...in the tough middle

If you will only let God guide you, and hope in Him through all your ways,

whatever comes, He’ll stand beside you, to bear you through the evil days;

who trusts in God’s unchanging love builds on the Rock that cannot move.

---Georg Neumark, 1657

            “Gray skies are gonna clear up! Put on a happy face!

            Brush off the clouds and cheer up! Put on a happy face!”

Penned by lyricist Lee Adams for the mod musical Bye Bye Birdie, these upbeat lyrics spread a ‘feel-good gospel’—just smile, because life is gonna be all rainbows and flower gardens. Good things happen to good people! You attract what you resemble! …and, by implication, if life is not so good, you must be doing it wrong.

Well, friends, this hymn, 460 years old this year, calms me considerably. Because frankly, what I just described isn’t my life, not every day. Some days, my smile may be a little forced, or absent altogether. Some days, my happy face may be grimy with struggle, or streaked with tears. And on those days? On those days, the last thing I need is the added guilt of believing that my struggle is proof of my failure to live right, proof of my lack of faith.

This life, with our good God, is not lived above the fray, but in its midst—in the grimy, scary, tough middle. What promise, what comfort, then, that we don’t make our way through these days alone, but in the company of God beside us. What better place to pitch our tent than on the solid rock of the abiding love of God.

Life shifts and changes, but the love of God…it is the unchanging presence on which we stand.

...to not see

Teach me your way, O Lord, teach me your way!

your guiding grace afford, teach me your way!

Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight;

lead me with heavenly light, teach me your way.

---B. Mansell Ramsey, 1919

More by faith, less by sight. Is there anything we humans like less than not seeing? Whether it is a fear of the dark, the panic of a blindfold, or the frustration of low vision or driving through a pounding rainstorm, not seeing can leave us feeling helpless, and hopeless. Yet in scripture we are instructed to ‘walk by faith and not by sight.’ Could anything take us out of our comfort zone faster?

How might our lives change if we walked less by sight and more by faith? Would our decision-making process change? What judgements might we forgo, or at least suspend?  Would we experience others’ needs and problems in a different light? Would our dependence on God make us weak…or would it make us strong?

...like you-hu-hu

Gracious Spirit, dwell with me, I would gracious be;

help me now Thy grace to see, I would be like Thee;

and, with words that help and heal, Thy life would mine reveal;

and, with actions bold and meek, for Christ my Savior speak.

---Thomas Toke Lynch, 1855

One of my favorite movies as a child was Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book. A soundtrack highlight for me was the scat jazz ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, sung by the masterful Louis Prima and penned by Richard and Robert Sherman. In the chorus, King Louie sings,

            Oh, ooh-bee-doo, I wanna be like you-hu-hu,

            I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too…

Now, in the movie, King Louie had his own reasons for wanting to be like Mowgli. But I thought about this song when I read this verse of today’s hymn for the upcoming observance of Children’s Sabbath at our church.

I thought of it because, as a follower of Jesus, there is nothing I want more than to be like Jesus. I want to walk ( and live) in the way of Jesus; I want to talk (and love) in the way of Jesus. ‘I would gracious be;’ I want to live my whole life letting my words, my actions, my intentions be motivated and guided by the gift of love that has surrounded me from birth.

How will I live if I know that I am representing Jesus to the world? I want Jesus to speak through my life by my actions, bold in love and meek when honoring others. I want to show Jesus’ life in mine, through words that help and heal, in a world where words often tear down and injure, or where silence causes wounds of its own.

Gracious spirit, dwell with me, I would gracious be…

I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too…

...reckless in giving

Take whatever I can offer --- gifts that I have yet to find,

Skills that I am slow to sharpen, talents of the hand and mind,

Things made beautiful for others in the place where I must be;

Take my gifts and let me love You, God who first of all loved me.

---Shirley Erena Murray, 1992

Offering. Giving. $$$. If we are honest, many of us equate “giving” and “offering” with dollars. And there is no doubt about it --- the challenges of the world need your dollars, and mine. But what intangibles do you command that could make this world a better place? What of your own essence can you offer to God?

Is there a skill you can offer? Some expertise you can bring to a situation? What talent could you bring? Could you make the world a more beautiful place with your art, your music? Could you give voice to those without? Shirley Erena Murray, a New Zealand hymnist, imagines offering gifts and skills still “in development” to God; gifts we are still discovering can be offered in trust to God. Can we be reckless in our giving to God, offering up still unformed parts of ourselves in the assurance that utility, even beauty, can be shaped from them? Do we trust God to honor our gifts offered in love?

God. Who first of all loved us.