How beautiful, Jon. This touches my very inner being.
Oddly enough, I’ve just been listening to one of Mark Yaconelli’s talks from last year’s Greenbelt. He quotes Jean Vannier: “To love is to reveal the beauty of others to themselves.” Yaconelli goes on that we do this by delighting in them and their gifts. This morning you have caused me to delight in you. Have a wonderful day!
I have a friend who is a civil engineer - he’s involved in building public infrastructure.
North of Sydney (here in Australia) there is a bridge over the freeway called the “Mooney Mooney Bridge” (Mooney Mooney was the Aboriginal word for the area I think).
My friend remembers when the bridge was built. It took engineers and builders two years to build the thing. Each bridge is unique and the hard work that these engineers and builders put into the structure was amazing.
When you’re in your car travelling along the freeway, however, you are on the bridge for less than a minute, and most of the time you’re looking out for traffic.
In other words, the people who use the bridge are completely unaware of the amount of work that went into it.
In a sense, I saw this as a symbol for how we treat God. God has built our world and engineering it wonderfully. His hand in creation is seen everywhere, and all the time we enjoy his goodness through the air we breathe, the food we eat, the friends we have, the computer we type comments on. Yet we rarely acknowledge God in this wonderful display of grace.
thanks for the comments.
you are right, oso.
i think probarbly we all need to live out of gratitude more. i certainly do. i guess gratitude should be at the root of all we do. a great theme on which to go into christmas.
another blessing from you. thanks Jon. funny how God shows us His love from the beauty of all creation and yet somehow we seem to miss it all too frequently. thanks again for another eye opener. sometimes painful but necessary to take a closer look at ourselves.
It’s Christmas. Just finished the mince pies. Antacid tablets at the ready. Happy Christmas! Hope it is a good one for you all. May you receive gifts a plenty, and not necessarily the ones that are wrapped in pretty paper!
Hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas day - since it’s boxing day and will be having a 2nd Christmas day with the other section of my family, I’d better get some sleep!!!
Hope you’re all continuing to have a Lovely Christmas time.
I’m really liking marking it by the feasts of our brothers and sisters from the past - St Stephen today, and apparently it’s our bro Sylvester on Dec 31st.
And the fantastic Epiphany on 5th Jan, drawing to a close the 12 day holiday.
However long or short your holiday has been, hope it’s been lovely, and see you in the New Year.
I was away for Christmas (actually back in England spending time with family - wonderful) so i missed this one. Truly beautiful and inspiring. thanks Jon
Nice one.
Comment by Jason — December 23, 2007 @ 3:58 am
Maybe I need to look up more. This is a grat one!
Comment by thevikingfru — December 23, 2007 @ 4:30 am
Thanks Jon. The real Christmas message!
Comment by Chris F — December 23, 2007 @ 9:50 am
How beautiful, Jon. This touches my very inner being.
Oddly enough, I’ve just been listening to one of Mark Yaconelli’s talks from last year’s Greenbelt. He quotes Jean Vannier: “To love is to reveal the beauty of others to themselves.” Yaconelli goes on that we do this by delighting in them and their gifts. This morning you have caused me to delight in you. Have a wonderful day!
Comment by Carole — December 23, 2007 @ 9:51 am
He loves you…
I love you too.
Sas x
Comment by Sarah — December 23, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
I have a friend who is a civil engineer - he’s involved in building public infrastructure.
North of Sydney (here in Australia) there is a bridge over the freeway called the “Mooney Mooney Bridge” (Mooney Mooney was the Aboriginal word for the area I think).
My friend remembers when the bridge was built. It took engineers and builders two years to build the thing. Each bridge is unique and the hard work that these engineers and builders put into the structure was amazing.
When you’re in your car travelling along the freeway, however, you are on the bridge for less than a minute, and most of the time you’re looking out for traffic.
In other words, the people who use the bridge are completely unaware of the amount of work that went into it.
In a sense, I saw this as a symbol for how we treat God. God has built our world and engineering it wonderfully. His hand in creation is seen everywhere, and all the time we enjoy his goodness through the air we breathe, the food we eat, the friends we have, the computer we type comments on. Yet we rarely acknowledge God in this wonderful display of grace.
Comment by One Salient Oversight — December 24, 2007 @ 12:32 am
thanks for the comments.
you are right, oso.
i think probarbly we all need to live out of gratitude more. i certainly do. i guess gratitude should be at the root of all we do. a great theme on which to go into christmas.
Comment by jonbirch — December 24, 2007 @ 12:59 am
another blessing from you. thanks Jon. funny how God shows us His love from the beauty of all creation and yet somehow we seem to miss it all too frequently. thanks again for another eye opener. sometimes painful but necessary to take a closer look at ourselves.
Comment by john Q — December 24, 2007 @ 4:06 am
cheers, john q.
Comment by jonbirch — December 24, 2007 @ 8:58 am
I need to remind myself that sometimes. (Actually 90% of the time)
Comment by Ros — December 24, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
Happy Christmas Jon! Happy Christmas Everybody!!!
Peace and Joy!
Praise be to God
Sarah x
peace to my Brothers and Sisters in the Lord.
Comment by Sarah — December 24, 2007 @ 11:08 pm
what she said
Happy christmas one and all
Love you Jon Boy
have a great day
Comment by will — December 25, 2007 @ 12:09 am
It’s Christmas. Just finished the mince pies. Antacid tablets at the ready. Happy Christmas! Hope it is a good one for you all. May you receive gifts a plenty, and not necessarily the ones that are wrapped in pretty paper!
Comment by Carole — December 25, 2007 @ 1:02 am
What a brilliant thing to discover on Christmas morning. Thank’s Jon, it’ll help me get through the day.
Merry Christmas!!
Comment by Robb — December 25, 2007 @ 10:34 am
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Comment by Laura — December 25, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
I like this one!! So true.
Hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas day - since it’s boxing day and will be having a 2nd Christmas day with the other section of my family, I’d better get some sleep!!!
Comment by brunettekoala — December 26, 2007 @ 12:58 am
Hope you’re all continuing to have a Lovely Christmas time.
I’m really liking marking it by the feasts of our brothers and sisters from the past - St Stephen today, and apparently it’s our bro Sylvester on Dec 31st.
And the fantastic Epiphany on 5th Jan, drawing to a close the 12 day holiday.
However long or short your holiday has been, hope it’s been lovely, and see you in the New Year.
Blessings,
Sarah x
Comment by Sarah — December 26, 2007 @ 11:50 pm
I was away for Christmas (actually back in England spending time with family - wonderful) so i missed this one. Truly beautiful and inspiring. thanks Jon
Comment by Tom C — January 3, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
cheers, tom. glad christmas was good for you. blightey is cold but it is home.
Comment by jonbirch — January 3, 2008 @ 7:08 pm
this one made me cry… thank you, I needed the reminder.
Comment by elle — February 10, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
This is now my desktop image. Thank you.
Comment by Marte — April 29, 2008 @ 3:59 pm