Footprints

So we keep hearing about "carbon footprints" of various things and activities. The only thing I get about this is it has something to do with perceived "environmental friendliness." This lead me to think about another footprint....

What kind of footprint do we leave? I'm not concerned with "carbon" here. Is the world around us a better place for us having been there? Sure, some things are pretty concrete. We pick up a piece of trash we didn't drop. But what else? Are people blessed by our having been near them or drained?

8,760

I have been increasingly aware of time lately. It is a limited resource. None of us can get any more of it. We all receive a ration of 24 hours each day. 8,760 hours per year. 1,440 minutes a day.

Somewhere in the past several years I crossed a threshold. Silently. I now have more money than time. I would rather pay for something than take the time to do it, or make it work. An hour I spend fighting with the plumbing is an hour I'm not spending doing something else--talking with my wife, sitting on the deck or reading a book.

I think of the parable of the talents. I cannot help but think we will be held accountable for the way we used the time granted to us by our Master. I hope the 60 seconds you spent reading this wasn't a waste....

Macro Mode Meaning

I believe that this way of living . . . , this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. --Shauna Niequist (quoted in Gary Thomas, Pure Pleasure.)

This quote touches on something that has been floating around in my mind. I've been considering the effects of the internet and other media on our lives. The effects are multitude to be sure, and some are certainly positive. (I would not have had the book to read and get the quote were it not for the internet!)

But this ability to be so much a part of the whole world...I am not sure this is a good thing. I think it limits us far too much. What I mean is this. Say I find myself interested in, well, almost anything. I can research it online, find out where to buy whatever it is I need to do it. How to do it. Opinions on it, and who the best are at it. All of this before I have ever picked up the paint brush or tennis racket or guitar.

This can be quite demoralizing and keep us from even trying. It can also leave us perpetually dissatisfied with our efforts at our chosen pursuit. We feel the need to compare ourselves (for whatever reason) and the internet allows us to compare ourselves to the entire world. This is not fair. It is akin to a 40-year old who decides to take up jogging to shed a few pounds trying to compete in the Olympics.

There is pleasure to be had in a myriad of pursuits. In some ways, the internet helps. It is much easier to network with and find resources for others who share your interest. Especially if it is something a little less main stream. But this networking can quickly lead to comparing which can lead to dissatisfaction.

The same can be true of our kids and our spouse, our pets and our house. If we compare them...I am pretty sure God said something to Israel about that through Moses on a mountain...

I came upon a profound quote on a "de-motivational" poster once that has stuck with me.

"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."

Underneath the sarcasm and the picture of the skier wiping out that graced this print, I think there is some truth. So what if I can't play piano as well as someone else. I still enjoy sitting at it and plucking out some of my favorite hymns on occasion. I'm not a 5-star chef, but I enjoy preparing a meal for my family that they appreciate and enjoy. I may not be a master carpenter, but I can make some stuff that has proven useful for my family and me.

Our job isn't to compare what God has blessed us with with His blessings to anyone else. Not my neighbor across the street or on Facebook or anywhere else. We should learn to say "than you" more and "I wish" less. I think we would all be more content. I know I am when I live this way.

Dread

Continuing to process my experiences in Iraq.

From my journal last year--

Lord, I know fear-it's that tight feeling in my chest when I hear a rocket come in. This is different. I think this is dread-it's like a heavy blanket upon me. There is value in fear. I'm not sure dread is good for anything.

In a quick look in your word, it falls on the animals after the flood, and it falls on your enemies. Doesn't seem like something I should have to deal with.

I was reminded of this morning in Psalm 64. "Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers. (verses 1-2)

There is only one we should fear. "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

Learning this truth helped me hang on in Iraq. It helps put a lot of life in perspective.

"Oh, wow!"

"Oh, wow!"

I don't think there is any higher compliment, and better response, to a gift. It is the 10.0 score in gift-giving. It encapsulates, "It's perfect," with, "It is more than I hoped for, or at least dared to dream."

It is not possible to get such a reaction often. If we raise the level of expectation by consistently giving on this level, the ingredients of "Oh wow" become lost. We are quite capable of becoming spoiled.

But, if we are attentive, there are opportunities where desire and resources and imagination intersect. If we seize upon them, they become the Christmas, or birthday, or whatever, that is remembered for years to come.

God, of course, is an "Oh wow" giver. Look out your window. Consider the birds of the air, the grass of the field. The trees and the clouds and the sun and the rain. Our familiarity often dulls our sense of wonder, but if will look anew, the wonder is still there.

Consider His word. In our hand you hold His revelation for the ages.

Consider His deliverers; Moses, Joshua, the judges, Samuel, Saul, David and others. The ultimate deliverer, of course, being Christ.

400 years of virtual silence. Then, in a manger one night, "Oh wow." The miracle of birth, which is always an "Oh wow" in and of itself, but even more so in this case.

Immanuel--God with us. Just what we needed and so much more than what we expected.

Thank You, Father.

Little Words

John 21 has been bouncing around my world lately. I heard a sermon on it, it came up in my devotional reading, I've just been reflecting upon it lately.

It's a familiar story, Jesus appears again to the disciples, this time while they are fishing. It is a mirror of Peter's calling. He's out fishing, Jesus calls to them, "try the other side of the boat." They do, the catch a huge haul of fish.

Much has been written on this story, and I won't recap it all here. I just want to suggest what I think the Spirit has suggested to me these past few weeks.

When Jesus calls Peter, He says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19) This is something that Peter can conceptualize, he has spent his life fishing. Peter leaves his boat and follows.

Jesus is teaching in John 10. He is telling the disciples who He is, the Good Shepherd. He is explaining what He means by that. He is instructing them.

Jesus is crucified, dies and is resurrected. He appears to the disciples. An unprecedented turn of events. Peter declares, "I am going fishing." (John 21:3) Some of the disciples say "We will go with you."

Jesus appears, there is a catch of fish, there is a meal of fish and bread (harkening to his miraculous feedings). Jesus and Peter are sitting on the beach. Jesus asks that question.

"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Much has been made of

these in sources I have read. However, from my limited Greek, it seems reasonable to render it as this as well. I'm not discounting all the great applications based on "these." But allow yourself to consider "this" for a moment.

Peter is a fisherman. He is sitting there with Jesus in his element. A pile of fish on the shore, a plate of fish in his belly. Sand and water, sun and wind. Here is Peter, the fisher of men.

"Do you love me?"
"You know I do."
"Feed my sheep."

Not, "Catch my fish."
Not, "Bait my hook."
Not, "Clean my catch."

Feed my sheep.

Three times Jesus inquires of Peter's love, three times He tells him to demonstrate it by tending sheep.

Yes, this beach and boat is great, Peter. Do you love me more than this? I understand this is comfortable to you, this is what you know and you could do this very easily for the rest of your life. But do you love Me enough to walk away?

Verse 19, "Follow me." It is a literal command, because in the next verse John is following them, so that implies that they are moving, no longer sitting on the beach. John then gets distracted by his own story. We don't know where Peter and Jesus were walking to.

Perhaps over a hill to overlook a flock of sheep? Away from the boat and the lake. Put down your net, take up a shepherd's staff, Peter. You're no longer a fisher. Fisher's just catch, clean and resell. You're a shepherd now.

You know sheep? You feed sheep. You tend sheep. You protect sheep. You lead sheep. This is long-term. It is 24/7. It is different and hard.

C'mon, Peter. This is why I called you. My sheep need a shepherd. I'm leaving, I'm trusting you to take care of them....

The Priorities of Man

Continuing my journey through Augustine's City of God I came upon this observation in the first chapter of book 3.

"It grieves them more to own a bad house than a bad life, as if it were man's greatest good to have everything good but himself."

I stand guilty. How much time to I spend researching a new computer purchase? How much time do I spend in prayer on a given day? How easy is it to review a piece of software or a book? Yet how often do I focus any of the same critical energy on myself?

Lord, have mercy.