He Gave Them Power

Matthew 10:1

And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

 

I’m diseased.  That is, I have a genetic motorneuron disease that has rendered my muscles weak as waste, mostly useless, crumpled me up and left me totally physically dependent on others for my everyday needs.  I can’t eat unless somebody puts food directly into my mouth.

 

I’m also a Christian.  I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I attend Church every week, pray every day, help people in need as best as I can and share my faith with others.  My faith prompts me to give witness to the power of Christ – and yet this man whom I profess to be God Incarnate, whom I know to be a healer of sickness and disease while he was upon this earth, this Christ I adore has not healed me of my disease.  I have faith and am a good girl – and still I sit in my wheelchair.  How do I reconcile that?  How do I justify that?

 

I don’t.

 

Because I love Christ, I’m not a person who needs scientific proof for everything in life.  I don’t live on the surface of things and my identity is not caught up solely in my physicality.  And, unlike when Jesus of Nazareth walked upon the earth as the seemingly ordinary son of a carpenter, I live in a time when his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead has already happened.  His true identity has already been recognized and proclaimed – and I believe in Him.  I don’t need fanfare to get me to the show.  I don’t need sugar in order to do the right thing.

 

I live here, part of the terrible beauty of God’s complex Creation and I see both the beauty and the terror of what God has made… of what God has given.  We are, indeed, “fearfully and wonderfully made.”[1]  I am a creature of body and soul, made in the image and likeness of God, sanctified by the Incarnation of Christ and born anew through him by his Blood.  God’s body, Christ’s body, was and is important in intimately and infinitely uniting God and Man, in yielding forth at-one-ment and making manifest true love.  My own body is important because through it I can particularly marvel at the glorious splendor of God’s power in all the universe… My body is important because with it I can sooth the distressed and heal the afflicted and nurse the developing… My body is important because in it I experience what it is to love and to be loved as a free willed human being with the ability to reflect the divine.  My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Power of the Most High, and I care for myself, physically and spiritually, because I am one of God’s precious Creations and, through me, God acts upon the Earth.  What does it matter if my legs cannot walk so long as I dance with joy?  What does it matter if my breathing is labored and weakening so long as I sing with love?  Sure, it would be nice to be able to walk and to be physically strong, but I don’t need an obvious miracle to heal me.  I’m already healed.

Christina Chase

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[1] Psalm 139:14

Ready Always

1 Peter 3:15

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

 

Why do I believe in God?  Why do I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

 

I don’t believe out of fear.  For the whole of my life, I’ve never wanted to be a fool, to think that I was right about something and then find out that I was wrong.  I want the truth.  I always have and I always will.  That was why I became an atheist.  The idea of God seemed so obviously made up by human beings that I couldn’t think of continuing to try to have faith – unless I was afraid.  Was it fear that led me to want to believe in God?  The only way to find out was to give into my doubts, to give all of my skepticism sway and deny the very existence of God.  After I was sure that I had rid myself of all habits and tendencies toward belief in the supernatural, I discovered that I wasn’t afraid.  The fear of death and dying did not cripple my happiness, nor did the fear of living a puny and meaningless life take away my appreciation for life itself.  I would make up my own happiness and my own meaning – and that would be enough.  I didn’t need faith in God.  And I didn’t want faith in God.
 

But, then, everything changed.  Well, nothing changed in reality.  I simply became aware of the fullness of reality – simply and profoundly.  Infinity and eternity are real… the infinite and eternal Source is actual… and this is Present Presence beyond all telling, beyond words and images, beyond imagining.  I didn’t invent this.  We didn’t make up Absolute Being – It is.  Though I didn’t want this knowledge and fought against it, I couldn’t deny – without being a fool – that that which we call God is real, is true.  The truth is the truth.  One can’t run away from one’s feet.  That’s why I know that God exists.  Because I just know.  And the reason that I believe in God is that I love… I love life, always have and always will, with or without the knowledge of God’s existence – and so I know, I know that The Infinite/Eternal One who is the Author of Life is the Author of that which draws my love… Draws me, in creating me and in calling me toward.  So, “credo” – I give my heart, I believe in God.

 

I did not come to faith in Jesus Christ by knowing with certainty that Jesus of Nazareth is God Incarnate.  My knowledge of Jesus as the God-Man is not the undeniable kind of knowledge like I had when I discovered that “the ultimate reality that everyone calls God” exists.  There was a risk that becoming a Christian would make me a fool – I could be wrong about the Nazarene.  But… Just as contemplating silence had filled me with the awareness of the awesome Presence of God, truly “fear of the Lord”, so, too, contemplating the humility of God, most clearly expressed, manifested, in the Mystery of the Incarnation, yielded forth in me the same awe, the same “fear”.  It is not a fear to make one tremble in anxiety over one’s safety, rather it is a fear to make one tremble in awakening to one’s true reality in the mind of God.  Hard to explain… Anyhow, I freely chose to take the leap of faith.  “Credo”, I give my heart – I believe in Jesus Christ.  

 

The more that I learn about Christ, the more that I come to know Him by sharing my life, myself, with Him, the more that I discover that Christ is.  Always and everywhere is the Son of God, the Divine Word – Who was made flesh for my infinite and eternal joy.  God becomes a human being and sanctifies humankind – God believes in me, the Sacred Heart is given to me, and I am received within the Love that draws me.  I am fully and truly myself in the beautiful leap, in the faith, in the giving of my heart, my core, my soul, my whole and very being to Absolute Being Who is Love, to the One Who IS.

Christina Chase

 

It Is Done

Revelation 21:6

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Everything.

The Apostles’ Creed contains the words “holy catholic Church” – and here the word “catholic” is with a small “c” and means universal, or throughout the whole world.  It came to be a word to describe the Church begun by Jesus Christ and his followers, for this church, even in its first centuries, was not limited by geographical region, language, or culture.  People of varying religious practices left their ancient traditions in order to follow the way of Jesus Christ.  With each century, this “new” church gained more followers and spread across the globe.  Now, in our time, the word “Catholic” is most immediately associated with one very large population of Christians sharing the same beliefs and practicing the faith through various rites – the main ones being Roman, Antiochian, Alexandrian, and Byzantine – gathering together in acceptance of the Bishop of Rome as the first among equals.

I like the first usage of the word “catholic” – and I like it as it applies to Christianity.  The sense of universality is essential to the Christian mission, for Christ told His apostles to “go forth and make disciples of all nations”.  We do not believe that Jesus Christ is meant to be Savior for only a chosen few, but, rather, for the many, the multitude.  For He is God, and God assumed human nature – He became one of us and dwelt among us and, thereby, intimately sanctified the whole human race.  His Sacrifice on the Cross for forgiveness of sins is for everybody, as is His Resurrection and promise of Eternal Life – though not everybody may choose to accept this divine gift of love.  This is what we believe.

 

Following the theology of Catholic Christianity, we also see that this gift of salvation is not only received by those who clearly profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with their words and their lives, but also received by those who may not particularly profess the articles of Christian faith – but who do profess, in an unspoken and un-intellectualized way, the Christian faith through the goodness of their hearts and their sincere lives of true love.  For Christ is goodness itself, truth itself, love itself.  All who thirst for righteousness thirst for Christ – and all who humbly and willingly practice virtue live a Christlike life.  And so here is another sense of Christian Catholic – it is of Christ being throughout the whole world and the aim of universal holiness.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; all have their ultimate source and final end in Him.

 

For me, there is another way that I understand Catholicism, one that I very much want to keep in mind always.  Everything is embraced by the Christian faith – everything is embraced by my faith.  There is no subject of which we can speak that has “nothing to do with God”.  We may try to keep our thoughts of God or talk of God separate from our everyday lives, our work, our social gatherings, our “downtime”.  But God is inescapable.  And this doesn’t mean that I should be saying Hail Marys every minute of the day, or careful to keep a pious expression on my face at every turn – this means that even when I am not directly thinking about God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, God is thinking about me.  And though I think that I may be doing something for myself, or even something for others that is purely secular, what I do, everything that I do, has an effect on Eternity – and what I do, everything that I do, is always and everywhere influenced by God.  For nothing would exist without Him.  All life, all existence, would cease if God was actually out of the picture.  We can ignore, forget or outright reject or deny – but God is.

 

And, so, it is good to have lunch with friends and talk about football or the price of gasoline.  It is good to run through fields of wildflowers and laugh like children.  It is good to watch a funny movie with a bowl of popcorn or go dancing with a date.  It is good to work hard crunching numbers, making presentations, or digging ditches.  And it is good to sleep.  And we will not be thinking about Christ every moment as we are doing these things – not directly.  But, whenever we experience true love, true joy, true selflessness, true sacrifice, true beauty, or true delight, we are experiencing Christ.  To have this knowledge, to have this faith, is to drink freely from the fountain of life.  It is right and just to acknowledge Christ in all that is good, so we must not be afraid to openly profess our faith to others and to speak intimately our gratitude to God in hearts full of prayer.  Praying doesn’t always have words.  I’ve often said that I am not a good pray-er.  Hopefully, though, I am, in the living of my life, a good prayer.  Thanks be to God!  And to God goes all the glory!  “The glory of God is Man fully alive”[i]… When we truly live, as Christ truly lived and lives, God is glorified.  It is fulfilled.

Christina Chase

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[i] St. Irenaeus

I Stand at the Door

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

I stand at the door,

ready and willing,

with all that I have and all that I am,

waiting for the one who has heard my knocking,

wondering if any can hear.

No human has told me to come hither,

nor is encouraging me to stay in this place…

Yet, here I am, eager for the answer,

willing the door to open to a welcoming face.

I have no where else to be,

no weighty matter pressing heavily upon me

to burst wide what is closed;

I have knocked and am waiting,

with the full presence of my being,

eager to give, eager to be received;

Whoever answers will be filled with my love

as I will pour my whole spirit into the one…

But, as yet, I am just waiting,

breathless, alive with vibrant alertness,

for the one who will open the door.

 

What transpires on the other side is out of my control:

Forgetful, neglectful or deafened by noise,

beleaguered, dismissive, or hardened of heart;

willing but weak, wanting but fearful;

my knock is my own and I cannot do otherwise,

for solely in freedom can a response be given –

the pure heart of the one is the only key.

 

So, I stand at the door,

ready and willing,

with all that I have and all that I am

for the one who hears and opens to me.

 

 

(Many men starve, shut out,

when knockings go unheard…

Some are those who have knocked –

but most are those who didn’t hear

and turned away toward their doom.)

Christina Chase

I Will Build My Church

Matthew 16:18-19

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

A church is an assembly of people.  Christ’s church is the assembly of people who believe in Him and choose to follow and serve Him.  The building of this Church is the assembling of the people – and just as any building needs a strong foundation in order to be structurally sound and secure, this assembling of people also needs a foundation, and the foundation is faith.  It is true faith in Christ that makes a person a member of Christ’s church – a willingness to surrender to God, a trust in God’s love, and a giving over of oneself to God’s Holy Will.  Love… if we love as Christ loves us, then we are gathered together by the Holy Spirit within His church.  Love and mercy are the keys to the Kingdom against which hate and destruction will never prevail.

 

Jesus’s disciple Simon, the fisherman, was an ordinary man who recognized Jesus as the Christ.  He knew his own unworthiness, but was eager to follow Jesus anywhere.  He knew that life everlasting was not to be found elsewhere, but only through Christ Jesus.  And he spoke up about it.  He was not reticent.  And when he realized that he did the one thing that he said he would never do, deny Christ, he was painfully and sorrowfully repentant – but he did not lose faith, he did not lose trust in Christ’s mercy, in divine love.  Jesus knew this man, Simon, loved him truly and He gave him a new name: Peter, which means rock.  For if you’re going to build something, what better foundation than one of rock – and knowing the true depth of who Simon was, Jesus saw in him this rock that was needed, He saw Peter.  In naming Simon Peter He promised that the forces of hell would not overtake His followers.  In naming Simon Peter He gave to him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: merciful love – to speak up forthrightly about what is truly hurtful to humankind and to compassionately release human beings from those painful chains through the Sacred Mysteries of Christ.  Simon Peter is the model of how Christ’s church is to stand.  And through the centuries, the assembling of Christ’s people, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has found structural strength and integrity through the continuing role of Peter by those who faithfully sit in his chair.

Christ is the bedrock.  He took Simon and made him into rock, into Peter, to become the secure, earthly base from which all those who believe in Christ freely rise to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Let none of us lose faith in salvation; let none of us lose faith in divine love; let none of us lose trust in Christ; and may all of us who love Christ practice wisdom and compassion and build up the assembling of His people.

Christina Chase

Commending Ourselves to Every Man's Conscience

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

1.    Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2.    But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 

If I present myself wholly to you, will you be kind?  If I am disarmed of every pretense, every protection, every barb, if I am stripped naked of all falsity, if I, fully vulnerable, in full knowledge of my vulnerability, am willing, ready and eager to give myself wholly in unabashed generosity, will you be open to receive?  Or will you stand there in front of me, affronted by my total lack of self-defense, my utter absence of craft or guile, and deny me acceptance into your razor guarded mind and your scarred and shrinking heart?

 

I am as tender as a bramble berry plucked from its vine, to be gladly taken in or to be so easily bruised and crushed.  I am as gentle as a tear that slips down raptured cheek, for mercy is my food and mercy is my word.  I am permeated all through with life pure and clean, I am held by life infinite and eternal, which is perfect love.  I have no need for a shell, no desire for a safeguard; I am here and I am real and I am altogether present, nothing but truth in all that I am.  I am true, I am truth.  Will you not know me?  I hear the secret beating of your heart, I see your inner nature, I feel the weight of your existence in the world, and all that I know is love for you.  I am dependent on mercy and I live it, suspended in the deep of the womb.  And you will not look into my eyes, and you will not listen to me speak, and you will not deign to feel my breath, because you will not recognize me, you will not admit truth into your survival.  You will deem me worthless and undesirable because I come to you so small, so contemptible in the ways of the world.

If you were honest and true, without manipulation or guile, if you’d always lived in a garden and never known the serpent’s bite, if the world was free of cruelty and pain, perhaps, then, you wouldn’t stand there affronted, so much grounded in yourself; perhaps, then you would be merciful and receive love… But, then, in that perfect scenario, there would be no need for mercy.  I wouldn’t be disarmed and stripped in order to open and heal your heart.  You would already know that I am there.  And you would love me too.

Christina Chase

Receive the Things Done

2 Corinthians 5:9-11

Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

 

A flame appears, in a spark and flourish, burns for its hour and then is seen no more.  From where did it come and where did it go?  While it was burning, did it light some darkened corner, warm some shivering being, or singe whatever it touched?  Was it’s spreading the kind that destroys everything in its path, or was it gentle and multiplying, like the sharing of seeds with each year’s flower?  (For one sun’s setting brings other suns to sight, and these little stars increase, in number and in brilliance, even as the first Sun turns itself to night.)  Or did the flame never spread, but kept itself isolated and self-contained even though other shadows needed to be brightened and other creatures needed its heat? 

 

The Spark of Life is the Keeper of the Flame and the smoke rises ever to Him.  How sweet is the cloud, how wondrous the rising, depends on how well the fire gave of its flame.  For what is sweet and plentiful will be rekindled, while what is acrid or meager will know only its waste, its shame.

Christina Chase

 

 

Choke

Mark 4:18-19

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

 

Crowded.

My mind holds images from thirty-nine years:

memories of sights and sounds,

tastes and smells, and textures that still haunt my imagined skin;

And my imagination multiplies the sensory traces,

over populating drawers and dustbins of neuronal storage

with things that were and were not, that could be and could not;

When I slip through the pensive portal, I trip and wander,

I get lost in the piles where, sometimes, I slide in

and, in climbing out again, a cascade covers me once more –

shaking my head to loose my mind from the brain tentacles,

I hear the still, small voice of my heart asking:

What do I want?  What am I after?  Why am I here?

 

A gift of seeds flung wide upon a plot of earth in waiting,

until day and night, sun and rain and inner calling

uncover the sprouting of a myriad of plants;

some thin and delicate with curling tendrils,

some broad and rough with jagged edge,

all green and growing, all striving for fulfillment,

though not all intended, not all in pursuit of the diviners purpose;

The hoped-for bloom as best they can, yielding forth their fruit of beauty,

but fainting as they try to find the light in the jungle,

to give their nectar and bear their seed for continued grace;

they are overcrowded, ghostly versions of intention,

rhyme overindulged and swamped without reason

and reason barren and wasted without rhyme.

 

A strawberry raised from its sleepy bed

by the innocent fingers of a little boy who loves.

The love gift is given to a well pleased mother

who eats the strawberry with noises of joy.

And then another gift milked from green, earthen utter

and given up as a heart within the hand.

Met with approval, the berry is put aside

and the little hand is taken to run and catch the next thing planned.

The one who received is busy and mindful

of daily doings and showing off clean hands to the world.

While staged acts of bravery are performed beneath spotlights

and audience applause feeds egos in training,

The strawberry ripe and ready for giving

waits patiently for someone to take it in.

The raining of clouds, the burning of sun,

cannot absorb the goodness within;

The ants and the day flies eat the sugar,

but no one comes to eat the love,

To eat the wealth of life juicing from beauty,

beauty of love that gives itself away.

 

Christina Chase

False Prophets

1 John 4:1

 

Most beloved, do not be willing to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God.  For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

 

Sheryl Crow sings out, “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”  And we of mainstream living live out this credo, taking it as gospel – but, maybe it’s not true.

                                                            

What is happiness?  Too often, we equate it with pleasure, with mere feelings like the satisfaction of a full belly or the excitement of a thrill.  Something in our bodies tells us that this is good and we pursue this kind of happiness as the ultimate good.  Perhaps we live decent lives, but, then, our children who should be a source of pride and joy have extra needs and become a drain on our physical, financial, and emotional resources; our partners stop complementing us or paying us the attention that our egos crave and we and our partners lapse into meanness; our jobs, the way that we support our families, becomes tediously boring; or we simply become tired of not exploring the pleasures of the world, of not getting thrilled, of merely doing what is expected of us without any feeling of satisfaction.  Then we believe the voices in the world that tell us that we shouldn’t be living this way – that these lives of heartaches, thrill-less relationships, thankless work and sacrifice, are weighing us down and keeping us from true fulfillment and happiness.

 

One very loud voice in the world is telling us that we should look sexier – diet, exercise, new style, new clothing, even cosmetic surgery, will give us sex appeal and make us feel better about ourselves – and then we will be happy.  Another loud voice tells us that the vastness of the world should not be left unexplored, that there are exciting and fulfilling adventures waiting for us if we will just hop in the car for a road trip, go on a cruise, travel abroad to foreign lands and collect memories along with our photographs and souvenirs, with the chance that we will meet a new and exciting love interest or learn some foreign secret to happiness.  Fame and fortune have always been loud, twinned voices, calling out from the world – our own culture makes celebrities out of shallow people who are willing to humiliate themselves on television, extolling the self-centered and ridiculous as people worth watching, worth spending time with, worth knowing more about (Jersey Shore and The Kardashians come to mind) while continually showcasing the fun and amusement to be had through decadent spending of lavish amounts of money.

 

There is another voice trying to gain popularity, one that returns thoughts to the simple pleasures of childhood – running through sprinklers, playing catch in the backyard, picking daisies, playing dress-up at a little party with imaginary tea.  Yet, it seems that these voices always come through advertisements for new “necessities”, like ultimate sunscreen or luxury cars or electronic devices.  Though, sometimes, they are through ads for lemonade, a pleasing taste sensation.  The back-to-basics voice that is active in society, not simply as a marketing campaign, is generally centered on a concern for the environment.  This voice, at least, is centered in something that is fundamental to being human – the air we breathe, the water we drink, our own bodies.  But, again, it emphasizes the importance of what we see (the beauty of the natural world) and what we feel (healthy fitness and quaint warm-and-fuzzies).  How will we then react to a natural disaster, to disease or to relationship unpleasantness?  Usually the answer is to eradicate these things through some kind of technological and pharmaceutical progress – and, as a last resort, make suicide a pleasant resolution.  The simpler and yet more profound answer to this would be to take the bad with the good.  But… What if the bad isn’t that bad?

 

What if it’s not the worst thing to die at four years of age?  What if it’s not terrible to become blind or paralyzed or senile?  What if it’s not such a bad thing to feel unappreciated and bored when fulfilling responsibilities?  What if doing the same thing day after day isn’t a rut?  What if thoughtlessness and rudeness from the people in our lives isn’t the curse that goes with stone?  What if it’s the gem itself and, where there is ultimate, deeply loved love, there is no curse?  The lying voice would say that there is no curse anywhere in anything.  And though it is true that stinging bees make the flowers bloom, we human beings can most certainly curse ourselves, we can weigh ourselves down by fighting against reality until we drown in our own misery.  This happens when we believe the voices that tell us that self-preservation is ultimate happiness or that the natural world that goes on without us is the ultimate good.  In reality, we are needed in the world and not because we exist for ourselves – and not because we are mere cogs in a machine, either.  Individually, intimately and infinitely loved are we by the Ultimate One who sees everything, who knows everything, and who chose to bring us into being.  Our lives are dependent on this Creator and Master, and if we believe in the One, the One who is Truth, then we will trust, and with loving trust – with faith – we will know true happiness that is true joy: being loved infinitely and loving unconditionally.

Christina Chase

 

Comfort Ye Your Hearts

Genesis 18:3-8

And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

 

Tender mercies.  Sometimes, in the hectic demands of modern life, we forget how important the little things are.  Oh, we know how good food tastes and delight in the pleasures of a tasty meal.  It’s interesting to me that in our latest recession restaurants has been full.  It seems that even when people are struggling in a poor economy, we find the money to eat out.  But, that’s because food itself is something that is not easy to overlook.  It tickles our taste buds, after all, and is a pleasure.  The time taken to prepare a meal, however, is often overlooked as a good in itself.  Think about it: if you have to cook at home, 30-minute meals are advertised as best.  Even better is something that you just pop in the microwave for two minutes.  And at a restaurant, we like quick service – that’s one of the reasons why fast food is so popular.  We mistakenly think that the value of a home cooked meal is in the taste of it – fresh, slow cooked, warm, simple flavors.  We buy prepackaged versions of that and eat them in front of the television – or, if together as a family at the table, then hurriedly before someone has to be somewhere else.  But the intangible power, the deep satisfaction, of a truly home cooked meal is that it took the person who made it time and care to make it.

 

It’s the little things.  One child makes you something himself for your birthday, a picture of you and him smiling together, drawn carefully, but still crudely, in crayon.  The other child went shopping with an adult for an item on your wish list – he chose the item he wanted to give you, but didn’t pay for it himself.  Which present really gives you more joy?  Well, frankly, if the bought item is something that you really wanted, then you will probably be more excited about it and have the chance to use it, as opposed to the picture, which might cause you to wonder how you will store it and all the other pictures the child has drawn.  But… Have we become so materialistic that the look in the eyes of the child who drew the picture won’t stir something stronger in our hearts?  That connection of intimacy and joy in one another’s presence?  And what if a child buys a present that he thinks you want with his own money – but it really isn’t something that you want?  Surely, we are not so far gone that the knowledge that this little person took the time and effort to choose something for us while sacrificing his own money won’t cause a lasting lump of gladness in our throats and our hearts.  The state of our lives and the state of our world will be poor indeed if we cannot value the loving intent, the extra time taken, and the little sacrifices made in the hope of bringing us happiness.  Even if the item itself doesn’t make us happy – the giving, that willful act of gift, should cause us to know the truest joy.  And if it does not… Well, then, we lack love and it will take an awful lot of food and an awful lot of purchased stuff to try to fill that void – and all efforts will be futile.

 

Was it the fineness of the cakes, the tenderness of the meat, or the creaminess of the butter that was fitting for Abraham to serve to the LORD in the story from Genesis?  Or was it the fact that he sacrificed what was finest and best from his holdings for the other?  The fact that he took the time to invite them to rest, that he washed their feet and gave them the good things that he could offer from the sincerity of his heart – this is what is pleasing to God.  Abraham and Sarah’s time, effort, sacrifice, and loving care are the greatest gifts worthy of the Divine.  Our time, effort, sacrifice, and loving care are the greatest gift that we can give to each other, to our loved ones, to strangers (and so to ourselves) and not just on occasion.  Every day is a gift.  And as we receive every hour of the day as gift from God, let us give of that time, let us give of our lives, for no one need ever be poor in love.

Christina Chase