Wasteland of Hyperactivity

We are every day becoming aware of the costs of a life without rest. Increasingly, social workers, courts, and probation officers are raising our children, rescuing them the unintentional wasteland of our hyperactivity.

-- Wayne Muller

As you might detect, I am doing some reading on the concept of Sabbath in our lives. Noting, particularly, that from God's perspective, this isn't just a recommendation (see the 10 Commandments, number 4). I'm wondering if 'remember the Sabbath' is a pivotal commandment between the earlier ones and those that follow and am considering the ways that this might be the case. And, in so doing, the quote above makes some sense.

Why do you think we are so submerged in 'activity'? What are we afraid of...if we don't stay 'busy'?

The author of the book referenced below suggests:

...our restlessness injures the people around us, who need our attention more than they need our accomplishments. Our children need us to have the time to look them in the eyes, to ask about their lives, to give them the gift of attention. And we need that as well.

I really like this.  It is both convicting and freeing...to be different, to stop...to rest.

How Great Thou Art

Morning Prayer

Good morning, heavenly Father.
Good morning, Lord Jesus.
Good morning, Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I worship you as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, Sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me.  Amen.

-- John Stott

It will become clear of itself

Who is it that can make the muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually become clear of itself.

-- Tao Te Ching


To practice Sabbath is to practice a stillness that brings clarity to our lives. From Rest:  Living in Sabbath Simplicity by keri wyatt kent

Cause and Effect

There is cause and there is effect.

And, there is mercy and there is grace.

Visual Jesus

A shout out to Donald Miller for this one:

A Portrait of Christ from Jeremy Cowart on Vimeo.

Creativity

Hey, Michelle, thanks for the link for this from a thread on another discussion.

Mary's Joy

I've often thought of Mary, the mother of Jesus, through the eyes I think I would have if I were a mother. I think I have largely viewed her as the bearer of an unbelievable burden, to birth and raise and mother the Son of God, whose purposes were so beyond the world of normal family life that...well, I just haven't imagined much of it beyond the focus of surprise, wonder, pain beyond bearing, loss, and confusion at what all just happened to me...the last 33 years.

Perhaps time would reveal more, as it does for so many of us. Perhaps that revelation would overcome the terrors of earlier days.

I read a description of Mary in a writing of a friend. She said, he wrote, "Joy came and found me and joy has never left." This got me thinking about my view of Mary, the work of Jesus, life itself. What causes me to see more largely the tragedy of life than the redemption running through it? I'm sure the answer is somewhat simple; something like the limitations of my humanity.

But considering Mary primarily through the lens of joy alters my perception of her experience as it defers to a greater one. One that I, too, must defer to. And when I consider that greater one, I am filled with something new, something alive, something more real than the realness that the pain of life seems to offer as our only expectation.

I am grateful for my friend's writing this morning. I am grateful for joy . I'm lifted up and into something by it.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know...

-- James 1:2

How many people do you want at your funeral?

Read this....

So, how many?

Man does not...

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, man does not.

-- Oswald Chambers

Space

I have a 4-day weekend this week.  And, I am amazed at what 'space' does for my soul.  I often live so much of the time by schedules, ToDos, things that need attention...how to fit everything together.  In other words, packed in.  Long spans of time in this mode are not good for me...I change.  I become something (someone) I'm not.

Space helps me breathe.  It helps me know myself.  It gives me opportunity to be more who I really am.  Like this morning for example, facing the next four days, I awoke with a strong desire to connect with myself, things important to me, by writing.  While many mornings start with a groan about having to crank the engine of getting 'all things done', today I had to force myself to just lay there.  Finally, my desire to write, to explore my thoughts won and I headed off, even happily, to Starbucks to sip and write.

I love 'space'.