This morning I spent about 30 minutes reading my Bible, reading some poetry by Wendell Berry, and watching geckos attempt to snatch insects off of giant banana leafs and other assorted vegetation. Every so often I would spy a gecko make a daring leaf from a precariously thin leaf to another equally precarious perch. Never once did I see one fall. These remarkable creatures, are truly gifted by God with their remarkably adhesive toe-pads that employ Van Der Wal forces and friction to cling to incredibly smooth surfaces (If you are wondering about the exact mechanisms of how this works I recommend the article
http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/6/1081.long). Anyway, as I sat in my chair reading Galatians and watching the Geckos, I pondered, as did Paul before me the glory of our freedom to be found in Christ. No more are we as Christians bound to the law, but we are set free that we might follow the Lord in love. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1).
After reading through the rest of Galatians and marveling at the totality of what Christ accomplished on the Cross, I turned to read the musings of another of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry. One of the poems in particular caught my eye as it also dealt with slavery and freedom though from a different context. As I read the poem my mind went immediately to the slavery of apathy (both spiritual and physical) we so often impose upon ourselves. "To not to choose" as Dr. Brown (Previous President of Cedarville University) often says "is to choose". To refuse to deal with our sinful desires, wanton waste, and debauchery, is to inevitably condone them. By remaining apathetic we condone the wastage of life, this earth, and our very souls. Our call is to remembrance and repentance.
For your consideration I have copied the poem below for your considerations. Let me know what your think int he comments below, and yes there are multiple ways to interpret this poem (I realize this post is rather random and has yet to give an update on what I'm up to down here. I'll do that in the next post later on today).
After the slavery of the body, dumbfoundment
of the living flesh in the order of spending
and wasting, then comes the enslavement
of consciousness, the incarnation of mind
in machines. Once the mind is reduced
to the brain, then it within the grasp
of the machine. It is the mind incarnate
in the body, in community, and in the earth
that they cannot confine. The difference
is love; the difference is grief and joy.
Remember the body's pleasure and its sorrow.
Remember its grief at the loss of all it knew.
Remember its redemption in suffering
and in love. Remember its resurrection
on the last day, when all made things
that have not refused this passage
will return, clarified, each fully being
in the being of all. Remember the small
secret creases of the earth — the grassy,
the wooded, and the rocky — that the water
has made, finding its way. Remember
the water flowing under the shadows
of the trees, of the tall grasses, of the stones.
Remember the water striders walking over
the surface of the water as it flowed.
Remember the great Sphere of the small
wren's song, through which the water flowed
and the light fell. Remember, and come to rest
in light's ordinary miracle.
-Wendell Berry from "A Timbered Choir"
