More Time!

When I realized that I haven't been keeping up with posting new articles the first thought that came to mind was, "I wish I had more time!"

Now, I wasn't asking, like Hezekiah, for more time to be added on to the end of my life.  Obviously, hat wouldn't help me write more often.  I was wishing for more time in my day. More time to do all the things I need to do and all the things I want to do.

No sooner had I expressed this wish to myself when another thought occurred to me.  I'm not going to get any more time than I already have.  Now, I know that is so obvious that a 5th grader would get it.  But being obvious and being acknowledged are not the same.  I have the same amount of time in my day as you do.  In fact, I have the same amount of time in my day as the busiest, most productive man I know.  And he has time to post articles to his blog a couple of times a week.

Since I am in an "obvious" mood right now, here is another obvious fact.  If I have all the time I am going to get in my day and I "don't have time" to update Press On then one of two things needs to happen.  Either I give up all hope of consistently updating my blog or I give up whatever it is that I am doing instead of writing.

Okay, so as soon as I wrote that last sentence I felt like someone had just punched me in the chest.  Who knew that the obvious could also be profound? 

I'm going to need to give this some serious thought.  I'll get back to you later.

Meanwhile, pour another cup of coffee and consider what your doing with your time.

Clarity

I learned today that a friend of mine is soon to be baptised.  This is wonderful news and brought joy and light into an otherwise ordinary day. 

She said, in part, "I now "get it" ... it was like a blurry image coming into crystal clarity in one instant after 31 years."

Mark tells of a time when Jesus came to Bethsaida and encountered a blind man who begged him to touch him.  Jesus led him outside the village and did a very strange thing to our way of thinking, he spit in the man's eyes.  Having done this he asked the man, "Do you see anything?" 

The man look up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."

Mark writes, "Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eye.  Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly."

When we place ourselves in the path of Jesus and are willing to call out to him and ask for his touch, we, too, can see clearly.

 Just as my friend now does.

Enjoy your coffee.

Love your enemies - really!

Its amazing the conversations that can start over a cup of coffee.  A few days ago the subject of loving our enemies came up.  What's up with that?  Who does that, anyway?

Well, Lidia Smith, for one.

I learned about her in an article by Hoag Levins.  She was a freed slave, a poor woman who had saved a little money by years of hard labor. After the battle, she drove to the field hospitals in a borrowed wagon and horse.  As she traveled through the farms she told of the thousands of suffering men. She accepted donations of food and clothing and, when the donations dried up, began spending her own money. Each day, with her wagon heaped high, she turned toward the hospitals; and when she reached them, weary from miles of travel, she began to distribute the articles she had brought. To Union soldiers only? No. Union and Confederate alike. In the latter, she was able to see past their role as warriors who were fighting to perpetuate slavery and view them only as wounded, suffering humans. She continued to provide the makeshift hospital populations around Gettysburg with food, clothing and delicacies until she had spent her entire life savings.

A soldier sharing his food and water with an enemy or giving him medical treatment or a freed slave spending her life savings to buy food for the wounded of Gettysburg, both Union and Confederate can only be explained by something much larger and infinitely more noble than instinct. There is no natural explanation for this kind of love, it is divine and must, therefore, have a divine origin.  God.

This  is love in the sense that Jesus used the word.  It is the willingness to serve others whether you are served or not.  It is the willingness to give your life for those who cannot, or even will not repay or thank you. 

Lydia Smith spending her life savings to bring food, clothing and water to a soldier who, if he had not been wounded would certainly have captured her and returned her to bondage in the South is an act of perfection.  It is expressing love as our Father in heaven would have it expressed.

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

                                                                                                               Ep 5:2 (The Message)

Love like that!

America's Greatness

As Americans we like to speculate on what makes America Great.  We talk about our Constitution, our economic system, our democracy, our Christian roots. 

It could be, however that  a Frenchman put his finger on the real reason.  Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning--and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"

I guess it woul be futile to try to say it any better than that.

Happy Independence Day

Our national declaration of independence declares that we all have a right to pursue happiness.  That’s quite a statement and not all societies or cultures believe that. 

Pursuing happiness has become an obsession with some people.  Unfortunately, most are so busy pursuing it that they never ask what is takes to be happy.

A fascinating study was conducted by Bernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research. Rimland found that "The happiest people are those who help others." Each person involved in the study was asked to list ten people he knew best and to label them as happy or not happy. Then they were to go through the list again and label each one as selfish or unselfish, using the following definition of selfishness: a stable tendency to devote one's time and resources to one's own interests and welfare--an unwillingness to inconvenience one's self for others." In categorizing the results, Rimland found that all of the people labeled happy were also labeled unselfish. He wrote that those "whose activities are devoted to bringing themselves happiness...are far less likely to be happy than those whose efforts are devoted to making others happy" Rimland concluded: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  

Just something to ponder over your coffee.