Do It Now

A friend died last week. Actually, I have to say she was a casual friend--someone who came to church occasionally, called occasionally, and with whom I had socialized only rarely. But anyway, the thing that caught my attention was that she was born in 1946--the same year as Laura Bush, George Bush, Bill Clinton and...Barbara Creed! Yikes!

When someone your own age dies, it's a wake-up call, and I know it will happen more and more as the years pass. What am I waking up to? For one thing, the next to go just might be me, and whatever I want to accomplish in this life, I had better do it now!

It seems that we never really feel that our own death is imminent. I know I don't. I always feel that I have lots of time. I always have hope that I will accomplish things in the future. I think that, for the most part, this is healthy. It's not healthy to think that time is unlimited, but it is healthy to make plans for the future. A mature person will rightly believe that he or she has much to live for.

I have much to live for, and so do you. Now let's get started!

What causes fatigue?

"Nothing [is] so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."
--William James

(via Gretchen Rubin--The Happiness Project)

Do you think William James was right? I do. Someone else (I looked for the quotation, but I'm not sure exactly how it goes or who said it) said something like this: "It's not what you do that makes you tired; it's what you leave undone." I really think this is true too. Even tasks that may seem too little to worry about hang over our heads like big black clouds.

As embarrassing as it is to admit it, I am writing thank you notes from Christmas this week (February 6-12). My goal is to get them out before Valentine's Day! Now there are only a few, and they are not difficult to write...so what's the hold-up? I don't know. It's just one of those things that when the job pops into my head, I say, "I'll deal with that later." Well, later is now. And the undone task does hang over me leaving me feeling defeated. Every time I see one of these sweet people at church, someone who thoughtfully remembered us at Christmas, I would get a pang of guilt. Guilt is exhausting, and so is having to remember things. Once the job is done, you can relax and forget about it.

So I'll let you know when I can forget about this!

Random Thoughts

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

- Pablo Picasso

(via JamesNord) (via www.swiss-miss.com)

I'm afraid Picasso was right. I'm sure his inspiration involved more that forming the painting in his head! He had to pick up the paint brush, right? Well, I'm picking up this paintbrush for the first time since January 2008!

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Talk about a made-up holiday! The country turns its collective attention to this contest. Now I admit that I am not a football fan. I don't understand the game, and each game takes way too long! But at the same time, I try to be tolerant of those who love it.

Sports has many positive qualities. I suppose fitness is the most important. And we can also learn discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship, etc. It can be a positive way to relax and spend leisure time. But the honest among us has to admit to some negatives too. The question that comes my mind today is this, "I wonder how many young people have been ruined by sports?" Often gifted young players receive far too much attention for something that has little to do with their character. The newspapers carry pictures and speak of an athlete's "high school career." High school career? School should BE his career! Anyway, going on. The college campuses recruit young players, and the signing makes sports headlines. The college sets aside certain housing arrangements and feeds the athletes special meals. They are treated like royalty. Sportscasters speculate on choices for the pros. With the pros comes rock-star status! No wonder these athletes come to think they are something special because they can throw a ball!

Saddest of all are the millions of young people whose major goal in life is to play in the NBA or the NFL or the NHL or MLB. (Did I get the acronyms right?) Why study or prepare for anything else? We all know how few actually play college or professional sports. In fact, most of us don't know even one professional athlete! I know I don't.

So let's have fun with sports! Take advantage of everything that is good about them. But let's teach our young people to keep their lives in balance. So many things in life are more important than athletics: God, family, education, and career to name a few.

The Bible offers good advice when Paul said in 1 Tim. 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.