Far from this vision of Love

"What the world needs is not great visionaries proclaiming love. We need great practitioners of love. Because the hurting don't need the message of love, they need the fruit of the message; they need to interact with love, to feel its presence, to be comforted by its touch. Talking about the love of God only goes so far as one's voice travels. Living it out goes the full distance of the universe and back, going so far as to pull all of heaven into its movements." - Mick Mooney

As i read this post on a friend's Facebook page today, it was the perfect description of the type of love my heart has always longed to give as well as receive. In the circle of churches, family and friends that have been a part of my journey, there has been tireless and tiring talk about love, -especially in Christian circles, yet for all the talk few truly heartfelt expressions of it. 

It's hard to believe that people wouldn't want to give or receive love, since all our hearts were created to give and receive it. Love that is given needs also to be received, for both the giver and receiver to find joy in it. When one party expresses love and the other rejects it, love becomes wounded. And wounded love cannot express the fullness of what it was created to be. 

Take a look around, what do you see? Do you see a world full of loveless people, or a world full of people with wounded love? God created us to love at all times, but evil has wounded love's intent. Rejection is one of the biggest wounds, another is indifference. These wounds can run deep into the heart and stifle the expressing and reception of love. Truly loving and caring people can become crippled by these wounds, especially when they've been repetitively wounded. 

People do become cold and callused after severe wounding, seemingly unlovable. Walls are built to protect their fragile hearts from feeling pain again. Even people who choose to remain vulnerable, don't always find the courage or know how to express love to it's fullest. It's never because love's not there, it's just that the walls and guards of one's heart tend to speak louder... 

Scripture says 'Perfect love drives away all fears'. There's a world full of people who fear to love or be loved. Fear is the demon that locks love away, and the evil that attempts to kill it for good. Yet it should be love that defeats all fear, if it weren't only so wounded itself. 

Yes, everyone's heart has been wounded at some point in life. Some are fortunate to be surrounded close ones who love them towards healing, while others only receive harsh words or are abandoned to their wounds. Yet God calls those who have received true love not only to share hollow words, but express this love to the unlovable, those who's hearts have been hit with crippling wounds.

Especially in this season, which can be one of the darkest seasons for many.

Fueled up Lamps

Many analogies are used to describe the Christian life, but one in the Bible tells us to keep our lamps burning. Great analogy given by Jesus to what our preparedness should be, especially the importance of never letting our lamps run out of fuel..

Well, these days few of us still oil lamps as they did in Jesus' day. We are more accustomed to coming home in the evenings and flicking on a light switch to get instant light. Even still we have artificial light all around us, from streetlights and car headlights. So this analogy is somewhat lost on modern man.

Imagine if you would, living in those days. No 'maglight' in our pockets, no cell phones with flashlights, no car headlights showing the way. Coming home in the dark you would need to know exactly where your lamp's located (for you have no light to find it), then make sure it's filled with fuel and the probably with the spark of a flint light it up. Then carefully adjusting the trim just right so you're not burning too much of the wick or creating too much soot and smoke. Too large a flame would cause damage to the lamp, whereas a too small flame failed create enough light.

Caring for the lamp was so important in it's day. A lamp not well cared for became unclean and unreliable. So is there something in the context of Jesus' analogy we should keep in mind to keep our lamps burning?

Yes, fuel is a key element, without which the lamp cannot function at all. Well, if not the lamp, what do we fuel in this modern age? We fuel our cars with a 5 minute procedure at the petrol station. We fuel our houses, without moving a finger since there are gas lines directly fueling our home heating furnaces. As mentioned earlier, we no longer fuel our lamps with more than electricity available at the flick of a switch..

So in the context of the day, what did it mean to fuel a lamp? First of all one needed to acquire the oil, be it by buying or making it as a byproduct of agricultural activity. A hundred years ago most needed to make hay as 'fuel' for their horses, chop wood for heating their homes. How many of us really have any inkling of what all this entails? All we know is how to pump gasoline into our cars and adjust the home thermostat, but that's about it.

How do we approach 'fueling our lamps' spiritually? Do will get our weekly 'fill-up' at church on sundays, and then adjust our spiritual temperature listening to a song or two during the week? Or do we make all the preparations needed to fuel our own lamps. Do we search for and pay for the fuel, with our time and effort? Do we work on polishing and tuning our lamp to give greater light?

I think there's much more to Jesus' analogy than meets the modern man's eye. It's not just a matter of flicking a switch to turn on the light. There's significant work and preparation involved. Through our own studying of the scriptures and prayer we acquire deep fuel reserves. Are we prepared to make the investment to acquire the oil needed, and tune-up our lamps so they can always shine bright?

When Suffering Makes a Spirit Sweet

Nelson Mandela passed away today. Some say he changed the world, though more than anything else he changed his own world and the world of those who surrounded him.

As i look back upon his life, Nelson Mandela gave much of his life to fight for the rights of his people and to liberate his homeland from apartheid. The protest of a seemingly angry young African, though he peached peace and non violence, drew a loyal following of revolutionaries. Imprisoned as a traitor he endured 27 years of suffering, many of which included forced labour.

Yet prison didn’t break Mandela, nor create a stone cold heart. No suffering could break his spirit, but something did beak his heart. It was not the pain of his suffering, but the pain for his people and the love of his land. He learned bitterness could never become the way forward, for it is in bitterness the enemy wins. So prison did not become a place of loss or defeat, but a place of deep seeking and preparation for what lay ahead.

Mandela developed extraordinary grace under pressure, long before he was freed. Grace to have compassion on those who have suffered and reconcile with his enemies. It was suffering that made his spirit sweet, and grew the grace later needed to lead his beloved land.

From prisoner to peacemaker, he brought reconciliation to his land. Mandela's sweet spirit identified with all black and white, and never made anyone feel as if they were any less than him.

May the sweet spirit of this man be an inspiration to us all.

Two Shoe Salesmen in Africa. Who’s wiser?

I’m sure you’ve heard this story in the context of optimism and seeing opportunities... 

Two shoe salesmen were sent to Africa to see if there was a market for their product. The first salesman reported back, “This is a terrible business opportunity, no-one wears shoes.” The second salesman reported back, “This is a fantastic business opportunity, no-one wears shoes!”

So a couple of short questions for you..

Which salesman saw the best opportunity? 

Which salesman was wiser?

Many would call the first salesman a pessimist and the second an optimist. True, can’t argue with that, but did the optimistic or pessimistic one see the best opportunity? 

Personally, I think neither saw the best opportunity. The judgement of both salesmen were clouded by egocentric quick-profit centered thinking. Neither sought out to find what they could learn from the shoeless Africans. They knew the answer to the question and the answer was shoes. One realized that it would be fruitless to educate the Africans on the benefits of footwear, while the other thought he could and make a nice profit at it. 

Neither imagined they could learn anything from the Africans about footwear. For example, how could we minimize our need for shoes? Is there a product that might work better than traditional footwear? Is there something the Africans need other than shoes? Is the Africans’ lack of the need for footwear worth additional research and development?

Well no mention of any such research happening in this story, though the 'optimist' stayed in Africa believing in a profitable opportunity selling shoes, while the ‘pessimist’ left seeking other (perhaps easier and less risky) opportunities.

I found the following link, which gives an insight on how well the ‘optimist’ and ‘pessimist’ succeeded. The conclusion may surprise you:

http://theoccasionalceo.blogspot.ca/2010/04/two-shoe-salesmen-rest-of-story.html