Seeking Wisdom

I've been reading Jane Eyre this week.  It's one of my favorite books (and movies!).  This afternoon I came across a quote I really liked, and it reminded me of something very similar that my pastor preached last week.

Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

I love to do "girly" things, and anyone who knows me, knows that I spend hours upon hours each and every day working with my hands making pretty little things which requires very little exercising of my faculties.  However, I just find it happy to know that I am not limited, and as I am able, I do find it rewarding to take up my studies and always appreciate discussing difficult issues, endeavoring after truth, and seeking wisdom where it is to be found.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7

Pollyanna and Hidden Joys

This has been a "Pollyanna" month for me.  It started when we checked out the old Disney movie from the library.  I remember liking it as a child and thought it would be fun for my children to get to see it too.  We all enjoyed it and I started to think again about the sweet, simple lessons that Pollyanna teaches her little town with her "glad game". 

I know Pollyanna can be a little too sugary-sweet for some, but what is striking, especially in the books by Eleanor H. Porter, which I have also read this month, is that it's not easy for her.  It's not easy for any of us to find happiness and joy in everything.  There is real grief in this life.  Real reasons for lamentation and crying out to God in our distress.  Pollyanna knows this.  She doesn't pretend that the suffering isn't real.  In fact, as she got older, which you can read about in Pollyanna Grows Up, it was her compassion and sometimes even her difficulty in finding reasons to be glad that made her so dear to her friends and loved ones.

Is it right to try to find joy amid our suffering?  Is there reason to be thankful and to bless God's name even during times of severe trial?

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thes. 5:18

How many times are we told to "rejoice evermore", "rejoice always," and "again I say rejoice"?

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 107:1

And of course, there is Job, who as he sat grieving in sackloth and ashes was able to say, "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

I do think that we can see many examples in scripture where even in the darkest hours, there is a spirit of thankfulness, trusting that God is working all things together for our good.

So, it is silly to be thankful that you got crutches instead of the doll you wanted from the missionary barrel?  Pollyanna didn't want to be thankful, she wanted to be sad about not getting the doll she wanted, but she was able to at least be glad she didn't need those crutches.  The harder it was to find something to be glad in, the greater the satisfaction Pollyanna felt when she was able to accomplish it.

It might not be a perfect plan, and it certainly won't cure the grief and suffering that is in this fallen world, but what's the harm?  I'm going to try.  Are there really hidden joys in everything?  Maybe yes, and maybe no, but I'm going to try to find them.  I believe it's a worthwhile challenge.

In Pollyanna Grows Up: The Second Glad Book the following poem inspired a little wheelchair bound boy to take this very challenge.  When he read the first line he was angered.  Find pleasure in everything?  Even in a leaf?  Impossible!  So, he set out to prove the poem wrong.  He was certain he would find something in which there was nothing to be glad about.  He failed and thus began his "jolly book".  And he filled notebook after notebook with heartfelt thankfulness found in every little thing that crossed his path.

Hidden Joys by Laman Blanchard (1804–45)

Pleasures lie thickest, where no pleasures seem;
There's not a leaf that falls upon the ground
But holds some joy, of silence or of sound,
Some sprite begotten of a summer dream.

The very meanest things are made supreme
With innate ecstasy. No grain of sand
But moves a bright and million-peopled land,
And hath its Eden, and its Eves I deem.

For Love, though blind himself, a curious eye
Hath lent me, to behold the hearts of things,
And touched mine ear with power. Thus far or nigh,
Minute or mighty, fixed, or free with wings,
Delight from many a nameless covert sly
Peeps sparkling, and in tones familiar sings.

Living and a Dead Faith

Living and a Dead Faith by William Cowper

The Lord receives his highest praise

From humble minds and hearts sincere;

While all the loud professor says

Offends the righteous Judge's ear.

To walk as children of the day,

To mark the precepts' holy light,

To wage the warfare, watch, and pray,

Show who are pleasing in His sight.

Not words alone it cost the Lord,

To purchase pardon for His own;

Nor will a soul by grace restored

Return the Saviour words alone.

With golden bells, the priestly vest,

And rich pomegranates border'd round,

The need of holiness expressed,

And called for fruit as well as sound.

Easy indeed it were to reach

A mansion in the courts above,

If swelling words and fluent speech

Might serve instead of faith and love.

But none shall gain the blissful place,

Or God's unclouded glory see,

Who talks of free and sovereign grace,

Unless that grace has made him free!

What is Love?

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Thomas Aquinas defines love, "to will the good of another."  Such a simple definition, for such a beautiful and sometimes difficult thing.

I've heard love sometimes described as a duty.  While I do realize that love manifests itself in more than merely words, but also in deeds, I do not believe that love is a only a verb or that its definition is so cold and impersonal.  Love is something that you feel in your heart towards another person.  Even when it does describe an action, the action is based on compassion, kindness, and most importantly affection, which arises from the heart, not a mere sense of duty.

I appreciate what Matthew Henry says regarding John 13:1.  Jesus truly is the friend who loveth at all times.  He is our perfect example.

"This is true of the disciples that were his immediate followers, in particular the twelve. These were his own in the world, his family, his school, his bosom-friends. Children he had none to call his own, but he adopted them, and took them as his own. He had those that were his own in the other world, but he left them for a time, to look after his own in this world. These he loved, he called them into fellowship with himself, conversed familiarly with them, was always tender of them, and of their comfort and reputation. He allowed them to be very free with him, and bore with their infirmities. He loved them to the end, continued his love to them as long as he lived, and after his resurrection; he never took away his loving kindness. Though there were some persons of quality that espoused his cause, he did not lay aside his old friends, to make room for new ones, but still stuck to his poor fishermen. They were weak and defective in knowledge and grace, dull and forgetful; and yet, though he reproved them often, he never ceased to love them and take care of them."

Mercy's Bed

Have you ever had a good laugh when someone gets the lyrics wrong to a well known song?  I am that someone.


You know that song, "All you need is Love"?  Well, at the beginning the Beatles sing the word love repeatedly.  But, it sounds just like the word "blah".  It does.  Listen again.  So, I've always sung, "blah blah blah" instead of "love love love".  Obviously the beautiful meaning of the song is lost on me.


There are others but the saddest realization to me was when I discovered that there is no "Mercy's Bed" in the song "Octopus' Garden".  That was my favorite line in the whole song!  What a beautiful picture, of being safe, with only those who love you and being able to rest your head on a bed of mercy.  I still love the song, but I'd much rather lay my head on mercy's bed than the sea bed.


This little blog is my little place... to rest my head.