Random Saturday thoughts

I've been thinking lately (well, I'm always thinking about it) about what makes good writing.  Some of the things I have written which people have appreciated the most are often things I have banged out in twenty or thirty minutes; things where I reveal things close to the surface.  Yes, that "T" word:  transparency.

I think that is the beginning of good writing; honesty, sincerity, truth, and all that good stuff.

It's not easy being honest; it takes courage.  No one likes to look like an idiot.  I have little trouble with that on a day to day basis, so finding extra venues for it isn't entirely necessary.  Yet, I am frail and I mess up daily, and I waste time and I make mistakes.   Don't we all?  Am I the only one?  I have fears and foibles and frustrations.  Do I really want everyone to know?  Or do they know already and I'm just blind? 

I long to find that place of balance where transparency doesn't morph into whining, or faux self-deprecation.  If I believe that God has given me the ability to use words with any facility, I want to use those words honestly and in a way that won't disparage His name.

I don't know if I'll ever get there.  Sometimes, I totally despair of ever finding a way to properly express myself.  These are things that are rumbling through my brain on a windy day in winter.

Saturday Soundtrack

My son was home a couple of weeks ago, and he introduced me to the band Gungor, which does worship music.   Check them out; they're really good.  There is lots of string in their music.

Yesterday, it was my daughter's turn to suggest music.  She likes it when other artists cover the music of others, and she sent me the link to a cover of U2's "With or Without You" by a group called Boyce Avenue.  The guy does a lot of covers, and I liked a lot of them.  This one was good.

A post in which I readily admit defeat

So, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that  .... 

I started out on January 1st reading through the bible chronologically this year.  I have quite a bit of other bible reading on the go between preparing weekly for my class on Sunday and going to my friend's class every other monday.  I figured this would be manageable.

Until I found myself racing through the chronological portions.  I mean, I barely got through Job without a "Phew, I'm glad that's over."

That's not how bible reading should be.

So, I'm haging up my chronological through the bible in a year list for a better day.  It was a relief this morning, as I had much more time to ponder the book of John.  My friend's class is doing Deuteronomy, and now I will have more time to ponder those as well.  Sometimes, I just have to admit I can't do it all, much as I often would like to think I can.

It's good to admit defeat once in a while.

Abide in Me

That word "abide" is found nine times in the first eleven verses of John 15.  That means it's likely quite important.

The first part of the chapter presents the image that Jesus uses to show this relationship between himself and the disciples, and the verses following, to v. 15 goes into more detail.  There is so much in these verses to think about.  As I have studied them again this morning, I'm thinking about these ones, particularly:

Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.   Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (v. 4-5)

Jesus opened this chapter by saying he is the true vine.   He establishes the metaphor right away, and we must now look to see where we fit into this.  Just as a branch dies apart from the vine, our spiritual lives will suffer if we do not abide in Him.  We cannot be fruitful apart from him.  The specifics for abiding him him come later in the chapter, things like obedience, prayer, his word, loving others.  The underlying principle, that we cannot bear fruit apart from him undergirds these other activities.  

The abiding is a reciprocal thing.  We abide in him; he abides in us.  The result is fruit, and the ultimate result is to bring glory to God (v.8).  To assume that we will bear fruit for him apart from him is ludicrous if we really believe we are part of the vine.  If we have no fruit in our lives, nor any desire to see fruit, we need to evaluate ourselves and ask why not.   We prove to be his disciples when we bear fruit.

We know that once we are in Christ, nothing can remove us from his hand.  We will always abide in him and he in us.  But we don't always live like we know that.  There are times when we do seek to produce our own fruit, fruit that has little to do with God's glory, but instead our own.  We are prideful people by nature, and this tendency is so natural, we may not even realize it.  It is not his fruit unless is it an outflow of abiding in him and he in us.   If I seek to be pat on the back for my fruit, then I have wrong motives and perhaps I'm not producing fruit for im.

What a comfort these verses ultimately must have been to his disciples.  They are given in the context of his departure from the earth.  They need not fear or grieve; they will abide in him after he is gone.  We have that promise, too. 

I'm continuing to mull these truths over before Sunday.  They are deep and precious, to be sure. 

Comment conundrum

Several people have told me that they are having trouble leaving comments here.  One user keeps having her comments sent to moderation despite the fact that I have not turned on that particular feature.  I, myself, cannot comment on my own blog unless I'm logged in, and I can't comment at Rebecca Writes at all.   She and I are both Squarespace users, so I am wondering if this is an issue with the interface.

At at any rate, if you can't comment, I do apologize, and I will check to see if they end awaiting moderation.  I find it very frustrating, because I really like comments!

I've e-mailed the help staff at Squarespace for some input on the issue.

Update on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:13AM by Kim

Okay; dealing with a help desk.

Question:  for those who do/can comment, what browser are you using?