Innocence

There is a unique beauty in innocence. It is something to be treasured, marvelled at, enjoyed and protected. Fiercely.

The edges of the world seem less sharp and pointed, more accommodating and generally better when we are innocent. Why? Innocence is guiltlessness, it is having no red on your ledger, no debt owed, nothing to worry about. It is freedom. Freedom from caution, the caution that that is birthed from an expectation of attack, retribution, disappointment and pain. Innocence says that the default is good, not bad, that the outcome will be positive not negative. Innocence is the opposite of being jaded.

Innocence is often associated with naivety, negative connotations of unreality, blindness and foolishness... The waiting period before waking up to the cold harsh reality of life and the smell of ash. It is the cushion that makes you feel safe but doesn't actually break your fall or stop you from snapping your legs.

If this is what you think of innocence then you are not alone. You must have been jaded by life's kicks to the stomach. But there is yet hope. Truth is that you can change your view on the whole thing, if you choose to.

Now you might be pointing to your circumstances right now and saying 'There really is no way I can look at this mess and have any other view than my one right now - and yes I am jaded - for good reason! My Jadedness reminds me that this is what I should expect and that makes this circumstance less shocking and easier to deal with.'

Well, I have no idea what your circumstance is right now but I do know that I have been kicked in the stomach a few times and I have felt the same way about life. Hard exterior keeps me safe. But then I stumbled upon a little nugget of truth (well actually it came and found me out).

You lost your innocence? Welcome to the club, now chew on this: Your innocence can be restored.

You might think I am saying that because I don't know just how deep the pile of filth is that you lost your innocence in a long time ago, but that's not it. I am saying that because it is true, was for me and is for you - doesn't matter who you are.

His name is Jesus and he can be your innocence. Bit of a weird concept to the uninitiated so give me a second here... You, me and literally every other person out there has lost their innocence to a greater or lesser degree. All of us except for this one guy - Jesus. Now one of the most amazing things about innocence is that it holds on to hope, even in the face of the worst situations. That is what Jesus held onto - despite the fact that he knew all of us were a complete mess he held onto the hope that some would decide to choose freedom from all the entangled mess. So he gave up his innocence, took the punishment that he did not deserve, and absorbed all of the guilt of whoever would decide to make the trade.

Now here is a weird thing about guiltiness, once you have been condemned, jaded, broken - you get used to it. This is the reason that criminals so often keep re-offending - they have lost their innocence. Even though they might do their time and pay the sentence for their actions they still feel jaded even though in the eyes of the law they are now innocent. So they just keep on acting like they did before because the way they perceive themselves is not as clear cut or as quick to change as the legal system is. So they re-offend and go back to square one.

We are all exactly the same as this - we might not be breaking the laws of our country but we are all constantly breaking moral, spiritual laws that we generally agree are good. Do not steal. Do not lie. But we do!  That is why Jesus is SUCH good news because he can make you innocent again! But here is the danger - we do the same as the re-offending criminal. We get declared innocent but we don't feel that way. Well here is a lesson we Christians need to learn - tell  your feelings to line up with the truth.

The good news continues here as well. God doesn't just release us from prison and let us wander around aimlessly - he helps us. He is our crutch that lets us stand even with broken legs. If we ask him, he is faithful to restore to us what the locusts have eaten. We might not ever be what we were before but we can retrieve our innocence and we can be stronger than before we ever fell in the first place.

Even though I have done my time

And paid for my crime

Everything is not just fine

I can't get my feelings in line

Cant shake the guilt in this heart of mine

-  Oh pine my soul, pine!  -

For the ineffably divine

To make sense of this mess where there is no reason or rhyme

To his purity and innocence let my life bind

That freedom and release in him I might find

He is open, compassionate and kind

Powerful and pervading, able to renew my mind

Sets me free from the meritocracy grind

Oh my soul, let your worth by him be defined

Amazing grace! Now I can see, I am no longer blind!

Title font used: 'Euterpe'

Lethabong

This past week has been a busy one - doing different practical ministries each day within the local area. One of these days I visited Lethabong - a very small township that lives in deep poverty, the houses are corrugated iron shacks that are (if you are living in the UK) probably no bigger than your bedroom and they are occupied by families of 4 or 5. There is no running water and no electrical hook up in the area.

The locals are dependent on truck-delivered water and cook on open fires. Any electricity they have is from personal generators. It is a place of great need. We were in this area partnering with another organisation that has started a pre-school in the centre of town for the education of the next generation and also so that the parents are able to look for jobs. We were there to paint the pre-school (also corrugated iron shacks) to make it a more colourful place and increase the longevity of the buildings.

Despite circumstance these people seem to have a richness in community and contentment in life that is a challenging thing to encounter. As I was painting and thinking to myself how little benefit a pretty looking shack is to people who have no water - a young man who was walking by shouted to me:

'yes! More! More!- Good! Good! Nice job! God Bless you!'

Then I started thinking how amazing these people are.

Where there are people the gospel of Coca-Cola is never too far away, it is in a lot of ways (somewhat ironically) a sad sight.

But it is nothing in comparison to the heart crushing sight of the church building...

This is very typically African in my limited experience and it makes me sad - in the middle of a town of maybe a few thousand who have nothing - the people who can bring hope and light into such a community instead bring a massive church building that probably has more monetary value than the whole rest of the town and then tell the people there that if they would just love God enough and give enough money then they would be laughing all the way to the bank.  Meanwhile they question how they will eat that night.

To those of you who read this and do not call yourself a Christian because you do not want to be associated with people like this - please know that these are wolves that dress themselves as sheep but that does not make being a sheep bad.

Title font used 'Henry'

Abstract

It's been too long - Hello internet! I recently bought myself a new lens, can you guess which one? Anyway these abstracts were taken with it because I had to christen the latest addition and there will be plenty more to come in the near future - though unlikely before Christmas.

As per - best/favourite 'til last... Merry Christmas and to quote tiny Tim 'God bless us, every one!'

Title font used 'Neogrey'