Notice: Blogger in Bali, Indonesia

Away to Bali island from 31 July to 4 August. Read about it here.

Universality of truth

Adelaine's post prompts you to think: Is it really that hard to accept the universality of truth?

Imagine two people talking:

Conversation #1

"Truth doesn't exist."

"Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Wait a minute... If that's true, then truth exists!"

Conversation #2

"OK, maybe truth exists. But it certainly cannot be known."

"So you're saying now that truth cannot be known?"

"That's right."

"Then how do you know that that's even true?"

As soon as we reject the existence and knowledge of truth, we start to draw square circles. We get into a more serious problem than trying to figure out what is truth - or who has truth.

Believe it or not, truth exists and it can be known. Knowing it not just intellectually but loving it as well makes all the difference in life.

A writing to B on stuck-ups

Dear B,

There's so much bridging work to do between my acquired knowledge and my will. They've never been on friendly terms it seems. Nothing beats me more than this. But my first reaction would not be to go to the Bridge, but to build a bridge of my own. To know Christ as who He really is I need to study His Word and spend more time praying, which I'm not doing. Today my family and I were cruising in my dad's car and my mum was giving my brother advice on housing. She has said the same things to me before in private and it hit me today that, regardless of the topic, my brother's reactions to her and mine are never the same. I always knew that, though she could be "overly informative" at times, my mum does what she does because she loves us. Because of that she can talk to me about anything she wants. On the other hand my brother just can't seems to find the time nor the patience to sit through the same stuff from her. He would often react to her in the most off-putting way he knows how just to get her off whatever subject she's on. In essence she wants the best things for the both of us but we just don't see it the same way. And I think that's what I'm like with God the way my brother is with my mum. I don't want to spend enough time with Him to know how much He loves me.

Is there hope for my brother to see my mum's love for him as it is? And by the same token is there hope for me to want to know God enough to pursue Him? On both occasions I hope there is.

Till I hear from you again telling me all about it, God bless you.

Yours,
A

"An Aria from Fairyland"

She sang of a world in its solemnity,
Where dreams live and die on a condition,
So you would know
That Love is not to be taken for granted
     - not even once

She sang of a world with its sublimity,
That only when your free Imagination
Is safely bestowed
Can it capture her dream by its silver horn
     - in a dance.

A writing to B on fairyland

Hi B,

I read this by G.K. Chesterton from his piece titled 'Fairy Tales' in the book "All Things Considered":

"We are in this fairyland on sufferance; it is not for us to quarrel with the conditions under which we enjoy this wild vision of the world. The vetoes are indeed extraordinary, but then so are the concessions. The idea of property, the idea of some one else's apples, is a rum idea; but then the idea of there being any apples is a rum idea. It is strange and weird that I cannot with safety drink ten bottles of champagne; but then the champagne itself is strange and weird, if you come to that. If I have drunk of the fairies' drink it is but just I should drink by the fairies' rules. We may not see the direct logical connection between three beautiful silver spoons and a large ugly policeman; but then who in fairy tales ever could see the direct logical connection between three bears and a giant, or between a rose and a roaring beast? Not only can these fairy-tales be enjoyed because they are moral, but morality can be enjoyed because it puts us in fairyland, in a world at once of wonder and of war."

Chesterton says that we're living in God's story. Ravi adds on to this by saying that "Wonder by itself, unanchored in truth, cannot be distinguished from a fairy tale." He also said that "The world of a child may delight in the fantastic, but the world of an adult must move from what is merely fantastic to that which is fantastically true."

I have often thought of life this way, as a "true fairy tale." Christianity or rather Christ is my only support of that notion but one that didn't ring true often enough because I thought if it were true then I should be aware of more fantastic things or at least be more aware of the fantastic. If life is a true fairyland then it doesn't add up that I'm seeing nothing but mundane dealings in it. But I was wrong in making that assessment. Chesterton says that we are in a fairyland on sufferance. Like Uncle Andrew in "The Magician's Nephew", we've long since broken our veto so even the fantastic wouldn't look in the least interesting to us now. Without Jesus it's not possible for us to cross from this sorry state to where He intends us to be.

Something else I read today moved me. It's a quote by a guy named J.H. Oldham from Ravi's book "Recapture the Wonder":

"There are somethings in life, and they may be the most important things, that we cannot know by research or reflection, but only by committing ourselves. We must dare in order to know. Life is full of situations to which I can respond not with part of myself but only with commitment of my whole being."

That is the greatest challenge for me yet - to dare to fully commit myself in order to know God. I'm living off His wonderful concessions while wrongfully questioning His vetoes. It's a shame that I'm wearing out my how-comes.

Hope you are well. Thank you that I'm still wrestling with myself.

Yours,
A

Confessions of a masculine heart

It is only obvious on a clear day. But I forgot that what I need from a woman is not what I often think I need: praises, admirations, such things that all men seem wanting of.

I need a woman who in spite of her lack of praise, could look me in the eyes and tell me the deepest truths about myself that she sees and I don't.

I need a woman who in spite of her blatant disapproval of my certain mannerisms, could still hope for the nobler things she knows I am capable of but never demonstrate.

I need a woman who in spite of her deep love for me, does not show it in a subordinate way, as if she's delighting in Michangelo or mesmerized by Shakespeare.

I need a woman who in spite of the world around her, finds joy in little things like children and the sunset.

I need a woman who could do all these as effortlessly and carelessly as stretching her own bones on a lazy afternoon. I need an equal on my best days, a superior the rest of the days.

I need a woman who got lost in the making. And I end up needing God.

A message from God

What can you say to a mother when she tells you her baby cried at school because he knew you were leaving and he couldn't send you off?

What can you say to a child when he calls you up to find out if you have arrived home safely?

What can you say to yourself when you realize the most precious gift you could receive is delivered by an angel?

The love from children is among the greatest of all treasures. What's more precious than being given something that you didn't earn?

"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man."

- Rabindranath Tagore