GOD, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.
——————————-Complete addition——————————
Living ONE DAY AT A TIME; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.
By Reinhold Neibuhr
Many of us have come across this prayer before, but this is the full unedited version.The poem, read in its full version is truly an inspiration. I find my heart echoing each line, and hoping it would be true for myself. Read it:
slowly,
carefully,
intensely,
and purposefully.
It is good to read the full prayer vs. the one that our culture seems to have adapted and adopted as their own, I suspect this this full version has a little more panache and a whole lot more authority to it. I welome it and the light to bring to us.
“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” Luke 21:33
Nothing is permanent– except God’s Word. He has left His message for us that each could understand how and why the universe exists. We read it to have life explained. When God spoke His Word, things came into being. He holds it all together by the Word. The Lord is a communicator and a revelator through the Word. “Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven” (Psalms 119:89).
In biblical Israel, at a king’s coronation they were given direct access to the books of the Bible. In fact, it was insisted upon. In Deuteronomy 17:19, “He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees.”
Becoming a ‘person of stability’ involves direct contact with our Bibles. Over and over again, we are exhorted to study and listen to its message. Many of us struggle, and some of us have a mental illness. Depression usually pulls me away from reading the word. Sometimes reading just a verse or two helps me. I have a Bible ‘promise book’ which I recommend for ‘feeding’ your wounded heart. Sometimes, I must resort to a spoken format (which helps a lot).
“The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”
Psalm 119:72
The Bible has value; it is a book that has a true wealth beyond anything else. It can make the reader rich. There often is a real ‘spiritual poverty’ that can accompany our illness. We instinctively ‘batten down the hatches’ and throw over the non-essentials to ‘lighten the load.’ This is understandable, but tragically misguided. We need His word, more than ever.
“Understanding your wordbrings light, to the minds of ordinary people.”
Psalm 119:130 (CEV)
Do not neglect your spiritual walk while struggling. That is a major mistake. There is a spiritual dimension to this physical illness that you must acknowledge. There is a spiritual battle that can sweep you off your spiritual feet. Just a few words from Him, and His book can mean the difference between ‘squirming or soaring.’
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Sculpture is 3-D art. It can be made with marble, glass, metal, wood, plastics. It can be carved or cast, welded or painted. There can be sculpture using light, sound, water, kinetic (moving), land art, and environmental enhancements. It’s just one way to be creative, with many applications.
Sometimes we can define and confine sculpture far too simply or narrowly, but there are so many ways to communicate visual art. There are so many ‘cutting edge’ efforts, showing the creativity of people who are themselves created in the image of God. When we create, we emulate the Creator. It’s something worth pondering: God creates beautiful snowflakes, and we make ‘Styrofoam’ cups. (Hardly creative.)
There are over thirty uses of “skillful” people in the Old Testament alone. The Hebrew word used is carries with it the idea of “excelling at a task– an artisan.” When both the tabernacle and the temple were constructed, the Holy Spirit directly commanded the selection of artists and artisans to design beauty right into their work. There was nothing that was prefab or shoddy. The work done was meticulous and took patience.
13 And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.
1 Kings 7:13-14, ESV
I’ve come to the place where I see talented people, with enhanced skills in many places: they are mothers, fathers, mechanics, plumbers. They are teachers and nurses, lawyers and accountants. They all excel at what they do, and it’s great when they are acknowledged and honored. They are creative in their work, “and full of understanding.”
When they go to work, they will carry out their duties with a flair. Some will have an awareness of God’s presence– some may not be aware. I was hospitalized a few years ago, I remember quite clearly a lady who came in and mopped my floor. She was skilled at her task, thorough and even artful. Tears came as I thought about her working. I felt humbled by her kindness. She was truly a minister of God’s grace on that day.
There is a line from Bernandos novel, “A Diary of a Country Priest.” It’s at the very end of the book, and the protagonist is dying. His attendant was disturbed by his inability to get a priest to come and minister the Sacrament of Last Rites. The dying man, looked at his friend, “What does it matter? Grace is everywhere.” Looking at the housekeeper, that same line came to my mind– grace is everywhere!
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV
We are to make distinctions of all that passes by us. Making the decisions based on value and content and worth is the correct way to go about deciding what is worthwhile. The radiance and brilliance are not our way of sounding poetic about something. It is the real core of essential nature. It’s like watching a doctor perform a biopsy. They extract a tiny speck of organ tissue with a long needle. A biopsy will give the physician a real understanding of what is really happening inside.
The Bible tells us ‘taste and see, that God is good’ [tasty]. This is what real faith does, it reaches out and takes a sample. Often in a big grocery store the management sets up a card table. A person attends the table, and offers passing customers samples. Of course, they do this so you will buy this new product. (Sausage and cheese samples are my favorites. I generally try to avoid the cole slaw, as a general rule).
I guess God made us humans with an adventurous and inquisitive nature. We climb mountains, and eat Korean food. We have this built in curiosity that leaks out all over the place. Some really need a taste of danger, or to be creative, or competitive. The point is this– we are created in God’s image. And only God is majestic enough, and big enough– to be enough.
We are learning that all our activity, and all our passion is to contribute and build His Glory. In order to do this we need to amputate our passivity and stretch out to a muscular faith. Flabby and flaccid discipleship won’t be able to give God any real glory, or give us any real joy. We were designed and built specifically to give God immense glory. There is nothing better to do with our lives.
Broken Believers 