Don't Be Frittern, The Clock Is Running

   Our pastor stood on the stage yesterday morning and spoke these words:

   "The average lifespan of an American today in 2015 has been determined as 77.5 years". Then he asked all in that early service to stand whose age was over that figure, and a few of us stood. Then his words:

   "Congratulations, you are above the average, and that is a good thing, but the other side of that is the fact that you are living on borrowed time."

   I'm not sure of the exact figure for this average. I looked it up on Google and found a whole range of figures for the average life expectancy, but it does make a valid point the way he used it.

   Is it something to be proud of, that you have lived above the average time of life? Is it not the kind of life you have lived, and not its length? At this point in the life cycle is it not more important what I do with the rest of my allotted time that matters? Is that not true for all of us?

   In the Book of Esther, Esther is told by her uncle, in Chapter 4:

"If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear from another source, while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be that you have achieved royal status for such a time as this!”

   It is no accident that I am living today. It is not just the luck of the draw. There is a reason.

   Right after our pastor made these opening remarks, he asked the 30 minute clock to be put on the screen and it began counting down from that point, so that all in the congregation could see the passage of time as he spoke.

   If you want to see the whole thing go to: http://sscclive.com and click on the archive.

   It was a visual reminder of the continual, everlasting, momentum of time, the time that each of us have, but we do not have the knowledge of when that clock will stop for each individual. As he finished his message, and we watched the clock move down to :00, he stated that he was through, his time was up, and he walked back to his seat.

   All of us, young and old, have an allotted time, and we know not when it is set to expire. We are called to use it for God and not waste it. We all have clocks that tell us the time, but only God knows when the battery will give out.

   Wherever we are and whatever situations we are placed into, the times are in His hands.

   I think of the folks in River City, Iowa, as the Music Man, Prof. Harold Hill, tells them about the time their kids will be wasting because of the pool table in their community:

"And all week long your River City
Youth'll be frittern away, 
I say your young men'll be frittern!
Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!

   None of us need to be "frittern".

   We are on the clock.

Rock When It Is Needed...

   I like to write. That is not a problem for me, but at times I struggle to find something worthwhile to say.

   I like for people to know I am Christian. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

   But sometimes ideas do not come, and I feel failure. It seems I should always be able to sit down with my Bible readings and find a gem that would speak to someone else, or at least me, and one I can share.

   When I can't, or don't, my self worth takes a hit. After all I do not have a lot of stuff that I absolutely have to accomplish. Retirement is not a string of high expectations and high achievements. But I do want to do something well and that something ought to benefit someone else besides my own ego.

   So as I pondered this morning, "what on earth could I write about?",  I ran across a blog that hit me right where it hurts. It proclaimed "You have limitations" and this short sentence seemed to call my name.

   Here is a portion of that pastor's blog as he speaks to himself:

"You are an amazing person but, no, you can’t do everything. You have limitations. Those do not make you less of a person. They simply define what you should be focused on. Accepting your limitations doesn’t make you a failure, it makes you well defined. Focus on what you can do, and do it well.” 

   It seemed to say, "the world is not sitting waiting expectantly for your next words of wisdom, you don't have to strain to do your writing, let it come and use what God has given you, not more and not less".

   I wrote back in December about our grandson over in Arkansas that is autistic. The gist of that blog was that I should focus on what he can do and not what he cannot.

   Perhaps I should apply that to my life as well. 

   No excuses, just honest appraisal and doing your best in what you find.

   Rockers are meant to be used at the proper time.

   If anyone wants to read the pastor's blog mentioned above:

   http://natepyle.com/no-you-cant-do-everything/#sthash.rUFqXbLL.dpbs

   

It's Colder Somewhere Else

   Our weather is colder this morning. The weather report is 26 degrees with a wind chill of 15, and it was definitely much different than the early morning yesterday.

   Yesterday at lunch we sat outside on the back porch of our condo, in shirt sleeves, soaking up the sunshine and even closing our eyes and resting there for a few minutes.

   Today, for breakfast, we are preparing to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal, and the porch is empty of humans.

   The verse that I read this morning from Psalm 118 (NET Bible)

"This is the day the Lord has brought about.
We will be happy and rejoice in it."

   It sure was easier to quote this and see how good God is on yesterday, but I know that God did not change in 24 hours, and that the verse is no less true right now than it was then.

   Can it be that I can still say with conviction that this too is the day that He has made, and can I be happy and rejoice in it?

   Sure, I can do that anytime, and especially when I look at the weather report where we lived before and see that the wind chill is minus 6.

   And I can think of those kids in the one room school houses in Montana who have recess outside on any day that the temperature is above zero.

   And, not only that, but I know I am blessed, every day, no matter the weather or outside circumstances.

   And I am thankful...

Go Ahead, Juxtapose

   Is there ever a word that we read, we kinda know its meaning, but are never quite sure we get it right, and have to always look it up to be sure. A word that is like that for me is juxtaposition.

              juxtaposition

   The online dictionary defines it thusly:

an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especiallyfor comparison or contrast. or

the state of being close together or side by side.

   I thought of that as I was reading this morning. A verse from Psalm 115:

                     O Israel, trust in the Lord!
                     He is their deliverer and protector.

   The Psalmist is speaking of Israel, God's chosen people, but as we read it in New Testament times it can refer to anyone that God calls His, so it can be a promise to Christians as well.

   I wrote Monday about the new book I had received for Christmas, a book about one room schoolhouses in Montana. I have not finished reading the whole book, mainly because I get caught up in the pictures, but I have run into at least two instances where the schools are connected to a Hutterite colony.

   Way back in the recesses of my mind, I know I have heard this name, but there my knowledge ended. So I looked it up and read of the Anabaptist people, German speaking, originally from Moravia in Austrian Europe, who came to the US and Canada to escape persecution and settled mainly in the areas of the Plains of the northern US and southern Canada (The Dakotas, Montana, Manitoba, Alberta).

   They resemble the Amish and Mennonite Brethren, but live communally, in self contained agricultural colonies. Estimated numbers for these folk are around 50,000, living in a bunch of colonies in North America.

   Their way of life is much different from mine, but their faith creeds seem very similar.

   Can I use the word juxtaposition here? When I place what I know about these families alongside my Christian lifestyle, I see two groups looking like complete opposites, but, in reality, walking the same road, following the same Book, and being led by the same God.

   My tendency is to treat them as belonging to a tourist destination, something to go and see, but if I look closely, I see real men and women, boys and girls, living out their Christian faith, much as I do in my own life, just the details of lifestyle differ.

   Perhaps I need to juxtapose more often...

A Book and a Revelation

   A present to me from my daughter-in-law, Karen, was this coffee table book:

   She had read of my courthouse odyssey, seen some of the pictures of the older ones I had photographed and thought to give me some incentive to use them.

   The author has traveled all about the state of Montana, hitting all of its 56 counties, taking pictures of one room schoolhouses and documenting the stories of the men and women who have been students there in those places. The pictures are great, but the lives of the people who have attended these schools over the years are captivating.

   Two things catch my interest as I read through the book:

   1. I have been to Montana and had no idea of what obstacles boys and girls growing up in that state contended with to get an education.

   2. The folks interviewed were, for the most part, growing up and going to school in the same era that I was, yet their educational experiences were so completely different from mine.

   Montana is a big state, 4th in size in the US, yet the population ranks 44th in size. Ranching, farming and mining were the ways that many families made a living, and that meant that folks were scattered all over the state. The cities and large towns are few and far between, making the schooling process daunting to say the least.

   Thus the rise of the one room school. Small schools dotted the countryside, serving the people of a particular area. With the advent of better roads and transportation, many of these have been consolidated and closed, but there are still some surviving into 2015.

   One classroom, one teacher, grades 1-8, small student population (often less than 10), hard winters, widely separated family units, kids with chores at home before and after school, wood stoves, well water, outhouses, these are the conditions that stick out in my mind as I read the stories.

   But I also read of boys and girls moving on to high schools in the closest town, high academic achievements, college grads, successful professionals, and most of all, a whole host of people happy with what they received in the way of education.

   Most talked about dedicated teachers, often those who lived in an attached room to the school and no doubt suffered from the isolation of the job, the multiage classroom, the interactive learning of the different ages and levels, the simple things, the lack of bullying, the sense of sharing and helping, and most of all the community spirit embodied in those small facilities.

   Kids riding horses to school, having recess on any day that the outside temperatures were more than zero, lunches warmed on the wood stove, hauling water from the well or creek, outhouses in the winter; how did they cope?

   Well, it seems from the stories and the memories.

   And we, in another part of the same country, never had a clue…

   And it is the same way with the old county courthouses that I see in my photographs, the buildings are neat, but the real stories are the people that they represent. This is the fun part of my project.

Day Two, A Hard Beginning

   I wrote yesterday and felt good about it. There were some tangible resolutions or goals, and it seemed right to put them down so as to be accountable as this year went on.

   So I come to Day 2 of 2015 and already I am bummed.

   It is true that I woke up at a good time, still dark and quiet, and I wanted to get up. At least my mind and soul wanted to get up, but my body was not so sure. Maybe it was the fact that I stayed up until 1AM watching Alabama lose, but after an initial walk in the cool morning, sitting back down to read, think, pray and write, my eyes wanted to close, and all my mind wanted to do was turn off completely.

   In the reading for this morning were these verses: (from Hebrews 11 in The Message)

"By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him."

   So, if I believe God exists and that He cares about each individual, me, then I can trust that His guidance for me on yesterday was not just some figment of my imagination, but a plan He endorsed, and one I need pay attention to.

   He knows my "want tos", and He knows my sometimes foolish sleep habits. He sees my foggy mind processes, and He knows what I believe about Him.

   And I believe this morning that He sent those verses to me to remind me that I am on the right track.

   He is, and He cares.

   And that is a good thing for me on this second day of this new year.

 

 

New Year's…An Easy Day

   Why is this day so "easy"?

   I have taken some time over the past few days to think about 2015 and some resolutions I might make. Ones I need to set out for my life, ones that could make this year an impact one for me and those I might touch in some way.

   I know there are two easy things about resolutions: Easy to make and easy to forget and break. But I want to do it anyway, to set some goals, to measure my life and progress toward some things I think important.

   So this is the easy day, and I make some:

   1. I want to read my Bible more in 2015, systematically and with purpose, and I want to do it every day.

   2. I want to finish my courthouse photo project by getting the last 14 courthouses in Georgia on digital film and know that I have covered the entire state.

                                  Chatham County (old)

   3. In relation to #2, I want to have a plan to do something with this project, or to further enhance it in some way.

   4. I want to have a more healthy eating lifestyle by cutting down on the sugars in my diet. Deserts are my choice of foods far too much of the time.

   5. I want to continue to write, to detail what I feel God is showing me by His Word, through church, and through my contacts with others.

   And I feel all of the resolutions above start with No. 1, and so I sign up for a reading plan, one to focus my thoughts on and to look forward to each morning. This is the best way for me to begin my day, in the quiet of the early morning, to prayerfully look for God's voice, to help put my life in perspective.

   A plan to work on that first resolution, done.

   A good beginning for January 1, 2015, and I'm off and rolling……..

   Like I said, this is an easy day, the question is the 364 more on this year's calendar.

   How about using the lyrics from this song as a starting point.

"One Day At A Time"

I'm only human I'm just a man
Help me to believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway that I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.