What does it take
to make you feel that enough is enough? What level of provocation can you
endure? How much emotional turmoil can you accept before it all gets on top of
you?
We are all
familiar with the analogy of the spinning plates – you have to get the first
one moving before moving to the next… to get things going you need direction
and drive and hope that inertia will sustain the plate until you can return to
give in a bit more kinetic energy. Meanwhile, you start spinning the next plate
with an eye on the first and so it goes on. You need a good sense of timing and
a perception of the strategy you can use to keep all of the plates moving.
You also need to have a strategy… studying the distance between each plate and the rate of inertia, so that you can combat the distance you have to move to reduce the time taken to maintain all of the plates. We are all encouraged in life to work hard for longer, often over reaching what is achievable to un favour with those who judge our performance.
Sometimes things
come to a natural end. Will it be a graceful wind down or a huge crash? When
you study the plates that the performers use, they are machined with a dimple
to help them stay on the stick and they are perfectly balanced, giving the
performer enough time to manage the spectacle. If only life could be so
perfect. Many of my spinning plates are broken or overburdened with stuff that
the inertia might shake off, but inevitably the unbalanced nature of the
plate’s performance causes it to prematurely crash onto the floor. That’s
sometimes how life is.
The point at
which we make decisions to quit something or to sustain our energies is
referred to as a moment of conscious intention. This is a point in time, which
can happen at every moment of the day, where you have considered all of the
variables surrounding a decision, and where you might select which form of
action to take. I teach a little bit of electronics and in the preparation for
building the electronic circuit, we have to make sure that the ‘systems flow
chart’ operates successfully and that any procedural anomalies are
accommodated. In electronics, we call this feedback.
It is the ability
of the system to cope with the input from the sensor and process the data
whilst it performs its ‘output’ or function – what the circuit is meant to do.
Feedback enables a circuit to respond to changes in the system and adapt,
however as we all know, computers and electronic items can fill us with
satisfaction and immense frustration, all at the same time!
In computing and
robotics, the quest for artificial intelligence or sentience, is a long way off
from the Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘Terminator' movie synopsis. We cannot enhance
the sum of our parts through any biological means, except on the surface
perhaps! Our bodies can be likened to a biological machine that performs in
similar ways to that of an electronic system. We look at our body shape and our
diet and want to get fit and healthy and to lose some weight because we have
seen some other person or celebrity of a similar age with a better physique
than ours, but inevitably in my case, the draw of the confectionary or the
pizza and beer, over-rides my desire to stay healthy. My body enjoys the sweet
taste of the sugar in the foods I enjoy, and it is doing a pretty good job at
forming my body shape!
We can also do
things such as abstaining from certain foods in the quest for a healthy
lifestyle, but we can easily over-write these protocols when we feel we
‘deserve’ to be treated. I did an 12 mile cycle ride with my ‘athletic’ friend
the other day, who on our return offered me a beer! We can put off things when
it doesn't suit our current situation, and pursue what we would prefer to do
instead.
There has been a
debate about whether ‘free will’ is an actual psychological condition or
whether there is in fact a hierarchy of behaviours that we rank in preference
over others, which we would call biological determinism. Both free-will and
determinism would work to explain our inability in keeping to the diet we made
in our new year’s resolution. Just as we can choose which plates we want to
keep spinning, we can choose which ones we will let drop. Scientists in the
pursuit of what motivates our desire are currently looking at whether or not we
have free will in making these types of choices at all.
I love the smell
of fish ‘n’ chips. I love the texture of the fluffy potato in the crispy shell
with the taste of the fried fats combined with the salt and vinegar; mixing this
with the battered, deep fried cod with its white flesh that has the taste of
the sea… it was once our number one fast food dish in the UK, but it has
largely been usurped from the top spot in the national menu by an Indian curry.
For me though, nothing can take away from the British seaside, my favourite cod
‘n’ chips wrapped in old newspaper, with liberal amounts of salt ‘n’ vinegar
steaming in your hands.
Unfortunately I
have found as I have got older, I cannot eat fish ‘n’ chips as often as I would
like because the saturated fats unsettle my stomach, but still, I eat it
anyway! We are exactly the same with many other things in our lives. I spend as
much time as possible, distancing myself from education and school-work when on
holiday, but it still manages to interrupt my relaxation in small ways. I went
to pick up my daughter from Southend Airport the other evening and met a fellow
teacher from the same school I work in. She was disappointed because her son’s
flight was delayed by an hour. I looked at her in horror when she said, “Well,
if I had known, I would have brought some planning with me!” This was 10pm on a
Sunday evening. The last thing I would be thinking of doing at that time of
night in my summer holiday was certainly not to complete the inevitable
planning I will need to do before September.
We are all wired
up completely differently it seems and yet some neuroscientists are publishing
papers to suggest they have begun to understand the complexity of the
sub-conscious mind. Subconsciously, I am always thinking and worrying about the
amount of preparation I need to do before returning to school in autumn, it
just doesn't become the forefront of my conscious thinking. It all comes down from the work that
scientists are doing on how our brain functions. Modern monitoring equipment
and brain scanning equipment can be used to build a graphical map of how the
neurons in the brain respond under different forms of stimulation. If you can
conduct a series of controlled tests to stimulate a level of responses in a
range of candidates, within controlled conditions, the data collected can be
correlated to help corroborate the science behind how we make decisions.
Some tests
suggest that in each of us, there is a degree of ‘sub-conscious’ activity in
the brain, that pre-determines how we are going to react before we consciously
realise our actions. The argument goes like this: You made the decision because
in your mind you had already sub-consciously decided how you will react before
giving the response you were going to make. So like in the electronic circuit,
all of the variables that you have crammed into the programming of your brain
are triggered when suitably stimulated by the various inputs you are exposed to.
This neuron activity then presupposes the action you want to take, so in
effect, tells you what to do and informs you how you ought to behave.
The conclusion
being, that we do not have free will to choose our actions, it just feels that
way. However, if we go back to the definition of the sub-conscious mind, this
is still our own reasoning and our own intellect at work. It’s just that what
we are asked to do is not always the focus of our attention at the point of
hearing the request made of us. It doesn't mean we haven’t already at some
point thought through how we would respond in certain decisions; we are
designed to think and to be thoughtful. We can function on many parallel lines
of reasoning to form a consensus that is translated into action. It is still me
doing the thinking. The more alert that my mind is to the multi-layered or
multi-faceted nature of human existence, the better I will be at functioning
within it.
The opposite of
free will is determinism – a state whereby the actions of our human nature are simply
causal. We make connections in our brain chemistry and within our environment
that is an inevitable conclusion to our social status and our education.
Neuroscientists would argue that we are somehow locked into a pathway that is
inevitable. The cause and the resultant ‘effect’s’ of this pathway, makes certain
situations fit patterns of behaviour that would result in stereotypical
behaviours that fit psychological and sociological patterns that are measurable…
we are just biological machines after all.
As Christians, we
believe that as human being’s, we are more than just a sentient being. Our
belief is that we are created for a purpose with free-will to choose what we
feel is right and proper for us to do. It creates a sense of purpose within our
humanity, and leaves us with a choice. A choice to follow what God would want
us to do and be, or a choice to follow our own more selfish ambition, however
altruistic it may be.
We treat many
mental health issues with a sense that the body and mind is a biological
machine, where we can deal with the miss-firing of neurons that causes the
imbalance in the brains bio-chemistry, with medication. We use medication to
control or block the misfiring neuron pathways to re-balance our brain
chemistry with varying degrees of success. In the past we have tried to re-set
this imbalance with electric shock treatments, heavy sedation and mental health
institutions. Today we are able to work with people in a way that integrates
them into society and its ‘normal’ patterns of behaviour through better
medication and counselling.
If I fancy fish
‘n’ chips because I have caught the aroma of them on the air, whether I am
hungry or not, my desire for the taste determines my ‘need’ for eating them. I
may not be hungry, but my desire for the taste, re-writes my reasoning
protocols so that I can satisfy my desire. My problem is that too much
saturated fat reacts with my digestion and can make me feel bloated and
unsettled. So in my deliberation, which is the stronger: my desire for being
sustained with a taste that I enjoy; or my realisation that too much, too often,
will make me feel unwell? Rationally, I would choose to eat fish ‘n’ chips in
moderation, perhaps as a treat; then the taste would remain special, and my
diet would be improved. Emotionally however, I crave the taste and flavour more
than I respect my body’s dietary requirements, so I become self-indulgent and
suffer the consequences later! Let’s hope that I don’t treat more serious
issues so casually…
There is a causal
connection between our brain chemistry and our actions. If we hold what we know
to be true or untrue of ourselves within our unconscious mind, when we need to
make a decision, that which dominates our subconscious, will determine the
course of any action we would pursue. For example, I always default leadership
within a group, to those I deem more worthy… I never consider myself to be ‘worthy’
of taking a lead unless someone with institutional authority puts me into that
role. I will always be at the back of the room for example, or feel inadequate in
joining an unfamiliar group full of strangers, because I doubt myself and what
I can offer others.
This brings to
mind a reflection of my attitude during our church ‘sports-day’. I am not a
sportsman and lack any sense of a competitive edge, much to my sporty son’s
dismay. My need to prove myself physically is only a small part of my nature,
perhaps due to my failure to perform well against my peers at such things in
the past. I enjoy my cycling and even enjoy running, which I keep telling
myself I ought to return to, but never do. So the motivational drivers to
attend the church sports day were very low. I convinced myself that I could at
least be sociable and perhaps sit and read my book.
So in a sense, I
predetermined the outcome of the occasion through my negative evaluation of the
experience I was likely to encounter. However, the Achilles’ heel to my plan is
my limited social-interaction skills. I do have a repertoire of polite
conversation starters, as we all do, but I am not the best at engaging people
beyond the ordinary. This is why relationships and making connections is so
important for our soul. The inevitable conclusion being that I had done my
usual thing of isolating myself from the competitors of the sports day and
those rushing around organising the event. I had relegated myself to an
also-ran; I was in attendance to show my support, but I made no significant
contribution.
In this place of
solitude, the enemy has his way with me. The voice in my head speaks to me in
that condescending tone that is both familiar and wearisome… “Look Roger, you don’t know how to interact
with these people and they have left you to yourself… what possible hope have
you got of being a church leader if you cannot even sustain these simple
friendships… look at how well they all get on with each other and how they
enjoy each other’s company, with you sat here on your own… look at all of those
young adults that you have excluded yourself from by your actions, typical
behaviour of yours to make yourself absent from their company… look at how much
fun they are having and look at you sat here – it’s not as if you are that
athletic of even ‘cool’ enough to spend time with them anyway… you have begun
to think positively about yourself and now look, you are back in that same
loathsome place!”
If I lived my
life by my nature, I would have a miserable existence – believing in the lies I
tell myself. If I doubt God’s truth for my life, I can be easily swayed by my
conflicted emotion - Thank God that faith is not based on emotion! If it were
so, my emotions would rob me of any sense of dignity from which I could pursue
the ambition that God has birthed in my soul. However, with my emotions still
raw from my internalised battle, I then encountered two more situations that would
trigger my self-doubt. I was talking with one person who happened to mention
that they had spoken at our churches homeless charity, the Storehouse, last
Sunday. Immediately, that competitive edge that I deny exists in me, raises its
voice inside my head and says – look, “Look,
he has been asked to speak about Jesus in the storehouse Sunday service, and
you haven’t.” This triggers again my self-doubt in a tsunami of emotions,
thoughts and feelings pushing me back into that place of feeling jealous and inadequate.
The simple matter
is that it wasn’t anything to do with the status of being asked to speak at a
Christian presentation, but rather what I think about myself. I want to serve
God in as many ways and opportunities that are created to do so. When I hear of
others doing what I would love to do, it isn’t really jealousy as that is just
my emotional response to what I have heard, but rather the yearning within me
to serve. I would love to be able to serve God in a full time capacity, and was
perhaps envious of the opportunity he had been given, to share how God has
worked through his life.
Of upmost
importance to me is that people don’t get the wrong idea and see me just as some
religious person, but rather as someone who loves God. If I am seen as a
religious person, then I have failed in my expression of love for the one who
saved me from myself. Was my attitude at the sports day indicative of the
person I had become? Was my distancing from the event a reflection of my
‘religious’ isolation? Am I not one in heart and mind with all believers?
All
the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned
was not their own, so they shared everything they had.
(Acts
4:32)
If my desire was
to serve myself, then I would be lying to myself in trying to convince myself
otherwise… my purpose is to serve God first, and in that have fellowship with
those who share my faith. What more of me therefore, do I need to relinquish in
order for the transforming work of the Holy Spirit to be revealed in my life?
In the book of Acts, I have always quizzed the story of Ananias and Sapphira in
chapter 5. Here is a man and his wife who have become Christians, and who have
committed themselves to serving the church community by selling their property
and giving the proceeds to the church leadership for distribution in the
community. Both die. They die because they withhold from God, that which is his
to use, and they lie about it.
But there was a certain man named Ananias who,
with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought
part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his
wife’s consent, he kept the rest. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let
Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the
money for yourself. The
property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it,
the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You
weren’t lying to us but to God!” As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell
to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some
young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked
her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,”
she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you
even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young
men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you
out, too.
(Acts
5: 1-9)
We do not know
what transpired before this event except for the implied statements that their
property and the proceeds from the sale was theirs to do as they willed. They
must have promised to offer the full amount of the sale in order for the
accusation that some of the profit was withheld from the community, being
levelled at them. It is clear that the incident was meant as a message for the
community to honour God with both their words and their actions.
So the question I
have to ask myself is, ‘Do I really want to do this stuff for God because if I
do, I will need to give it my all if I am serious about it.’ What price am I
willing to pay in order to serve him? God demands all of us, not a small percentage
reserved for when we want to feel religious –all of us. When I am willing to
lay down my desire and my self-will, then I am able to access what God wants
for me, and in so doing, recognise that what God wanted for me was in fact, the
best thing that could have happened.
“So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they
are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be
overthrown. But
if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find
yourselves fighting against God!”
(Acts 5: 38-39)
I was brought-up
by a controlling parent and therefore have a tendency to be submissive in
certain situations where there are more assertive individuals. It’s probably
what contributes to my lack of competitiveness. I always fear that I will not
be accepted by others who I deem to be far more socially connected than me. When
I have spoken out in public situations to champion something I have believed
in, my comments have not always been well received and I have made mistakes in
the past that I have had difficulty in reconciling with the conduct that was
expected of me. So these things all add-up to feed my negative self-image and feed
my reservations. Do these elements then add to my difficulties in making
decisions or in seeing things positively and with optimism?
Psychologists
would suggest that the negative feelings that I experienced, would be
suppressed within my subconscious and I would repress memories or trivialise
situations so as not to open-up old wounds. When life is hard and it feels as
though my decision making and my conduct have led to consequences that challenge
my core being, do I psychologically cycle-down into a ‘told-you-so mentality’,
or are there any reserves within me that can counter that challenge? How many
plates can I keep spinning before I lose control and my world crashes down
around my ears? The neuroscientists would probably suggest none. The causal
factors of my decision making and the pre-determination of my subconscious
thinking, would indicate that what would happen, was going to be: ‘To be, or
not to be? That is the question!’
To be, or not to be:
that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in
the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against
a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end
them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep
to say we end
The heart-ache and the
thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,
'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to
dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of
death what dreams may come?
When we have shuffled
off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause:
there's the respect
That makes calamity of
so long life;
For who would bear the
whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong,
the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised
love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office
and the spurns
That patient merit of
the unworthy takes,
When he himself might
his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who
would fardels bear?
To grunt and sweat under
a weary life,
But that the dread of
something after death,
The undiscovered country
from whose bourn
No traveller returns,
puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear
those ills we have
Than fly to others that
we know not of?
Thus conscience does make
cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue
of resolution
Is sickness o'er with
the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great
pith and moment
With this regard their
currents turn awry,
And lose the name of
action.
(William
Shakespeare: Hamlet 3/1)
I am not a great reader of Shakespeare, nor until I wrote this blog, have I ever read the full speech contained in this passage from Hamlet. I'm not even sure of all the terms in the old English used here, but I hope you have caught the intent. Here is a discourse of a man wrestling with the questions of life. Are we causal beings determined by our biological reasoning, or are we more than the sum of our parts?
Neuroscience may show us a picture of how our minds are alive with thought, reason and action, but to suggest that there is no ‘us’ in that reasoning, is to reject any notion that we are in fact sentient beings with the right to choose our own destiny and the imagination to believe in a better world. We all dream of what is to come within our present reality, and make plans for the future. Our free will to choose is governed by our ability to make rational decision in respect of, or indeed, in spite of, what had gone on before. Our free will helps us to lift ourselves out of what we have become and helps us to inform our choices in the direction we want to take.
If we relegate
our decision making to a set of pre-determined, sub-conscious pathways, we
could argue in law, that our misdemeanour's were not conscious decisions, but a
consequence of our bio-chemistry. The law does not cater for this type of logic
– ‘I couldn't help myself.’ The law exists because we have a moral code and
that society functions around an individual’s ability to exercise their
personal integrity in their dealings with those in the community. A breakdown
of these boundaries determines how we can make others responsible for their own
actions when comparing what they have done against a standard that we all share
in our community... the law of the land. Maybe this is why Ananias and Sapphira
were judged to be unworthy and punished for their misdeeds:
“Perhaps, denying
ones free will simply provide the ultimate excuse to behave as one likes.”
(Neuroscientists Vohs and Schooler 2008)
“Soon,
we must choose what is right, from that which is easy.”
(Professor
Dumbledore: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
It is in my
weakness that I realise that I can’t spin all of the plates and that in fact,
on reflection, I am tired of trying to keep them spinning. It is at these low
point, of which there are a great many in life, when I have expended all of my
energy, that my thoughts turn to how God could sustain me in life’s quest. When
I look at where I am placing all of my energies in trying to keep my life
going, I recognise that without Jesus in my life, it is in fact, all in vain.
Jesus tells it like this:
Can all your worries add a single
moment to your life? Of course not! And if worry can't do little things like that, what's
the use of worrying over bigger things? "Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't
work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as
beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are
here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so
little faith! And don't worry about food - what to eat and drink. Don't
worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but
your Father already knows your needs. He will give you all you need from day to
day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. "So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives
your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. "Sell what you have
and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And
the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe -- no
thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and
thoughts will also be.
(Luke 12: 24-34)
When we read what Jesus states
about our irrational fear and the security that can be found in him, it perhaps
indicates where Ananias and Sapphira went wrong. They were acting with
duplicity in that they were trying to secure their future by storing a small
sum of money for themselves, alongside the gift given to the apostles for use
in the church community. They perhaps were not certain of their faith in what
the apostles taught, by give everything away. In the natural we are all like
that, trying to preserve what we have, while covenanting a tithe to our local
churches. At this time though in the early church, the exercising of one’s faith
meant more than mere tokenism. This is exactly what Ananias and Sapphira were
being charged with. Their fate served as a warning to the rest of the assembled
apostles and new disciples, that this was a serious business.
When I look up from my self-pity
and gaze into the face of the one whose perfect love drives out all fear, I
start to live. As I sit in the presence of God and receive his love; a love
that is poured out for each one of us who have faith in the death of his son
Jesus; I think of my life now in the light of his glorious resurrection, and
find that I can be at one with myself and with the world. Oh yes, my old self
keeps getting in the way of this peace, but Jesus’ love goes on protecting me
because he cherishes my life more than he did his own. On the cross when he
cried: ‘It is finished!’ it was my life too and the person that I had become,
that was forgiven. The condemnation that I felt for the life I have lived ended
at the cross. His love wants to protect me from future harm and from the pain
of bad decisions, but he gives me free will to make that choice to believe in
this truth.
Do I choose to follow him, or do I
go back to my own way? I know that I should do what he wants me to do in my
subconscious thoughts, but my conscious self is so preoccupied with me and how
I feel, I miss the nuances of what Jesus has being trying to say. Who am I that
I can reject God so often and yet demand so much from him; to think that I am
worthy of such attention? But worthy I am. Jesus’ cousin John said he wasn't worthy so much as to untie the straps form the sandals on Jesus’ feet, a
servants job… yet we can sit with him at his table, and eat with him, share
with him, commune with him. We are made blameless and spotless in his sight but
we are reminded as we sit at his table that it wasn't without cost – Jesus paid
for us to be there with his life.
Jesus’ love has integrity and
honesty. He is not self-seeking, but speaks the words of his father. His love
is tempered with forgiveness and compassion. Who are we to go around telling
people what is right and what is wrong, just because we have glimpsed a lit bit
of God’s kingdom? Let God be the judge of the choices we make so that all can
enter into his grace and mercy. None of us is greater than the next; just as when
the disciples argued whether they would sit to the right or to the left of
Jesus. There is no hierarchy or significance in God’s kingdom – all those that
choose to follow him are accepted.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love
and good works. And
let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one
another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
(Hebrews 10: 24-25)
It
is because we are in a relationship with Jesus, that we can begin to make sense
of those things in our lives, which may have contributed to the decisions we
have made in the past. Jesus helps us to knock down our defences and loosen our
grip of those areas in our lives which are unedifying. The Holy Spirit fills us
with his presence so that we can be encouraged and comforted by him; he helps
us to care about the things that he places on our heart. When this relationship
is out-of-sync between what we choose to do, and what God’s will is for us, we
are going to appear dysfunctional. When our lives are in synergy with God’s
will for us through the consuming work of the Holy Spirit, then all goes well
with us. My purpose is not to be so in tune with my culture that it invades my
character and I lose my focus on God.
So
earlier, when I have spoken about my sense of loneliness and my perceptions of unworthiness
within my culture, God through the work of the Holy Spirit is able to banish
these emotions as he starts a new creation within my heart. When you start to
build a new building, you have to begin with the foundations. Recognising that
Jesus atones for my past mistakes,
releases me into this new foundation – a new beginning. No longer will I be the
unworthy ‘slave’ to my negative consciousness, but I will be released from that
which holds me captive.
Where
my old nature has made me reserved and a little conservative in my personality
and the forms of self-expression that I employ, he releases me from all of that…
I can’t hide behind my reserved British nature either! If I truly know the love
of Jesus in my heart and understand his truth then like Peter, I will tell
others of the love that has filled me with an inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8).
Prozac
may be prescribed today as society’s most popular medication in dealing with
depressing lives that we live, but it is not really going to be a substitute to
fulfilling society’s deeper longing. Only following the will of God will do that.
Medication can only have a placebo effect in comparison to what we can
experience as sons and daughters to the living God. Yes Prozac is a somewhat
powerful anti-depressant, used in the treatment of many with mental health
issues, but until we truly know God, our dependence on it is just a transition
to something better.
When
we first encounter God’s presence through the Holy Spirit and his sense of
justice and his compassion, it can be a painful experience like being in the
pangs of childbirth. No mum wants to remember the pain they experience in the birth
of their child, but the release of Joy, pure joy that comes from that maternal
bond, soon pushes aside any memory of the pain in favour of nurturing their new-born
child. Later on they might describe it as being the worst experience of their
life but yet, at the same time, the pain was a necessary part of something most
wonderful. This is the same Joy that we can find in our re-birth as sons and
daughters of the living God.
Joy
is often a transient emotion of something that makes us happy but which is gone
in a moment. If we are lucky enough to remember those moments in time when we
experience true joy, we learn to treasure these moments and store them in
memory. Having the Holy Spirit dwell in you makes you notice how much of this
world, God cares about. He fills you with joy because as you recognise your
sense of purpose in this world, you start to live life in partnership with the
God who cares deeply for what it is you are doing.
As
you regain your identity as a child of God and choose to live for him, it fills
him with joy. As in any relationship, when you learn to serve others, you learn
to love unconditionally; and you learn to bring the Kingdom of God down to the
Earth by your acts of kindness and your generosity – what greater task can
there be?
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing; fix your
thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and
admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep
putting into practice all you have learned and received from me—everything you
heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
(Philippians 4: 8-9)
