A Reasonable Service

‘But godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1Tim 6:6). Godliness in KJV is translated from the Greek word ‘eusebia.’Here the apostle gives a classic recipe for living in a changing world. Godliness is practical Christian life centered on God. In our times we see around us a subtle shift from God,- and prosperity theology is merely a symptom, and if one comes to believe that practical Christian life is what is centered on material riches than contentment we need not be surprised. In the age of instant gratification where consumerism is vigorously practised no one wants to be left out or be considered a square. For a cool generation and ‘wannabes’ the verse from the third epistle of S. John must hold special significance. The elder writes thus, ‘…I wish above all things that thou prosper…’
If we study the Pauline epistles closely we shall see that he exhorts us to practise godliness so our lives no matter whatever clime or culture we live in, are fully engaged with God.
Godliness thus must be seen as an integral and essential part of Christian growth where we yield to God through Jesus Christ at every step.
God is Truth and also Love.We perfect Truth through Love though we in both departments are deficient. In our insufficiency and admission of being imperfect we are letting God to work. This is the most vital part of godliness. How does He work? It may be that the soul convicts us, or the Word instructs us a way different than we are accustomed to.
One may ask what is the goal of godliness ?
In conforming to the world we are lumped along with the world. A new birth is where we transform our world-view. We develop sensitivity to discern what is holy and acceptable to God. As St. Paul says, ‘ we need to be transformed by the renewed by our mind.’(Rom12:1-3) In hitching truth a notch higher or love demonstrated by Jesus Christ into our lives we are increasing in knowledge (2 Pe 1:6, 1Tim 6:11).
Godliness is a sober life and living to the full being conscious God is at the centre of his life.
benny

The Haves and Havenots

‘ From such withdraw thyself.’ 1Tim 6:5
In this pastoral letter St.Paul speaks of those who resist wholesome words that are ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the verses preceding the text the apostle passes on his thoughts as to how slaves ought to conduct towards their believing masters. In St. Paul’s time slaves were an essential part of the Greek and Roman households. In our society we do not accept slaves; nor do we consider any system that allows men to be bonded to serve for another, either by coercion or monetary inducement as correct. Since God’s word is unchangeable we might look beyond the question of slave-master relationship to what is godliness inherent in relationship of any one who may have to serve another in terms of goods or service.
Godliness is where God is at the centre of any transaction. Its validity is based on Truth. Any transaction in order to be right must move on truth. This holds true where the supplier is obliged to the consumer and an entrepreneur to his employee. Where truth is God is part of the deal. God who giveth richly all things to us,- the taskmaster and his subordinate alike, is the mediator. So in all transactions we need to remember the name of God or his doctrine be not blasphemed. (1 Tim 6:17)
Doctrine of truth expects the rich and the poor alike to lay hold on eternal life.(vs.19)
benny

Love and Marriage

It strikes me that Love is to be seen as Truth in action at the gray areas where the values are as finite as our human nature would indicate. Jesus who came into the world is the embodiment of Love.
Which came first: Truth or Love? Truth obviously. Jesus came as representation of Truth that human nature can latch onto. What Jn 3:16 therefore says fits with Love as the embodiment of Truth and can bridge the chasm or gray areas where Truth is often misunderstood and also expressed very poorly.
In love we seek truth in our inward parts: we love the one on whom we have pledged our loyalty and made a commitment; it is demonstrated no matter what our circumstances are,- in health, in sickness and rich or poor. Despite what our external circumstances may be we rely on our own interior life where soul has its sovereignty. That is where ‘deep calls unto the deep’. Soul can take Truth as axiomatic. But our body comes in between. Alas.
Jesus didn’t marry and yet we look up to him for the sanctity and health of our marriage. He is the embodiment of Truth and it means he has a body like every one else. He expressed love in the way he took our infirmities and weaknesses on the cross. In sharing that love in our married state we are aiming at a higher Truth than what truth of nature speaks to us with a lisp.
benny

Building Bridges

On the day of Pentecost the act of pouring down Holy Spirit in cloven tongues of fire was a proof that God bestowed grace to all.
What is Holy Spirit ? It works in us with the same creative genius by which God masterminded the genesis of the earth and heaven: He found all things as good( Gen1:31).
Grace backed by Holy Spirit surely must allow man to strive for something better for His glory though he might fail in the attempt. Putting the candlestick under the bushel isn’t the profitable way of Christian life. Each of us can work with the spirit so the world may see grace in his or her life.
Attempt greater things and with a clean and renewed frame of mind one might find healing even in hopeless cases. Medical science has not written the last word on the way our body and mind can work together. Solution for the Canaanite woman with the issue of blood was not because she couldn’t find competent physicians to treat her but the moment for grace hadn’t arrived. When she was inspired to touch the hem of the lord lo and behold grace sprang forth to effect healing. In some cases the art of medicine works through human agency with lot of co-operation from the sufferer.
God raised Bezaleel and Aholiab to assist Moses in raising the Tabernacle ( Exo 31:1-7)Bazaleel was from the tribe of Judah while the latter was from th tribe of Dan. They were to work together. This brings me to the main point.
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Inspiration touches man and woman so they may prove their universality. With that single event Galilee is no further than Crete or Arabia. In God’s sight the wall of separation between Medes and Parthians are man made that shall be removed. It is done under the inspiration of Holy Spirit.
My soul or that what makes me distinct from another, as an individual knows no man-made labels. Thus separation of mankind into tribes or nations by language of any other is superficial and a lie. Soul does not accept gender difference or ageism. Before Truth soul is like a mirror reflecting the truth of the Highest. Where the mirror from which our body takes its measure shall always be clouded. ‘Through a glass darkly’ we see our human aspects whereas Truth sees it plainly.
You shall agree then there is a wide chasm within our own being: between body that is carnal and soul that is sacred.
The work of Holy Spirit is to bridge that abyss.
The king in the story of ‘Spare The Rod’ succeeded in disciplining his son because he could take his understanding to a higher
plane: appeal to what was the quintessence of the boy than resort to a rod.
benny

God, the Spirit

The Holy Spirit signifies His presence among men. It is the spirit of truth, a catalytic agent to animate the soul to lead every believer to a higher plane.
We while in our corrupt bodies and subject to lusts and passions of the world, do hold the spirit as our Comforter. It convicts us of where we went wrong. Anything realized right is to free us from falling prey again to it. Spirit of rebellion is to resist what we know in our bones to be right. In obedience we are letting the error go from our midst. It is thus we are being perfected. Holy Spirit the comforter.
With Holy Spirit we are in Him, and He in us.
Holy Spirit reveals that we are the extended family of Trinity even while we are imperfect. The office of Holy Spirit historically makes that point very clear.
benny

God The Son

Soul like a mirror shows us Truth by which Jesus serves every Christian as a symbol.
Soul says ‘amen’ to Truth however weak and ill-equipped we are (may be because of circumstances and natural inclination) to resist temptation.
A New Birth is an example pure and simple. We hold Jesus as a symbol and as an example. It is in so many ways an unlearning process where we learn weakness as a kind of strength and love more enduring that hatred. ‘ Practice maketh perfect’, so goes the old saw. It is here the example of Jesus becomes much more defined. Jesus for us has become by faith the Redeemer. As babes in Christ we grow mature when we learn to depend on his life for guidance. What is that we hope to achieve? Love shown while in his body is all-sufficient to overcome the world. Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered (Heb 5:8). In his life He reconciled Truth and love. Thereby he has become a Representational Man for all.
benny

To Recap

Let me recap some of the points I have covered previously with regards to the nature and office of our soul.
God is Truth the Absolute and when we read Adam was created in the image of God we need to focus on Truth in a way we can grasp: truth of nature, truth of experience and truth of actions.
His breath in us signifies the soul by which we know by instinct that there is a higher calling for the truth than that we handle.
( For example we see Truth as the basis for our moral fiber and yet speaking truth is more often than not inconvenient in our everyday transactions. Calling a spade as spade may not get you into trouble but if you dare speak of the House being packed with crooks and adulterers ( It is in all probability the truth) you are likely to be called to the floor of the House to be reprimanded for lowering the dignity of the House.)
In short we cannot hit that right note which establishes the Absolute value.
Thus when we speak of being part of God’s family we mean we have been adopted into heavenly places even as ‘imperfect as we are’ because of our obedience to Truth. Placing ourselves under its rod and being blameless in our personal lives are entirely two different things.
The Father Figure
While we are on the earth we shall realize Truth in the reality of love. God is love and it denotes God the Father.
benny

Stairway To Heaven

That day of pouring out Holy Spirit in Jerusalem was an event in the building of the Church: it came as an outward manifestation of the many promises of God, which Jesus revealed to his disciples in private.
If God hadn’t dwelt among mankind of what use was the Church?
Each member of that Church shall know His presence and shall build his or her life as Paul would say on the foundation of Christ( 1Co3:11). Church as the body. Yes while we are in our corporeal bodies we are part and parcel of Him. His presence envelops us. Hence we need not seek the reality of heaven as a geographical location. His presence is good enough for me. When I read a verse or recall what was read ages ago I can experience it still vividly. The Emmaus experience?
benny

In Jerusalem

The Holy Spirit came down, like many tongues of fire, as a fulfillment of prophesy from the book of Joel. In the many tongues those who assembled in Jerusalem spoke lay the unassailable proof of God being among mankind.
Our standing with God is our righteousness made secure by the Spirit. No man can access to God except through the office of Holy Spirit. Thus whoever accepts Jesus must be under the working of the Holy Spirit. Each of us does hold that Spirit by faith. But do we do anything further with it? Do we shake off the spirit of despondency with it? Do we fight the spirit of rebelliousness with the Spirit that is holy? Do we forgive those who spread malicious gossip about us? Do we try to grow in the knowledge after the example of him?
When Peter guessed who his master really was what did Jesus say? “ For flesh and blood has not revealed unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.” ( St.Matt.16:17) We ought to create conditions for our growth with the Spirit that is given to us.
Spirit is creative: he that is within you is the spirit of truth(St.Jn14:27). So when we are assailed by the spirit of this world and we need answers to the way we ought to go why not take time to listen to what soul says?
We are in search of the truth. Aren't we?
benny

Suffering In Context Of Truth

You may have worked diligently for attaining excellence in a certain discipline and suppose you lose to another who has not worked hard as you. It is natural that you feel let down. But equating failure or success on the basis of what you consider as a prize worthy of you is not correct. How would you know the outcome of any enterprise?
Take the life of Joseph for example.
Why Joseph had to suffer? He had whipped up the jealousy of His brethren. At a human level we can understand it. Was God whimsical or wayward to let the misfortunes sweep off Joseph from his home? We shall learn soon that he had to extend his experience far beyond that he had in his father’s house. He had to have the breadth and depth needful in a King’s counselor. As a slave sold to the Ishmaeelites and Midianites he had to understand the feel of the subjects he would one day govern. It was a huge responsibility and he would not have got it while mollycoddled at home.
Joseph had to earn the trust of the King of Egypt as he had earned the love of his father. The ability to interpret dreams for which he became hateful to his brethren became more defined in the prison and when opportunity arose he was there to guide his king. Joseph as a trusted counselor of Pharaoh led his aged parent and brethren to safety in the years of famine. But another Pharoah who didn’t know or care for the name of Joseph (Exo.1:8) ascended to the throne. We read how brutal he and his cohorts were towards the children of Israel. Would we interpret this as God playing upon the trust of His servants? God is Truth and He doesn’t act willy-nilly. When we accept God as our guiding principle we ought to accept also this truism: what we think as good fortune also brings misfortune in its wake. But then God for whom all things are possible is still in control. He can still work around what is misfortune and strengthen and support us on our passage through life.
God is Truth but we may not see it as absolute. As Moses who wished to see His glory we may see it partly as truth of nature or as truth of experience.( Ex.33:23)
Truth of experience is what makes every experience you have gained serves your progress through life for the better.
benny

Truth Paraphrased

Do we know that those who are unbelievers and scoffers of the holy things also might be caught within the nets of grace even as we were, and they might also turn out to be our friends. (A touch of suspicion can sour up friendships and a touch of goodwill makes our enemies into friends.)
Love of God is Truth expressed in human terms. Jesus is a symbol and Representational Man. Symbol in the sense he makes our love transcend its human level to touch the heavens. Our love freely given however limited, can multiply as loaves and fishes and spread out to feed many.’first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ (St. Mk4:28) Our growth is gradual and to which we are helped by what we may catch of the highest in our soul.
‘I am the Way’, he said. Jesus is the pinion on which our finite nature revolves so love we have shown to our brethren and unbelievers alike can broaden out to a higher plane.
We love those who love us. Jesus showed us another example. ‘ Whosoever shall smite thee..’ (St. Matt 5. 39-40) Turn the other cheek is love on a higher plane than the truth of nature underlying in verse’ iron sharpeneth iron.’(Pro.27:17).
benny

Our Enemies Are..

Love of God, we must understand, is not the love that is defined in our lexicon. Jesus when he began the ministry mentioned love of his father. He characterized His all embracing love: He makes the Sun rise on the good as well as on the evil. (St.Matt 5:45) Those whom we may consider as bad or wicked are also in His safekeeping. Why do others ridicule or belittle us? In all probability we have given cause for others to doubt our sincerity though we profess His name. Is my ego hurt because others see through my hypocrisy? Our hearts are too deep for us to fathom. ( Jer.17:9) Who can tell where the fault lay, in us or in them? Instead of being abrupt or judgmental with them we ought to concentrate on matters that we may do better. Allow them to their views and accept what is real: real motives of man shall only be revealed in His own Time.
If God so loved the world why we suffer for no apparent reason? He sent Jesus to the earth as embodiment of His Love. Truth being absolute stands by itself. Whereas love according to our definition is conditional and it requires an object. Jesus as the Son in taking the form of Man didn’t surrender his basic quality, Truth, but demonstrated love can still go higher than possible with us. Love that can link Truth in one stroke is not what human dictionary speaks of.
Truth and Love. In Jesus it was personified. Truth of God like a diamond of the first water merely lay merged in the water of his humanity. His temptations and his sufferings were in context of Truth even as our sufferings are. We shall not decipher why we have suffered in context of our critics. When we shall know Truth in its perfection or see Him face to face we might say we have been wrong to dub our critics as our enemies.
Our enemies are not His enemies since Grace have been extended to them as well.
benny

Getting Down to Grips With Love

‘God is Truth’ so we perceive in our soul. A gut feeling it is for me, suppose I say, and outside the ambit of reason. Nevertheless for another it may sound more emotional than rational. It is his view against mine. So be it.
In this Age of Technology and Instant Gratification, core values like faith, soul have become more synonymous with some New Age fads than blood, sweat and tears of a true believer. Our angst and frustration over our place in a world of eroding values are as real as in the early days of the Church. The only difference is that it is heresy and not orthodoxy that holds the whip now.
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Our faith cannot be much of faith if we are afraid of expressing when it is warranted.
It is so with soul. Our untested gut feelings must come up for breathing; each time how we put them to work in context of others we are filling in lungs of our inner life with oxygen.
Yes only through our exercise of faith in our life with the godly and ungodly we prove our love. We may be sidelined or teased for our faith in Jesus at the workplace. We need to accept the fools, saints, rascals and all sorts of men whose hiddensprings are unknown to us by the same all embracing sweep of Love first demonstrated by Jesus. By what motives are we ridiculed or belittled, we may not exactly understand. But we know Jesus was tested much more. Maybe they are vilifying us for the Jesus as presented in another age by the Church(Inquisition,Salem Witch trial etc.,) ‘Our fathers ate sour grapes. Should our teeth also be set on edge?’ Like the Romans who vilified the early Christians under the mistaken notion for the communion as ‘drinkers of blood and eating in secret flesh of children’ we may be treated as fools for believing in such redemptive love shown by Jesus.
But to love them who so callously treat us it must be really making the gorge rise in our throats. Isn’t it? When we are humiliated or trifled with we need to understand that we confess ‘God is Love’ and there is no way we can skip this part,- ‘running the gauntlet’ of unbelievers and scoffers, and yet say with a straight face,’ We love God?’
Why? If we believe Jesus Christ suffered much more than this when he came to reveal His Father’s love we ought to accept those who disagree with us as a necessary lesson in growing in love.
Jesus is our Firstborn in terms of all those who are rejected and unloved. He is our Representative Man. He also represents every Tom, Dick and Harry who now thinks of us as ridiculous lot.
benny

On Suffering

How we perceive a thing to be and how we realize it are entirely two different things. There is a wide chasm between the two. As mortal beings we shall never translate exactly what the soul reveals to us: soul reveals to us Truth and our Mind, given its rational coloring interprets into an anthropomorphic form or Nature in symbols.
That shortfall of our actions to set it down truthfully must sow in us the seeds of suffering.
Life, as with Happiness is beyond circumstances. It has no dimension. But life in you and me require a context in order to justify a conduct. For example when I say I love there must be an object.
I love God. How can I love truthfully something that I cannot put my finger upon, literally? As St. John writes how can we taste love of God or express it except in our context of fellow men? (1 Jn 3:17). Our love isn't perfect and it must ride into the wind of changes: our love may fade and sickness and death sour our spirit and faith. We in ourselves suffer and also spread it. Yet love can be taken to higher grounds. But how? Not by withdrawing into your shell.
Practising detachment in the face of suffering is to give it more mileage than necessary.
benny

My Essence

Essence of man can neither be in his corporeal form that is finite or in its abstract aspect as his mind.
What is mind?
It is something that his body can make use of. Mind is an accretion of many past influences, experiences and ideas that he can access to. Only in the way he uses them he puts his own stamp. No two persons see an event the same way. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans one preacher saw it as divine retribution as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. When his wife and daughter died in a tragic auto-crash he said, “ It was God teaching him to love Him more than anyone else on the earth’. .
One would ask,” Does God achieve His ends with you and me by dancing on the misery of others?"
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Man interprets his visible world with a logic peculiar to him. His actions also show his rational standpoint. He is not master of the consequences of his actions. His logic also falls apart as a rope of sand.
Coming back to my main point man’s essence cannot be in his body or its abstract shadows but in the way he acts. Soul therefore becomes the single most vital tool that he has in order to carve his name for all time.
Trying to please a world that is constantly changing with what is your essence is like writing your name on water. If you try to make an idea bear your essence, it shall be unfaithful in any other. Fine idea it was to found a new Canaan in the New World. When it has come at the cost of placing the Native Americans into reservations, squalor and degradation, the Acts passed by the Nation has killed the soul of the idea.
I shall end this post with my definition for soul as the quintessence or identity of the being. Many strands of Truth of nature, of experience and of action, all plaited into one. While the body is corporeal soul is timeless.
benny

The Stranger Among Us

The Man in Red and Blue Robe©
The Man from En-Gedi was among the elders and while they discussed the day’s events a strange figure in red and blue robe also entered the tent and sat among them. The Chaldean saw how he put himself at ease among those bearded wights. He again saw him in the palace of the king who wanted to honor those who were strangers in his realm. The Chaldean being curious asked in whisper to another, “ That man in red and blue, who he might be, a foreigner? ” The man couldn’t answer him. Later he saw him again at a banquet. Strangely he was set down next to him. The Chaldean asked before he downed the last cup of friendship,” The party is about to break up. Each of us shall soon wend his own ways. I am curious. Who you might be?”
The stranger in red and blue robe didn’t answer. The Chaldean asked,” I see you wherever I turn. It seems by fate decreed that you and I have certain business to settle.”
“ You said it,” the stranger replied,” I am Truth.”
My soul is like the stranger. So close and yet I do not care to know what it really is. Instead of relying on Truth that it represents I would rather settle for the opinions of others and pay lip-service to customs that have by repetition lost its meaning.
benny

Soul And Conscience

What is crucial for our understanding the concept of God is to fix on His Absolute value. God is Truth. Did that value become any the less because He breathed into the nostrils of Adam? From our rational point of view He can only retain that Absoluteness if the ‘living soul’ has also an absolute value. Truth cannot be halved and yet retain its purity. It is like a flame. A candle whenever it is lit has the same value as the flame that went before. Truth is that light radiating from the candle.
Soul is Absolute in terms of Truth. Conscience of man every time attests to the fact. We read how King David spared the life of the one who had chased him to the wilderness. He took a few items from the bolster of King Saul while he lay in deep sleep. (1 Sam.26:23) The fact that his implacable foe was still the Lord’s anointed deterred David from killing him. He could have succumbed to the truth of nature and made his way to the throne secure. No he didn’t yield to the temptation. He was not Saul.
David could rise above the truth his nature held out. He indeed waited for a higher Truth that God held out.
He had respect unto his soul.
benny

Life Prepares Us

“So God created man in his own image.’(Gen 1:27)
God breathed into Adam and made him a living soul.
It is plain that we cannot claim our image resembles Him in a physical sense since no man has seen Him. Soul serves as a mirror but it doesn’t fully explain. Soul is a catalyst for the body with all its infirmities to grow unto perfection even as it is. As St. Peter writes we are called ‘to be partakers of the divine nature.’(2Pe1:4). Our carnal body shall stumble and let us down more times than we care to count them but soul’s hold on us is relentless and it never tires itself from its office.
Perfection can only come through our experience, or knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Since we do not have a physical model as such the Word helps us to some extent. Our life on the Earth must largely prepare us while living among so many. Life on this vale of tears is but a preparatory school.
benny

Mirror Mirror, on the wall...

Cont'd from the previous post.
From Christian perspective the Spirit of God has a restrictive meaning to indicate the nature of soul in terms of an anthropomorphic God.
In the opening chapters of Genesis we read that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam. Imagine the pure breath of God! One might ask ‘Why should He pour His Spirit into a lowly vessel?
It seems to me that He equipped man with a soul so he may meet whatever challenges he faced whether he obeyed him or not. Because he fell would not mean God compromised the sanctity of His breath.
From that breath of God the man had plumbed in essentials of His Godhead. What does St. Paul say about this? Rom1:19 reads as thus, “ That which may be known… God hath shown it…”
Having a living soul how Adam responded to the wiles of the serpent was as if he had none. God didn’t take back his soul but death has since that time laid its hands on mankind as a matter of right.
Soul is like a mirror from which we take the measure of eternal things. Mirror on the wall of eternity gives us a reading to which how we respond is often different to each as with we make sense of our external world.
benny

A Creative Spirit

Eyes are often characterized as the window of soul.
‘For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man in him…’ (1 Cor 2:11) Spirit of man is the divine spark that wells up and courses through entire being by which man has throughout the course of human history impressed on one another. Spirit is his animating principle. His creative genius could not have been sustained to author a treatise or literary work without the ability of spirit in communion with every other.
If not for my experience and spirit of the ages that envelop me would I be able to enjoy the work of Martial or Ovid? What has an Elizabethean Age to do with me? Yet the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe do hold charms for me.
In the pagan religion we see how spirit played a great role: what are the Delphic oracles but spirit giving utterance to answer seekers who were in need of guidance. These Phythia sat at specific spots and heard the supplicants and gave out their answers under its influence. One might say these virgins must have had a hallucinatory episode while they spoke. The fact that their oracles however bizarre were translated into words by another meant that spirit of man once again came into play here.
Art, literature and thought of the Pagan world, for their excellence and many artifacts of their cultural life still surviving, stand testimony to their spirit.
But as I mentioned in my previous post this spirit do not signify soul.
(2 b Cont'd)
benny

Breath Of Life

I shall in the following posts try to put down my thoughts on the breath of life (or spirit) and soul and what these mean to me. In the Old Testament the Hebrew noun rûah stands for breath, wind or spirit. The same idea in terms of man is denoted by the word nephesh. There is a telling reason,- and very valid too, for the point under consideration: the latter word signifies the individual while the other has often to do with the animating principle. So ‘soul’ deals with the individual and rûah the spirit drives individuals to act in a certain manner. Spirit of the times as an expression explains it sufficiently well.
* In a dog-eat-dog world spirit of the times makes morals of some wiggle like the tail of a lapdog.
How we perceive the temper of our age and respond do color the spirit.
Soul of a man is at every turn is assailed by winds of change.
Suppose I need to pick up some life-saving medicine for my child who is in a touch and go situation. So I set out with the doctor’s prescription to the drugstore. If a blustery wind suddenly sweeps across do I say, ‘ OK I shall let the wind take me where it will. Joe’s Bar ought to give me a time for respite. Then I shall see.’ Will any right thinking person with an iota of concern for his child let a wind however contrary, swerve him from his purpose?
Soul of man is like the right thinking person who will brave the times however contrary rather than live with the guilt of having let down his child at the most critical point.
My soul is set there whether I willed it or not to express my quintessence. Spirit of the times is like a wind and often changes. But my soul I cannot deny. Instead I can adorn it with the fairest colors in the way I respond to the times.
benny

Inspiration Is Creative

In my younger days one of Anatole France’s story concerning a juggler made a great impression on me. The Juggler felt so humiliated in the company of other monks who were either learned or accomplished. He didn’t know his scriptures well neither did he know Latin nor Greek. He couldn’t write with a fine hand on vellum or illumine the manuscripts for the greater glory of God. Dejected he would have ended his monastic life. One day he was found juggling in front of the statue of Virgin Mary. The other monks cried, “sacrilege!” He was brought before the abbot. He was let off from punishment in a very dramatic way.
The Juggler wanted to give glory to God in the only way he knew. It was acceptable in the eyes of the Blessed Virgin.
The Juggler at the end of his tether touched on the divine spark. He created something new which made the statue come alive! His devotion however unorthodox was acceptable before God.
benny