Reset for Love

In the 1937 movie “The Amazing Adventure” Cary Grant plays Ernest Bliss, a fabulously wealthy young man in London who is told by his doctor that the only cure for his lethargy and boredom is to “disappear” for a year, and live as a person on a very limited income working for his board and room and all other needs. When the doctor refuses to shake his hand because he is convinced that Earnest has no intention of following his “prescription”, Earnest vows to do exactly as the doctor ordered. Thus begins Ernest’s great adventure.

In the course of the year Ernest meets many needy individuals and finds himself indebted to the kindnesses of others who are sympathetic with his poverty and need, and others who try to take advantage of him. He meets Mary, a secretary in an office where he applies for a job, and falls in love with her. His love for Mary is cinched when Mary, who believes that Ernest is rock bottom poor, tells him that she loves him, but doesn’t see any way they can be together, as neither of them has enough income to support even one.

Telling a friend of his dilemma, Ernest says, “”She loves me! I know she loves me because she thinks I’m poor, and she still told me she loves me!” Ernest’s whole self –worth is tied up with his personal wealth, and he is shocked to find someone entirely ignorant of his wealth who loves him for something else. In the end they find a way for Ernest to complete his year of poverty, almost; and for Mary to marry him knowing that he is actually very rich. The doctor shakes his hand at last, and the Cinderella story ends happily. Ernest will spend the rest of his life loving Mary, for he is convinced that she is the only woman in the world who could truly and authentically love him for himself.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

When Ernest first visited the doctor he knew only that he had fatigue, restlessness, and a feeling of discontent. He didn’t imagine that his condition was spiritual instead of physical, but the doctor recognized his symptoms after examining him, and said that he had several patients like him, who needed a “restart” in their lives also. Of all his patients, only Ernest accepted the “reset”, and it changed his life permanently.

“Love never Fails” (1 Corinthians 3:8).

Love in Him,

Prue

We have all heard of a “new normal” in the world since the appearance of the covid pandemic. For each one there is a different understanding of what that “normal” is like, and what it means. Some ideas overlap: “I’ll never feel the same about being in a crowded place.”, or “Business will never be the same now that so many can do their work anywhere”, or “Shopping is altogether different now that people are buying so much online.” The list of differences is long.

Is there anyone who doesn’t wish that “things” could be more stable and predictable, more like “things” were before the first covid outbreak and before our political upheavals, and before the many changes that technology has wrought?

The most beloved psalm in the Bible, the twenty third, speaks to both time and eternity. In this psalm the presence of God in the life of the psalmist makes all the difference: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” After some beautiful images of still waters and green pastures he sums it up with, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”(Ps. 23:4&6) The calm assurance of this psalm evokes peace in the present, and peace in the future founded simply on the presence of God Himself in every particular of the psalmists’ life. He rejoices in his relationship to the Lord: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Both the present and the future are secure in his relationship to God.

In Revelations, Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new!. . . Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ( Rev. 21:5) He is telling us that He is making a new normal, full of the Spirit of the 23^rd Psalm, but offered to all who would listen and believe. Jesus’ new normal will never stop being new, as it is continually renewed exactly as the psalmist says, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake.” (Ps. 23:3)

Jesus’ new normal finds its roots in the old revelation , and brings newness to a world looking for “normal”

In giving us all these words God has extended to us His eternal normal. We get to experience a foretaste of His life here and now. The words are scripture, and they deliver a new normal that has everlasting life.

Love in Him,

Prue

In reading a biography of ST. Augustine I found that it contains vocabulary words in English which were entirely new to me, beside the occasional Latin or French or German word. In spite of that I persevere, feeling certain that the subject himself will be worth the reading. In fact I have learned much so far. What I really need is a key to the deep scholarship that went into the writing of this book, in order to gather all that it has to offer of the mind and heart of St. Augustine.

When Peter recognized Jesus as the “Son of the Living God”, Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”(Matthew 16:16&19)

Such recognition is a key to understanding the Kingdom of God, and being instructed by the Holy Spirit of God. Peter only dimly understood this at the time, but later understood that the indwelling Spirit would be with him and in him for more and more understanding of God’s purposes for his life. In the process Peter would grow in actual sharing of the mind and heart of Jesus.

St. Paul wrote, “’Who has known the mind of God, so as to instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” The “mind of Christ” becomes available when we accept Jesus’ identity as the unique son of God. It is the first step in a relationship that yields a key to both God’s nature and our own. Peter later wrote, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1Peter 1:23). He himself experienced new birth with Jesus, and it reshaped his life.

In the early fifth century Augustine preached, “At first your understanding was very shaky and hesitant; later you came to understand with greater certainty and clarity. It’s not He that is growing, but you that are making progress, and it’s as though He seems to be rising up with you. That’s how it is, brothers and sisters. Trust God ‘s instructions, and carry them out, and He will give muscle to your understanding.”(sermon117,17)

When I read his biography I learn about Augustine, but when I read his sermons I share his heart as well as his mind. Why? Because he preaches about the same Spirit I have met in Scripture, and his words are full of the heart and mind of Christ. He has, with Peter, received the keys to the Kingdom that Jesus holds out to each of us.

Love in Him,

Prue

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August of 2005, many people were displaced. Busloads arrived n Houston, Texas and were temporarily housed in the Brown Convention Center. I watched an interview on TV with a young man at the center who had recently arrived after being twenty four hours without food or sleep. The interviewer asked, “How do you feel, having gone through such devastation? It must be horrifying for you.” Well”, he answered, “I’ve just had a nice shower, and I have on clean clothes, and I can smell something delicious for dinner waiting for me in the dining area, so I’m feeling quite good right now.”

Some refugees were numb from their experience and barely responsive. Some were angry, and others poured out their griefs to anyone who would listen; but this young man seemed resilient and even grateful for the change in his condition, no matter how temporary.

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again, “rejoice!” Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 4:4).

The peace that the gentle young man exhibited didn’t come from the nice shower or the clean clothes or the anticipation of a good dinner. If it had, then all the refugees would have felt the same. Instead, it came from within the young man’s character, even as Paul’s “peace that passes understanding” comes from the Holy Spirit of Christ, who lives within us. Paul doesn’t say that such peace can be found in clean clothes and a good dinner, but that it can be found within ourselves. In a world that talks much about peace, but experiences very little of it, these words of Paul are very strong, for he makes it clear that peace, which people of all religions crave, is accessible through God in Christ.

When I am anxious the memory of this promise fills me with the sweetness of intimacy with God. It seems very personal, an actual sharing with God’s Holy Spirit. It passes understanding that this unlikely peace could be ours; it’s an extravagant claim, but one of the most quoted and cherished in the Bible.

Love in Him,

Prue

“Now Zelophehad, son of Hepher. . . had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hogliah, Milkah, and Tirsah.  They went to Eleaser the priest, Joshua son of Nun,  and the leaders, and said, ‘ The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.’  So Joshua gave them an inheritance along with the brothers of their father.” (Joshua 17:3)

Richard Hawkins (my father). Had four daughters whose names were Nancy, Prudence, Holly, and Margot, as well as a son named Richard.  Each of these received a rich inheritance from their father that would serve them all their lives.  They received humor, and caring, and self confidence, and a knowledge that God is somehow at the center of everything. 

When I first read about Zelophehad’s daughters I was pleased to find that small incident recorded in the Old Testament at the dividing up of the Promised Land in Joshua’s time.   It was good to see that the sisters were confident that the promise extended to them as well as to the men, and provision was made for the Promise to be fulfilled.

Zelophehad’s daughters inherited a perishable tract of land by the Promise of God, but centuries later Paul wrote, “Flesh and blood can not inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the. Perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) He also wrote, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the Promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

My father could not make me belong to Christ, but his character would and did open portals through which I could grow toward Christ.

In writing to Timothy Paul wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, now lives in you also.(2Timothy 1:5). Paul didn’t take credit for bringing the Gospel to Timothy.  Paul witnessed a faith that came from Timothy’s home, from his mother and grandmother, and Timothy became like a son to Paul.

Our father did not preach to us girls or to our brother, but he showed us a joy in life that we loved and wanted for ourselves.  Saying “Yes” to Christ brings His Spirit into our own, and attracts and even leads others to Him. Zelophehad’s daughters’ inheritance simply points to the imperishable fruit of God’s kingdom in Christ.

Love in Him,

Prue

The calendar has turned, and so has the weather. Beautiful cooler days have replaced our summer of gasping at the temperatures and hibernating inside. The feeling of fall has brought wonderful home made displays of pumpkins and exotic gourds, not to mention Halloween paraphernalia onto front yards and doors. It happened almost overnight, and the joy of the season seems more evident this year than the last two years. It bodes well for the holiday season that lies ahead.

The ancient Greeks lived in anxiety that the springtime might not return in any given year, for their gods were capricious and arbitrary, and the people lacked faith that spring and summer would surely return and their fall harvest would come.

For the Hebrews, however, the Word of God told them, “As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22) And, the psalmist wrote, “The land yields its harvest; God our God blesses us. May God Bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” (Psalm 67:7)

The harvest is the culmination of a spring and summer’s worth of labors, and holds the promise of well-being for the future. One of God’s strongest blessings in the Old Testament concerns the harvest: “You will be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.” (Leviticus 26:10) The promise of abundance and well-being accompanies God’s covenant with Israel.

When Jesus looked out at the fields of grain in Samaria he compared it to the spiritual harvest of faithful souls: “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. (John 4:35)

Though we’re not all farmers, we all can plant and harvest spiritual seeds in our lives with our families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. The action of a single woman who anointed Jesus’ feet has resonated for over two millennia in the Scriptures. (Mark 14:9)

Celebrating the harvest is a display of thanksgiving and joy for God’s provision. In the midst of uncertainties, pumpkins on the lawn remind us of a goodness that never leaves, a Spirit that endures and looks up and makes us glad together.

Love in Him,

Prue

My roommate in college was a psychology major. She once told me that “maturity is really just knowing when to trust your intuitions.” I thought that it sounded good, but I couldn’t match that idea to my life. Ever since then her definition has come back to me and I begin to think I understand it.

If “intuition” is the discernment between “true” and “false”, based not on tangible evidence but purely on an inner “sense”, then it must be a channel by which the Holy Spirit of God communicates to us. If God is Truth itself, then through His Spirit we have some access by our intuitions to discern truth and falsity in our own lives. Such knowledge would lead to maturity if it is coupled with faith in our God.

ST. Paul wrote about our “inner being” and coupled it with faith: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3:16)

Throughout the Bible it is the “inner being” that is in play in each of the stories of God’s people: “Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. (Genesis 15:6) Moses, Joshua, David, and Jehoshaphat, among others, all knew and believed that their battles were always the Lord’s, and those battles were victorious.

Experiencing the voice of God in our inner being is a gift of the Holy Spirit of God, and as my friend suggested, can lead to maturity: “We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching. . . Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14)

Maturity in Christ means praying our love for Him, remaining close to Him, and imperceptibly becoming like Him in the eyes of God. Jesus is our older brother, like us and like our Father God, the one whose life gives our lives meaning and purpose, and the bridge between us and God.

At some point in every relationship we pause to ask ourselves “What are we doing together?” When we ask this of our God in our inner being, we are answered in our intuition, and grow in maturity.

Love in Him,

Prue

Once when my nephew Jim was showing me his back yard vegetable garden I asked him, “When you’re planting in the spring, are you thinking about what you’re going to plant next year?” He answered simply, “Always!” I smiled because my father, his grandfather, did the same. He would come in from planting radishes and say, “ Next year I’m going to put up bean poles in that spot, and we’ll have green beans.” We loved the radishes and the next year we loved the green beans, but I wondered why it happened that way. Both of them had fruitful gardens for years.

In the Bible God makes it clear that He has plans for His people for years into the future. He tells them that regardless of where they find themselves, even in exile in Babylon, He is still their God: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:5 and 11).

These famous words have been a comfort and a stay for generations of believes who have felt disconnected from the life and future they had expected to live, and for those launching into an unknown future adventure.

Though their external circumstances were radically different from those in their home in Israel, God’s people received the all important message of reassurance that their invisible God was actually still with them. The rock upon which they had built their lives was unmoved by their exile, and their relationship would grow ever deeper as they discovered more and more of God’s character.

Generations earlier , while they had lived in the Holy Land, David had written, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Ps.118:) When Jeremiah sent his message from God it resonated as the God they knew and they were able to believe in their “Rock”.

Jesus confronting the Pharisees quoted this passage in reference to Himself. (Mark 12:10), and Peter repeats it in his letter (I Peter 2:6), confirming that Jesus Himself is the Rock. He goes further: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (I Peter 2: 9)

Dad and Jim both trusted that there would be another year, another chance to grow another crop and that it would be good. God tells us that in His Kingdom that will always be true.

Love in Him,

Prue

St. Augustine once wrote in a sermon, “Behold, sometimes we are made glad by a certain inner sweetness. Yes, our mind has been able to catch a glimpse , for a fleeting instant, of something above change. . . .Now I have a sense throughout my being of something beyond time.” (Sermon 158)

When we pray we most often ask God for a change in our health or circumstances for our self or for a loved one or acquaintance. We seldom pray for our relationship with God Himself, for Augustine’s experience of a glimpse of something above change.

In a world so rife with change as ours is, it seems imperative if we are to retain any sense of balance or serenity, that we seek that inner sweetness and assurance that comes from a place beyond the media, beyond the worlds of politics and entertainment and all that drains our attention and energy. Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33). The Psalmist wrote, “I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. (Psalm 131:2)

We hardly think of ourselves as preparing for sweetness, but the psalmist and Jesus both imply that it’s possible to open ourselves to the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit of God, if even for a “fleeting instant.”

For the psalmist the pathway was casting off pride in ourselves, while for Jesus it is turning away from worry and anxiety in the world. In both cases, we need a “disconnect” in order to find the re-connection with our Savior. St. Augustine says that we are “Made glad’ by God’s spirit.

I believe that no set of circumstances can prevent the Spirit of God from delivering the sweetness; but when our spirits are full of either pride or anxiety, or both, there is no room for a “sense throughout our being of something beyond time.” More than three hundred years before Augustine, St. Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine, or nakedness or danger or sword?. . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”(Romans 8:35-37) The secret to being a conqueror is to stay connected to your leader. When we immerse ourselves in the legions of difficulties of our world we shrink our strength to conquer, for we reduce our exposure to the One who knows both us and the battles and who loves us. Every soul needs the sweetness. Every soul needs the sense of something above change.

Love in Him,

Prue

When I was in junior high school my class took a field trip to a newspaper publisher’s building where we watched the production of a newspaper. At one stop we saw a tall machine that we were told was one of the most valuable in the building . It had only one function, and only one person was trained to use it. The function was simply to “justify” right and left the columns of the paper. We all stood in awe of the wonderful innovation that saved hours of man power from laboriously arranging the columns.

Today I was working at my computer and suddenly remembered that day. I was sitting at a machine much smaller, capable of doing a great multiplicity of tasks including justifying columns, all in my own home; and not seeing anything even remarkable about such a fact. The thing that had been an amazing wonder was now as ordinary as the automobile.

Does this mean that “wonder” is declining in our world? Are we all so used to being amazed by new technologies that we’re unable to experience real wonder any more? Is it simply out of style to be full of wonder at anything new?

Anyone who lives near or works with children knows that wonder is alive and well in human nature, but as we grow up and have frequent exposure to new technology, are we losing the capacity for wonder?

Webster’s Dictionary defines “wonder” as “a cause for astonishment.” Most of the great events in the Bible are accompanied by astonishment caused by the activities of God Himself: “Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’”

“When the shepherds had seen the baby Jesus, they spread the word. . . and all who heard it were amazed.”(Luke 2:18)

The Exodus is accomplished by one wonder after another, and Jesus’ ministry is full of wonders: . “.at least believe the evidence of the works themselves. Truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” (John 14:11-12)

Since the time of the Resurrection no one has plumbed the depth of the meanings of the Resurrection, but millions of souls have grasped it and found there the one wonder that answered their hunger and desire.

Love in Him, Prue