Constant Contact

I’ve worked in places where I see my boss once a week.
I’ve had jobs where I see them only now and then.
I’ve also worked side by side with my manager where dialog is constant, adjustments and directives a steady stream.

If I could choose, I’d take the latter every time.

Spiritually speaking, I  do best when I’m living similarly, in constant dialog with my Lord and Master.
There’s something especially nice about God being able to prompt or tell me something here and now, instead of at next week’s meeting.  When I’m attentive –if I don’t get too busy to listen for Him— it’s the best way to live.

I guess you could say living this way is how I apply Paul’s instruction:

Pray without ceasing; 1 Thes. 5:17 NASB-U

Keep on praying.             NLT

Pray unceasingly;         Darby

Never stop praying.      God’s Word

There’s something wonderful about asking God if I should do this first or that. About checking in with Him every time I turn around; not because I’m not confident, but because I want to be Supremely confident. Confident because I’m in constant dialog with the Supreme One. It makes all the difference in the world when I remember to stay in constant contact with Him.

Selah—

Day to Day Living

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out.“
–Anton Chekhov–

When I first read those words I chuckled. “How true.”
But thinking on it some more I changed my mind. “How sad. But still true.”

It’s that “it never ends” theme that gets us, isn’t it?

Same nut, same bolt, same production quota, day after day after day, year after year, “Only eight more years till I can retire”.
The same voices, “Mom? Mom. Mommm. Mom! Mo-o-o-o-mm” hour after hour.
Same squeaky wheel in the organization, meeting after meeting after meeting.
The same temptation. Relentless.  Dogging you. Wearing you down.  Just waiting for you to eventually fail.

Chuck Swindoll has also said, though this probably isn’t a direct quote,

“The trouble with the daily walk is just that. It’s so – – so DAILY.”

Chekhov was right. Day to day living wears you out.

Even so, I’m thankful.

Jesus is the Christ. He died for me, and my hope is in Him. As a result, I have access to all He provides for me.
If you know Him, the same is true for you.  If this is news to you, click the “Eternity” tab at the top of the page to learn more. It’s free.  Honest.  Check it out.

God knows what day-to-day feels like. After all, He’s been there for ALL of them.
So He provides what we need those days (or weeks, maybe months) when life seems wearisome.

There’s the re-assurance in Isaiah 40.31 that when we wait on Him, our strength will be renewed, but today I’m especially enjoying a few sentences tucked away in a morose sort of poem, at least it begins that way. Jeremiah wasn’t  Mr. Popularity in his day.  He was anything but a cheerleader or motivational speaker. But we memorize, and we’ve set to music his reassuring words:

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him…” Lamentations 3.22-25

Is today one of those overcast -again- days? Another eight or ten hours on the workaday treadmill?

God’s compassion for you was brand new this morning.
This thing isn’t going to devour you, though it may seem so.
He is faithful.

If you’re His child, take a deep breath, pull in close to Him and use God’s strength today. He has plenty.

Selah —

Orderliness – a Virtue

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin, who I wrote about yesterday, identified thirteen virtues he wanted to exemplify? His autobiography tells of how he came to arrive at them, and how he kept his affairs in balance with those virtues as a guide. I’ve not made a New Year’s Resolution in a long long time but I do choose a focus for the coming year, usually in the last few days of one and the beginning of the next. This year I’ve chosen Orderliness, one of Ben Franklin’s virtues as my focus for at least the first quarter of 2008 (may take me longer, we’ll see).

Orderliness for the sake of tidiness is one thing, but I’d like orderliness in my context to facilitate some other values. Here’s what I mean (I’ll try to be brief)

• When I spend a lot of time looking for things, I use up time I could use to enjoy other aspects of life. Orderliness (a place for everything and everything in its place) shortens that search-time so I can finish tasks more quickly and enjoy my yard and flowers. In the summer anyway. Not today. It’s – 10* wind chill at the moment.
• Clutter saps my energy and hobbles my creativity. When I was a kid I used to marvel at the way hobbles kept my friends’ milk cows from moving around while they were being milked. Take ‘em off and the cows almost skipped out of the barn! Orderliness means a clean shop where I can do my work, a place that doesn’t make me wince when I walk in. It means a workspace where what I need is at my fingertips. A clean car. An uncluttered computer.
• Order in my day – my wife would call it a routine – lessens the amount of time I have to spend deciding what to do next, because I’ve already determined that. So just get going! Knowing God is expecting me to sit down with Him for a few minute at 5:45 each morning makes it easier to reach for my Bible.
• Orderliness flexes, it’s true. I often defer my routine for the sake of the installation I’m tending to. I’m there to serve, to get the job done. Flexibility and Resourcefulness may take priority so we finish on time and everything works flawlessly. That is as it should be. Once the crunch is done, though, and mission’s accomplished, I can go back to my/our routine without having to spend a lot of time figuring out what it will be.

One doesn’t have to look far in this world we live in to see God’s sense of orderliness. I’d like my life and ministry to reflect a bit of that. For His glory. So I’m focusing on it as 2008 gets rolling.
Something to think about —

Happy Birthday, Mr. Franklin

I’ve admired Benjamin Franklin for a long time.  He was one of our country’s founding fathers, and in my little world he’s the father of common sense (which is becoming increasingly uncommon in my opinion).    I enjoyed his autobiography and learned a lot about and from him.  Based on what we know of him, theologians would consider him a Deist.

Today is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday and this item about him is from The Writer’s Almanac, a little something I subscribe to. Happy Birthday, Mr. Franklin, thanks for all you brought to society.

Enjoy -

It’s the birthday of founding father Benjamin Franklin. (books by this author) Though Philadelphia is regarded as his home, he was born in Boston on this day in 1706. Franklin had a natural curiosity about how things work. He spent much of his life searching for ways for people to live better. After he retired from the printing business in 1749, he turned his attention to science and inventions. He had already invented a safer, heat-efficient stove—called the Franklin stove—which he never patented because he created it for the good of society. He also established the first fire company and came up with the idea of fire insurance.

When he grew tired of taking off and putting on his glasses, Franklin had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame, now called bifocals. His brother was plagued with kidney stones, so Franklin created a flexible urinary catheter to help him feel better. Among Franklin’s other inventions are swim fins, the glass armonica (a musical instrument), the odometer, and the lightning rod.

Franklin eventually retired from public service to spend his time reading and studying. He found, however, that his age left him unable to reach the high shelves in his library. He invented a tool called a “long arm”—a long wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end—to reach the books he wanted to read.

Benjamin Franklin said, “A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.”

God’s Creation

… from my sister, Jonell      .

 

Sometimes God sends a beautiful snow storm about the same time He sends some of His creation across our path. These deer were across the road from our house over the Christmas holidays. I was reminded again how awesome is God’s creation.

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I hope to be a bright spot in the lives of those I come in contact with on a daily basis – just as these deer were a bright spot in my day.

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I took a few minutes that day to thank God for sharing it with me! I hope you enjoy it here.