Another year older....

And all the potential to be my most depressing blog to date!

It was, as was noticed by a small group of friends and well wishers, my birthday yesterday. And once again I find myself contemplating (not brooding I said contemplating) on the North American penchant for the celebration of days that go like any other day but with a reminder that you're far less significant than you would lik to think. Really, it's just another day, albeit one that commemorates life, and as far as the world at large is concerned, it's nothing but another weekday. But we turn it into a thing of promises. It's like New Year's Eve or something, with promises of starting a new year of life, and the whole superstition of "making a wish" and the ideal of getting something that you really wanted. Let's face it, we never get what we really want.

Birthdays are made out to be something of a dream day; a day to fantasize about what could be and what might be, and ultimately it comes short and ends up being just another day of reality coming crashing down on dreams and aspirations.

Sorry for the rather uninspirational blog. We all have our days. Mine just happened to be yesterday. And by all means, enjoy your birthdays. Please!

O Love Divine

After a long time since it was first mentioned to me I finally post one of my poems:

O love divine, that grace which saves,
the road to God through Christ is paved;
that love which God to God ascribes,
has saved both servants, kings and scribes.
Blessings like rain from heaven fall,
displays His glory, to man, to all.

O love divine, that sweet, sweet grace,
which brings us hope to see His face;
That hope which when is done this life
and comes to end this worldly strife,
knowing some day that when I die
It's by His side that I'll be by.

O love divine, this glorious thing,
that on that day we'll praises sing,
to God the king who reigns on high;
whose glory fills both earth and sky;
to Him who brought me out from hell,
I'll sing His praise and with Him dwell.

His great triumph salvation's bought,
by grace it's His sweet face I've sought,
through Christ's death there upon the cross,
on that day of seeming greatest loss;
yet by Christ's suffering upon that tree,
His blood from sin has made me free.

Distractions...

Its funny the things that can pull us away in life; some for good, some for bad and some...

It's amazing sometimes the sheer number of things there are for us to be distracted from. It seems to me that this is especially true for Christians, and even more so for those who are studying for the ministry. There are things to distract us from our studies, and those are plentious; things to detract from our time spent in scripture; things that take us away from our friends and family; and then there are those major things that take our minds off of just about everything in life. In hindsight, those are often both the most dangerous types of distractions, and the most enjoyable.

First of all, i am not talking about the little distractions, like staring at the pattern of your wallpaper for half and hour, though if that's your thing then fine. I am concerned here more with those large hulking distractions that have a tendancy to occupy both large portions of our time and our mind. For some it's movies or television or computers, for others it's a hobby of some sort, and there are other notable examples as well...

What is the point of me writing about this? After all, we all experience distractions at times, and dwelling on them after the fact is, well...distracting. But there is a point, and again, this is especially for Christians. We go through different things for a reason, and we quite often come out on the other side without knowing what the reason for it was, and this is often something we do not even consider when distractions come up. But we do have the assurance that God is in control of all. If God allows us to go through something, we know that there is some value to it, whether it is something that we are to learn or that we are to experience; this varies widely from case to caes I'm sure, but the point is, there's always a point.

Sometimes I think it can be a good thing to look back on something that may have been distracting us for a while, and focus on what good may have some out of it, and not focus so much on what you may have missed out on because of it, or see it as time wasted, but see if it served in any way to cause growth in a particular aspect of our life. Was it beneficial, even if the end result left something to be desired? When all was said and done, could we still glorify God with all our hearts?

Certainly the most difficult part of overcoming distractions is moving on beyond them. This can be difficult, and often painful as well; but it is necessary if we are to overcome it as a trial and persevere as we ought. God willing, we come out stronger on the other side.