War Dance

I watched 'War Dance' last night. I loved it. From the DVD jacket it says - "Set in war-ravaged N. Uganda,the Oscar nominated War Dance will touch your heart with a real-life story about a group of children whose love of music brings joy, excitement and hope back into their poverty stricken lives." This would be a gross understatement.
I highly recommend this film.
As I was at church this morning considering the children in the film, praying for them and horrified by what they suffered, and confused why the wicked prosper, the thought drifted into my mind "I am there." And He is. Not a religious movie, but where great sorrow is, there is Faith in God, and their faith couldn't be edited out, it is too much a part of their life. One day this will all be over and there will be no more tears........ I'm looking for that day.
Thank "ThinkFilms" for their noble use of film.

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an American poet, devoted Quaker, fierce abolitionist, and reformer. I posted the following poem because in it he, ever so tactfully, and humbly, dissents from some of the unnamed beliefs of his time. The second and third stanzas stood out to me the most. I relate to this cautious feeling of dissension on many fronts in today's Christendom. I am not so bold when it comes to the condition of the lost, those that have never heard the name of Christ, or the eternal state of unbelievers. I, of course, interpret his meaning in regard to these issues.

The Eternal Goodness

O friends, with whom my feet have trod
the quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man I bear.

I trace your lines of argument;
Your logic linked and strong
I weigh as one who dreads dissent,
And fears a doubt as wrong.

But still my human hands are weak
To hold your iron creeds:
Against the words ye bid me speak
My heart within me pleads.

I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
Ye tread with boldness shod;
I dare not fix with mete and bound
The love and power of God.

I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within:
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by strom and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

I know not what the future hath
of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

And so beside the Silent Sea
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.

He who exhibits no faults is a fool or a hypocrite whom we should distrust. - Joubert

“Endeavor to be always patient of the faults and imperfections of others; for thou hast many faults and imperfections of thine own that require forbearance.
If thou art not able to make thyself that which thou wishest, how canst thou expect to mold another in conformity to thy will?”

Thomas A. Kempis - Photo by Katja Faith

John Robinson, 1575-1625
(From an address to his congregation just before the Pilgrims, who were members, sailed to America, July 21, 1620.)

“We are now ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether I shall live to see your faces again. But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not, I charge you before God and his blessed angels to follow me no further than I have followed Christ; and if God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of his Holy Word.
I bewail the condition of the reformed churches who are come to a period in religion and will go no further than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; for whatever part of God’s will has been imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And the Calvinists, as you see, stick where Calvin left them. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though Luther and Calvin were precious shining lights in the times, yet God did not reveal his whole will to them; and were they living now they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light as that that they had received. I beseech you to remember your church covenant, at least the part of it whereby you promise and covenant with God and one with another to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to you from the written Word of God.”

Photo by Airi Pung

“Presently it came to pass that the Religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail; a Religion that taught men to be meek and humble, apt to receive injuries, but unapt to do any; a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful, in a time when riches were adored, and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all mankind; a religion that would change the face of things, and the hearts of men, and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel; that such a Religion, in such a time, by the Sermons and conduct of fishermen, men of mean breeding and illiberal Arts, should so speedily triumph over the philosophy of the world, and the arguments of the subtle, and the Sermons of the Eloquent; the power of Princes and the interests of States, the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal, the force of custom and the solicitation of passions, the pleasures of sin and the busy arts of the devil; that is, against wit and power, superstition and willfulness, fame and money, nature and Empire, which are all the causes in this world that can make a thing impossible; this, this is to be ascribed to the power of God, and is the great demonstrations of the Resurrection of Jesus.”

Jeremy Taylor - Photo by Vic Moss

Improvement

The joy of life is living it, or so it seems to me;
In finding shackles on your wrists, then struggling till you’re free;
In seeing wrongs and righting them, in dreaming splendid dreams,
Then toiling till the visions is as real as moving streams.
The happiest mortal on the earth is he who ends his day
By leaving better than he found to bloom along the way.

Were all things perfect here there would be naught for man to do;
If what is old were good enough we’d never need the new.
The only happy time of rest is that which follows strife
And sees some contribution made unto the joy of life.

And he who has oppression felt and conquered it is he
Who really knows the happiness and peace of being free.

The miseries of earth are here and with them all must cope.
Who seeks for joy, through hedges thick of care and pain must grope.
Through disappointment man must go to value pleasure’s thrill;
To really know the joy of health a man must first be ill.
The wrongs are here for man to right, and happiness is had
By striving to supplant with good the evil and the bad.

The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth,
In making bright and fruitful all the barren spots of earth.
In facing odds and mastering them and rising from defeat,
And making true what once was false, and what was bitter, sweet.
For only he knows perfect joy whose little bit of soil
Is richer ground than what it was when he began to toil.

Edgar A. Guest - Photo by Shawn Shawhan

“But I am afraid the real reason why young men are not more given to saving, is not that they are afraid of being misers, but that they are averse to the practice of that self-denial which the habit of saving necessitates. He who would save money is compelled to deny himself constantly. If we start out in life by gratifying every passing fancy and purchasing whatsoever we may desire, we shall undoubtedly remain poor to the end of our days. But if we learn to sacrifice the whim of the moment to the interests of a lifetime, we shall be in a fair way toward making accumulations.
The fact that saving involves self-denial, gives a high ethical ground from which the habit may be inculcated. John Sterling says somewhere, “The worst education which teaches self-denial is better than the best which teaches everything else and not that.” Charles H. Keays

Time to reflect

"Seek a proper time to retire into thyself, and often think over the benefits of God.

Let alone curious questions; read such matters as may rather move thee to compunction than give thee occupation.

If thou wilt withdraw thyself from superfluous talk and idle visits, as also from giving ear to news and reports, thou wilt find time sufficient and proper to employ thyself in good meditations.

The greatest of saints avoided the company of men as much as they could, and rather chose to live to God in secret.

As often as I have been amongst men, said one, I have returned less a man; this we often experience when we talk long.

It is easier to be altogether silent than not to speak a word too much.

It is easier to keep retired at home than to be able to be sufficiently upon our guard abroad.

Whosoever, therefore, strives to attain to inward and spiritual things, must, with Jesus, go aside from the crowd.

No man safely goes abroad but he who willingly lies hid at home.

No man speaks safely but he who loves to hold his peace.

No man safely commands but he who has learned well to obey.

No man safely rejoices unless he have within him the testimony of a good conscience."

Thomas A. Kempis - Photo by Anna Pagnacco

The following three posts describe the nature, struggles, and weaknesses of mankind. It paints a meager picture of our natures, but after 61 years of living, I believe it is about as accurate a description of all the people I have know as I could describe, myself included. There are those that have less of the negatives, and certainly those who have even more than are listed. I find it sobering, somewhat humorous in places, but by in large if we look at our selves in an unbiased way, I think we will see all of the characteristics to one degree or another. I post this, not to discourage, but to show how foolish we are to think any of us deserves praise or notoriety. "We all stumble in many ways", says the Apostle, and no doubt you will see much of yourself in this. Sorry if it is a bit tedious and difficult to read, but when you are in a self-examining mood, take the time to weigh yourself.

Body

“It is very requisite (needful) that we should understand the state of our own infirmity, the weakness of the flesh, the temptations and diversions of the spirit, that by understanding our present state we may prevent the evils of carelessness and security. Our evils are the imperfections and sorrows inherent in, or appendant (attached) to our bodies, our souls, our spirits.
In our bodies we find weakness, and imperfection, sometimes crookedness, sometimes monstrosity; filthiness, and weariness, infinite numbers of diseases, and an uncertain cure, great pain, and restless night, hunger and thirst, daily necessities, ridiculous gestures, madness from passions, distempers and disorders, great labor to provide meat and drink, and oftentimes a loathing when we have them; if we use them they breed sicknesses, if we use them not, we die; and if we eat like beasts only of one thing, our souls are quickly weary; if we eat a variety, we are sick, and intemperate; and our bodies are inlets to sin, and a stage of temptation. If we cherish them, they undo us; if we do not cherish them, they die: we suffer illusion in our dreams, and absurd fancies when we are waking; our life is soon done, and yet very tedious; it is too long, and too short; darkness and light are both troublesome; and those things which are pleasant, are often unwholesome. Sweet smells make the head ache, and those smells which are medicinal in some diseases, are intolerable to the sense. The pleasures of our body are bigger in expectation, then in the possession; and yet while they are expected, they torment us with the delay, and when they are enjoyed, they are as if they were not, they abuse us with their vanity, and vex us with their volatile and fugitive nature.

We live a precarious life, begging help of every thing, and needing the repairs of every day, and being beholding to beasts and birds, to plants and trees, to dirt and stones, to the very excrements of beasts, and that which dogs and horses throw forth. Our motion is slow and dull, heavy and uneasy; we cannot move but we are quickly tired, and for every days labor, we need a whole night to recruit our lost strengths; we live like a lamp, unless new materials be perpetually poured in, we live no longer than a fly; and unless we be in the shadow of death for six or eight hours every night, we shall be scarce in the shadows of life for the other sixteen. Heat and cold are both our enemies; and yet the one always dwells within, and the other dwells round about us. The chances and contingencies that trouble us are no more to be numbered then the minutes of eternity. The Devil often hurts us, and men hurt each other oftener, and we are perpetually doing mischief to ourselves.

Jeremy Taylor - Photo by Edgar Thissen

Soul

Neither is it better in the soul of man, where ignorance dwells and passion rules. After the fall there entered also a swarm of passions. And the will obeys everything but God. Our judgment is often abused in matters of sense, and one faculty guesses at truth by confuting another; Our fancy is often abused, and yet creates things of its self, by trying desperate things together, that can cohere no more then music and a cable, then meat and syllogisms: and yet this alone does many times make credibility’s in the understanding.
Sometimes we forget those millions of sins which we have committed, we scarce remember so many as to make us sorrowful, or ashamed. Our judgments are baffled with every Sophism, and we change our opinion with a wind, and are confident against truth, but in love with error. We use to reprove one error by another, and lose truth while we contend too earnestly for it. Infinite opinions there are in matters of Religion, and most men are confident, and most are deceived in many things, and all in some; and those few that are not confident, have only reason enough to suspect their own reason. We do not know our own bodies, nor what is within us, nor what ails us when we are sick, nor whereof we are made; nay we oftentimes cannot tell what we think, or believe, or love. We desire and hate the same thing, speak against something and then run after it. We resolve, and then consider; we bind our selves, and then find causes why we ought not to be bound, and want not some pretences to make our selves believe we were not bound. Prejudice and Interest are our two great motives of believing; we weigh deeper what is extrinsical to a question, then what is in its nature; and oftener regard who speaks, then what is said.

The diseases of our soul are infinite. Mankind of old fell from those good things which God gave him, and now is fallen into a life of passion and a state of death. In sum, it follows the temper or distemper of the body, and sailing by such a Compass, and being carried in so rotten a vessel, especially being empty, or filled with lightness, and ignorance, and mistakes, it must needs be exposed to the danger and miseries of every storm.

Jeremy Taylor - Photo by Asya Schween

Spirit
But then if we consider what our spirit is, we have reason to lie down flat upon our faces, and confess God’s glory and our own shame. When it is at the best, it is but willing, but can do nothing without the miracle of Grace. Our spirit is hindered by the body, and cannot rise up whither it properly tends, with those great weights upon it. It is foolish and improvident; large in desires, and narrow in abilities; naturally curious in trifles, and inquisitive after vanities; but neither understands deeply, nor affectionately relishes the things of God; pleased with forms, cousened with pretences, satisfied with shadows, incurious of substances and realities. It is quick enough to find doubts, and when the doubts are satisfied, it raises scruples, that is, it is restless after it is put to sleep, and will be troubled in despite of all arguments of peace. It is incredibly negligent of matters of Religion, and most solicitous and troubled in the things of the world. We love our selves, and despise others; judging most unjust sentences, and by peevish and cross measures; Covetousness and ambition, gain and Empire are the proportions by which we take account of things. We hate to be governed by others, even when we cannot dress our selves; and to be forbidden to do or have a thing, is the best art in the world to make us greedy for it. The flesh and the spirit are perpetually at strife; the spirit pretending that his ought to be the dominion, and the flesh alleging that this is her state, and her day. We hate our present condition, and know not how to better ourselves, our changes being but like the tumblings and tossings in a fever, from trouble to trouble, that’s all the variety. We are extremely inconstant, and always hate our own choice: we despair sometimes of God’s mercies, and are confident in our own follies; as we order things, we cannot avoid little sins, and do not avoid great ones. We love the present world, though it be good for nothing, and undervalue infinite treasures, if they be not to be had till the day of recompenses. We are peevish, if a servant does but break a glass, and patient when we have thrown an ill cast for eternity;
Throwing away the hopes of a glorious Crown for wine, and dirty silver. We know that our prayers, if well done, are great advantages to our state, and yet we are hardly brought to them, and love not to stay at them, and wander while we are saying them, and say them without minding and are glad when they are done, or when we have a reasonable excuse to omit them. A passion does quite overturn all our purposes, and all our principles, and there are certain times of weakness in which any temptation may prevail, if it comes in that unlucky minute.
This is a little representment of the state of man.

I heard a story on the radio the other day about teamwork. The story was about an intern working along with a surgeon in the E.R. The surgeon noticed that the intern failed to greet and did not acknowledge the janitor that cleans between each patient. Later he told the intern that the janitor’s name was Carlos and that he is the most efficient, swift and thorough cleaner he has worked with. And he said because he is conscientious about his work, he enables us to help more people. He went on to say that Carlos lived only three blocks away and is married to Marie and then named his two children. He then told the intern that by the end of the next day, he wanted the intern to tell him something about Carlos that he did not know.
This is the kind of man I would like to work for.

Photo by Salih Guler

“One of the most common forms of perverseness, though one of the most subtle and least known, is that shown by people who study to shut everybody out from a knowledge of their nature and their life. They make it their grand end and aim to appear to be exactly what they are not, to appear to believe exactly what they do not believe, and to appear to feel what they do not feel at all. This is not because they are ashamed of themselves, or because they really have any thing to conceal. They have simply taken on this form of perverseness. They will not, if they can help it, allow any man to get inside of their natures and characters. If they write you a letter, they will mislead you. They will say to you irreverent and shocking things, to prove to you that they are bold, and unfeeling, and unthoughtful, when they tremble at what they have written, and really show by their language that they are afraid, and full of feeling, and very thoughtful. If they have a sentiment of love for anybody, they take it as a dog would a bone, and go and dig a hole in the ground and bury it, only resorting to it in the dark, for private craunching. Very likely they will try to make you believe that they live a most dainty and delicate life – that the animals of the field, and the fowls of the air love them, and come at their call – that the clouds arrange themselves in heaven for their benefit, and are sufficiently paid for the effort by their admiration – that flowers excite them to frenzy – a very fine frenzy, indeed – and that all sounds shape themselves to music in their souls. They would have you think that they live a kind of charmed life- that the sun woos them, and the moon pines for them, and the sea sobs because they will not come, and the daisies wait lovingly for their feet, yet, if you knew the truth, you would see that they sit discontentedly among the homeliest surroundings of domestic life, with their sleeves rolled up --- confound them!

Photo from Internet

I ran across this piece on happiness, and enjoyed it. I don't know if the guy is a Christian or not, and it isn't the "end all" definition of happiness, but his conclusions are apparent.

William Lyon Phelps – Professor at Yale, writer, critic, lecturer.

“No matter what may be one’s nationality, sex, age, philosophy, or religion, everyone wishes either to become or to remain happy. Hence definitions of happiness are interesting. One of the best was given in my senior year at college by President Timothy Dwight: “The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts.”
This definition places happiness where it belongs – within and not without. The principle of happiness should be like the principle of virtue: it should not be dependent on things, but be a part of personality…..
If the happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts we are bound to grow happier as we advance in years, because our minds have more and more interesting thoughts. A well-ordered life is like climbing a tower; the view halfway up is better than the view from the base, and it steadily becomes finer as the horizon expands.
Here lies the real value of education. Advanced education may or may not make men and women more efficient; but it enriches personality, increases the wealth of the mind, and hence brings happiness. It is the finest insurance against old age, against the growth of physical disability, against the lack and loss of animal delights. No matter how many there may be in our family, no matter how many friends we may have, we are in a certain sense forced to lead a lonely life, because we have all the days of our existence to live with ourselves. How essential it is, then, in youth to acquire some intellectual or artistic tastes, in order to furnish the mind, to be able to live inside a mind with attractive and interesting pictures on the walls.”

When I was in Thailand, I went to a crafter's mall, where they sculpt and paint etc.

I doubt many of the people had an academic background, but the detail, ornament and over all beauty of the art showed how the mind of man is ever perfecting itself, educating itself and if a formal education is unattainable, self education is always available.

Photo by Marek Dstrowski

Which church?

"Let us choose, therefore, to commune where there is the warmest Sense of Religion; where devotion exceeds formality, and practise most corresponds with Profession; and where there is at least as much charity as zeal: For where this society is to be found, there shall we find the Church of God.
The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious and devout souls, are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask, they will know one another, although the divers liveries they wear here make them strangers."

William Penn - Photo by Branko Korelc - Kobra

"Men are generally more careful of the Breed of their horses and Dogs than of their children.

Those must be of the best Sort for Shape, Strength, Courage and good conditions; But as for these, their own posterity, Money shall answer all things."

William Penn - Photo by Niceto Munoz

I ran across a passage by Jeremy Taylor that I read and loved many years ago. The context is a comparison between the riches of Kings and the common riches we all enjoy, regardless of income. Here he contrasts the enjoyment a King may have gazing on his gold locked up in a little room and the jewels in his crown---

“For not to name the beauties and sparkling diamonds of heaven, a man’s or a woman’s or a hawks eye is more beautiful and excellent, then all the Jewels of his crown.”

What jewel can compare to the beauty of the eyes? And they are there for all the world to see, with no cost. I have thirteen grandchildren, and if they were all together, side by side, and all twenty six eyes were compared to the most expensive gemstones in the entire world, their eyes would captivate and out gleam the fairest stone.

"Believe me, every man has his secret sorrows, which the world knows not; and oftentimes, we call a man cold when he is only sad."

Longfellow - Photo by Brett Walker

"A man's heart is infinitely deceitful, unknown to it self, not certain in his own acts, praying one way, and desiring another, wandering and imperfect, loose and various worshipping God and entertaining sin, following what it hates, and running from what it flatters, loving to be tempted and betrayed, petulant like a wanton girl, running from, that it might invite the fondness and enrage the appetite of the foolish young man or the evil temptation that follows it; cold and indifferent one while, and presently zealous and passionate, furious and indiscreet; not understood of it self or any one else, and deceitful beyond all arts and numbers of observation."

Jeremy Taylor - Photo by Jingna Zhang