Ring Out Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

-Lord Alfred Tennyson

Benefit of the Doubt

I read a line recently that essentially said "...if you trust someone, you will give them the benefit of the doubt. But if you don't trust people, you will immediately think the worst."

You know those times in life that Oprah calls an "aha" moment - this was one of those moments. I realized my lack of trust towards a good friend and that there just may be another side to a situation. In fact, with this particular friend, I had created a whole story to support my theory about how they were out to hurt me. I used justifications, examples...you know, hard evidence showing how I was so hard done by. After reading that line about trust, I realized I never did fully trust them (well, for that matter, anyone). At that moment, a wise voice from within led me to call this friend and hear the story. As it turned out, the reasons for their actions and the reality of the situation were nowhere near my theory. In fact, their actions really had nothing to do with me. Not only an "aha" but a humbling moment.

Life Lesson #4543* - trusting people allows them the space to share their story. Their actions still may not be right or appropriate but perhaps understanding why they did it will save a friendship.

* random number because I feel like I am always learning something about life

Forgiveness= strength

A photo from the U2 concert

Gandhi said the weak can never forgive; forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. The idea of forgiveness seems to go against our very nature as humans. It feels as though we are surrendering power to another. For me, there is a struggle between knowing that forgiveness actually frees me versus wanting someone to pay for the hurt I feel. And then I think about how much I am forgiven and one would think that would be enough to convince me to freely forgive but the struggle continues. I was recently in Vancouver for the U2 concert. It was an amazing concert with numerous highlights but one in particular was when Bono started singing Amazing Grace and then all 55,000 people in the stadium sang with him. If only those words were always lived out in my life. Why is extending grace to others so difficult despite the immensity of grace bestowed on us? Here is a clip from the concert (I apologize for the quality of sound and image).