Burn It Down

In his book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton wrote about the prerequisites for true change. He stated that for someone to change something they must A) hate it enough to want to change it and B) love it enough to think it worth changing. Nestled between the two is the spot in which action can create true change. To do this, one must often be willing to raze it to the ground to accomplish the desired outcome. Sometimes we need to just stop patching the holes and blow bigger holes in the walls instead. tear it down and start over.

Life is not a Bob Ross painting. You can't also paint over your "happy little accidents", although it is possible to do at times. No, sometimes our lives are a complex acritextureal feat, and in the midst of our building we realize the foundation is flawed. Therefore, instead of continuing we tear down all that lies above the foundation so that we might fix it. Then, and only then, do we start again. One might tear down their structures a hundred times, but anything worth making with worth making perfectly, and anything worth making perfectly is worth burning down again and again until it can stand a thousand years.

Plans, ambitions, goals, activities, projects, art, buildings...the tangible and intangible. These things often need to be trashed and started over. The question is that do we hate our flaws enough to want to change them, and we love the flawed thing (ourselves, others, relationships, businesses, cities, nations, etc) enough to believe it worth changing?

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

"I Do...I Do Believe in Fairies!"

G.K. Chesterton once spoke of the necessity of fairy tales. He held them such high esteem and spoke of them with great awe and reverence, as if they held the key to life itself. Fairy tales, as you might know, are often filled with magical, unearthly (or dare I say, extra-earthly) creatures and beings.

“Fairy tales make rivers run with wine so that we might recall for one brief moment that they actually run with water…fairy tales do not teach children that dragons exist. They already know that they exist. Fairy tales teach them that dragons can be slain.”

Is there any that is not inspired by The Lord of the Rings? The tale of an rather ordinary Englishman (pardon me…Hobbit) basking in his comfortable, lazy existence but is thrown into the world against his wish to accomplish an extraordinary task? Children lose themselves in stories of heroes who rise up to save the weak and oppressed. Even girls do this through their daydreams of Prince Charming, often focusing on their own salvation, as opposed to boys who dream of saving others.

One tale that has this glorious effect on me still is The Chronicles of Narnia. The book s stole my heart and my mind, and the movies-though not entirely accurate-stir my heart even still and I am inspired. There is not a single scene with Aslan that does not cause my mouth to yield into a smile that goes from ear to ear! I am forced to remember Christ and His love for His people, and I long to see Him as the characters in these books do. I would be quite happy to be able to walk into the woods behind my apartments and happen upon a massive lion that then roars my nerves right out of my spine and leaves me trembling on the ground…just to begin speaking to me and filling my soul with utter delight and fear.

“He is not a tame Lion…but He is good.”

Sometimes, we forget the nature of our King. Often, we neglect the mystery and paradoxical nature of Christ. Paradoxical in the sense that from our limited perspective and understanding, there are many times that we seem to think there are conflicting attributes of Christ, who is fierce as an untamed lion, but at the same time gentle and good.

There are those who so choose to focus on a single attribute of God so much that they forget the others and are then confused when God does something that they did not expect. This can even result in them misinterpreting their circumstances; ultimately missing out on what they could have learned and the reward they could have benefited from (not everything painful is a result of the Devil trying to attack you, my friends).

Christ cares about the happiness of His Church, but not at the expensive of her purity and growth. It is a difficult thing to understand the mind of God, and to try will eventually lead to humility…or insanity. We seek truth, but know that we are limited by our humanness. God is our Father, God is our King, and God is our…well, God! We so often focus on Him being a “father” and apply our own definition of what that should mean, when Him being Father should affect how we treat our children far more than how it should lead us to define Him.

Where was I? Oh yes, fairy tales…

If one is willing to see, they might find truth among fairy tales. That dragons can be slain, for example; that there is more to the world than what the physical eye can see; that the ordinary can do the extraordinary; and you might even learn a thing or two about yourself that helps to define the call that God has given to you.

Peace be with you,

Stephen

Reason For Imagination

This past week I went home for a few days and while there I offered to take my mom's Kindle for the purpose of downloading various free books and the like since she was unsure as to how it was done. Luckily I found the process rather simple. Additionally, I have delighted myself in taking advantage of having the Kindle and have begun reading "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton (yes, it is a free book!).

Chesterton is a delight to read, even if sometimes just a little over my head. His sarcasm mixes beautifully with his arguments and startling defenses. I am still working my way through (and most certainly am taking my time to ensure I grasp all that he is attempting to convey), but already I have been struck by one of his claims. Chesterton argues in favor of imagination and the need for it. Chesterton claims that it is the artist that seldom goes insane and the chess player that most certainly loses his sanity.

"The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits."          -G.K. Chesterton

                                                                                                 
 He makes it clear that he is not attacking logic and reason, but merely stating that logic and reason alone will drive one to insanity. It is the beautiful, healing remedies of the imagination that keep one sane. It is fascinating that our culture drives one to either be a dreamer or to be logically, but not both. Fairy tales and folk lore should stir us to think and to see what is around us for as Chesterton once said elsewhere among his writings "In fairy tales, apples are made of gold so as to remind us of the reality that they are in fact green; rivers run with wine so that for a brief moment we remember that they actually run with water."

Music has long be thought of as a remedy to the soul (as well as a corrupter thereof), and it is through poetry and imagination that we can go beyond the shackles of mere reason and live fuller, happier lives. God is the God of logic and reason, but He is also God of the aesthetic and of imagination.

If God desired that spiders could live unbound by gravity and fly in their already given state in spite of the
lack of a logically explanation as to how they are flying...He could. However, in His being true to His own nature and being loving and merciful He (most appreciatively) chosen not to give spiders flight, though sadly he has given a certain strain of the species known as "snake" the ability to do so...at my dismay.

May we learn to appreciate not only the intellect and ability to reason that we humans have, but also the gift of imagination that allows us to create poetry, music, novels, and the like.

Peace be with you,

Stephen