Wondering About My Footprints

 

Mashing together the Japanese words for "I" and "footprint," John Koenig, in his book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, has created a noun for the feeling that led me to travel 600 miles for a three-hour event.

I had been invited to kind of a youth group reunion for folks who had been high school students at my home church during the time our youth director was a woman called Page. (Historical Note: In our church in the mid-1970s, there's no way a person of the female persuasion would be called a youth minister.) One of our classmates had invited Page to their house for a Saturday afternoon and the plan was to surprise her with our presence and happy stories of our memories of her influence on our lives.

I decided not to go. Driving ten hours to Indiana and ten more back to Minnesota for a single event didn't sound like a lot of fun.

Then I attended the funeral of the former lead pastor of my church in Minnesota. Several people stood to talk about him in the most glowing of terms.

I thought..."Wouldn't it have been nice if Jim could have heard these nice things when he was still alive?"

And that's when I decided to make the trip to Indiana.

Here's the word that relates to all this:

watashiato (wah-tah-shee-ah-toh) n: curiosity about the impact you've had on the lives of the people you know, wondering which of your harmless actions or long-forgotten words might have altered the plot of their stories in ways you'll never get to see.

Truth is...Because I experience watashiato from time to time, I think there are plenty of pastors and former pastors who feel the same way and I wish I could arrange for each of them (and yes, even for me) the same kind of get-together that Page got to enjoy. At the very least, let me encourage us all to take the time to make sure the people we love and appreciate know how we feel about them.

Dear Jesus

 

Dear Jesus,

How do you put up with it all?

I mean...every day, thousands upon thousands of people make social media posts that pretend to understand what you've said and what your priorities were while living on the planet. And every day, thousands upon thousands of people attribute to YOUR heart whatever notion THEY are committed to.

Your name is used to express contempt for everything from human trafficking to getting cut off in traffic.

We swear to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then pray for you to help us get even with those who disagree with us about how we voted in the last election.

I talk a good talk about starting my day with you in my heart and your word in my lap, but somehow, checking to see how many Likes my last post got takes precedence.

I honestly don't know how you put up with it.

I mean...with me.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is (P.S.)...If you didn't love us all so much, you wouldn't be so quick to show us grace and mercy. And all I can do is be grateful and pray for the power of the same Spirit that resurrected your dead body to stand me up, brush me off, and push me in the right direction again.

And again.

First Prayer of the Year

 

If I want this year to be one of spiritual health, I could do worse than to pray this prayer from Thomas à Kempis in The Imitation of Christ, as updated and edited by James N. Watkins:

Lord, you care more for me than I care for myself. When I don't cast all my care upon you, I do not stand firm and secure. So, do with me whatever you desire, for I know your purpose cannot be anything but good. I bless and trust you when you leave me in the dark. I bless and trust you when you bring me into the light. I bless and trust you when you comfort me. I bless and trust you when you cause me to be troubled.

Lord, I will willingly bear for you whatever it is you desire to come upon me. Without complaining, I will receive from your hand good and evil, sweet and bitter, joy and sadness. I will give you thanks for all things that happen to me. Keep me from all sin, and I will not fear death or hell. Only do not cast me away forever or erase me from the book of life. Then no troubles and trials which will come upon me will do me any harm.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...It wouldn't hurt me to pray this  -  not only at the start of the new year  -  but at the beginning of each day.

Every Day Is New Year's Day

 

Here we are, the day after Christmas, and our thoughts immediately turn to the new year.

Will the next year bring fortune or failure? What can I do to be a better person or make a better living? What resolutions should I make and how can I keep them?

This next year is a blank sheet of paper, waiting to be written on; a clean slate; a fresh start. I need to take full advantage of this opportunity!

Wow.

That's a lot of pressure to put on something as arbitrary as the beginning of a new year.

Yes, you heard me...arbitrary.

The only reason January is "the first month of the year" is because the Roman king Numa Pompilius said so. It used to be March (which makes more sense of the names of OCTober and DECember as the 8th and 10th months). England and her North American colonies didn't observe January as the first month until 1752. Before then, they celebrated New Year's Day on March 25th.

Besides, according to Carolyn Arends, EVERY day is New Year's Day:

I buy a lot of diaries, fill them full of good intentions

Each and every New Year's Eve, I make myself a list

All the things I'm gonna change, until January Second

So this time I'm making one promise

This will be my resolution: Every day is New Year's Day

This will be my resolution: Every day is New Year's Day.

Well I believe it's possible, I believe in new beginnings

I believe in Christmas Day, and Easter Morning, too

And I'm convinced it's doable, cuz I believe in second chances

Just the way that I believe in you

This will be my resolution: Every day is New Year's Day

This could start a revolution

Every day is one more chance to start all over

One more chance to change and grow

One more chance to grab a hold of grace and never let it go

This will be my resolution: Every day is New Year's Day

This could start a revolution: Every day is New Year's Day

©1997 Running Arends Music

https://youtu.be/mKZa4IYT-oI?si=QMlb7nuBSx3HKudY

Truth is...I can find a fresh start every day because of the truth of 2nd Corinthians 5:17  -  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. (AMP)

Once in Royal David's City

 

Cecil Frances Humphreys was born in 1818 and married Reverend William Alexander in 1850. Two years earlier, at the age of 30, she published a book of poems called Hymns for Little Children. A year later, one of those poems, "Once in Royal David's City," was set to music by Henry John Gauntlett and became his most well-known melody.

Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed
Mary was that Mother mild
Jesus Christ her little Child

He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all
And his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy

And through all His wondrous childhood he would honor and obey
Love and watch the lowly maiden in whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He

For he is our childhood's pattern; day by day like us he grew
He was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew
And he feeleth for our sadness
And he shareth in our gladness

And our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love
For that Child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone

Not in that poor lowly stable with the oxen standing by
We shall see him: but in heaven, set at God's right hand on high
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...Oddly enough, though it has been published in over 400 hymnals, I have never sung this...and I think I'm a lesser person because of that. Its simple telling of not only Christ's birth but his life and our eternal destiny is a fitting meditation for the modern heart.

Christmas On!

 

I need to thank Carolyn Arends for bringing the following John Blase poem to my attention.

In the face of seasoned waves of evil

that we would sing that old noel,

that we would hang lights on branches,

that we would give gifts to others

even if that gift is only ourselves --

this, this is a defiance seemingly impotent

against the principalities and powers who

daily conspire to convince us that

we are alone and love is a lie.

But do not be deceived for the demons themselves

tremble at such quaintness.

Sisters and brothers,

Christmas on.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

This is the reason I still get a lump in my throat at the end of the silly song by the Royal Guardsmen about Snoopy and the Red Baron. The Red Baron forces Snoopy's "World War I flying ace" to land, then pops open a bottle and makes a toast, "Merry Christmas, my friend!"

https://youtu.be/0-hWZGIWe_U?si=T6p-ot5xLcOrJbBl

Truth is...We are not alone. Love is not a lie. Yahweh did not send his son into the world to condemn us, but to save us. Yes, no matter how jaded and divided our culture becomes, I will Christmas on like nobody's business.

Following Jesus When Heaven Speaks and Earth Scoffs

 

According to Jesus' biographers, not everybody thought he was anything special. Even with huge crowds following him around to hear him speak and receive healing, Jesus definitely had his detractors.

Mark 2:3-7 (CSB)
They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Matthew 12:22-24 (CSB)
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to him. He healed him, so that the man could both speak and see. All the crowds were astounded and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

Dear Jesus,

You were falsely accused. Your parentage was questioned. Your clear claims of divinity and demonstrations of power were called unholy and attributed to Lucifer.

And you took it all with a sense of peace and calm born from your inner conviction and absolute confidence of who you were.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...I need to forget about wanting man's approval or applause and live my life in step with the Spirit  -  doing what he urges; shouting from rooftops what he whispers in my ear. (Matthew 10:27)