Fellow Pilgrims -
There's a lot to be said about waiting, and it's something that, like most people I imagine, I am constantly working at. Also, I think being patient goes hand in hand with being content. So, that being said, here are my thoughts:
I find that I am most impatient when I am the least content. And to be honest, I don't have the right to be discontent. Most of the time I am impatient for the future to come, but when I get like that I really have to grasp a couple of things:
1. I am not living for myself. I am here to take care of God's sheep, and I can do that no matter where I am.
2. There is a detailed reason for every second of my day, and every detailed second could be (and most likely is) directly or indirectly affecting someone else for the better.
We sometimes tend to see time in the same way we view space (as in, astronomical space). When you look up at the night sky you see stars scattered across a huge black canvas. Seems like an awful waste of space, but actually the space between the stars is completely filled with beautiful gas and dust that make up nebulae which we can't see with the naked eye. We can only see this with a much bigger perspective (Hubble space telescope?).
It's the same way with waiting. We tend to see only the stars, the things we're looking forward to (which is perfectly natural), but when it comes to waiting for those things it can get extremely difficult. However if we have faith even as small as a mustard seed, God can open our eyes to the space in between that is completely filled with his work in our life. God is molding you in the spaces. He is doing so much and affecting so many people by your one, short lifespan that we can't even fathom it.
I love how all of God's creation conveys spiritual truths :)
"Nevertheless, each man should retain the place in life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him." 1 Cor 7:17
April 20, 2011
April 10, 2011
The Pilgrim and the Wanderer
Definitions of a wanderer:
1. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
Definitions of a pilgrim:
The differences between the two are profound. Like the Israelite's punishment of having to walk around the desert till a whole generation died off, wandering is what happens to someone when they refuse to acknowledge God's presence in their life. They fall under one of the effects of the original curse. They are without a destination and without a purpose. They stumble toward mirages in the rippling horizon, and for the moments when they are walking toward the image depicting a happiness or distraction, they are happy (or sometimes merely eager). But upon reaching it they they find it was merely a self generated display of a feeling that they wish they could have eternally. Everyone is looking for God, but many refuse to face this truth. Eternity was set in the hearts of men and no matter how much we deny Him, God is has always been our heart's desire from the beginning of time. It is sin that deludes us in to thinking we have any chance of finding purpose or joy apart from dwelling in Christ.
"Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;" Psalms 107:4
"He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste." Job 12:24
When the Israelites first embarked on the journey to the promised land, the journey God was taking them on, they were pilgrims setting off to discover a place of sacredness (I believe the Promised Land to be a depiction of Eden). They had a known destination, and their goal was to reach it. The wanderer walks aimlessly, distracted by everything because nothing is their destination (they have a goal, but no way by which to reach it unless they have a destination). Pilgrim's are dauntless, always with their eyes fixed straight ahead. They aren't even interested in looking this way or that, because they are so sure of what lies ahead of them, although it can not be seen with the human eyes as a mirage can.
"They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'" Jeremiah 50:5
"For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Hebrews 11:10
The punishment of God is the curse (which we brought upon ourselves from the beginning), and when a pilgrim turns from their destination (the ultimate purpose for which something is created or intended), inevitably, they become an aimless wanderer chasing after wisps of smoke and figments of their imagination. They rely on the physical world and their physical senses to direct them instead of the eternity that is set in their hearts.
1. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
2. To proceed in an irregular course; meander.
3. To go astray.Definitions of a pilgrim:
1. One who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred.
2. A newcomer
3. a person who undertakes a journey to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion.
3. a person who undertakes a journey to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion.
The differences between the two are profound. Like the Israelite's punishment of having to walk around the desert till a whole generation died off, wandering is what happens to someone when they refuse to acknowledge God's presence in their life. They fall under one of the effects of the original curse. They are without a destination and without a purpose. They stumble toward mirages in the rippling horizon, and for the moments when they are walking toward the image depicting a happiness or distraction, they are happy (or sometimes merely eager). But upon reaching it they they find it was merely a self generated display of a feeling that they wish they could have eternally. Everyone is looking for God, but many refuse to face this truth. Eternity was set in the hearts of men and no matter how much we deny Him, God is has always been our heart's desire from the beginning of time. It is sin that deludes us in to thinking we have any chance of finding purpose or joy apart from dwelling in Christ.
"He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste." Job 12:24
When the Israelites first embarked on the journey to the promised land, the journey God was taking them on, they were pilgrims setting off to discover a place of sacredness (I believe the Promised Land to be a depiction of Eden). They had a known destination, and their goal was to reach it. The wanderer walks aimlessly, distracted by everything because nothing is their destination (they have a goal, but no way by which to reach it unless they have a destination). Pilgrim's are dauntless, always with their eyes fixed straight ahead. They aren't even interested in looking this way or that, because they are so sure of what lies ahead of them, although it can not be seen with the human eyes as a mirage can.
"They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'" Jeremiah 50:5
"For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Hebrews 11:10
The punishment of God is the curse (which we brought upon ourselves from the beginning), and when a pilgrim turns from their destination (the ultimate purpose for which something is created or intended), inevitably, they become an aimless wanderer chasing after wisps of smoke and figments of their imagination. They rely on the physical world and their physical senses to direct them instead of the eternity that is set in their hearts.
April 2, 2011
One here will constant be...
I feel the title of my blog needs an explanation since I have been asked about it a couple of times.
I chose the name from a line in the song called "Who Would True Valor See". It's a very old hymn that is inspired by the book 'Pilgrim's Progress' by John Bunyan. The lyrics are so beautiful, humble, refreshing, and yet complex that I feel like I could read the words ten times and still have so much of its meaning left to grasp. Its fascinating how that is - the fact that the things that are simplest tend to befuddle us. I hope to keep my blog molded by and focused around simplicity, pilgrimage, fearlessness, and devotion (roughly). In my next post I want to explore the detailed differences between being a wanderer and being a pilgrim; but I digress....
I encourage reading over the words a couple of times, at least.
Who would true valor see
Let him come hither
One here will constant be
Come wind, come weather
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His fist avowed intent to be a pilgrim
Who so beset him 'round
With dismal stories
Who but themselves confound
His strength the more is
No lion can him fright
He'll with a giant fight
But he will have a right to be a pilgrim
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit
Then fancies flee away
He'll fear not what men say
He'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim
I chose the name from a line in the song called "Who Would True Valor See". It's a very old hymn that is inspired by the book 'Pilgrim's Progress' by John Bunyan. The lyrics are so beautiful, humble, refreshing, and yet complex that I feel like I could read the words ten times and still have so much of its meaning left to grasp. Its fascinating how that is - the fact that the things that are simplest tend to befuddle us. I hope to keep my blog molded by and focused around simplicity, pilgrimage, fearlessness, and devotion (roughly). In my next post I want to explore the detailed differences between being a wanderer and being a pilgrim; but I digress....
I encourage reading over the words a couple of times, at least.
Who would true valor see
Let him come hither
One here will constant be
Come wind, come weather
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His fist avowed intent to be a pilgrim
Who so beset him 'round
With dismal stories
Who but themselves confound
His strength the more is
No lion can him fright
He'll with a giant fight
But he will have a right to be a pilgrim
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit
Then fancies flee away
He'll fear not what men say
He'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim
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