The Best Five Years

Written January 13, 2022 Every day is beautiful, because every day is a gift from a good Father. I am so grateful for the people God has put in my life, especially refuge. And I’m grateful for the music. Specifically, the music about Him. I think that worship is such a tangible, beautiful way to connect with God, especially for me. And I’ve had conversations about Him like I’ve never had before. So inspired, so beautiful, so enriching. Heaven will be beautiful, because worshiping God is beautiful. I long to worship him forever. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels that way, because the community, especially among the worshiping believers is so very sweet. I feel more whole right now than I think I’ve ever felt. Every day I am called to hope and to trust God, even when He puts things in my life that are scary and hard. The pain I have felt from others that has entirely just… disappeared, and I have seen His faithfulness and goodness with the people he has put in my life every s

October 1, 2021 There was an interesting part in Canto Six of Dante’s Inferno which talked about how being whole transforms the way a person experiences emotions.  Dante writes, “He: “Turn to your philosophy again , // which shows that when a thing at last is whole // it feels more pleasure—so it feels more pain”” (Canto 6, Ln. 105-7).  This passage stuck out to me because it spoke to the idea that as a person gets  closer to wholeness, that person has the capacity to feel things deeper. I always thought that as a person became more whole, they would feel pleasure and love better, but it never struck me that the same would be true of the other e motions, specifically pain. I think it makes sense, though, that as a person is able to  understand and process what they are feeling, they will have the capacity to feel things stronger. It is a difficult passage to read, because it highlights the fact that just because  a person is more whole, it does not mean that they will have freedom from

September 23, 2021 Aquinas lays out a beautiful picture of love, and specifically of the way God loves. He writes, “To love someone is in fact to will good for them” ( 1, Q. 20, Art. 1 ).  This statement sums up the very essence of God, in that he has a divine will, and that will  is  intertwined thoroughly  with his love for us. There have been a lot of questions this week  stemming from my reading of Aquinas that confused me, specifically ho w  God predestines through his will . Some things that I came away with from that are the assurance that God is good and that his will is tied to his love.  As Aquinas says, “ We are induced to love by good which exists already... With God, it is the reverse. When God wills some good to one whom he loves, his will is the cause of this good being in him, rather than in any other”  (1, Q. 23, Art. 4).  T he key here is  understanding the difference in  the way God  loves because of  his innate  goodness   and  humans  l oving what they  see as good

  In everything that the Christian does, they need to be approaching Evangelism with the mindset of speaking the truth to unbelievers.  In Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People,  Bede mentions a man named Aidan, saying, “Neither respect nor fear made him keep silence about the sins of the rich, but he would correct them with a stern rebuke” (Bede, III.5, pg. 117).  A Christian’s w ords and actions must align with the truth  they  are living out of in order  to convince other s .   To speak rather than remain silent is itself an action.  Non -C hristians  often accuse Christians of being hypocritical, and rightly so. It is my experience that often, Christians are trying to sell a message that they themselves don’t buy.  When Bede mentions Aidan, he writes, “ the best recommendation of his teaching to all was that he taught them no other way of life than that which he himself practiced among his fellows” (Bede, III.5,  pg. 116 ).   Words are empty if they are not spoken

Here are a few of poems that I've written this summer. A Butterfly Among the Greats The day began cold. I was out in it too early Or maybe I was there just right. Sitting in my chair They spoke of the greats But I, listening with only half an ear Was thinking about small things And the consequences of a cold day. My light sweater with its brown buttons Was certainly perfect for you then. I sat as still as I could Hoping the sun and the heat of that  Haven would save you. They talked of men and heroes The weak among the brave. They talked of the divine love And of the wings to be got. But I only thought of protecting The delicate pair that you already had. It was already so perfect This short life that you lived: The isolated transformation You, getting your wings. I think Plato would have approved. So was it really so bad that I only thought then,  Of you? To live another day:  That was my hope for you.                You did revive.  I cannot remember the words being said then, B

There is a concept of desire that I keep coming back to in my walk with Christ this year. It is the promise given in scripture, “Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). I’m not sure exactly where I came up with this idea, what sermon it was, what book I read, what conversation I had, but wherever I heard it, it has stuck with me. What God says is that if you look to him first for your source of joy and choose to delight in him and everything that he is, he will give you the desires of your heart. I think that when you love someone and delight in them, your heart begins to align with theirs. You naturally begin to want what they want and desire what they desire as you grow to delight in them more and more. And then it clicked. That is how loving and delighting in God works. As you continue to do so, your heart will line up with his will for your life, and you will begin to desire things which are good for you. You will desire things from a pure