I'm still thinking quite a bit about this whole topic of joy: what it means, where it comes from, etc. I'm not ready to write more about it yet. I'm still just questioning and thinking. But I came across an excellent sermon today that I wanted to share with you guys. You can find it here: http://www.30goodminutes.org/csec/sermon/palmer_3828.htm. It's based largely on concepts discussed in C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. (Even though I took a semester long class on C.S. Lewis, we somehow skipped over that book. I must get my hands on a copy -- soon!)Other than that, I really don't have much to say about these last couple of days. I have had a cold, which has really drained me, but other than that, things haven't been bad at all. Mark has had a couple of episodes of pretty nasty pain, but his work with Seth at the pain center has taught him how to ride it out on his own. I'm not saying that we will never need to go in again. Not at all. But we've only gone in once during the last two weeks. I can handle that! We're back to where we were last fall, which feels like a breeze compared to where we've been recently. And to think that everything seemed so hopeless not so long ago ...
If I can say just one thing that more or less summarizes my thoughts lately, I think I'd wager that real joy (as opposed to surface happiness) is directly tied to hope. Where is that verse? "For lack of hope, the people perish." I have no idea even what book that's in. (Anyone know? Isaiah, maybe?) It just rings really true to me lately.
2 comments:
Is this the verse you had in mind?
Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
Mark,
I think that might be it. I looked in my handy dandy, back-of-the-Bible reference guide, but I can't find anything else like what I was thinking, so I think this might be it. Thanks!
Post a Comment