Posts tagged January 2012

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

A door that is not a door.

“The sages, it is often said, can see no answer to the riddle of religion.

But the trouble with our sages is not that they cannot see the answer; it is that they cannot even see the riddle.

They are like children so stupid as to notice nothing paradoxical in the playful assertion that a door is not a door.”  G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Knock, Knock.







…who’s there?

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to a door that is not a door.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The luminous darkness.

“In an appendix to a term paper, one of my students included the following in his description of his experience as a deep-sea diver:

“Enroute to the floor of the ocean the diver first passes through the ‘belt of fishes.’  This is a wide band of light reflected from the surface of the sea. 

From this area he moves to a depth of water that cannot be penetrated by light above the surface.  It is dark, forboding, and eerie. 

The diver’s immediate reaction is apt to be one of fear and sometimes a sudden spasm of panic that soon passes. 

As he drops deeper and deeper into the abyss, slowly his eyes begin to pick up the luminous quality of the darkness; what was fear is relaxed and he moves into the lower region with confidence and peculiar vision.”

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me
Even the night shall be light about me…”

The darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.  Psalm 139:11-12” 

Howard Thurman, The Luminous Darkness

 
…dive deep.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the luminous darkness.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

A kiss and not just a kiss.

“It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.”  Christian Nestell Bovee

…oxytocin promotes wound healing.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to a kiss and not just a kiss.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Being elbowed (by joy).

“For all sorts of mistakes are possible when you are dealing with Him.

Long ago, before we were married, H. was haunted all one morning as she went about her work with the obscure sense of God (so to speak) ‘at her elbow,’ demanding her attention.

And of course, not being a perfected saint, she had the feeling that it would be a question, as it usually is, of some unrepented sin or tedious duty.

At last she gave in - I know how one puts it off - and faced Him.

But the message was, ‘I want to give you something’ and instantly she entered into joy.”  C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

…demanding my attention.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to being elbowed (by joy).

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The year of the dragon.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Riddle me this.

“The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”  G.K. Chesterton, Introduction to ‘The Book of Job’

…when is a riddle more satisfying than a solution?

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to riddle me this.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Grow small like Alice.

“It does not make him look up and see marvels; for Alice must grow small if she is to be Alice in Wonderland.”  G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

…look up and see marvels.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to grow small like Alice.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Russian nesting dolls.

…in between.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to russian nesting dolls.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Dog (not cat) theology.

“There’s a joke about cats and dogs that conveys their differences perfectly.

A dog says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God.”

A cat says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God.”


This difference between cats and dogs is very similar to how Christian theology is being lived out today.

We call it “Dog Theology” and “Cat Theology.”  

Dogs say, “Lord, you love me, you bless me abundantly.  You gave your life for me.  You must be God.”

Whereas cats say, “Lord, you love me, You bless me abundantly.  You gave your life for me, I must be god.” ” Bob Sjorgren and Gerald Robison, Cat and Dog Theology

…man’s best friend.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to dog (not cat) theology.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

To mind what I say is mine.

“Even in the nursery a child can be taught to mean by ‘my teddy bear’ not the old imagined recipient of affection to whom it stands in a special relation (for that is what the Enemy will teach them to mean if we are not careful) but ‘the bear I can pull to pieces if I like.’

And at the other end of the scale, we have taught men to say ‘my God’ in a sense not really different from ‘my boots’, meaning ‘the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit from the pulpit - the God I have done a corner in’.

And all the time the joke is that the word ‘Mine’ in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything.

In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and specially of each man.

They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong - certainly not to them, whatever happens.

At the present the Enemy says ‘Mine’ of everything on the pedantic, legalistic groung that he made it:  Our Father hopes in the end to say ‘Mine’ of all things on the more realistic and dynamic ground of conquest.”  C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

…’my’ boots and ‘my’ bear?

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to mind what I say is mine.