The Deep Things of Darkness vs. The Deep Things of Light

The end of the Church age and the of the beginning of our Father's eternal kingdom will very soon be here. Scripture details the nasty events that will take place during that time. The only way to successfully go through what is coming is to keep our eyes on the prize which is an eternity with our heavenly Father and also our Messiah and other believers.There will be no more sin or any of its miserable effects there, only light and all the joys of righteousness. When I get discouraged, I read the back of the book.

Having said this, we need to focus on the deep things of light and not the deep things of darkness. All the fear producing events taking place in the world today, true though they may be, only cause man's hearts to fail them for fear. Keeping our eyes on our Messiah brings peace, trust and rest. There is only so much we can do to turn things around in our country and the world. If after praying, you feel called to support a given cause, such as campaigning for a specific candidate, do so. But remember, the final outcome is in our heavenly Father's hands. We are to occupy while on earth, but our focus should never be on world events, but our Messiah.

Even our Savior at times discussed the things of darkness and exposed the enemy and his dirty works, but he focused on the things of light. He said and did only those things he heard his Father saying and doing (light), healing and setting people free, preaching about the Kingdom and it's rules, his every word and action showing us what the Father is like and drawing us to relationship with them. After a most refreshing talk about the deep things of light with a special brother, the thought struck me that we can either focus on the deep things of light or those of darkness. Out of that thought came this poem.

THE DEEP THINGS OF DARKNESS

Created for intimate relationship,
Close family fellowship,
Nothing else satisfies,
Satiates the hunger,
Fills the void,
Even though we relentlessly search,
Sadly,
Way to often,
Deceived by the enemy,
Driven to fill the void,
Puffed up,
We seek wisdom,
But in the wrong places,
Instead of focusing on truth,
The deep things of light,
Desiring to expose evil,
We focus on it,
Whether true or not,
The deep things of darkness,
Don’t focus on relationship,
Make us paranoid,
Fearful and depressed,
Have the enemy’s signature,
The deep things of light,
Focus on  relationship,
Bring peace,
Trust and rest,
Have our Savior’s signature!

Music With What's Left

I read about the performance of a most inspiring musician. Itzhak Perlman, who is a concert violinist that was stricken with polio as a child. He has braces on both legs and walks slowly and painfully. In one of his concerts a string broke on his violin. Instead of going through the time consuming process to get a replacement string, Itzhak played a symphonic work with three strings instead of the usual four strings. It's supposed to be impossible to play a symphonic work on three strings, but that night Itzhak refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing and recomposing the piece in his head. At one point it sounded like he was detuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before. After he finished the piece, the applause was thunderous.  He smiled, wiped the sweat from his bow, raised his bow to quiet the audience, and then said-not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." This poem is dedicated to Itzhak Perlman and all those committed  to passionately making the most beautiful music possible with what they have left.


MUSIC WITH WHAT'S LEFT


Each human is unique,
Something special,
Some are born handicapped,
Others become handicapped later,
It may be physical,
Or  mental,
Whatever form it takes,
Whenever it happens,
No matter how slight it is,
It leaves us at a disadvantage,
Areas where we struggle,
Or can't perform at all,
Whatever life hands us,
Whether a full cup,
Or one that's almost empty,
Or somewhere in between,
Our attitude is so important,
We can be whiners,
Or winners,
 A blessing to others,
With our positive attitude,
Kind actions,
Or a curse,
With our negative words,
Self centered actions,
Whatever we have left,
To make music with,
We need to use it,
Chose to live passionately,
With purpose,
Seek to make beautiful music,
By discovering our gifts,
Using them to glorify Elohim,
Bring his life to others.