in diet. The ex- in exercise.
But there is something to be said for resolve. A choice of the will to make a change, for the better.
And to mean it.
Personally, I would love to be governed solely by purity of heart and mind: divinely focused passions that motivate richly intense and fulfilling experiences of love at every level of my relationships. A life overflowing with the goodness and grace of God, guided by wisdom and godly choices.
I fail so often at this, I wonder ever to strive at all for something so out of reach of my humanity. And yet…the hunger and longing for living spiritually in the everyday dramas continues. And tastes of such an indescribable life stir my appetite for more.
Oddly, the bleakness of winter is the best time of all for change. Leaves and foliage all stripped away, my naked backyard is exposed for critical scrutiny. With the removal of Christmas décor, the interior of my house seems stark and bare. Similarly, after all the frenzy of the holidays, my quieted life (however briefly this lasts) lays open and undressed awaiting the garment of a new life, new pursuits. Or resuming the old ones.
And so, I resolve to put on a new garment:
I resolve… to feed the hunger and fuel the passion that moves me in this spiritual pursuit.
I resolve… to nurture my spirit, as I have my mind.
…To tend the garden of my heart with great care and intention.
…To be open to more possibilities.
…To not miss the moment in today while I plan for tomorrow.
…To look in the eyes of another and see the uniqueness of that one immortal soul.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)