I love to read, but it seems I go through seasons where I don't read very much. I finally got to read another book these past few weeks. I highly recommend this one also... good stuff. It is called The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge. here are a few of my favorite parts:
You may have heard an orchestra tuning up before a concert. It sounds like total chaos - oboes, cello, French horns, dozens of instruments all sounding off, everyone doing his own thing. Trills, groans, whistles, thums - an absolute cacophony. This is how our desires seem most of the time. But then the first violin plays a long high C, and slowly, all the other instruments join in. They become focused, centered, ready to perform. Such is what happens with the chaos of our desires when we turn our souls to God in worship. All the other desires find their place as we give God his place. That is why the psalmist urges us, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Ps. 37:4) Only as we truly delight in God is it safe to give us our desires, for then they are not likely to become idols. And by our delighting in God, he heals our false desires as our souls come true in the light of their Maker.
Pleasure is often more about drugging ourselves than it is about enjoying ourselves. And the things we do to avoid the ache are always worse in the end than the ache itself. I think of Jamie, a bright and energetic young woman who has tried so hard to know the right thing to do in every situation. She has tied herself in knots trying to figure out the will of God, solve all the theological quandaries, never miss a beat. She wrote me recently, "I am caught in a tangle of trying to do, trying to live right. I don't know how to not think or worry or control. I don't know how to let go." (Didn't Chesterton warn us, "Poets do not go mad, but chess players do?)
I really like that Chesterton quote: "Poets do not go mad, but chess players do." This makes perfect sense to me and I realize that I'm a chess player. So what about you? Are you a poet or a chess player?
3 comments:
Chess player!!!
I know you don't need me to tell you what I am! Miss ya!
yes, it's like we will do anything and everything before we come to Him and surrender and worship and rest in Him. But when we do, oh the joy and peace He brings. There are so many things pulling us in so many directions, but the thing we need to do is come to Him and find rest for our souls.
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