Thoughts on Proverbs 3:11-12

As you know from previous posts, I have been doing some reading from Proverbs.
Proverbs 3:11-12 says

"My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

Don't all fathers when they discipline do it for the good of the child? Children learn and grow up in need of discipline. In this way they learn how to be an adult. Discipline is very much an important part of growing up. Now, as an adult, I do not for one moment regret, or resent the discipline that was dished out to me - though it never felt good at the time. I am certain that it was for my benefit, and hindsight helps me to see the wisdom of my parents in their discipline of me.

Proverbs here tells us it is the same with God. God cherishes us as his own children, and disciplines us as those he loves, those he delights in. We are loved by God, and his delight. The discipline is for our own good. We must learn to trust our heavenly Father with our lives, for he holds it in his hands.

Discipline is for our own good. What makes up the discipline of God I am not certain about. Doubtless there is judgment upon the sin in our own lives (to varying degrees), and there is also suffering inflicted upon ourselves because of our own mistakes, and those of others. But the discipline of God is far bigger than any one category. It may be one or all of these things. I need to think about this a bit more, but the principle remains the same, do not resent God for it.
As we mature as Christians, as we are moulded into the likeness of Christ, we should see more and more that the hard times in our lives are the loving discipline of God. It kind of reminds me of that Footprints poem, where God carries us through the hard times of our lives, to aid us, to be with us, because he loves us. We have to be careful not to characterise all hardships as the discipline of God, but don't be foolish and neglect the possibility.

Thank God that he loves us and delights in us to discipline us as sons!

10 days

Ok, so then end of the year is drawing near now, and it's time to review a little (the same as everyone else I suppose). Work finished this afternoon, for me, and we had our staff Christmas party. This was a nice day for it actually, we were at a nice pub over the water, and the company was paying. Some of the guys got out their guitars and played music for us. There is this old kiwi bloke with us (from New Zealand), and he sings real well. So we just got to hang out and not talk about work, and basically relax a little before Christmas comes upon us.

It was nice to see everyone in this less formal environment.

But anyway, this day marks the beginning of my time off work! 10 days off in a row, I am so relieved all of a sudden! I have been rushing through so much work these last two weeks, and now, quite suddenly, it is over. And I couldn't be more happier.

The wife and I both get to share four days off together as well. We might go somewhere, though hard to find accommodation at this late stage in the Christmas season, or we might stay at home. Either way, the phone will be off the hook! Time for some R & R.

It will be nice of course to see the family over Christmas, and I am also catching up with some friends here or there, but mostly I am looking forward to the time I will get to spend reading some books, watching the cricket on the tele, and going for swims down at the beach.

It makes me realise how important it is to make sure we take regular time out from the busyness of our day to day lives to rest.

Are you resting enough, or do you feel that life is getting out of control?

Nostalgia and Zombies

I have been struck lately by moments of nostalgia. Alarming, I know, considering I am only 23. I thought nostalgia and romantic notions of days gone by were for old folk, people who had past their use by date, and hankered for the old days. You can flush them when they often begins sentences with, "I can still remember... when our family used to *sniff* gather round the 'ol gramophone and share stories of the war..."

But nostalgia can hit you hard in unexpected places. Nostalgia is romantic, but it is in the higher meaning of the word that is of import to us. It is a longing for something past, like a game of backyard cricket when you were nine, or the home baked cookies your Mum used to make for you after school.

Nostalgia is a personal experience, unique to the individual, and a tribute to past memories and emotions. For me, feelings of nostalgia are most often associated with music. Is this the case for you?

There are particular songs in my collection, that when I hear them I can clearly recall my emotions at that time of my life when the song meant something for me. There are longings there that words can't describe, but joy is a good place to begin.

Songs like "Zombie Eaters", Faith No More and "Save Tonight", Eagle Eye Cherry and "What I be", Michael Franti and "Scar", Missy Higgins and "on and on and on. They remind me of memories from high school, of books I had to read for year 7 English, of my meeting my wife, and getting engaged, and summer drives, and surf trips with the mates and so on. What a joy it is to be able to reflect on our past experiences, music seems to take me there, and back again. Paradoxically it makes me yearn too for the future, for next year, and the one 10 years ahead.

So, I guess if you're listening to a song over and over, don't get all too flustered about getting over the song. Remember in a few years time the songs you listen to today will remind you of the life you are living now. Will that be a good thing or a bad thing? Either way, it will be nostalgic...

Follow the leader

I say how easy it is to follow the leader!

But, I warn, be careful whom you follow!

Started reading Proverbs the other day. Nice and slowly. It's the kind of good solid biblical realism that works inside of you. Not all at once, but just ingrains itself over time. The message today, from the first chapter of the book of Proverbs warned of following a bad guy. If you follow the wrong guy, you end up becoming like him. The implicit directive that this is not good should be well heeded. I think at times it is easy to find oneself admiring the wrong people.

Who do you hang out with? How do they influence you?

The caution on spending time with the wrong people is prefaced by the notion that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. There is conceivably here an indication of whom we should be following first, and that is by far the better alternative.

Christmas what?

So, it's nearly Christmas... the silly season?

You know what I think is silly about it? The fact that every time some politician on tv tries to talk about it they only say these pointless things like "Seasons Greetings" and so on. Is everyone too scared these days to talk about the real meaning of Christmas?

Here in Australia, on Australia day, people become citizens. More so than any other day. It is almost a badge of honour for residents of Australia to become citizens on that day. Why is that? Because the day represents something more than the next one. Why? Because on Australia Day we remember... you guessed it... the settlement of Australia in 1788.

Why do we have a public holiday celebrating the Queen's Birthday? Ummm... is it that hard... it is to remember the Queen - our head of State (whether we like it or not).

Now for some reason ( I will explore that in a moment), Christmas has almost become a taboo topic. No one wants to talk about what it means, only that it is a holiday, a time off work, a time to spend with family, Santa's arrival, ham eating, shopping, watching cricket... yadda yadda yadda. Anything but what it actually means.

So what does it actually mean then? Well Christmas is a time for us to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, some 2000 years ago now. Our dating system itself is based on this event! It is a time for us to reflect on the significance on the event, and how it affects us today. Do not be fooled, friends by the deceptions of our secular society, that is so full of misleading comments and inane remarks. Christmas time is a time to celebrate the past and to hope for the future.

Jesus is not just any baby. Jesus is God incarnate, come to save us from the punishment our actions in this world deserve.

Why not make this Christmas the time to think harder about who this baby is, a baby born in a dirty manger in a backward town, a baby that changed our history forever.

The Bible of course has much to say on this topic, why not check it out, Christmas is a great time to do so. Of course, if you want to hear someone talk about why we celebrate Christmas you should head to a local church on Christmas morning. Everyone else around us seems to conveniently forget the true reason we celebrate, perhaps the relentless drive to consume that seems to cloak most of our materialistic society today is the reason behind it. Then again maybe they just don't like the truth. maybe our politicians might lose a vote or two for actually standing up for something.

Go on guys, say Merry Christmas this year, let's keep it real.

Sand Runner

The man pushed his unwilling body through the soft sand on the beach. “Is it always this hard?” he muttered to himself, as each step gave way to painful step.

The haze hung heavy over the beach this morning, like a blanket keeping the visibility low, weighing down the air in his lungs. On his right side the little rollers were marching in, battling the shore in their quest for territory. Further down the beach a couple of surfers were chatting as they enjoyed this dawn to themselves.

His calves, now burning up, were tightening up with each extra pace. His speed dropped off to not much more than walking speed, and the water was now splashing around his ankles as he searched for some harder sand. Five minutes and five hundred steps later he reached his marker. Today, he ran without his usual running singlet, and so this morning it doubled as his towel and finish line. The extra pace this morning had its rewards, with time enough for a quick swim; he plunged into the water, and washed the sand and the aches away.

Getting out, he dried himself carelessly with his singlet, and headed for home, a tired grin planted on his face as he laughed to himself, “Is it always this good?” The thought came and went, but he wore the smile to work that morning.

Meanwhile, his footprints left on the beach were slowly sinking away under the incoming tide.

Priorities

What do you count as important?

What are the things in your life that you would not give up?

These are the things that have been challenging me recently. Have I been placing too much priority on my leisure at the expense of other areas of my life? It’s certainly possible.

Upon reflection, I believe that most of the time, if we have the wrong priorities, we more than likely have to change our perspective on things. What angle are you viewing life from?

So, what do you think about God? Do you think about Him?

God’s priorities for our lives is for us to put Him first, and everything else flows from that. For God is the fountainhead of all things that are good. If we put God first, if we prioritise Him, and recognise Him for who He is and all he has done for us, then are we able to put everything else in the right perspective.

Suddenly, all things are painted in the proper light, the fog of uncertainty begins to clear before our eyes and the river of our lives begins flowing in the direction it ought.

A nice morning

There was bright sunlight streaming through the window this morning. One of those mornings that is practically screaming for you to skip breakfast, and showers and soak in some rays. Days like this just don't seem meant for working!

I love mornings like this - when the sun is out, the ocean blue, the cicadas humming away, and barely a breeze to ruffle the leaves on the trees. The beach, being a mere two hundred metres away was my destination, I jogged down the road, barefoot and towel in hand, hopping through the traffic on the busy main road (a bit like that old computer game, frogger!). Getting out and enjoying the day before you have to go work is a great way to wake up.

It’s a habit I have only picked up again recently – the morning swim. The water was so smooth this morning, not much of a wave, but just perfect for a quick dip. The beach was also basically empty, this in itself is not all that unusual – thankfully so!

Heading down the sandy slope (they have been filling the beach recently with… more sand), and towards the high tide mark, along with the usual debris of shells and footprints left by long-gone beach walkers was an assortment of blue-bottles. Ah yes, the common herald of summer on the beaches in Sydney, the blue-bottles had made their way to my beach intent on making my swim this morning a rather stinging experience.

The next five minutes were spent pacing the beach up and down to find a clearer spot to swim. No luck there. The water was too tempting, definitely worth the risk, after all, I could just avoid them in the water, so long as I kept my eyes open, right?

Made it out past the tiny breakers as quickly as possible, and then swam a few strokes up and down the beach, before coming heading back in. It was a short swim.

No worries, no problems.

I walked out of the water, my step a little lighter than before. The slight breeze chilled me a little, and I grabbed my towel from the sand, picked up the house keys and turned to head for home.

As I checked out the water one last time I saw again the little blue bottles all lined up along the shore, occasionally being thrown around by the moving water. I’m sure they stopped a few would-be swimmers this morning. Not me though.

The concrete footpath didn’t seem quite so jarring on the jog back.

... still had to go to work :)

Beginning

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis