“the way – Healing with Joy

What Bangs your Shutters?

Joy Le Page Smith — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 16:59:35 +0000

By Chaplain Joy Le Page Smith, MA, BCC

We want extraordinary things to happen in life. Sometimes these come through a quick story or a
timely joke. Truth be known, when our emotions move into that sweet range of joy, hope, even
surprise it changes our body chemistry. For instance, the other day Bill Gates read one of my
website blogs and responded. My first thought was “right!” That’s going to happen! Bill Gates,
reading me?

Yet, whoever this particular “Bill Gates” is, he is a person who intelligently ponders big
questions, making reference to "things that can have global expansion, bringing frustration." He

ended with “I’ll be around soon to check out your response”—after raising a question. Hmmm.
Now I’m thinking “maybe” Bill Gates, as my website outreach has widened. (I need to use
“Google translate,” now, to understand messages from other countries.)

My follow-up thought: What does it matter who this is! He might be an average guy named “Bill
Gates, who invests himself more than most in “what could make a better world.”

Every person on the globe has innate value and deserves to be cared about and respected.
Everybody has a story even if it doesn’t rock the world digitally, or shake the boat we tie up by
the lake. I decided to write a blog addressing this person’s inquiry.

First, I need to decide which direction to go as I covered a lot in the column, titled, “My dream
for the New Year,” to which Mr. Gates responded. I decided this person picked up on something
from a poem by William Wordsworth, an English poet (1770-1850), in the column to which he
read and responded.

“I heard a thousand blended notes,

while in a grove I sat reclined, in that sweet mood when

pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the mind.

“To her fair works did Nature link the human soul

that through me ran; and much it grieved my

heart to think what man has made of man.”

For sure it is great to enjoy the good things we make happen—to build families, and/or put our
talents to work. Still, alongside that we must think about what we have done to one another—and
to our earth that shouts “Let’s revisit this! Let’s make amends.”

We humans struggle when two contradictory ideas exist together. The most immanent
contradiction is that God is permanently sustaining and present in this world. Yet, equally
present is a truth that for some creates frustration and even fear: the entire ecosphere seems to be
“going to hell in a handbasket”—given all the shootings and the chaos here at home and
worldwide. “Wars and rumors of wars,” is what Scripture prophecies for the “last days,” while
also telling us why this is true.

Mental, emotional and spiritual maturity comes as we find the answers are in “the Book.” Two
quick examples, Psalms 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God . . . I will be exalted in the
earth!” (Psalms 46:10). So Good wins in the end through the light that is, here, within the
darkness, through the working of His people. And, we are directed in Colossians 3:2, “Set your
mind on things above, not on things on the earth . . . .” Here is the key to good mental health.
What God really wants of us is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul
and your neighbor as yourself.” This would be the ultimate in maturity. No frustration, here, Mr.
Gates, for those advanced enough to see this truth and to live it out.

There is only one possibility in which Jesus’ teachings (which He called “the way”) could bring
frustration within society. That can happen when people claim to follow Christ’s teachings, yet
fail to let God’s inerrant assurance change their lives. Clearly, it is an individual’s choice. Each
can decide whether to follow his or her egocentric behaviors and philosophies allowing these to
hold sway, or dedicate oneself to living by God’s Word.

It is this belief in God and the Bible (His Word) that holds the power to change lives and bring
the maturity we as human beings so badly need. These tenets, when lived out, serve to
powerfully motivate us, creating the actions needed to eliminate what underlies human
sufferings: hatred, addictions, poverty, tyranny and war (at home and globally.)

The ultimate in peace and good will certainly will be ours when Jesus Christ returns to the earth
fulfilling His promise to come a second time—as vividly described in Scripture. For those who
want to understand . . . and be ready for that great event, start reading Scripture. Hint: 2 nd Peter
3:3-9, tells something about the timeframe of His coming and why Jesus is delaying His return.

‘All I want for Christmas’ is to stop hurting so much

Joy Le Page Smith — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:22:22 +0000

When the woman who said this told her story I understood. Yes. I could understand her statement of her foremost “want,” but wasn’t ready for what she said next, “Where’s Jesus when we hurt?

Her life pain was increased by the pandemic—now Christmas is around the corner. Countless people are suffering similarly. Having presents under the trees may not be the most concerning factor for many this year. We can thank God for food banks as they do their best to assure families are fed. It is an awesome time! So where is Jesus? And, what is He doing about this?

Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostle Paul assured us Jesus is “at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us,” (Romans 8: 34). Intercessory prayer for one another is a great thing, but imagine the Lord Jesus Christ pulling for us as we tackle our problems and struggles in life—even those that are self-inflicted by our poor decisions that we make without having prayed for guidance.

He alone holds power to lead us to green pastures and still waters. He alone can turn all that happens to good. Even our hardest of happenstances are teachers. We gain patience, as we hang in there and master them! And, it is patience that makes us “complete, lacking nothing,” (James 1:2).

Our trials find us trusting God more and more fully. We become the hurdlers, leaping above the obstacles facing us. Our growing faith motors us, while also comforting us during the hardest moments. Kneeling, praying and asking for discernment is how we get through it when we hurt so much we can hardly bear it . . . and settles us when we seek to comprehend.

Methods many use to escape the difficulties of life, like drinking to gain escape is by far not the same. This is true, too, of using pills to surmount the throes of life. These cannot take a person high enough to satisfy the cravings developed. Consequently, many are dying through overdoses while trying to reach an ultimate “high” once again.

Billions of people over the past 2,000 years have found through Scripture that Jesus is the only steadfast answer. And, as the Apostle John assures us, Jesus did not just come at Christmas. No. At the earth’s beginning, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him, (John 1:10).”

John knew Christ as “the Word.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it,” (John 1:1-5).

We celebrate December 25, with many lights—in remembrance of when Jesus came to us visually to live among us as a human being in a body of flesh like our own. Why? To be with us and teach about the Father’s love for us and about a kingdom that is ours while here, one of ”righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 14:17).

Right here in the midst of earthly realms, there is this great and mighty kingdom of goodness (“Godness”). Jesus prayed to His Father for us, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world,” (John 17:14-16).

Father God allowed him to come here, to die for us and pave the way for our having eternal life once we leave this earth. God knows we are sinful—and He cannot look at sin. When He sent His son to be with us God was extending His nature to us . . . making it possible for us to take on His very own nature.

Our nature is naturally a “fallen nature.” All humans are prone to follow it. God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten son to be a surrogate for us. Jesus’ purpose was many faceted, yet majorly to die for us. He carried our sins as the Roman soldiers crucified Him. From there on, we have only to trust, knowing our sins are covered by the Savior’s blood. His blood is our covering. ”There is therefore now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit,” (Romans 8:1).

As Christmas approaches, the greatest thing a person can do in life is to recognize the truth of who Jesus is, and to know He has paved a way for us to be sin-free as we believe in His name and put our trust in Him. This is “the way” we come to relying on the help of His Holy Spirit day-by-day. In this way, Jesus is with us now, and has said, “. . . lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

So, how do we have a “Merry Christmas” in the midst of the troubles we face? The answer is simple, come to know who Jesus is—besides the one we remember at “Christ-mas.” Reading the Gospels (the “Good News”) allows us to see that Jesus is here—able to live in our hearts, doing through us what can relieve the pain of others. How? As the Lord’s Holy Spirit nourishes us, our spirits are uplifted, fortified and enable. Who can find a greater “merriment” than this?