After hearing the peaceful song "Come and Find the Quiet Center" in church last weekend, I decided to find it in Spotify and then let the app recommend a next song... It turned out the next song was called "Waiting for Lighting", and became a song I played more in the coming days. "Are you waiting for lighting?", the song asks. (If you haven't heard these songs, you could try this link to have a listen: https://open.spotify.com/album/0cvVq9hEEeDXP2tNThsCe8.) I cannot help but reflect on the words of this song here tonight, as I have many times and in varying contexts throughout the week.
I'm still working my way through listening to an audio version of the Bible. To those who know me well, it perhaps would not surprise you that what I enjoy most as I do this are stories highlighting people using their virtues. I reflect about how people either used or did not use their virtues in the context of each story. The Old Testament is filled with stories where I feel virtues were NOT used! I've only fully listened to books 1-6 of 66 so far, so I still have MUCH to listen to, though of course I've heard some of the other stories, too.
This morning, as part of our church service, the scripture reading was in a later book - Galatians 5:1, 13-16a, 22-25... This one I do not recall hearing before (though likely did as a child), and I confess I "zoned out" for some of that reading, so I missed the words in 22-23. Fortunately, our minister had the sense to repeat those words during his reflection about how Canada is "glorious and free", and so I did not miss the opportunity to hear them today. He talked about how we are guided to live by the Spirit. This scripture says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." That's beautiful, I found myself reflecting this morning. Guidance once again to practice our virtues - the gifts of character.
After church, my afternoon was spent relaxing with a book. I haven't done this much lately - it's been a very busy time - and so this felt like quite a treat, to just sit around all afternoon reading! Via our local library web site earlier this week, I had downloaded "Girl, Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis... Imagine my surprise when, about midway into the book, I realize she has written about Fruit of the Spirit, too! I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is a book of advice to women, where she mixes in references to scripture. I read it cover-to-cover this afternoon, and found it left me feeling rather inspired to focus on some goals I wish to achieve. I intend to start my own business and write a book, too!
Of course, my day wasn't over yet! This evening, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture entitled "Called by Earth and Sky". Rev. Marian Lucas-Jefferies began by talking about how Irish people speak of "thin" places... the places where Heaven and Earth seem to touch. She went on to talk about how these places are in jeopardy, as we are in midst of a climate crisis, and shared stories of people taking action to address this crisis, appealing to us to get involved. As part of this, guess what she talked about?! Again, those same words were shared... She advised us to use the Fruit of the Spirit to take action. She encouraged us to support those on the front lines who are causing disturbances and even getting arrested. After all, she reminded us, even Jesus was arrested for causing a disturbance when talking about what he believed was important! Later, people shared some ideas about how we could take action, and it struck me that one of the simplest, immediate ways we could take action is to use our "self-control" by doing things like stopping use of disposable dishes in our churches.
As I drove away from there tonight, I heard that song again... "Are you waiting for lightning?", and it occurred to me... Are we? How much more do we need to hear before we start taking serious action? I think the least we can do is stop using disposable dishes in the church, so from now on folks should not be surprised that I'm a stronger supporter of that idea!
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Thanks for reading!
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