Love Haiku 4:6
1
still the tender gaze
after a thousand winters
eternal springtime
2
i walk in twilight
the rain and wind pelt my face
your footsteps draw near
3
your love the fragrance,
scarlet blood upon the rose
life everlasting
D. G. Vachal © 2024
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; He leadeth
me beside the still waters ; He restoreth my soul .” .
Ps. xxiii. 2 , 3.
~ a synopsis and modern translation of George Matheson’s writing
Would it be an easy thing for a person to confess the Lord to be their Shepherd when brought to green pastures beside still waters? Who would not rejoice in the peace and contentment, surrounded by such a peaceful surrounding? In truth, one must sound the depths of one’s soul because no one can lie down in peace until one has received a restored soul.
It is as equally difficult for an unrestored soul to lie down in green pastures as to wallow in barren wastelands. Do you think that an unrestful heart will have more rest in prosperity than in adversity? No, an unrestul heart will carry itself into everything. Prosperity is not found in the greenness of the pastures — adversity lies not in the barrenness of the wastelands; they both lie within.
The joyous heart will make all things joyful, its pastures will always be green, its waters will all be quiet. The restless heart will make all things unrestful: the calmness of the outward scene will be its source of pain.
We cannot fly from ourselves by changing our circumstances: we can only change our own circumstances by fleeing from ourselves. The sweetness and bitterness of life are alike within us, and we shall receive from the world just what we bring to it.
Oh my soul, if you would have green pastures, if you desire quiet waters, if you should seek for a place where you can lie down and rest, then you must first be restored. You must set aside your own self before you can find a scenery of repose.
Then when you are at rest, all things can be yours — the world, life, death, angels, principalities, powers — you can claim them as your servants. You can extract joy out of sorrow, sleep in the ship of life when the storm is raging around you. You shall spread your table in the presence of your enemies.
Goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life when your soul shall have been restored.
*** Reference: George Matheson, “The Secret of Peace”, Moments on the Mount, London: James Nisbet & Co.1884, pp. 67-69
*** Photography by Alfred Derks at Pixabay
There are times in life when a person, though mentally fit, experiences a nameless unhappiness in the soul. It is the same condition reflected in the Psalmist’s lament, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” 1 This affliction touches many, including Christians, and it is a state that leads to spiritual depression.
One of the causes of spiritual depression is fear of the future. This was a peculiar problem of one young man in the New Testament named Timothy. He was dependent on the Apostle Paul, and fears arose with the impending perils that his mentor was facing. Alongside was a fear of failure in the seemingly daunting tasks that lay ahead of him while Paul was in prison.
Paul addressed Timothy’s fear with a two-step approach: a reprimand and a reminder. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
Paul reprimands Timothy for being gripped by the spirit of fear: a spirit which does not come from God. If we suffer from this manifestation of spiritual depression, it is due to our inability as Christians to realize what God has given us and is giving us — the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is being negligent to stir up ourselves, to think, to take ourselves in hand.
What then, has God given us? First in the list is the spirit of power. Victorious, miraculous power in living the Christian life, in battling with temptation and sin, “a power to go on whatever the conditions, whatever the circumstances, power to hold on and to hold out”. 2
Next, Paul mentions the spirit of love. One of the root causes of the problem is that fearful people are too involved in self. The way to rid of self is to be so absorbed in someone or something else, leaving no room for thinking about oneself. The spirit of love.
Lastly, God has given us the spirit of a sound mind. In spite of our natural weaknesses, God has given us, for us to appropriate, the spirit of self-control, discipline and judgment.
As Christians, we do not live on and by ourselves. Through God’s marvelous work of salvation, He has implanted within us a principle of a divine spiritual life through Jesus Christ. We need to “stir up the gift”, reminding ourselves of who we are in Christ. And casting fear aside, let us move steadily forward in life, giving glory to the One Who gave His all for us.
Reference:
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, Great Britain: Pickering and Inglis, Ltd, 1977, pp. 92-105
Footnotes:
1 Psalm 45:3, ESV
2 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, Great Britain: Pickering and Inglis, Ltd, 1977, p. 102
Photography Credit: Dawn Breaks by Eugene Kurenkov
Melodies kindled by hearth fires:
the refrigerator murmurs like a cello
in concert with the clanging cymbals of platters,
the violin strings of scarlet wine,
the oboe winds that scatter the leftover
crumbs of bread —
Supper flames are quenched,
night deepens towards the precipice of dawn,
outside the window
the eyelids of frozen branches close,
await the feeble warmth of winter morning.
Foxes have holes,
the graceful gazelle runs homeward
to the ebony forest,
egrets fly to their nests in the fir trees,
the mountain goats climb to their high places.
Praise, praise,
for the laughter of light in our dwellings,
the crimson fire of corpuscles pulsating
with the pendulum of time —
Praise, praise to Thee,
O Giver of Light and Life,
O Source of Strength and Joy.
D. G. Vachal © 2014
*** Photography Credit: “Night Cabin” by Andrey Golubev
lilies, sparrows and grass 
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