Feed and nourish your soul with high notions of God

I have been reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.

He was a catholic Lay Brother among the barefooted Carmelites at Paris in the 17th century.

The book consists of letters he wrote and conversations he had with M. Beaufort, Grand Vicar to M. de Chalons, formerly Cardinal de Noailles.

Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

I heard about Brother Lawrence three years ago, when a friend of mine was reading this same book.

She was very impressed with his idea of constant prayer and conversation with God.

I felt inspired by it also, and when I finally was able to buy the book, I was very excited.

I feel that God has given me an urge to commune with Him, a need for prayer and His word.
 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

And I find this wonderful; it is what I have been praying for.

At the same time I feel afraid, because I have learned that everything has two sides.

This year’s word for me, what I felt that God gave to my heart, is joyful.

This is a joyful year, a year that will fill my heart with joy.

You who love the LORD, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his holy ones. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Psalm 97:10

But it will be a year filled with sorrow also, with fear and trepidation, with desperation.

Because how could I feel joy in the Lord if there would be anything else left for me in the world.

Brother Lawrence writes that "we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD'S Presence, by continually conversing with Him".

If we will not learn to eat the only food that the universe grows... then we must starve eternally. C. S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain

Am I really able to quiet my thoughts and talk with God, even when my heart is in turmoil and my mind is upside down?

When I feel betrayed by a friend I trusted?

Can I really trust God, even when I know that the people aren't trustworthy?

"We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of GOD; which should yield us great joy in being devoted to Him", says Brother Lawrence.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye belive in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

People fail, the world isn't perfect, even the people you loved and trusted and believed to return your feelings, can and will hurt you.

But I must fill my soul with high notions of God, with His perfection, because this will bring me joy, this will make my life joyful.

According to Brother Lawrence "we ought to quicken, i.e., to enliven, our faith", and I believe it.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

If I just concentrate on God's majesty, His beautiful presence and His loving grace, I will understand that all the earth and all the people live under sin.

We are all imperfect; I should not demand from others what I cannot do myself.

I cannot make myself sinless, I cannot make myself truthful and trustworthy, I cannot even make myself to do what I know is good for myself.

I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth: for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all. Psalm 138:2

So, how can I expect it from others?

How can I demand them to do what is impossible for me?

And then reprimand them for not living up to my high standards, standards that I fail every day.

"We ought to give ourselves up to GOD, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will, whether he lead us by suffering or by consolation, for all would lie equal to a soul truly resigned" teaches Brother Lawrence.

We poison the wine as He decants it into us; murder a melody He would play with us as the instrument... Hence all sin, whatever else it is, is sacriledge. C. S. Lewis in Letters to Malcolm

It is good to give, because we clutter our lives and souls with so much unnecessary.

It is good to give up, because we hang on to things that are damaging to us and when we let go, we set ourselves free.

It is good to forgive, because that way we can forgive ourselves and finally be free from the chain of regrets and remorse.

It is good to suffer, because then you will learn what really matters and Who really matters.

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Menestra de lenteja - Ecuadorian lentil stew

One of the foods I have learned to love in Ecuador is lentils.

I never had lentils when I was growing up.

It just isn't very common food in Finland.

At first, I was very wary, and wondered if it even is edible.

But menestra de lentejas, or lentil stew, managed to change my mind and make me a lentil lover.

Lentils have a lot of different memories packed in them.

I ate them first in Ibarra, my Ecuadorian birthplace, but later on I learned to eat them again in Manta, at the Pacific Coast.

Lentils are very important in Manabí, the province where Manta is located, and they especially eat lentils stew, menestra.

You can get it throughout the whole coastal line with fish, shrimps or any other seafood in any form.

But in Manabí you eat lentil stew with barbequed meat or chicken.

It can be a T-bone steak or pork chops or chicken breast but it's barbequed, full of grease and absolutely, incredibly delicious.

On the side there is always rice (if there is no rice it's not food, is the common opinion in Ecuador, they even eat the spaghetti with rice), fried plantain bananas and a salad.

When I eat my menestra like this it makes me remember the intense heat, the sound of the waves and the salt in the air.

I can actually hear the seagulls screaming and imagine how refreshing a plunge in the sea will feel later on.

Or maybe I'll just take a stroll on the beach and enjoy the beautiful view.

I hope you'll enjoy your lentils as much as I do.

You'll need:

Lentils (dried ones)

Water

Salt

Maggi (this is a must in Ecuador, but you can use another form of flavoring)

Tomatoes

Onions

Green Bell peppers

Garlic

Fresh Coriander branch

Canola oil

Boil the lentils in the water. Do not add anything else. Let them boil until they start to open.

Fry the vegetable in the canola oil.

If you use bell peppers you need to pass them in a blender but if you don't use bell peppers you can put them straight with the lentils.

Put the vegetables together with the lentils, put the fresh coriander branch there also, and let them boil until the lentils are soft and there isn't much water left.

A tip: When you are boiling the lentils, take out the foam from the surface. That way the stew will be even more delicious.

This is super easy to do!

Now you can enjoy it with fried bananas, barbequed meat and avocado.

Activities

Today we are starting the tenth or elevent teacher training with our Special Education teachers here in Tena.

Even though there has been a lot of hard work and studying, there has been fun moments also.

Part of our program is to let the teachers experience the activities that they are to perform with the students.

We want to be as practical as possible.

So, here are some pictures from the very first teacher training we had with them in October 2011.

Fine motor skills with different activities and materials.

Muscular strenght for lips, tongue and mouth, and pulmonary strenght for the language development.

Which moral law to choose?

“The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There's not one of them which won't make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it isn't. If you leave out justice you'll find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity,' and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity

How can you tell if one moral law is better than another?

According to Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary Moral law is “a general rule of right living; esp:  such a rule or group of rules conceived as universal and unchanging and as having the sanction of God's will, of conscience, of man's moral nature, or of natural justice as revealed to human reason”.

In totalitarian system one person or party dictates the moral law. The moral law may be based on what is useful and what is not. In this kind of system, the moral law may accept the slavery or euthanasia, because they are useful to the society in general.

C. S. Lewis asks “When you think about these differences between the morality of one people and another, do you think that the morality of one people is even better or worse than that of another? Have any of the changes been improvements? If not, then of course there could never be any moral progress. Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better”.

So, how can we tell our, or my, moral law is better than someone else’s?

I can say, my moral law is better because it respects the human rights. But the human rights are just a set of moral laws, done by people.

The other person may as well say, my moral laws are better because larger portion of people are happier and wealthier. There is a small portion of people that must suffer or even die, but it is for common good, not for anyone’s personal gain.

Is moral law just democracy? The idea that has most of the people voting it wins. It is the new moral law.

 

According to C. S. Lewis “The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others”.

Now, if you believe in relativity. Everything is relative, there is no absolute truth. There can neither be an absolute moral law. Many people claim that this will lead to less injustice. Because people no longer need to fight about who is right and who is wrong.

People don’t need to fight about it. That is true.

But it is also true that they keep fighting.

To quote C. S. Lewis (again) “It begins to look as if we shall have to admit that there is more than one kind of reality; that, in this particular case, there is something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior, and yet quite definitely real – a real law, which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us”.

If you find this post interesting and want to know more you should read the other posts of this on-going series.

To begin, read Natural law. A post about the law we all have in our hearts.

If you want to know more about Moral law, the post before this one talks about it.

If you agree we need to choose a moral law, maybe you'll agree that We need God.

Thought for today

Saturday Book Review

Days of Diamonds by Bill Kraski

Days of Diamonds is a 14 day monthly devotional ebook by blogger and author Bill Kraski. The book begins at the beginning of the year and follows us through the first two weeks of the year. Every day has its own Bible verse and devotional, there is also a prayer thought for every day.

I have been following Bill's blog for a while and knew his wisdom and love for Christ. I had high expectations for his devotionals. The books has been everything I expected and more. It has made my morning devotionals more beautiful and profound. The Bible verses are well chosen and thought through, the devotionals are made to bring you closer to God and the Truth. And the prayer thought concentrates it all so you can commune with God the thoughts that were risen from your heart.

One of my favorites were Day 4 with thoughts on our seek to be new men at the beginning of the year. The praeyr thought for the day is for God "to show us what He made us, originally". Another favorite of mine, and something I actually highlighted so I could blog about it later on, was Day 5 with a text from Proverbs.

The devotional is short but profound, it touched my heart and made me yearn even more closeness with God. There is such beauty in burning the unnecessary and purifying yourself as a sacrifice to God.

Another amazing feature was Bill's posts in his blog. He followed through the theme during the whole month and helped us even deeper to the love of God. Purifying and polishing ourselves and our faith like Diamonds, a perfect gift to offer to God.

About Bill Kraski:

Bill Kraski is a graduate of Maryland Bible Collage and Seminary and Upsala Collage, with degrees in Church Ministries and Business Administration.

Mr. Kraski has been an active part of the Pastoral Care department at Greater Grace World Outreach church. As well, he has been a leader of evangelistic outreach teams in Maryland and a jail outreach in Massachusetts.

You can find Bill Kraski's in Amazon also, in his author page.

You can find Bill Kraski at his blog Bill's Musings, where he explores the Word of God, how it makes life better, and leadership subjects.

I highly recomend bying this book. I bought this ebook myself and did not get any kind of reward from reviewing it.

Best of all, Bill has a new devotianal ebook for February that you can get from Amazon for a very reasonable price. The ebook is called Love's Red Sardius and you can also get it from Amazon. I already got mine, now go get yours :)

499 Jumalan kämmenellä

Pirkko Halonen 1968

1. Jumalan kämmenellä ei pelkää lintunen, Jumalan kämmenellä ei pelkää ihminen. Kaikille tilaa riittää, kaikille paikkoja on. Jumalan kämmenellä ei kukaan ole turvaton. 2. Jumala meitä kutsuu nyt suojaan turvaisaan. Jumala meitä kutsuu ja kantaa voimallaan. Milloinkaan ei hän hylkää, lastensa kanssa hän on. Jumalan kämmenellä ei kukaan ole turvaton.

Pirkko Halonen 1968 (säk. 1), 1984 (säk. 2). Virsikirjaan 1986.