'Welcome' says it all!
It was well-said by my good friend 'Spongey' that today is the birthday of this site. I do have to admit that the start of this site is long overdue. I have been considering starting a personal journal for some years. In fact, I have tried many times with great enthusiasm to get into the habit of jotting down ideas and inspirations that can somehow capture a little bit about what I am going through in my faith. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm always faded and my goal always failed soon after. I consider now that a shift has taken place in my motivation for starting a journal; whereas I once believed that the strength and degree of growth of my spiritual life is measured by the number of hours spent in prayer, reading my Bible and a number of other solitary exercises that I myself have the power over to control and regulate in my life, including reflective journalling, I have come to realise a deeper reality that has a greater sway over my Christian walk.
As I write my first post welcoming others who are willing to spend the time reading this site, I realise further that the welcome is not just for others. It is for myself as well. Normally a welcome is thought of as being extended to others to 'move from the outside in' so to speak. But what if this concept were to be turned around and applied to oneself as well? What a profound result it would be if the welcome became an invitation to share myself with others...to 'move from the inside out'. As I ponder this, I must acknowledge that perhaps the concept of community has a deeper influence on the Christian journey than the concept of the individual with regard to faith and experience. What I mean by this is that, surely, Christians grow far more fruitfully by embracing the community of their faith than if they were to walk this journey alone? Surely my desire to journal must in some way reach out to the 'other', and not simply be for myself?
Far too much of the Christian Church, at least in the western world, suffers from a stagnating hedonism where we only seek to take part in the things that gratify and satisfy the individual self. I hope that, through this blogging site, I can reach out to others and share some part of myself with them. I hope to extend an invitation to us both, the 'individual' and the 'other', to share in the experiences that make us truly Christian. Welcome, one and all!
2 comments:
What a profound preface for this journal! You should have done that long time ago...but, maybe it's most right time now. :)
Can I understand your last para, the hedonism as a kind of "hedonism ministry"? What is the boundary for "satisfying individual-self or self-complete pursuing"? Sometimes, even only "seeking to take part in the things that gratify and satisfy the individual self" in a ministry, God still can use that for the people who loves Him. Should we always ask ourselves the purpose of the things we do and the ultimate beneficial party?
Maybe because that in the society where I'm living, the individual-self has been very well ignored for long time, i sometimes struggled with pursuing my own desire in my life, sometimes I have this confusion that "should I pray for my own self-desire, and what's my own desire going to glorify God..., and is it too selfish...", it sounds silly though, while i am thinking sometimes, doesn't God himself want to each of our individuals' good? Or maybe God's meaning of goodness for us is different our understandings of goodness for our ownselves? Is it that...once we forget ourselves completely, we can then find ourselfs in Christ? I remember once one American counselor told me to..desire of God's desire and truly delight ourselves in God's desire...it sounds to me like a unifying of my mind and will with God's...perhaps by then, there won't be any struggles for self-desire pursuing?
Something I've read insiring and maybe you are interested too..:
Most people who suffer from bad memories want them to disappear. On the other hand, some want to deny the problem and "just forget the past."
However, God provides a solution to the haunting problem of nagging bad memories. What is God's answer?
If you belong to Jesus, God does have something better for you. God does not want to remove your memories;He wants to transform them into something good.
Your bad memories of past sins--even the worst ones--can be opportunities for life-changing growth. You do not need to avoid, run from, or get rid of your past.
Painful thoughts may still intrude, but you need not escape them. God is bigger than your past!
Listen to our prayers, oh Master!
--Bad Memories, Getting Past your Past. By Robert D. Jones
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