Getting Back in Season

Readings: Jeremiah 8:4-9; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; 

Luke 18:31-43

As I sit and write this morning, the windows are open and a crisp breeze is coming through the screens; not the chill that we relate to the first days of frosty weather, but rather the type of breeze that has a bit of refreshing coolness to it while there's still some heat left in the sun to keep us balanced out. 
Pretty amazing, huh? Think of how difficult that would be to replicate in a lab, yet we enjoy that miraculous balance in our everyday lives just by stepping outside or opening a window.


God must certainly be in the details. And he must love us very much to give us this enjoyment.


Living in a geographic area that is very seasonal, I witness extremes--sapphire blue skies, striking colors of fall foliage, more variety of greens in springtime than one could create names for, and the ultimate silence of a frigid, snow-blanketed morning. I also witness, as is shared in Jeremiah, the wildlife who, so beautifully in tune with the seasons, come and go using that undefinable sense of instinct. Recently the last of the hummingbirds left abruptly; the robins passed through for a few days; raccoons show up in droves for a short span of time. They're all hearing loudly what we, in all our sophisticated splendor, have lost to varying degrees--our simple yet blessed direct connection to the glorious nature given to us by God. We become too wrapped up in our worldly details--quite minuscule and mundane, actually--and we lose sight of that deep sense of spirituality and oneness we feel when we are in true communion with God and all the gifts of this glorious planet he has given to us. We busy ourselves with the business of man, paying little heed to the fact that we have, over time, allowed the "lying pen of the scribes to handle it (the word of God) falsely" (v.8). God's laws are very clear; we're the ones who have made them convoluted to the point of misery.


How can we go wrong when the initial "laws" we have been given by God all deal with love, pure and simple...


1 Corinthians 1-13 is the much used, much shared, and much read chapter known as the chapter of love. And, as with most directives that God gives us, it is simple and straightforward. We can be the most gifted person in the world in the areas of knowledge, intellect, skill, or craft--but if we fail to filter all these gifts through the filter of love, they are worthless. Perhaps that's something we fail to remember?


It was amusing the other day to pick up a magazine only to see every story telling about the "worth" of this person or that person, solely based on monetary value. In all our learning, all of our growth intellectually, we still are led by our collective noses by the unholy alliance of measuring a person's worth by a bank account. 


God never mentions bank accounts...


He does, however, through the various prophets and scribes of the Bible, remind us repeatedly the simple message to love, to care for, and to share with our fellow humans, the wonders of this temporary world in preparation for the next. Paul shares in 1 Corinthians "Now we see a poor reflection, as in a mirror" (v.12). But we are more than assured that murky reflection will become clearer and clearer as we grow nearer and nearer to center of transforming into the true spiritual beings as we are designed. We are given the opportunity every day to, as the man who told Christ when he was asked what he wanted, replied, "Lord, I want to see" (v. 41). 


It's time we all take the time to sit back, re-visit our current system of beliefs, and decide how murky and out of season our sense of spiritual direction has become. God makes it simple; we can take the example of the stork in Jeremiah 8 and realize that "even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons" (v.8). Time for us to listen not from the outside world on how to live, how to think, what to do, but from within. 


God is unconditional in his love and always in season in his support of us...we just need to clear that murky view and fall into our instincts...we couldn't want for a better guide.


Peace be with you.