 Spiritual: July 26, 2006 Issue [#1173] |
  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Becky Simpson  
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My name is Becky Simpson, and I am your newest editor for the spiritual newsletter. Before I attempt to have a discussion with you about spiritual matters or share with you some of the spiritual writing on Writing.Com, I thought it would be nice to get acquainted. I have been a Christian for about fifteen years. I did not grow up in the church but discovered it in college. That was the first time I felt it possible for me to have a public life without embarrassment. I’ll explain that later.
If you were to check my biography you would understand, but you would also notice this introduction: To truly get to know me, you will need three things a Bible, a glass of water, and a towel. The Bible you will need because I reference it in many of my writings. The glass of water is to throw on yourself when you begin to nod off from boredom, yes, you guessed it, the towel is to dry off with. Okay that is enough about me Becky Simpson .
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Since this is my first spiritual newsletter I hope you won’t mind if I share a few of my personal thoughts about being a Christian. This will be the ONLY occasion I use my own writing in this newsletter but I do so to illustrate my personal opinions. This is a poem I called “Everybody Everywhere.” We will discuss various parts of it after I present it. I hope you don’t mind, and I pray that if it in anyway offends you that you will write me to discuss it. After all it wouldn’t be a good start.
Everybody Everywhere
Everybody everywhere,
No matter what one's station,
Has moments of deep loneliness
And quiet desperation,
For this lost and lonely feeling
Is inherent in mankind –
It is just the Spirit speaking,
As God tries again to find
An opening in the “worldly wall”
Man builds against God’s touch,
For man feels self sufficient
And he does not need God much.
Hence he vainly goes on struggling
To find some explanation
For these disturbing lonely moods
Of inner isolation.
But the answer keeps eluding him,
For in his selfish finite mind,
He does not even recognize
That he cannot ever find
The reason for life’s emptiness
Unless he learns to share
The problems and the burdens
That surround him everywhere –
But when his eyes are opened
And he looks with love at others,
He begins to see not strangers
But understanding brothers.
So open up your hardened hearts
And let God enter in –
He only wants to help you
A new life to begin,
And every day’s a good day
To lose yourself in others.
Anytime is a good time
To see mankind as brothers,
And this can only happen
When you realize it’s true
That everyone needs someone,
And that someone is you.
Ready to discuss this? I hope so. But before we do let me give you one of my beliefs, though God discourages foolish speech, He does not discourage humor. Trust me when I say for me the Bible is full of many things: love, murder, rape, wisdom, prophecy, poetry, songs, sexual love, beauty, sacrifice, and, yes, even humor.
Now about the poem. Man loses his innocence at a relatively early age. It is known as the age of accountability. From that moment, when we each realize there is a right and wrong and know we have done wrong, we also develop a feeling of isolation. It may take this feeling longer to become recognizable in some, but sooner or later, we all realize we are alone. For me that feeling came shortly after I began to read the Bible. I knew though I was not a particularly bad child I had not been perfect. For instance I let my family’s lack of money keep me from having friends. I barely recognized it as a sin, but it is. So the Spirit spoke to me when I read the Bible. I will be glad to back this up with scripture, but anybody who does not recognize the Spirit in God’s word must be truly hardhearted.
God uses his word to attempt to break through our self imposed roadblocks to true happiness. Even a casual read will bring some very profound thoughts into our lives. Try John 11:35 – Jesus Wept. It doesn’t get any shorter than this, but in those simple words we get a picture of Christ’s ultimate humanity. The pain and suffering around him caused His very spirit to groan. He felt others pain, fear, and loss.
In these verses:
For in his selfish finite mind,
He does not even recognize
That he cannot ever find
The reason for life’s emptiness
Unless he learns to share
The problems and the burdens
That surround him everywhere –
But when his eyes are opened
And he looks with love at others,
He begins to see not strangers
But understanding brothers.
So open up your hardened hearts
And let God enter in –
He only wants to help you
A new life to begin,
And every day’s a good day
To lose yourself in others.
Anytime is a good time
To see mankind as brothers,
And this can only happen
When you realize it’s true
That everyone needs someone,
And that someone is you.
There are two points to these words. The first is to point out that Christ told us to love each other, our neighbors, as ourselves, strangers (taking them in), and even our enemies. If we can do this, forgive our enemies, love people we don’t even know enough to see their needs, and treating our neighbors as we ourselves would like to be treated, we will have accomplished God’s work.
How? Well, the last two verses tell us this can only happen when we realize it’s true that everyone needs someone and that that someone is you. Maybe they don’t need our help because they are well off, what the verse is really saying is; How we live our lives is an example to everyone we know. As Christians we are commanded to spread the word of God. Does that make you uncomfortable? It does me, but I can do so by simple example.
My message? We should Let God shine through our life, let it lead others to Christ, and remember when finding someone in genuine need; we should not turn our backs, because it is hard to hold out a hand out with our backs facing them. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I do not care if anyone is a Baptist, Catholic, Protestant, or any other denomination. Please understand this, and let the word be your guide.
Now to end this introduction to me; I would like to assure you that you shall see more biblical references as well as other “more astute” author’s works in the future. Each of you, if I could reach you, would be due a hug. My family is non existent; Mom and Dad are dead; there is a brother, but sadly he is an alcoholic. So one thing that happens with me is my fellow Christians become my family. I should also say I have a family in waiting that loves me very much and is just waiting for me to make an appearance.
I hope you have not been offended by this newsletter, and if you were, please comment. I will not bring offense into a brother’s or sister’s life. I’d rather do something else first.
I am at your service in Christ
Becky Simpson
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