Lenten Reflection for February 27th

In Corrie ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place, she writes about an event that stood out in her memory, which took place when she was about eleven years old. She was traveling on a train with her father, who was a watchmaker and repairman of many timepieces. She had stumbled upon a poem that had the words "sex sin" in its lines and didn’t understand what it meant. She writes,

“And so, seated next to Father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, "Father, what is sex sin?"

He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but, to my surprise, he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor.

"Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he asked.  I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.

"It's too heavy," I said.

"Yes," he said. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."

And I was satisfied. More than satisfied—wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions; for now, I was content to leave them in my father's keeping.

Saint Paul wrote to the Romans, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33), God Himself speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah saying, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Knowledge is a gift God gives to us, but we need to understand that sometimes we aren’t meant to know everything right away. We can know that the Lord has good plans for us, to bless us. This is where trust in Him and having patience is of utmost importance. Through trust we can experience the Fruits of Faithfulness and Peace growing in our heart.

There are answers to our hard questions as well, but while we wait on the Lord, let’s be content in leaving them in our Father’s keeping. 

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

There was a young girl who lived and grew up in the Netherlands in the early 1900s named Corrie ten Boom.Even as a child, Corrie loved to read poetry but some of the poems she read had ‘grown-up’ words that she didn’t understand. 

Her father was a watchmaker and one day while traveling with her father, she asked him what some words in her poetry book meant. He looked at her but didn’t reply at first. 

When it came time to get off the train, he asked her to carry his work bag off the train. She stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with spare parts he had purchased that morning.

"It's too heavy," Corrie said.

"Yes," he replied. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older, you can bear it. For now trust me to carry it for you.”

There will be times when we all have big questions we would like answers from God about. Sometimes the knowledge God has will be too heavy for us to carry at that moment. In the Bible He tells us, ‘...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’’ (Isaiah 55:8-9)

To trust God is to have faith in Him, and even if we don’t understand everything right now, we can know that God has a good plan for our lives because He loves us so much.

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for February 26th

The first account of pride causing ruin we read about in the Scriptures is in Genesis when Eve disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is also the first account of modesty we find in the Bible. When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, they were suddenly ashamed of their nakedness. They not only sewed leaves together to hide their embarrassment and shame but also hid themselves in the garden to avoid God.

Modesty isn’t just about what we choose to wear. It’s about understanding that we have been lovingly created by God, in His image and likeness, given dignity as human persons. We can be mindful to react appropriately to whatever situation we find ourselves in and have a spirit of humility rather than pride. 

This reminds me of a quote from designer Coco Chanel, “It is always better to be slightly underdressed”. I take this quote to mean we ought to strive to be humble, as well as comport ourselves well in any circumstance.

Saint Paul reminds us of this when he wrote to the church in Corinth, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) 

Adam and Eve’s immodesty was bought with a price, the shedding of blood so God could give them skins as clothing. A first living sacrifice to pay for human sin. We too have been bought with a price of blood, we know Christ gave up himself so we can have life.As we have this Knowledge, we should act on it appropriately with the Fruit of Modesty, humbly treating those we encounter each day with grace as well as recognising ourselves as beings with the dignity God has created in us.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

In the Bible we are warned against the sin of Pride. Pride means we are choosing to act in our own ways, rather than listening to God and obeying what He wants us to do.

We read about pride in the very first book of the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve disobey God by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when He told them not to.  We read that their eyes were opened and for the first time they felt embarrassed, and made clothes for themselves out of leaves so they could dress modestly.

God was sad that they had disobeyed Him, but gave them better clothes of skins to wear. 

God loves us and created us all in His likeness, including giving us dignity as human beings. Dignity means God considers us His children and we are most worthy of His love. We show we love God in return by acting in ways which maintain that dignity. 

Saint Paul tells us that our bodies are a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’, they are a precious gift from God for us to take care of, this even includes things like what we choose is appropriate to wear, making healthy choices of what to eat and drink, exercising, playing and so on. 

Let’s remember that all of us are ‘walking temples’, living modestly and treating each other with kindness and dignity.

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for February 25th

I know a few people who are quite obsessed with certain celebrities. So much so that they will often post news, photos and videos almost every day on their socials in regard to the handsome or beautiful celebrity they like so much. Most of these people are married and I can’t help but wonder if it makes their partner feel self-conscious when they see the infatuation directed toward this ‘avatar’ they don’t even know personally. 

I have been reflecting on the ‘outward’ aspect of the Fruit of Chastity.‘Worldly’ desires start with seeing something we want, and can lead to jealousy or an entitled attitude of ‘why shouldn’t I have that too?’ Envy and a sense of entitlement can be harmful in a couple of ways. Firstly, it could drive us to impulsively take a negative action to obtain what we desire and end up hurting those around us.  Secondly, it can harm relationships because subconsciously we are thinking of ourselves as more ‘worthy’ than others and thinking of others as ‘lesser’ or less deserving.

It does us well to remember that our actions impact our environment, including other people.

We read in Exodus 20:17 the Lord’s commandment warns us to not covet anything our neighbour has. House, wife, slaves, livestock are a few examples in the verse. Thankfully we have the Laws the Lord has given us and through the inspiration of the Spirit, God has placed within our heart a sort of compass, an innate knowing of what is good and what is not good. 

Saint Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, “You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24) Growing in the Fruit of Chastity will help us in showing God’s love to others, to share their joy rather than envy it.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

In the Old Testament of the Bible, God gives His people ten Commandments. One of these Commandments talks about how we shouldn’t covet what our neighbours have. Covet means to see that someone else has something we wish we could have and out of jealousy we want for ourself. 

This jealousy can be hurtful to our friends and neighbours if we choose to act out and get what we want in a negative way. It can hurt our relationship with them because, although we may not realise it, we are only seeing their worth through what they have rather than showing them love, as Christ would have us do.

Loving God helps us to want to live our lives in a Christ-like way. This means leaving behind feelings like jealousy and coveting and as Saint Paul says, “be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:23-24 New International Version translation)

In this way we can grow in Holy Spirit’s Fruit of Chastity, be happy for others and share in their joy, rather than be jealous of them.

God bless you!