January 19, 2006
Life is always interesting.
Sunday, started teaching Sunday school again. I haven;t done this in about ten years I think, and last time I did it my class consisted of 3-7 year-olds, instead of 20-30 year-olds. I think my basic lesson plan, while it could use some tweaking, was alright. I'm really rusty at and kind of presentation though, and I've never liked "public speaking" on any kind of level. Life's all about stretching yourself though, right? Anyway, I saw a need and felt like it was something that I could do.
Work, while still not yet full-time, is looking up. I'll be working on campus three days a week, for the law school. Should be interesting. I've actually thought about, when I go back to school, looking into a law degree, or possibly and MBA. Or maybe I'll just stick with my writing. Anyway, I plan on working off some of my student loans first.
Then, got back last night and the dog is dying. So many deaths over the last twelve months. You can tell when it's coming, and usually from some distance off, but still...you never want to go through it. At least I haven't had any human friends die in a good long while. Actually, one of my "sisters" is back in touch after going away a number of years ago (I'm an only child, but I have a lot of extended family, including a number of people that lived with my family when I was a teenager). I don't think she's ready to come back home (in a Christian sense), but at least she's making contact. So very much has happened to her - it's not surprising that she's reacted the way she has, but it still saddens me. The walls around her heart are tall, but I love her and always will. Everyone...it's just the way I am. Love is a choice, and once I choose to love someone, it's forever. Feelings come and go, but the choice stays the same. I wonder which is worse - seeing someone you love in a Christian/familial sense choose to follow a non-Christian path, or having someone you love in a romantic sense choose someone else. I should know this, as I've had both happen, but I really can't say. I guess what's amazing is how many times the heart can take it. I guess that's why a little contact and positive glimmers make you feel so amazing. I know the person I was just mentioning has a long way to go yet, and I don't know if she'll ever come back to God, but it makes me happy at least that she's back in contact, even if just a little. I have another "brother" that I haven't heard from or about in many years. Every so often he comes to mind and I wonder what's going on in his life, and I wish there was some way to contact him. You can't make other people's choices for them though.
What you can do is live your own life, and live it well. I am not there yet, where I want to be, but I'm trying. And never surrendering is the first step to never failing. It's not how you start, but how you finish.
Sunday, started teaching Sunday school again. I haven;t done this in about ten years I think, and last time I did it my class consisted of 3-7 year-olds, instead of 20-30 year-olds. I think my basic lesson plan, while it could use some tweaking, was alright. I'm really rusty at and kind of presentation though, and I've never liked "public speaking" on any kind of level. Life's all about stretching yourself though, right? Anyway, I saw a need and felt like it was something that I could do.
Work, while still not yet full-time, is looking up. I'll be working on campus three days a week, for the law school. Should be interesting. I've actually thought about, when I go back to school, looking into a law degree, or possibly and MBA. Or maybe I'll just stick with my writing. Anyway, I plan on working off some of my student loans first.
Then, got back last night and the dog is dying. So many deaths over the last twelve months. You can tell when it's coming, and usually from some distance off, but still...you never want to go through it. At least I haven't had any human friends die in a good long while. Actually, one of my "sisters" is back in touch after going away a number of years ago (I'm an only child, but I have a lot of extended family, including a number of people that lived with my family when I was a teenager). I don't think she's ready to come back home (in a Christian sense), but at least she's making contact. So very much has happened to her - it's not surprising that she's reacted the way she has, but it still saddens me. The walls around her heart are tall, but I love her and always will. Everyone...it's just the way I am. Love is a choice, and once I choose to love someone, it's forever. Feelings come and go, but the choice stays the same. I wonder which is worse - seeing someone you love in a Christian/familial sense choose to follow a non-Christian path, or having someone you love in a romantic sense choose someone else. I should know this, as I've had both happen, but I really can't say. I guess what's amazing is how many times the heart can take it. I guess that's why a little contact and positive glimmers make you feel so amazing. I know the person I was just mentioning has a long way to go yet, and I don't know if she'll ever come back to God, but it makes me happy at least that she's back in contact, even if just a little. I have another "brother" that I haven't heard from or about in many years. Every so often he comes to mind and I wonder what's going on in his life, and I wish there was some way to contact him. You can't make other people's choices for them though.
What you can do is live your own life, and live it well. I am not there yet, where I want to be, but I'm trying. And never surrendering is the first step to never failing. It's not how you start, but how you finish.
January 10, 2006
What was it Burns said...."The best laids plans of mice and men often go awry." Hmmm. Actually, just looking it up, it was originally "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley" from his poem, "To a Mouse." "Gang aft a-gley"??? I'm so glad the English language has changed over the years. As difficult as it is now for ESL students, I can't even imagine wht it would have been like back then.
Anyway...best laid plans. I never make New Year's resolutions because I don't want to break them. I just try to do what I think (or know) I should all throughout the year - I don't need a new year to start to try to mak a good habit or break a bad one. Still, there is something about Janus that is oddly appealing in the desire to start something new. Thinking about it though, Janus is actually to be pitied. All he can do is stand there and see the past, and see the future - but he himself is going nowhere. Worse than a past of regrets I think would be a present in which you are unable to change. So many people seem to get stuck in this precise situation. Unable to go back, unable to move forward, their life stagnates. I think a lot of people have been in this situation at some point in their life, to some degree. Especially, I think, Christians. At any point in existence, any person, or entity even (business can have the same thing happen to them), has the choice to move forward, stay still, or move backward. In general there is a trend of moving forward, though at any given time one might be standing still or sometimes even moving backwards. What counts is the overall action. You know, three steps forward, two steps back - the result is still a net gain. Do this faithfully, and even if you never learn to take forward steps without taking steps back, you will definitely be moving. A lot of extra, useless moving will be included, but you will be heading for your goal. That's what counts.
Anyway...Christians...we have our life, we get saved, we're all excited, ready to change the world...and then...something happens to 95% of us. We become content, I think. That's part of the problem. We lose sight of the finish line, start wondering if we have the right shoes to be running in, if we should have had yogurt instead of ham and eggs for breakfast, if that person in front of us is so far ahead that we might as well not even try to run fast. We become complacent. We become distracted. We become useless. Even if we can no longer be tempted to do evil, it is enough if we do not do good. What was that quote...Burke...Edmund Burke..."All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." Something along those lines. As is so often the case, commission is not the greatest crime, but rather omission.
So...what to do about it. I don't have any dried and cut answer. There isn't one. Faith, and more importantly, acting on that faith, is not something that you do once and then forget about. Living out your faith is a daily, sometimes a moment to moment, choice. It's not about how you feel, but about what you know. It's a lot like love, actually. You can (and will) fall in and out of like with your significant other, but love is a choice that you choose, that you stick by, that you work for. Like is based on temporal variables; love is based on lasting constants.
Where am I going with all this? I don't really know. I don't even know what got me started on it. Plans, I think. Making plans. Fail to plan, you plan to fail. A plan is just an idea till someone puts it into action. Then it becomes life-changing.
I guess what I want to say is make plans. Act on them. Don't give up, let go, or become discouraged.
And above all - LIVE.
..."I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Anyway...best laid plans. I never make New Year's resolutions because I don't want to break them. I just try to do what I think (or know) I should all throughout the year - I don't need a new year to start to try to mak a good habit or break a bad one. Still, there is something about Janus that is oddly appealing in the desire to start something new. Thinking about it though, Janus is actually to be pitied. All he can do is stand there and see the past, and see the future - but he himself is going nowhere. Worse than a past of regrets I think would be a present in which you are unable to change. So many people seem to get stuck in this precise situation. Unable to go back, unable to move forward, their life stagnates. I think a lot of people have been in this situation at some point in their life, to some degree. Especially, I think, Christians. At any point in existence, any person, or entity even (business can have the same thing happen to them), has the choice to move forward, stay still, or move backward. In general there is a trend of moving forward, though at any given time one might be standing still or sometimes even moving backwards. What counts is the overall action. You know, three steps forward, two steps back - the result is still a net gain. Do this faithfully, and even if you never learn to take forward steps without taking steps back, you will definitely be moving. A lot of extra, useless moving will be included, but you will be heading for your goal. That's what counts.
Anyway...Christians...we have our life, we get saved, we're all excited, ready to change the world...and then...something happens to 95% of us. We become content, I think. That's part of the problem. We lose sight of the finish line, start wondering if we have the right shoes to be running in, if we should have had yogurt instead of ham and eggs for breakfast, if that person in front of us is so far ahead that we might as well not even try to run fast. We become complacent. We become distracted. We become useless. Even if we can no longer be tempted to do evil, it is enough if we do not do good. What was that quote...Burke...Edmund Burke..."All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." Something along those lines. As is so often the case, commission is not the greatest crime, but rather omission.
So...what to do about it. I don't have any dried and cut answer. There isn't one. Faith, and more importantly, acting on that faith, is not something that you do once and then forget about. Living out your faith is a daily, sometimes a moment to moment, choice. It's not about how you feel, but about what you know. It's a lot like love, actually. You can (and will) fall in and out of like with your significant other, but love is a choice that you choose, that you stick by, that you work for. Like is based on temporal variables; love is based on lasting constants.
Where am I going with all this? I don't really know. I don't even know what got me started on it. Plans, I think. Making plans. Fail to plan, you plan to fail. A plan is just an idea till someone puts it into action. Then it becomes life-changing.
I guess what I want to say is make plans. Act on them. Don't give up, let go, or become discouraged.
And above all - LIVE.
..."I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
January 05, 2006
Just saw this over at Wizwow's blog. I think it's an older post, but somehow I missed it. Anyway, he does great photography work and has some really beautiful models. I aspire to such talent and ability. Anyway, another one of those fun little quizzes.
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Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Shakespeare: Sonnets.
"Everyone has heard of you, and almost everybody can find something touching in you. You are calm and control yourself, even though your wisdom and your messages are no lesser than those of others."
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Well, that was fun. Every once in a while I'll play along and do one of these little quizzes. Usually, they hit me fairly accurately, or at least what they cover is accurate. I don't really ever learn anything from them, but I'm not sure that you're supposed to, really. On this one, I know not everyone has heard of me, my writing, or my photography. Yet. The world is still young though.
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Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Shakespeare: Sonnets.
"Everyone has heard of you, and almost everybody can find something touching in you. You are calm and control yourself, even though your wisdom and your messages are no lesser than those of others."
-------------
Well, that was fun. Every once in a while I'll play along and do one of these little quizzes. Usually, they hit me fairly accurately, or at least what they cover is accurate. I don't really ever learn anything from them, but I'm not sure that you're supposed to, really. On this one, I know not everyone has heard of me, my writing, or my photography. Yet. The world is still young though.
