Interesting situation last night concluded in a sweet word (I would say from God) today. Memorial Day sucks, I hate it. Having lost a brother who was in the services and a grandfather who was a highly decorated hero of World War II, it is an extremely painful and emotional time for me. I chatted with a friend last evening and kind of went bonkers emotionally, making rather a blubbering idiot of myself, something I try generally to avoid. Today, I was still a bit dreary so I opted for some of my favorite therapy: Rich Mullins and some Bible reading.
After being chastened last night for maybe being a bit too prideful and trying too hard to put on a front to people and not letting myself be open, I turned to the book of Proverbs, the 27th chapter (there are 31 chapters so it is handy to read one chapter a day each month, and you will soon see, it doesn't get boring).
Proverbs 27:5-10
Open rebuke is better than love that is hidden. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are lavish and deceitful. He who is satiated loathes a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Like a bird that wanders from her nest is a man who strays from his home. Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; so does the sweetness of a friend's counsel that comes from the heart. Your own friend and your father's friend <I would like to insert "friends's friend" here too>, forsake them not; neither go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far off.
Or as Rich Mullins so beautifully states in his song, "What Susan Said" from the album "The World as Best I Remember it, vol. II":
CHORUS
and we both feel lost
but I remember what Susan said
how love is found in the things we've given up
more than in the things that we have kept
and ain't it funny what people say
and ain't it funny what people write
and ain't it funny how it hits you so hard - in the middle of the night
and if your home is just another place where you're a stranger
and far away is just somewhere you've never been
I hope that you'll remember, I was your friend
And the very next song on the album, one that has always been a favorite:
Growing Young
I've gone far from my home
seen the world and I have known
so many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'cause they have crept into my heart
they have left it cold and dark
and bleeding,
bleeding and falling apart
CHORUS
everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
well I've been around enough to know that was the lie
that held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well, we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
and our Father still waits and He watches down the road
to see crying boys come running back to his arms
and be growing young
I've seen silver turn to dross
seen the best there ever was
and I tell you, it ain't worth what it costs
and I remember my fathers house
what I wouldn't give right now
just to see him and hear him tell me that he loves me
so much
Make of it whatever you want. "To him who is purified, everything is holy; but to him who is defiled, all is defiled."