Apple Harvest

The reason everyone thinks Eve ate an apple is that apples are this tempting. 

Apple harvest: the unsung autumn holiday.

#itsnotallpumpkinspice 🍎🍏 😊

Handprints

 Little Tommy visited my grandmother one day,

precious only child of her sister's precious only child,

exploring corner and cushion in his two-year-old way,

gazing into the china hutch at gleaming treasures within,

leaving two perfect handprints on the glass.

"You didn't wipe them off!" I exclaimed when I visited her myself,

picturing the way my mother would rush in 

with ammonia water and a rag,

clucking her tongue and rubbing the marks away.

"By and by it will happen," said my grandmother, unfussed.

"But for now, when I see the handprints, I think of little Tommy, 

and I smile."

I never met little Tommy, this second cousin,

but wherever he is, he's a senior now, like me.

Had my grandmother erased his handprints, 

I would have no story,

would not remember he existed.

Had my grandmother erased his handprints, 

I would not have known that chill of almost-connection, 

inexplicable fascination with proof he'd been here.

Passed this way. Just missed me. Was real.

For the rest of my visit, whenever I passed the china hutch, 

I paused to stand at the perfect angle

so I could see those handprints on the glass.

If human handprints on worldly treasures are memorable,

what of divine handprints on my poor body of clay?

Lord, when You touch me, leave your prints.

Leave them so that even others can know 

Your hands were on me,

can feel that chill of almost-connection,

of inexplicable fascination explained in Christ.

Leave Your handprints on me, Lord,

so that those who stand at the perfect angle

can see them and know You're real. 

Joy and Happiness

 

In college, I met an introverted, pensive musician named Joy--a name I'd always liked. "I hate it," she said. "Adults are always telling me to smile and act happy, because my name is Joy." Which is one reason that when naming my own children I never reached for the "virtue" names. Perhaps they are too prescriptive, too easily taken for labels or even pronouncements. 

Christians are fond of saying that joy and happiness are two different things, and I don't disagree, but I believe there's a ton of overlap. "Happy" isn't always the shallow "happenstance" emotion some want to dismiss it as; Bible translations vary on whether they render the Greek makarios from Jesus' sermon on the mount as "happy" or "blessed," and the Greek word means "supremely blessed," "fortunate," "well off," "blessed," or "happy." In God's economy, being supremely blessed isn't a shallow, worldly, temporary, or despised thing. "Happy" isn't necessarily joy's feeble, undesirable imitation.

However, joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and what does it mean, exactly? That is, how does it surpass happiness, as we claim it does? This question causes me to ponder how (and if) I'm allowing the Spirit to produce this fruit through me. How is it expressed? 

Personally, I find joy to be a quiet, inward gladness and wellbeing that because of Jesus Christ all is secure in the long run and for the future. In that sense, unhappiness at present circumstances can't drive out real joy; even when the joy is hard to find, it has not disappeared and will be felt again. Joy is like an inner glow of rightness, assurance, okayness, stability, gratitude, a sense of God active in your life right now, and while it doesn't demand we squeal and jump up and down, or even smile, I find that when it wells up I often want to move my body. Perhaps happiness is more about now and joy more about horizons or a steady state. Perhaps joy is more a condition or position than an emotion? 

Perhaps my friend Joy being asked to act "happy" was troubling to her because joy and happiness were being conflated. And because she was being reduced to a smile and a cheerful chirp. What I do know is that her soulful, melancholy bent was not at all in conflict with her potential for true, and lasting, joy. 

A Tidbit About Bible Translations

It's good to read different Bible translations once in a while, because the language in differing versions can spark entire new investigations as to meaning. Even at times, maybe give you quite a shock.

Many of us are familiar with the verse that says "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10). The entire verse, from the NIV, reads, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." But just the other day, I read a verse from my 2015 Amplified version that made me laugh out loud:

The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom! (Proverbs 4:7)

Why did I laugh? It surprised and delighted me, because I never saw it stated this baldly before, complete with exclamation mark. My NIV says, "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom." The NKJV says, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom." While faithful translations, these just don't have the same effect. I also laughed because it appears to be a paradox or circular loop, yet we know it's neither, but a deliberate literary choice for emphasis and perhaps even humorous effect. The third reason I laughed is that I didn't know there were two discrete biblical statements about how to get wisdom (fear God, and just plain get wisdom). It's this language that revealed that truth to me. The entire Amplified translation, with its included bracketed material, says this: 

The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and Godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!

And fortunately, we can receive Godly wisdom for the asking, according to James 1:5, so Lord, we ask You for the wisdom that marks the beginning of wisdom, and Your help and presence as we start on the path to seeking it all our days. 

Amen.