Oh, and the spelling is often going to be how it's pronounced rather than how it's actually spelled so... good luck translating it if you were actually planning on doing that. :)
I Himmelen, I Himmelen dar heren Gud sjelv bor. Hur har-lig bliver sell he-e-ten hur oo- ut sag likt stor. Der an sikte mot an sikte. Jag e vigt e vigt Gud far se. Se heren seba ot.
I Himmelen, I Himmelen vad klar het hog o-ren. Ej shelva soo len lik na-ar den, ut i-sitt mid dags shen. Den sool som aldrig ne der goor. O ej vigt o fer mer kad stor, ar heren seba ot.
I himmelen, I himmelen vad sella ut-tan tal. Av anglar na o hel goo-o nen, vad glansi aransal. Min shell skall bliva des salik, av e vig he tens ska terrik. Hos heren seba ot.
There! Thanks for stumbling through that with me. I have 3 and a half more hours to have it completely done. Anyways, we're well into the Christmas season now (at least according to Disney, they had Christmas trees up before thanksgiving!) so I decided to write a little bit about giving. The fact that I'm thinking about wish lists and shopping contributed to this, as well as a book I just finished- God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew, AND the fact that I was just reading through Proverbs and I noticed a lot of verses dealing with wealth and riches. So here goes.
In regards to giving, the bible talks mostly about giving necessities- food to the hungry, help to the helpless, that kind of thing. James 1:27a says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress[.]" We are called to take care of the less fortunate. Proverbs 22:16 says "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich- both come to poverty." I was a bit shocked when I read this verse. "We're not supposed to give gifts to the rich?" I thought to myself. Honestly, I'm not gonna say much about that verse cuz I'm still pondering it myself. I just invite you to meditate on that for a moment.
Now I want to talk about giving to the poor. Charity is an honorable thing in our society today. Almost everyone sees it as a good thing to give your spare money or old clothes to those who need them. Proverbs 22:9 says "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." So, we're supposed to share with those who are poor, who have less than we do. In return for blessing others, God promises to bless US. It's a win-win situation, if you trust God to keep his promise. In God's Smuggler, Andrew was talking about how he never asked for money from churches where he spoke or in articles he wrote. He just trusted that God would provide everything necessary for his work, and God did. I encourage you to read the book yourself, because it's not too long or difficult to read. In it are countless instances where Andrew and his fellow missionaries chose to give their money to the needy rather than use it for something they wanted- even something as important as school tuition or toothpaste, and God ended up providing for their needs and even some of their wants. The funny thing is, God really demanded their trust. Often the money for a payment or the plans for a mission didn't come until the very last minute, requiring total submission to God from his followers. The way I see it, fear holds a lot of people back from giving. They forget God's promises and fear poverty. The bible assures us that we have nothing to fear- God will take care of the caretakers.
Mother Teresa once said "Love until it hurts, and until you've given a piece of yourself away." Wow! What would the world look like if everyone gave beyond what was convenient and sacrificed some of their lifestyle to help others, keeping in mind that God says he will bless the generous. We'd all be blessing each other with gifts and being blessed by God and by others and life would be pretty great. The first step? Start the trend. Give up something you don't need and give the money you save to someone who needs it. OR if you are pretty short on luxuries already, remember to trust God, and don't shy away from giving what you do have to those who ask for it. Remember, Jesus said that if a man asks you to walk a mile with him, you should accompany him for 2 miles, and if you have 2 cloaks and someone asks you for one of them, you should give it to him. Give what you have, not only what you were just going to throw away otherwise. In Matthew 15, a boy willingly gave all he had to eat, which was a small amount, but Jesus blessed it and used the boy's offering to bless both the boy and over 5,000 others with a full stomach plus leftovers. Think about if the boy had kept his meal to himself, fearful that if he gave it to God he would go hungry. The meal might not have even satisfied him if he hadn't trusted God with his wellbeing. Be like that boy. Give all you have and then watch and see as God multiplies your offering until you get back more than you gave in the first place.
Okay so I feel like I've rambled on a lot, and it's taken me an insanely long time to write all this cuz I'm so distracted, so I'm just gonna finish up with a bunch of verses that I found.
Regarding material possessions and true value- Proverbs 16:16 "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!" (Another verse supporting the name of this blog, mas que la plata- more than silver)
Proverbs 11:24-25 "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty."
Proverbs 11:28 "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf."
Proverbs 13:7 (this one took a little more time for me to understand- it's saying to not live extravagantly, but humbly- which means giving away your abundance!) "One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth."
Proverbs 28:20 "A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished."
