Contentment

    "He said to himself, as he wandered about in a great and lonely park: "How beautiful she would be in an elaborate and stately court dress, descending the marble steps of a palace, opposite great lawns and fountains and seen through the atmosphere of a lovely night. For she has the natural air of a princess." 
  Later, while passing along a street, he stopped he stopped before a picture shop, and finding in a folio a print of a tropical landscape, he said to himself: "No! It is not in a palace that I wish to posses her. We wouldn't feel at home there. Besides, the walls covered with gold would leave no room to hang her picture; in those solemn galleries there would not be a single cosy corner. Surely, it is here that I should live to cultivate my life-dream." 
And, while studying the details of the print, he continued mentally: "At the seashore, a lovely wood cabin, surrounded by all those fantastic and shining trees, whose names I have forgotten; in the air, an intoxicating, indefinable odor, in the cabin, a powerful perfume of rose and of musk; in the distance, behind our little domain, the tops of the masts rising and falling on the swell; around us, beyond the room full of rosy light filtering through the blinds, a room strewn with fresh mats and heavily scented flowers, with rare couches of a Portuguese rococo, made of heavy, dark wood (where she would lie, so serene, so carefully fanned, smoking a faintly opiumed tobacco!) and beyond the timbered floor, the noisy twittering of birds intoxicated with the light, and the idle chatter of little negresses; and at night, as an accompaniment to my dreams, the plaintive songs of the melodious trees, the sighs of the melancholy cassowary! Yes, here surely is the setting I seek. What have I to do with palaces!"
  And farther on, as he was walking along a wide avenue, he saw a neat little inn, where two laughing girls were leaning from a window brightly hung with checkered calico curtains. And at once he said to himself: "My thought must be a great vagabond since it went so far to seek what is so near. Pleasure and happiness can be found in the first inn one comes to, in the inn discovered by chance, and so full of delights. A roaring fire, colorful earthenware, a fair supper, a strong wine, and a very wide bed with sheets a bit rough, but fresh. What could be better?" 
  Returning home alone, at the hour when wisdom's choice can be heard above the buzz of activity, he said to himself: "I have had today, in my dreams, three dwelling places in which I found equal pleasure. Why compel my body to move about, since my soul travels so easily? and what is the use of carrying out any plan, since the plan itself is sufficient joy?" Charles Bauderlaire. 

 Here's a letter giving advice to a young woman about falling in love, dating and all of the joys and hazards it holds. 

Now, regarding dating: aw the mystery, the misery and the excitement! The challenge is to keep it spiritual, and a difficult challenge it is. We continually think God will bring us some great person if we think they are cute enough or even more so, if they flatter our ego and make us swell up with blushes and gushes. (That's kinda funny isn't it?) Anyway, one reason God connected us is to look to your future. The end game is always important, and dating is one of the most important things you will do. It can be a defining moment in many ways, for good or for ill. It can bring into our life a person that may share the rest of it!

Or, on the flip side, it has means to bring many evil and destructive things. For example, sexual intimacy, with all of it's joys and passions, can also bring life-long disease, life changing pregnancy, and layers of guilt and shame that can be so soul penetrating, though subtle. It can bring great friendships, soul connection with exhilarating and intoxicating feelings, as well as heartaches and tears, which seem as though they will never dry.

  So, you and I are close because we are open and honest, our relationship is deep but not sexual, and you can let the little girl as well as the daughter out without fear. And it will be the same, when you meet the right man.

You will find him, not in a response to being flattered or flirted with, but some circumstance will bring you to his soul, and if He has some of Christ there, it will progress and migrate into something deeper than neon lights, high fashion, plucked and primped faces and intoxication, by way of spirits or ego.

 But you are 24, filled with hormones, curiosities, longing for adventure and discovery in matters of love. How will you avoid disappointment when so few do, and the land mines are everywhere?

My hope and prayer, is you will remember what is great that we share and will pursue that and not be distracted by the whelming flood of culture, hormones, curiosity, and blood that runs through your veins at a hundred miles an hour at times!

But I have hope, because even burdened with a 24 year olds bodily system, with all of its raging desires, you are also equipped with a keen understanding of what in life truly matters; you have not thrown your body to the mongrels and jackals, you are divided, but have resolve, you take to the table tops, but come down to reality like few I've known.

You know in your heart that Christ has His call on you, even when the devil dresses his advances in the most fashionable attire. But, "wherever the carcass is, (our trust in sensual things) the vultures (people with intent on feasting on your flesh) will gather."

  We all have naughty thoughts, some are driven by them, have given themselves wholly to them, this cannot be your end. The vultures darken the sky with their numbers, I know that life at your age comes like pelting rain, fast and furious, but happiness and contentment will not be found there.

  Now if I say you should find a nice Christian guy in church, and your soul recoils from the thought, you have drifted into danger. That is a signpost, to be feared. Life-long commitments are woven in the soul, not the flesh.

And of course, everything in me wants you to find a soul connection that will now stimulate your mind and soul, and if it progresses to marriage, your body as well.

 So, that's my take, I know it's old fashioned, but it is where the gold is found.

 Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; 
That the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home. G.K. Chesterton. 

  I just love this picture of Jennie Finch, actually, I love to see anyone put their whole heart and strength into just about anything. Life demands it. I posted this last year with the verse, "Jesus set His face like a flint." I'm convinced the downcast, poor and abused show this kind of determination more than anyone, I'm constantly amazed who hard they work to overcome mountains that most of us would buckle and faint under. 

 I ran across this photo the other day, and I just love it. This vintage shot captures this adorable little girl in her tattered and soiled dress, taking a break from the heat no doubt, on these ancient stairs with walls textured and worn with time.  

Grace

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Ps.23:5

  "Christ's is the only religion that spreads a table in the presence of its enemies. This is very remarkable, because there is no religion which hates sin like that of Jesus. The only faith that will admit to its table a guest with soiled robes is the faith that, of all others, desires purity. 

The Brahman must have the flesh crucified before the river of life joins the great sea. The Greek must have the flesh beautified before earth can be an object of interest to heaven. The Roman must have the flesh fortified before so weak a thing as man can be enrolled in the coming kingdom.

But Christ accepts us for an aspiration, for a sigh, for a tear. He lets us sit down as we are, without one plea of present excellence. He lets us come to His communion when we are beneath man's communion.

All other teachers cry, "Be ye cleansed and come." He says, "Come and be cleansed." They tell me to put on the white robes that I may enter heaven; He bids me enter heaven that I may put on the white robes. They bid the prodigal to reform, and he will allowed to get back; He enjoins him to come back, and he will have a chance to reform. He prepares our table in the presence of our enemies.

  I thank God that I am judged, not by fact, but by faith. I thank God that I am allowed to sit down in the midst of my foes. You have accepted me Lord, not for what I am, but for what I should like to be. You have measured me, not by the attainments of my life, but by the glance of my eye. I have no power to paint even a stroke; but my gaze rests on a perfect model. You have measured me by that gaze, O my Father. You have seen me in the portrait-gallery, ignorant of the very elements of art, but "Looking to Jesus." That look has redeemed me in your sight. In the very presence of my enemies You have seen me. Ignorant, powerless, unable to put my hand to one stroke of beauty, with nothing but the admiring eye, You have seen me. You have accepted my promise as a fulfillment; You have paid me in advance. You have imputed to me my tomorrow and ignored my yesterday. You have given me a summer for the song of a first swallow. You have sent me a full-blown flower in exchange for a primrose. You have prepared for me a place at the feast above my station. You have furnished my house beyond my means. You have sent me gifts for which I have no room in my present dwelling. My table is in the wilderness; my bow is in the cloud; my ark is in the flood; my song is in the night; my road is on the sea; my peace is in the storm; my Christ is in the manger; my crown is on the cross. I have been chosen by you in the presence of Your enemies."

George Matheson.

"These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes." Rev. 14:4 Those Christians that follow the Lord where He goes want no glory from the battle, no wreath for the victory, no honorable mention amid the heroes. They seek the wounded, the dying, the dead. They anoint for life's burial, they bring spices for the crucified, they give the cup of cold water, they wash soiled feet. They break the fall of Magdalene. They take in Saul of Tarsus after he becomes blind. They are attracted by defects; they are lured by every form of helplessness. They come out to meet the shadows; they go in the track, not of the lark, but of the nightingale; they follow the Lamb."  George Matheson.

 Some time ago the warden of a state penitentiary declared: "Trying to cure crime by curing the criminal in a penitentiary is a waste of time. It can't be done. Many people think that the problem of crime rests with wardens, courts, the laws, and so on. It doesn't. The real question ... starts in the home. The old-fashioned American home, with its good teachings, is gone... The average home now is only a boarding-place for disobedient children." 
  There is tragic truth in these burning words. But, thank God! There are yet homes where discipline and order are maintained. Anarchy in the home means anarchy in the church and the state. Gordon Hurlbutt, 1925

"The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10

  Half a century ago, I was pastor of a downtown church in Baltimore. Not far from the church was a stoneyard, where, on Sunday mornings, the boys of the neighbor hood gathered to play marbles. One morning, an hour before Sunday-school, a deacon came along. Seeing a "school of minnows," as he afterwards called them, he resolved to cast a net.

  Presently he remarked that when a boy he was fond of the game and was considered a fairly good player. Then he expressed wonder whether he could still play. "I dare you to try," challenged one of the urchins; and in an instant the deacon was down on all fours, :"Plumping boler" with the best of them. The boys were delighted to find this middle-aged gentleman in Sunday clothes a "crack shot" at marbles; and they at once proclaimed him the leader of their "gang," which position he accepted with thanks.

  After a while, consulting his watch, he said, "Boys, this is my last game for today. I must go now."

"Awe, can't you play another game?"

"No, I attend Sunday-school up on Lombard Street, and must be off. Come with me boys, and play my game today."

  They hesitated for a moment; but on being reminded that they had chosen him as leader of the "gang," they stood by their action. Fifteen minutes later eight of those boys, at the heels of the deacon, marched into the Sunday-school room and were organized into a class. After teaching the boys for several weeks the deacon turned them over to another teacher, while he went down to the stoneyard and recruited another class.

He who made Peter and his brother Andrew "fishers of men" also made Deacon Morehead a successful fisher of boys.

  Seven of the boys from that Sunday-school entered the gospel ministry, and they made good. Three of them are occupying prominent pulpits, while others, as successful business men are the chief supporters of their church.