Desliguei (des-leeg-aye)

Desliguei. This week’s Portuguese word. I heard it twice in two separate conversations I had on Monday, and then again on Thursday. “ I switched off...”

A young guy in a park. Talking about faith and religion. And being brought up in the church, baptised confirmed, even taken to the Catholic shrine at Fatima by his grandparents. But then in his teens “Desliguei...” I switched off.

Librarian in the local library where we went to join. Said “you are missionaries?” (noticing what we had written on the form for profession). “I was too .... once. I was training in Rome ... to become a priest. But...

“Deslliguei...” I switched off. It was not the faith, or the theology. It was the control. The hierarchy. The sense that I was no longer able to think for myself. So I left it all behind. A long way behind.

And the interesting thing in these two incidents, that both have switched on again, one to a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other to follow the precepts of an Indian guru.

The danger in switching off from the religious system of institutionalised Christianity is that you throw out the baby with the bath water. Throwing off the shackles and confines of a religious upbringing, you tend to run a mile from anything that even smells of Christianity, and run toward whatever is different, esoteric, and “non Christian”. That’s why the shelves in the local bookstore are stacked with books on spiritism, buddhism, mysticism and every other “ism” than the Bible

There’s a lot of people around us who are “desligado”, switched off, and the challenge for us is to be able to enter that void, as in the case of Nino, the boy in the park, and introduce them to the living Jesus, not the religion.

Afiado (af-i-ado)

This week's new Portuguese word, though actually, I had learnt it before, but this week it takes on a fresh significance. Afiado. Means "sharpened" or "keen". Or in my case, it means a cut finger. I have to blame Colin. I mean, he's the one who, according to Anna, kept saying there's not a sharp knife the house, when he was cooking in our kitchen.

So, Anna decides we need a few new knives about the house. And she has gone and acquired this thing called, appropriately enough, a "kitchen devil". It would slice your finger off as soon as look at you! So there I was engaged innocently enough in peeling an apple, not quite realising the thing I held in my hand. And suddenly, blood everywhere. The kitchen counter, the cupboard, the floor, the sink. Of course, Anna blames me for not doing the sensible thing and putting a plaster on it rather than dancing around waving my finger in the air. But that's a man thing, I suppose, to make a song and dance about even the slightest injury. After all, we've never had to go through childbirth, so we can't be expected to have the same perspective on pain thresholds.

Anyway, so the edge of this devil is keen and sharp. I read later the instructions attached to this new addition to the family. Do not chop on glass or marble surfaces otherwise the knife will quickly lose its edge. And I'm thinking. How easy it is for us to "lose our edge", when we're dealing with hard hearts, dull minds or abrasive personalities. The Book or Proverbs talks about "sharpening one another" - "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend" (Prov 27:17) and I supposing that's what is meant by mentoring. When we spend time with a friend or colleague, intentionally seeking to encourage, challenge, spur on to good works, and to a closer walk with God, it has an amazing impact not just on him or her, but on ourselves. We get sharpened ourselves as we seek to sharpen others. The reverse is also true. If we're unresponsive, tough and opinionated, arrogant or self sufficient, not only do we take the edge off the person seeking to reach out to us, but we become blunt ourselves in the process.

I thank God for the good relationships we have with people around us and that we are able to "sharpen" one another when necessary, which is quite a lot of the time, by the way. May He continue to keep us sharp and usable in His service.

Morning Playlist (random shuffle)

Grey sky

Sun and then cloud.

Then sun again

A heron stands in the shallows.

Waiting

Alison Sudol (A Fine Frenzy) sings beautifully in my head. She's a relatively new singer. Lovely voice.

Well crafted songs

“Making the best of it ..

You’re not alone in this ..

There's hope for the hopeless

....Still when you're heart is sore

And the heavens pour.....

Like a willow bending in the storm

You'll make it .....

There's hope for the hopeless....”

Downstream past the Havana Bar, the Irish Pub,

the Lisbon Casino.

All quiet now on a Monday morning

Debris piled up from the night before

Party in the park.

Now it’s Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler (yes, he of Dire Straits fame)

An interesting collaboration. “Beyond my wildest dreams” Gentle country.

“And as the dawn appears

At the edge of the night

There's still a light that gleams

Beyond my wildest dreams...”

Now past the Oceanarium, then the Marina.

There’s a cruise ship docked out in the river.

Tourists here to see the grand city of Lisbon

Must be about the 3 km mark. Time to turn back.

Grey clouds swirling. A few drops of rain in my face.

“I've been thinking”, sings Van Morrison in my head

(“Take me Back” from Hymns to the Silence)

....there's so much suffering,

too much confusion in the world....

Take me way, way, way, way back...

when the world made more sense....

in a green meadow...

in the golden afternoon

In the eternal moment,

in the eternal moment

In the grace, in grace

When you lived in the light

In the light, in the grace....

Passed a photographer on the boardwalk.

Camera poised. catch the early morning light.

And the bridge. And the birds.

“A Luz!.” I call out to him as I run past “Fantastico! Excelente!”

He looks bemused and then he smiles. But I’m gone

Mellow throaty tones of Cesaria Evora now. Melancholy and latin.

Very different but fits perfectly the morning mood. Caboverdiana, though she sings in Spanish on this one.

Kiss me, as though it was our last night on earth... she sings :

“Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta la noche
la última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho...”

Rain’s steady now. I’m soaked. But loving it. Fresh. New.

And a change of pace in my headphones. Muse.

Now how did that get there ...must be Colin.

“It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life

For me

And I’m feeling good”

Home.

Wet.

Rejoicing.

God is good.