“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
The ‘Younger Memnon’ statue of Ramesses II in the British Museum thought to have inspired the poem “Ozymandias”.
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
–Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1818)
Ah yes, Shelley’s poem about how the mighty inevitably fall is pretty great. It is another poem that caught my fancy at a relatively young age (see yesterday’s post about Robert Service). At the time I didn’t think it had anything in particular to say to me, but it does. It’s about pride.
I have always agreed with J.M. Barrie who wrote, “Life is a long lesson in humility.” It is my mantra. It is a hard lesson, indeed, but you can’t be really happy until you learn it. Part of growing up is realizing that you are not as great as your mother told you you were. It goes hand in hand with the lesson about accomplishing a lot if you don’t worry about who gets the credit. These are lessons you have to learn yourself. The hard way.
Here is the best advice–from Jesus (of course):
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11)
I always used to worry about whether I would be sitting at the right table with the cool people etc. When I stopped obsessing about that and just sat at any “table” with whomever or even at an empty table, it always worked out.
People always show up and it is okay even if they don’t.
It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race!
To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake. I have the immense joy of being a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Well, what do you say in 2013 we all try very hard not to be overwhelmed by the sorrows and stupidities of the human race and instead to shine like the sun? I’m going to try.
Oh, weekends in December! So busy and filled with seasonal activities such as buying Christmas trees ‘n such.
On Saturday the husband and I hopped in the Subaru and headed over to our local Optimists lot where the fellas are very friendly and helpful. We picked out two trees (one big and one small) and as my husband disappeared into the trailer to pay, I moseyed over to talk to….yes! Santa!
I asked if I could take his picture and then one of the guys directed me to sit on Santa’s knee. I demurred. He insisted. Santa admitted to having a titanium knee. Hilarity ensued.
Then one of the guys said, “Oh that’s a terrible background. Let’s move some trees over there…”
More picture-taking, even less flattering than the first batch, so I will cease and desist at this point to share any more. You get the picture.
I am telling you, we are well on our way to December 25th! I put up the little tree.
It is beautiful, isn’t it? We’ll put up the big tree next weekend when daughter #2 gets home.
On Sunday the boy and his bride came over and we went to the Service of Lessons and Carols at Grace. It was very nice, but I was distracted by the woman in front of me who went to my high school where every year the choir put on a Festival of Lessons and Carol of its own, the old school English version. This woman was a few years ahead of me (7) and was a cool-girl-hockey-player, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how she’s 63 years old now! Could it have been that long ago that we sang Ralph Vaughan Williams in the school chapel? Yes, it has. Turns out, she saw our sign out in front announcing our Lessons and Carols service and she decided to come. I told her it was great to see her and I hoped she’d come back.
‘Cause you sure as hell can’t go home again. Onward and upward.
Anyway, we are well into Advent. Blessings be upon you and yours. Here’s “Gabriel’s Message” sung by the King’s College (Cambridge) Choir to start off your week right:
Since we have been on the subject of hymns lately, I will perk up your Wednesday with this rendition of What a Friend We Have in Jesus by The Purple Hulls. It has been recorded by everyone from Aretha Franklin to Alan Jackson to John Tesh (!), but I like this version.
The Purple Hulls are a band of siblings and that’s one reason their harmony is so great. They also do a nice instrumental version of Be Thou My Vision, which was always a favorite hymn of mine and which we sang in our school chapel (sans banjo).
(A hat tip to the wonderful Hay Quaker blog where I am always discovering new things, such as The Purple Hulls.)
And a special birthday shout out to the boy who turns 26 today!
He has always been a fine young man. This picture reminds us, to paraphrase the great Pete Townshend, that all the best cowboys have Chinese eyes.
Yesterday the Episcopal Church remembered Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748), preacher, pastor and a prolific and popular hymn writer, often recognized as the “Father of English Hymnody” and credited with some 750 hymns. It is also worth noting that he was the first hymn-writer to give expression to the Reformation emphasis on a personal appropriation of the faith by using first person pronouns in hymnody.
Watts, unable to go to either Oxford or Cambridge on account of his non-conformity, went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690, and much of his life centered around that village, which is now part of Inner London.
London’s only public statue to Isaac Watts is in Abney Park, Stoke Newington.
He is honored with a memorial in Westminster Abbey.
Among his more enduring hymns are Jesus Shall Reign, Joy to the World, Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past, and I Sing the Mighty Power of God. One of my favorites has always been My Shepherd Will Supply My Need especially the last verse:
The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.
Marilynne Robinson (see yesterday’s post) quotes Watts in Gilead:
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
“Good old Watts,” she writes. “I’ve thought about that verse often. I have always wondered what relationship this present reality bears to an ultimate reality.”
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone…
Truly they don’t write hymns like that anymore, do they?
Enjoy! (the choir of the Washington National Cathedral)
God of truth and grace, who didst give Isaac Watts singular gifts to present thy praise in verse, that he might write psalms, hymns and spiritual songs for thy Church: Give us grace joyfully to sing thy praises now and in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife
“Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety, and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
Have a great weekend. Good luck with that quiet mind.
Please indulge me in a little end-of-the-week preaching. This is from Joyce Meyer, who always calls it like she sees it, and I usually see it the same way. Read the whole thing. And, yes, it’s good advice for men as well.
Seven Secrets of a Confident Woman
by Joyce Meyer
Secret #1—A Confident Woman Knows That She Is Loved
The first and most important secret to being a confident woman is to know that you are loved by God unconditionally. Romans 5:8 says, …God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Even if your natural father did not really love you properly, you can still get the love and acceptance you missed in your childhood from God.
Secret #2—A Confident Woman Refuses To Live In Fear
I think you will agree that refusing to be led by our feelings can be a challenge, especially when it comes to fear. But we must remember that fear is not from God. It is the devil’s tool to keep us from enjoying our lives and moving forward with what God has for us. When we attempt to walk in faith, Satan immediately tries to hinder us through many things, including fear. Fear of failure, judgment or criticism will cause us to bury our talents. It will make us draw back and live in misery and torment. Unless we make a firm decision to “fear not,” we will never be free from its power.
Secret #3—A Confident Woman Is Positive
Being negative and being confident do not go together. Like oil and water, they just don’t mix. Being negative opens the door to a lot of problems and disappointments, which fuels the fire for more negativity. Fear is the “dark room” where all your negatives are developed. So why not look at the brighter side of life and believe something good is going to happen to you?
Secret #4—A Confident Woman Recovers From Setbacks
In this life you and I are inevitably going to experience setbacks. The important thing is that we not see them as failures. We are not a failure just because we try something that doesn’t work. It’s only when we stop trying that we fail. The truth is, many people get confused when they’re trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do with their lives. This was definitely true in my life. I discovered my destiny by trial and error.
Secret #5—A Confident Woman Avoids Comparison
It is impossible to walk in confidence and compare ourselves with others at the same time. No matter how good we look or how talented, smart and successful we are, there is always someone who is better than us. I believe that confidence is found in doing the best we can with what we have. God wants us to find joy in being the best we can be, not in competing or comparing ourselves with others.
Secret #6—A Confident Woman Does Not Live In “If Only” And “What If”
One of the worst things you and I can do is to focus on what we don’t have or have lost and fail to take an inventory of what we do have. I call it living in a state of “if only.” Does this sound familiar: “If only I had more education…more money…more opportunity. If only I were taller, shorter, older, younger…” and the list goes on.
Secret #7—A Confident Woman Takes Action
I have heard it said that there are two types of people in the world: those who wait for something to happen and those who make something happen. It’s true that we need to be careful not to get ahead of God, but we also must be mindful not to be lagging behind. I believe we need to step out into things and find out what God has for us. As I said earlier, if we make a mistake it is not the end of the world.
John Bunyan (28 November 1628 – 31 August 1688) was, of course, an English Christian writer and preacher, who is well known for his wonderful book The Pilgrim’s Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, he is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on August 30, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (US) on August 29.
I have mentioned before that we had a daily chapel service at the private school I attended. I remember our English headmaster telling us that the hymn “He Who Would Valiant Be” was a favorite (if not the favorite) hymn of Winston Churchill. That struck me as significant and I paid close attention to the words.
He Who Would Valiant Be Hymn
He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.
Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound – his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.
Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit,
We know we at the end, shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away! I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.
I tried to find a Youtube video of the hymn, but they all featured the wrong tune (Monk’s Gate). Here is one that at least plays the St. Dunstan’s tune, so you can sing along!
