fickle, oh fickle me...

I was celebrating a beautifully perfect West Coast summer day today. ahhh. it has been hard won around here- we've been wet, grey and miserable...ok, the miserable part was not the weather itself, but prompted by it, instead.
And i thought...huh. I'm 'all happy' today and God's goodness did not change one iota. The same loving, generous and kind Hand made this seemingly perfect days and all the (admittedly) grey ones i appreciate less.
hence, the fickle me title...
Why do i try to apply my measly brain's interpretations to One so entirely beyond description? probably just my way of trying to get a handle on One so impossible to describe.
But i do it badly....very badly.
I take a glorious day...and interpret it as a sign of God's favour. Well, in essence, it is. But so is the grey day.
But how can that be?- we both ask!
If indeed God is good (and he is!), then ALL HIS GIFTS ARE GOOD TOO!! ok, so far so good.
so the grey days are just gifts that i can't recognize as gifts. Is that a failure on the givers part or a lack of imagination on mine?
not sure if imagination is the right word...hm. maybe PERSPECTIVE?
i've been wrestling wtih the whole idea of perspective lately. A lovely rose held under a microscope gets degraded to a kazillion little bits and it loses the 'loveliness' we see in it at a different view.
Perhaps the 'unlovely' things that God gives are actually lovely but i, as yet, do not have the eyes to "grasp" its loveliness?
Perhaps the unlovely things i read in the Old Testament sometimes, that disturb and disarm me, are actually evidence of something deeper, or broader and altogether lovely.
i'm not sure.
But i find the adventure of trying to see things from God's perspective well worth the effort.
I'm not sure i will wake up one day with pneumonia and be overjoyed, but i think there are lots of much more common, every day events that deserve a second look.
Perhaps it will even change ME.
peace,
Denise

most common cultural quality

I was listening to a podcast today - about how fearfulness has become the key element that identifies the 'zeitgeist' or atmosphere of our current culture. Not loyalty, generosity, doing one's duty, etc. Just raw, stupid fearfulness.
Then again, the Bible is full of reminders not to be fearful, so i suppose God knew we would struggle with this!!! So why am i so surprised at my fearfulness sometimes?
well, we know its bad. its not helpful to keeping my eyes on God! Fear has an obsessive quality to it- it always demands our attention. My fear issues want me to review them, consider new angles that i'd missed before. In short, it wants all my concentration on it!
BORING!!!
I must say that i get very boring, as a person, when fears fill my thoughts. i lose my sense of humour. I lose the ability to live in child-like ease, trusting that God who can balance the universe, can certainly help me with both my day to day challenges, but the really big difficulties too.
i don't want to be boring.
i don't want to be a 'hand-wringer'.
I don't want to lose my ability to live with ease and relaxation - in gratitude for God's perfectly capable control - oh i have to give up my feeble belief that I can control anything too. (hmmm....)
What could i gain?
oh man oh man....everything! If i take those promises of God's - that he will stay with me (while keeping the sun on track, and extinguishing stars on schedule...) i can be perfectly at ease...what i need, he will provide.
I like this poem - it reminds me of the proportional quality of God's help, grace and strength- the more i need it, the more is provided.
sit back and let it wash over your heart too....

"He gives more grace when burdens grow greater
he sends more strength when labours increase;
to added affliction He adds His mercy;
to multiplied trials, he multiplies peace."
Annie Johnson Flint

So buckle those shoes, lash that belt onto your Levi's and go out in bold confidence that God has your back today! Who knows which Goliath he will call you to vanquish in His strength!?!
Peace to you.
D