Joy

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."-Lewis


It is obvious that Lewis was profoundly affected by this notion that he claimed to be "surprised by Joy", this affects all areas of our lives perhaps more then we realize. The irony of this quote is that drink , sex, and ambition are all greatly influence by our experience of this Joy of which He speaks. The religious mind looks at these things and wants to be rid of them and chalks it up to some kind of worldly desires that  surely "holy people" would not desire. However what he realized was something that goes much deeper. Only when we experience the true sense of Joy is when all of the above can truly be enjoyed, otherwise on their own it is "chasing the wind"...that is all I can get out tonight as I am most tired...nonetheless this idea of Joy has me perplexed to a degree and yet infinitely grateful for the grace to accept the pleasures of this life.

The Paradox of Sacrifice

Micah 6:8

"He has told you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Psalm 51:17 

" The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit , a broken and contrite heart, O God , you will not despise."

Psalm 50:14

"Offer to God a sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the most high, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

Hosea 6:6

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather then burnt offerings."

Hebrews 9:26

"But as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

Autumn

I don't think there is ever as much romance in the air as there is during autumn. It is the beginning of so much beauty. I love how the leaves in the wind and all of the amazing colors speak so powerfully of the glory of God. There is so much romance in the world around us and I think so often we miss it because we fail to see that God speaks through all things. I love thinking about love in the fall because it is just such a conducive setting.

As excited as I am about fall I have had a very rough start to this one and in my findings I realize that alot of other people question the same things I do and I am on a journey to find out why that is. Why is it that despite the amazing beauty in the world that so clearly speaks of the love of God, so many of us have come to the wrong conclusion that somehow that love is so far from our reach and have a difficultly opening up ourselves to it?

I don't have a solid answer yet but I do know that this is most untrue and that what I see in creation speaks of a great romantic love that does exist despite our inability to full accept the great grace before us, nonetheless it does...and for this I am most grateful.