I said it the other day but I'll say it again here: Sometimes I think I think too much.
Yesterday, a friend asked me what I was thinking at a given moment. Here was my response:
Breath. And breathing. And how I want people who have hurt me to suffer sometimes and how I do not like that fact but how I'm trying not to judge myself but to sit with my ugly humanity as common life experience.
And I'm thinking about other religions. And God. And how fear of death is a powerful motivator.
And how the thought of people burning in hell can easily motivate one to share a story with a different outcome to those they love so that they do not live with guilt for what might happen to people after death. It is much more calming and reassuring to live with the thought that death is not the end. And that all those we love will be together again one day. It is a hope for something more and better when this life is not so kind. It is a message that sells and is a bit easier than just living and working through the mess. Especially for those individuals and people groups that are dealt one blow right after another.
And I'm also thinking how real and powerful scripture is to some people who have never heard but how we in America get caught up on translation. And I'm thinking about spiritual warfare and missionaries and how things seem to be so much different overseas than in America. We're caught up in church politics and arguments on who can and can't be pastors when there are people literally being disowned from their families for believing in Jesus and a God who LOVES them.
When asked what she was thinking, she said something simple like, "Going home and seeing my dog this weekend." :-)
And not only was I thinking about those things, but I was also thinking about this passage from "The Last Battle." It doesn't speak of traditional Christian belief, yet it was written by CS Lewis--one of the greatest, most profound Christian writers of all times--and it brought tears of joy and beauty to my eyes:
Emeth the Calormene: "So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephant's; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes, like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world, even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou has done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites. I take to me the services which thou hast done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if a man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted."
So now I'm thinking...what are YOU thinking after reading this post?
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