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.

Is It Morning Yet?

Are you a morning person? A night person? Experts in chronobiology, the science of body time, tell us that the body clock is a real phenomenon. We didn't need chronobiologists to tell us that now did we? I happen to be a morning person. I feel better; I have more energy; my mental outlook is brighter; I get so much done in the morning. When I was teaching, I could do a half day's work before leaving for school! I still arise early though it really isn't necessary. I know, I know...this is annoying beyond words to you night people out there. You are, for all practical purposes, unconscious until about 11:00 am. You secretly despise the cheery early birds. Your energy level builds throughout the day, and you are at peak performance at 9:00 pm when we morning people are dozing on the couch!

Psalm 5:3 says "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Does this mean that God favors hearing from us in the "morning"? Maybe God is a "morning person"! No, no, no. That cannot be. Did you know that according to www.webexhibits. org, the Jewish calendar day begins at sunset or when three medium-sized stars become visible? You could go by Jewish time, and 10:00 pm would be REALLY early, perhaps comparable to 4:00 am, Gentile Standard Time! Or you could think of it this way, whenever you best spend your time with the Lord is morning somewhere. It is morning to God when He hears your voice, you are directing your prayer to him, and you are looking up expectantly to hear from Him. The point is not the time of day. Just do it. God is always ready for you to begin your "day" with Him.

Ahhhh!

Ahhhh...a new year. What a great feeling to start new calendars! Throw those old ones out! Think of them as symbols of things past. I love sunny January with its crisp air that brings a feeling of new hope--hope that I can get organized and maybe keep up this year and hope that I will reach those goals, read those books, accomplish those tasks! I'll make those phone calls, write those letters, organize those snapshots! I'll get my priorities in order, pray more, study my Bible as never before! Somewhere in the back of my brain lodges the nagging truth that I won't be able to do it all again this year, but that doesn't discourage me. I think it is a healthy thing to have hope, to have goals. Perhaps this is how the Apostle Paul felt when he penned these immortal words in Philippians 3:13 and 14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (arrived): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Since the creation, time has been organized into segments--days, months, seasons, years, and yes, even millennia! I think God knew that we would need to start over from time to time. Each new year is a time to realize that we haven't arrived, to look back (briefly), try to learn from our mistakes, and then forget those failures. Start over, reach forth, and press on!

MIRACLE LIST

I imagine that the widow who came to Elisha (II Kings 4) must certainly have said something like this, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Her husband, who had served God, was dead, and her debts were so great that the creditors were threatening to take her two sons as slaves. All she had was a pot of oil. Elisha told her and her sons to borrow all the vessels they could find. You will remember that when she poured the oil into the vessels, she was able to fill them all! When the vessels were gone, the oil stopped. At the end of the day, the oil, when sold, would pay off the debts, and the remainder would support the widow and her children! She needed a miracle, and she got one.

Have you ever been in a spot which seemed as hopeless of the widow's? I have to say that in God's mercy my needs have never been as desperate as hers, but I ask the Lord for things that essentially need a miracle. These are requests that in all honesty I have trouble believing will ever happen. In fact, they won't happen unless God does it. I put these things on my special "miracle list." Nearly every day I have to say "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," and "Thy will be done." We must remember that we have the same God as Elisha had; and He is a miracle-working God. Let's ask Him for miracles.

Communication

When is communication not communication? Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who wouldn't or couldn't listen or respond? I have, and I ran out of steam quickly! By definition communication requires at least two people. Perhaps this is the reason that we don't pray effectively--we don't let God respond, and we don't listen. I find it difficult to pray apart from Bible reading. My system is not perfect, but I keep trying! I begin my time with the Lord by "praying through a passage." You can begin anywhere. For example, say I am going to read through Paul's epistles. I begin reading Romans 1:1 "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,..." I am immediately convicted that I am a poor excuse for a servant. I confess this and ask God to make me a better, more faithful servant. I keep reading as long as I have time. Each time something strikes me, I pray about it. As I read, the Holy Spirit reminds me of random things I need to pray about. This is God speaking to me, my listening, and my responding back. It is real communication. Today if I read three chapters of Romans, tomorrow I will begin with Romans 4. If I miss a day or more, I don't try to catch up. I just begin at Romans 4 the next time. If you are one who must pray on the run, it will be harder but not impossible. You will have to take God's Word with you in some way. You could listen on a CD, read when you are at a red light or sitting in traffic, or call to memory passages that you have memorized. No reading while driving--Mom doesn't allow that!