Summer Loving

Hah, anybody recognized the topic without googling? :P

Summer loving comes from the song Summer Nights, which in turn was a part in the musical Grease. Grease is a must if you want to learn about american (US) culture.

This post is not about US culture, nor about Grease. :)

Summer is now, Finland is experiencing exceptional humidity and temperatures. Kinda nice. In the beginning of July we visited relatives and friends in Eastern Finland, and popped in the Saimaa - the biggest lake of Finland (the land of thousand lakes). The water was COLD! Must have been less than 15 degrees, while the air was ~30 degrees. All the adults were intimidated by the coldness, only Viivi, our bold baby, went against all the odds and enjoyed the clear water and sandy beach. A hero since her small age.

Despite the Summer season and seemingly quiet surroundings here in Finland, I've had a lot of experiences and thoughts about life, living, cultures, people, future, God, faith, family, friends, aging, food, joy, sorrow, pity, pain, stupidy, wisdom, growth, responsibility, fun, happiness, money, work, career, freedom, creativity... just to list a few. ;)

Hopefully I'll manage to find time to finally download my pics from Asian trip (beginning of June) and post some of them here to share. Also, I've listed several topics I'd like to blog about, so hopefully I'll get to them eventually.

We are moving house, next week, to another city. More details later. Summer continues, just another day.

And psst: Viivi has recently learned to walk, still 2 wks till her 1 year birthday. She has also learned to annoy her parents intentionally. Bright future ahead. :)

If I ... can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but ...

It's amazing how can one be so blind. Talking about myself, my blindness struck me right at my face very recently.

The Bible place summarizes it so well:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
- Paul from Tarsus, Letter to the Corinthian church, 1st century. Chapter 13, verses 1-3.

The blindness meant in my case, that I thought I was a loving person. Not necessarily easily lovable, but at least loving. I concentrated on things and issues, instead of love. I pushed for matters and changes, instead of more love. I aimed for perfection and to glorify God, but missed love.

Well, waking up, thanks to a friend and Holy Spirit, I now see what I've been missing: love. I can't say I've been very loving. For what love is? The same Bible place continues from above:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
- Chapter 13, verses 4-8.

The standard of Love is devices by God Himself. It doesn't work if I try to put my name in the places of "love" in above passage. Only the name "Jesus" fits, only He is able. However, as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, I am called to aim for it. I've been promised Holy Spirit to help me, mold me, change me. Now I see, now I want, I'm willing. And He can.

I thank God for this wake up call, perhaps I can start a new era in this field in my life. Hopefully.

Comforting:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
- Letter of Paul to the church in Ephesus, 1st century, The Bible.

Long-suffering

In our cell group gathering last Sunday, the topic was smth like: how to be/do good in the world that has gone bad? It was a wide topic but we concentrated on few issues only. Mainly, how do we handle the not-so-nice things and situations that happen to us? To ignore it and withdraw, or to face it? If to face it, how to do it in a way that is suitable for the occasion?

The discussion lead me to think about my own behavior. I do not have patience as I used to have, I am currently lacking the humility I used to possess, I find myself lacking in this field of love: long-suffering. Maybe it's because I used to "be better" in this area that I notice the change and difference. The next question is then: what changed? Why I changed?

It has not been a deliberate process, that's for sure. As I look back to the time I used to be better with long-suffering, I was more simple, more sincere towards God, spent more time in prayer, spent more time with the Bible, spent less time with work/studies, in general was more "easy" with life.

Another aspect of this change, I have become more "hard" towards things and people. This is related to my previous post about pride: Growth and Pride. Now I'm still in the process of working on this one, and sometimes it feels that things are just getting worse: I get more feedback about talking in a "hard" manner, speaking harsh words without pity. I myself also notice sometimes how I handle people and things in a harsh way. What should I do?

Analyzing the situations and the behavior, I have one intermediate conclusion: it's easy to withdraw, but one really needs wisdom and long-suffering to face the issues and ppl in a good manner. Part of me wants to withdraw from all these situations - I'm not good enough to handle them. But I know this is a lesson I need to learn, so I want to continue to fight. Withdrawing means also not to take responsibility for other people or other things - as a Christian, I am called to take responsibility to care for other people and care for this world.

If you have some wise advice for me, let me know. One thing I want to do: spend more quality time with God in reading His love letters to me (the Bible) and in prayer. In addition I want to take good care of my family, do my job well, and keep up the relationships with relatives and friends. My current voluntary responsibilities in church will also continue, actually only two and half months to go. I want to trade my wasted time to the quality time with God, and I want to start this already before moving to Keuruu in August. :)

As mentioned also in the previous post, I'm gonna rest. I'm also gonna talk less and be in no hurry. God doesn't utter useless words, and God is never in a hurry. :)