If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
At its core, “Hallelujah” is a song about the depth of our longing for love and our understanding of its inherent goodness, despite the symptoms of our brokenness that often accompany our pursuit of it. It is a love song for love that has died, misappropriated love, and lost innocence that can’t be restored, and yet, beside the grief, there is still an active choice, to declare “hallelujah,” again, and again, and again.
That’s heavy.
It’s a profound statement against every Sunday School RomCom story with its head in the sand pretending that love always wins with happy endings and no casualties.
Fantastic piece from Curator on what is lost when we “Christianize” culture.
Source: curatormagazine.com
Be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor’s except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends…and to spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit. These are little guideposts on the footpath to peace.
Henry van Dyke
26 candles
There are no words.
There is no understanding.
God, my God.
Wonderful Counselor.
Prince of Peace.
Where is the hope?
Surely your heart breaks.
Surely your heart broke 26 times.
Surely your heart breaks every time one of your children dies.
But our hearts are not your heart.
And once feels more than we can bear.
Our words are not your words.
And we feel only the groans of our hearts.
Yet, we also know you came into our world.
You came into our pain.
You came into our death.
And you transformed our death into life.
Come, oh Emmanuel, Come.
Come again.
We are ready.
Nothing is perfect, don’t change a thing
Writer R. Eric Tippin writes that Millennials are a generation doomed to be full of regrets if they don’t change their ways. I disagree.
First, this idea social media is robbing us of real life relationships denies the real communities and relationships being formed in the digital space. Personally, I no longer view the world as digital vs analog, it’s all one. But even if there was a divide, I have a number of friends I would never have met were it not for Twitter or Facebook, and not a day goes by that my “real” relationships aren’t strengthened and reaffirmed via social media.
Are we Millennials prone to idolatry? Sure. But no more than any other generation before us. But even as we are called to turn from our idols and seek God with all our heart, soul and strength, I don’t think God desires a barren ascetic life of hermitage for us. Maybe this calling exists for a select few, but for far more I believe God calls us to cultural engagement and savvy.
Movies, video games, pop music… these are the language of culture. Engaging with popular culture takes time and effort, but is a far different thing from building an idol out of it. I find it somewhat ironic an article encouraging us to be less connected and engaged would appear in a magazine which specifically seeks to facilitate conversation in those places.
I also don’t get his charge that Millennials are less likely to be DIY creators; that doesn’t reflect the lives of anyone I know. I might be a bit of an outlier, but I am surrounded by artists and creatives who are constantly making and re-purposing the world around them. I find it ironic, too, that he’s saying we should cook “instant dinners” to free up time for carpentry. I’m sorry, does woodworking have more DIY value than a home cooked meal from scratch?
Do we have a problem with slowing down and celebrating “quiet”? Ok, here he might have a bit of a point, but even that is relative and subjective. Personally, the hustle and bustle of life, background music and “white noise” doesn’t bother me or keep me from focusing. But, that’s just me.
Regret is a decision you make, not a destiny you’re doomed with. Personally, I could think of no time I’d rather be living in than the present. Not a day goes by that I don’t see a chance for engaging with the Beauty, Truth and Goodness of God I find in culture.
Source: relevantmagazine.com
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