Inspiration from a Song:

This came across my desk the other day. I found it inspirational with a thread of truth. I thought it worth sharing.

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT
By Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D.

A few years ago, a good friend suddenly died. At her memorial service we wept, prayed, listened to music, heard about her from friends and relatives, and sang. The song we sang was "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."
The words to the song were printed on the program under the heading, "Our Song."

As we sang, the words took on an entirely different meaning for me. A meaning far greater than the round usually sung by small children. Here was a group of adults, singing it in cooperative harmony to memorialize a beloved woman. What was so special about "their song?"

Today, the words of this childhood round have significantly greater meaning than they did then.

"Row, row, row." Persist in the effort to move forward in your life. Put your energy and effort into growing, learning and moving ahead toward creating the quality of life you really desire. If you stop in that effort, you get nowhere and stagnate. Certainly my friend was always focused on learning and growing in her life. She indeed, was continually rowing forward.

"Your boat." It is, after all, your boat... your being. Being who you really are not only allows you to move ahead, it is also the vehicle which keeps you afloat and safe in a chaotic world. When we jump out of our own boat, stop being our true selves, we often land in shark-infested waters and are drowned or eaten... or both. Don't try to change anyone else. Trust being who you are. Enjoy being you. Value your uniqueness. After all, you have been in your boat all your life. And there never was and never will be another craft quite like it. My friend loved being who she was.

"Gently." It is so important to be gentle in life. We live in a violent culture. Being gentle with yourself, others and your environment helps dampen the violence, and heal the wounded. We so often cling to, and struggle with, forces beyond our control. We become frustrated, angry or resentful, and destructively take out these emotions on ourselves, on those around us, or on our home... the earth. I learned how to be gentle partly by knowing my friend. She was always gentle, especially with her grandchildren.

"Down the stream." Not up the stream. Not across the stream. But down the stream. How often do we fight the flow of life? We're usually so busy swimming up stream, we exhaust ourselves. Take the time to allow the current of life to move you gently down stream. Let go of the struggle once in a while. Allow your life to move with Life's currents as opposed to always wanting to change the course of the river.

It was not easy for my friend to accept her imperfections, her problems or her losses. But she moved more than most with the flow of Life. Several years prior to her death, she confronted widowhood with an acceptance and equanimity rarely seen. She learned to "flow" with it. And as she did, she more easily adjusted to being single once again.

"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily." Oh, the joy of being alive! We so often take life too seriously. Or we keep reminding ourselves of all its negative aspects. And when we do we become bitter. We create a lot of misery. Despite her human frailties, despite her share of pain and suffering, my friend found joy in being alive. She went through life merrily. She chose to focus on the positive aspects of her life rather than the negative. And in doing so, she found laughter and merriment joy and delight.

"Life is but a dream." Perhaps the Buddhists are correct. What we usually call "life" is an illusion. Perhaps we are actually expressions of consciousness...spiritual beings having a physical experience rather than the other way around. Perhaps the perceived physicality and permanence of life is indeed, nothing more than a dream. Perhaps we create our own dream/life. Perhaps when we become "enlightened" or die, we cease superimposing upon Life only what we think, and for the first time, experience what life is really like. I know my friend believed that after her death she would be really alive...perhaps for the first time.

May it be so!

"Put the Brooms Away!"

What I’ve learned from personal conversations with those who are suspicious of thee Christian faith is that the greatest barrier to believing in Jesus is the perception (sometimes fact) that Christians just can’t seem to get along. They say, “Why should I be a part of a group of people who claim the power and unity of one called Jesus, but who just can’t seem to get along with each other?”

Religious people certainly could do better. But instead we tend to get involved in petty battles – sometimes scholarly, sometimes denominationally, sometimes even literal. These petty battles make our faith look foolish to a wide variety of folks. We given them plenty of ammunition when it comes to rationalizing their reluctance to believe and follow Jesus.

Jesus painted a picture of those who stand with him to stand with each other. Not to fight one another, but to be a united community, people with a common loyalty to Jesus and to each other.

Jesus not only expected this kind of unique community. He prayed for this unity (John 17). He prayed that all would be one. He prayed for a unity among his followers, among believers, that would mirror the unity, the oneness, which exists between Jesus and God, between the Father and the Son. But somehow there is still division. There are church fights.

Here is another example. Christmas at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is a season of stress for many as pilgrims come from around the world to visit the birthplace of Jesus. Fights and brawls during this season have become so common place that the world watches for the yearly brawls among the clergy-caretakers of the church.

This year was no exception as Palestinian riot police had to be called to break up a fight between monks having a broom fight! The video made TV news. If you didn’t see it, be sure that millions of non-believers did. They laughed and made additions to the already long list of reasons that the whole “religion thing” is a farce.

You see, three Christian traditions (Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant) claim the Church of the Nativity as the traditional site of Jesus birth. Today the church is under a shared administration. But, the church is in disrepair – the roof leaks and water in resulting in further damage to the building. The three groups can’t agree on who should pay for repairs. Each group wants to and is willing to pay the whole repair bill, but they aren’t able to work together to share. So, repairs aren’t made and the damage continues to expand – not only damage to the physical property, but damage to the wider perception of “religion” and Christianity.

What happened this Christmas is this. A monk from one of the groups was apparently sweeping the floor in an area claimed by one of the other groups. A “holy man” from that group took offense and started swinging. A melee began. The police were called. But the cameras were rolling and the events made headlines. All because a few people became petty and narrow about who cleans a few square feet of floor!

My experience has been that most church squabbles and church fights have been over things equally as petty. We get territorial. We point fingers. We squabble. While the world, with much bigger worries, problems and cares, watches and asks, “Why can’t believers just get along and cooperate for the greater good?”

So, dear readers, let’s just put the figurative “brooms” away and live out the unity, the oneness, Jesus prayed for. Let’s get our act together and work together as a witness to the Kingdom of God, as a witness to the non-believer who is watching. And let’s focus on the kingdom issues that matter, for the Gospel’s sake!

Thanks for stopping by. The comment section is open.

"The Etching in the Glass"

As I looked at the wonderful design etched in the glass, it occurred to me that it was the "scratches" that made the image beautiful.

It gave me to ponder how often it might be that the real beauty of something is found in the "imperfection." The jagged peak of a mountain, the canyon cut deep by eroding waters or even the "beauty" of an individual personality carved by the twists and turns of life.

The scratches make it beautiful! I sort of like that idea.

"Seeking Jesus!"

Unfortunately, my computer was not working on January 6, the “Day of the Epiphany.” Thank for stopping by my blog and sharing in these occasional life reflections. The comment section is open, I welcome your comments. Now, here’s what I wanted to say on January 6.

When we read the story of Jesus’ birth in the book of Matthew, we find that the story isn’t so clear about when the wise men actually arrived at the “house where Jesus was.” Many interpret the story, given that Herod sought to put to death all the infants under the age of 2, to mean that the wise men did not arrive until the “baby Jesus” was several – maybe even 24, months old. That is to say that the “wise men” were very deliberate in their search for the Messiah. They spent a significant amount of time to prepare for and complete their journey. They spent considerable energy to travel to Bethlehem to see Jesus, the one they had determined to be the “Savior of the world.”

The question that comes up for us, as Jesus’ followers, is this one, “How much energy do we spend in seeking to know our Lord?

There is a line “wise men still seek him”. In this Epiphany time, may we be among the wise who are seeking Jesus and bowing to worship him. May we invest time and effort into our growing relationship with the one who is the “Messiah” of God.