A Future to Cherish

Let the Lord in His Temple rise

His greatness flow down from within

Succor to the suffering

Entreaty to the proud

Why do we long for heaven?

Why does the beauty of this earth cry for release?

Rejoice for that longing rests in the promise

We will have the contentment of sated appetite

And remaining capacity for neverending wonder

The mystery of the Almighty delights

His infinitude draws us onward on

Faster, never tiring

Exertion feeding strength, not draining

Always familiar, always wondrously new

Drink deep

Breathe deep

Rest deep

Run long

Laugh long

Exult longer still

Labor without toil

Care without pain

Rejoice without weariness

All our tomorrows exist in the everlasting today

SDG

Encouragement for the Weary

There are times when we just run out of gas. We’ve burned the candle at 6 ends, and there just ain’t much left. I offer these words from our User’s Manual.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Isaiah 40:29

In vain you rise early and stay up late, eating the bread of toil— for He grants sleep to those he loves.

Psalm 127:2

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

SDG

In Between

We often talk of the valleys of life and mountain top experiences. But these tend to be relatively short periods of time. What’s in between?

Is it merely transitioning from a peak to a valley or vice versa? Is it a vast rolling plain without much scenery? Most likely it is a complex set of contours—smaller rises, runs, dips, straightaways, rapids, doldrums. Days where you work hard but have little to show for it. Days where you work hardly at all and still have little to show for it. And of course days of great promise where the interest of all of the ‘unproductive’ days shows up as a big dividend.

Perspective During Times of Stress

I have commented on how many folks have said what a crazy or busier than normal semester this has been. The following passage from Psalm 127 has long brought me peace and a reminder to keep a balance even when busy—that while I need to be diligent, I also need to be dependent—that God has a necessary role in every success, and having rest, a break from work, is part of the diligent blessing from God to those who depend on Him.

“Unless the LORD builds the house,

                Those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

                The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,

                Eating the bread of anxious toil;

For He gives to His beloved sleep.”

SDG

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Especially at this time of semester, it is easy to let one’s life get completely out of balance. Deadlines are real, and sometimes life steps in with curve balls that interfere with meeting deadlines in a sane manner. Nonetheless, proper care and maintenance of the machinery of our bodies is critical.

Yesterday, I noticed a small grinding noise when I applied my brakes. I hadn’t heard anything before this, so I was surprised. I took it into the shop this morning, and drove away this afternoon with a complete set of new brakes, including calipers, and $1200 less in my pocket. (Yes, I checked it out and got second opinions—not an ideal cost, but ballpark for the needed job.) It was a LOT more than I wanted to spend, especially now, but it needed doing. The $1200 now was still a lighter burden than having failure at a critical time.

It is the same with our bodies. Stress over long periods of time cause major, chronic health problems that are hard to lick. In the short term, it decreases our effectiveness, we tend to make more mistakes, which cost us more time and increases stress even more. Thus, proper diet and sleep seem like a $1200 brake job at the time, but they prevent catastrophic failure—failures such as auto accidents due to fatigue, grading mistakes that take lots of time and headache to fix, mistakes in the lab that could be expensive and dangerous, taking shortcuts with our integrity that will haunt us later, saying or doing things without thinking because our brains have shut down, and so on.

A Sabbath rest is even more critical in times of stress—whether it is an hour a day or a day a week, being disciplined to keep a healthful routine will make the work we do better, more efficient, and more enjoyable.

I may be preaching to the choir, but this choir director needs this reminder as much or more than any.

SDG

The Sabbath

God made us as organic machines, and like any machine, it requires maintenance. Be sure to maintain yours, even as the semester winds down, so that it will function properly. This includes making time to rest. Good night, all!

SDG

The Speed of Progress

People often speak about how change seems to be occurring ever faster. But I just realized that stagnation also occurs.

Yesterday, April 12 was the 30^th anniversary of Space Shuttle Columbia’s first flight, and the 50^th anniversary of the first space flight of a human being, Yuri Gagarin. In a mere 20 years, we went from putting the first human into space to landing humans on the moon to the first two space stations to the first reusable spacecraft. Amazing.

“But what have you done for me since then?” It seems our space program (in particularly the human space program) has stalled. More nations have joined in launching humans into space, we’ve built a new larger, more impressive space station, but that’s about it as far as humans in space are concerned.

We’ve focused on expanding our unmanned programs, but the spirit of the explorer has diminished in us as a people. Exploring is dangerous, and we have trouble stomaching sacrifice in the name of exploration.

We crave safety more than freedom and new horizons. We seem content to increase our luxury rather than our reach. Is this a phase or a real stagnation? Is it a natural rest after exertion or a real move away from exertion?

Is it all bad? I don’t know. I see benefits to enjoying and exploiting the fruits of one’s labors, but when the rest exceeds the length of the exertion, it is time to ask questions.

Yes, I know there are a multitude of complex factors that have contributed to our lack of drive in the human space program, but reasons can become excuses if aged too long.

The ‘Space Race’ was expensive, yet fueled amazing progress and simultaneously fired the imaginations and passions of several generations. Are we willing to lose that for ‘practical’ reasons, or treat the reasons as obstacles to be overcome?

We as humans need vision, dreams, things far beyond ourselves for which to aspire. As I talk with my students, I find their dreams are too small, they are too tired to lift their eyes higher, and too jaded to believe such dreams are worth having.

Yet, in many of them, with just a little prodding, I’ve been able to reignite the beginnings of a spark. All hope is not yet lost, but we are in danger of losing our innovation. It is fading in our young. They are becoming old before their time, and too easily tamed. Their intelligence and raw talent are still intact, but their hearts are crippled. They don’t believe in heroes, and don’t recognize they are weaker for it.

Am I reading too much into this? Maybe. If so, however, it is only a matter of degree, not substance.

What to do?

As I suggested yesterday, we need to share our stories.

We need to inspire vision rather than cynicism.

We need to aspire ourselves to nobler things and nobler attitudes.

We need to worry less about what ‘they’ think, speak truth plainly and graciously, and do right.

We need to not keep our kids running from this event to that, letting them grow at pace, not at breakneck pace.

We are raising them to be tired and overwrought, and the soil of their hearts is too dry for dreams to take hold. Just as it is possible to overfertilize a crop, we can over-enrich our children’s lives.

Our muscles require rest after a workout, and strength grows during that rest.

Our brains and spirits require rest after the struggles of daily life, and inspiration/creativity grow during that rest.

How much more so for our children.

SDG