A Blank Slate..What to Do?

   What do I do now?

   Here is my calendar for September 2015. What do I see?

   A total blank month stares back at me. A month with no appointments. A month with nothing to look forward to or to dread.

   Could it be a month of "One Day at a Time"? A series of days with no agenda, just waiting to see what God might put in my path. Days to be ready to serve but without knowing when or where or even how?

   A blank day seems to say "look at me, I can be filled with productive things or time wasters, it is your choice. You can be a helper or selfish."

   September was planned to be a trip month. Seeing new things, seeing old friends and family, but it was not to be. The month's scheduled appointments were pushed forward to October, and all was ready for whatever the open road presented.

   But the open road had a detour sign on it.

   What will I remember when it comes to the end of the month?

   Maybe I should keep a daily journal of all the items that took my time this month. If I knew that I would be looking back at it, perhaps I would not fill it with trivial stuff.

   September begins tomorrow.

   My last day of August prayer is that God will help me to use my new eyes to see some things that should characterize the days of the new month, and usher me into the rest of my life.

   Things that will help and not hinder, bless and not curse, love and be loved.

   And, with God's help, live each day with Him and for Him.
 

 

Today's Living

   How does my attitude each day, depend on how I look at tomorrow and the days that come after?

   I got a sobering look at that question these past couple of days, and, frankly, did not really like what I saw.

   First of all, it seems like there may be at least three ways to approach the future as I live in today.

   1. I can dread what I think is coming and constantly worry about what might be.

   2. I can look forward to future days and plan and dream about what will happen.

   3. I can take each day as it comes and live in it.

   There is that old gospel song:

   I have thought about, tried to live in its thought, and even written about the wisdom of it back through the years. Living each day with purpose and taking what God has for me in it, as He wants, seems a great way to live in the moment.

   But it is hard, not looking back at what we regret in the past or even glorying in past happinesses, or looking forward with anticipation and/or dread, conjuring up images of great joy or doom. Living in the NOW is a catchy slogan, but not easy to do.

   For a few weeks now, we have been working on a trip west to see friends and family. I was doing a lot of planning of how to drive it and see sights along the way. It is a long way from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but we thought we could do it and have fun along the way.

   Then other considerations got involved, and we waffled each day on whether or not we should go or not. One day it seemed good, and we agreed that it was a go, the next, potential problems loomed and the decision was in doubt.

   I found my mood altered by which scenario was prominent that particular day. My planning, and the good times those plans anticipated seemed about to go under, and I was disappointed. My mood was good if it was a go, and bad if it looked doubtful.

   Looking forward to the good times ahead became the focal point of each day, and when they seemed doubtful, the day got dark.

   Good day or bad depended on what we were going to do, and how much I looked forward to it.

   I was conscious of living in the now, but that "now" consisted of my plans for the future, and my mood and attitude reflected those.

   It has been said that we all need to have something good to look forward to. We are happy and our moods reflect that, but when those anticipations vanish, disappointments can prevail, and we are sad and gloomy.

   That is the way that I found myself this week.

   And then I thought of that song.

   God was in control…

   It had been "my plans", "my happiness", "my control", Not His.

   How about joyful anticipation about what He will bring today, and the todays in the future?

   How about a grateful attitude and not a selfish one?

   How about living today with Him?

Reading Life's Directions, Help

   As I sat down to read this morning, my first thought was "Uh, Oh, my reading glasses are on the top of my dresser in the bedroom, and my wife is still asleep. What do I do now?"

   Knowing some of the web pages can be adjusted to make them easier to read, I opened my laptop and went to an online devotional site. At that point I read this:

When I am searching for insight from Him, when I need direction, or an answer I will ask Him to increase the font in my life. Just like when there is print too small to decipher, I may need Him to increase the font so I can clearly read the situation (or myself) better.

   That was the answer. My prayer in any of the life decisions and choices that I might face this day, or that weigh on my mind at this time, I need to ask for God's help, maybe like this.

   Since I had both eyes worked on, I don't wear my glasses much anymore, but while I am still working through the various eye drops and situations they cause, sometimes the print is much too small to read. 

   When using the computer, I can use the two finger method on the web page and increase the page size, but some of those eye drop vials carry words that are way too small, and I can't raise the font level or make it bigger in another way.

   There are just so many decisions in life that I need help on, supernatural help.

   I can't read. The print is too small. Life's directions are blurry.

   God, help me…Increase the font size so I can be a better follower and stay on the right track, with You.

   Like This…

       Or Maybe Like This…

   But in My Case, More Probably Like This...

Empty Can, Droopy Straw...

   Yesterday was a busy day.

   I had my right eye operated on in the early morning, 7:45 to be exact. Same scenario as the left one the week before, in, drops in the eyes, feel good injection (anesthesiologist's term) in the vein, operating room, help into the waiting car for the ride home.

   My memory of all that runs the same way. I remember pretty well everything up to the operating room, and I remember getting home, but the rest of it is gone.

   Dr. Bill, the anesthesiologist, and I had a running conversation about the old Mid South Assn., which was an association of private schools in and around Chattanooga that competed in many sports. Since I went to McCallie and he went to BGA (Battle Ground Academy) we went back into our memories to conjure up the other schools that competed in that group.

   We remembered the two Chattanooga schools, Baylor and McCallie, BGA, CMA, Castle Heights, Sewanee, St. Andrews, and TMI. We talked until I was wheeled in for the operation. I don't remember if there was any more talk after that, although I'm sure he kept tabs on the operation and the recovery period afterward.

   After coming home, taking a long nap, getting food in my stomach, and moving about, I went down to the car in the garage to get something for my wife. As I looked in the passenger side, my eye caught a glimpse of a coke can with a straw sticking out the top. I remembered that I had requested one in the recovery room after the first eye was done the prior week. Had I gotten another one and had not remembered it at all?

   In the first trip out of the operating room, the nurse asked me what I would like to have to drink. I requested a coke, and it was brought. I carried the can with me as Dwayne drove us home. In fact I remember pitching the can in the recyle bin when we got back to the condo.

   Had all of this happened again, and I missed it? The only thing in my memory from the hospital to the condo was telling my friend (who had volunteered to drive us) which spot to park in. What vital secrets had I passed on our 20 minute drive home?

   It appears that Dr. Brooks operated on my right eye, they wheeled me out to the post op room, the nurse had again asked what I wanted to drink, I had replied, it was brought to me, they got me up, walked me through the waiting room to the car, got me situated, gave me the coke to sip on, closed the door, and I was transported to the condo.

   Not even a fuzzy memory comes back from any of this. Evidently I lived this hour plus time, but you could not prove it by me.

   The only thing that was left was an empty coke can with a droopy straw.

   I wonder if I finished that conversation with Dr. Bill?

Thinking About Trust

   This verse out of Isaiah 25 was in the reading this morning:

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

   I thought about my experience this past week, and how it was so trust related.

   On Wednesday, I had cataract surgery on my left eye. Now eyes are important to life and being able to see clearly is a really good thing. The advances in the medical practice of  restoring good eyesight have been enormous over the past few years. I did not think twice about having the procedure done. I trusted my doctor, and just knew she would do a good job.

   Report to the surgery center at 9:30, check in and follow the nurse back to the pre op room, drops in the eye to numb it and get it ready, get the anesthesia in the vein, get wheeled back to the operating room, stay awake during the whole thing without really knowing or feeling what was going on, back to the post op, realizing what had been done, being escorted to the car, going home and arriving before the thoughts began to connect as to what had been accomplished.

   The strangest thing was realizing all the things that had gone on around me, while I was technically awake with my eye open, but that I had not known. All the way from the surgery, to following instructions from the doctor as to where to look during it, to the eye shield being put on and being rolled out after it was over.

   There were a lot of folks that I had to put my trust in, from the doctor on down to the nurse that took me out to the car to go home. My eye was in their hands.

   How good was it that my doctor put her trust in the same God that I did?

   Her hands were in His the whole time.

   All is well...

Change and Stability

   Heraclitus of Ephesus is supposed to have coined the saying that the only thing constant is change. Now I have been to Ephesus and can attest to the fact that that ancient city has surely changed since Heraclitus lived there.

   As I get older, all around me I see change. In people, in attitudes, in surroundings and even in myself. We live with it every day, in fact, seemingly in every minute of every day.

   My kids are all in their 40s and 50s. They have sure changed and continue to do so.

   My wife changes as she continues to battle some health issues.

   I'm definitely not as spry as I used to be.

   The good ole USA is changing, even as we live in the midst of it.

   Change can be good or bad, according to your perspective, and your personal attitudes regarding the facts of it.

   Wednesday, I had cataract surgery. A fifteen minute procedure produced a left eye that can really see a lot of stuff in a new way, without glasses. What a change, and I'm happy about change.

   When change is good, in our view, we can embrace it.

   When it is bad, as we see it, we can rail against it or be depressed about it.

   Is there no absolute middle ground that we can stand on and find some stability?

   The reading in Our Daily Bread for today, focuses on the verse in Hebrews 13 (verse 8):

   "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

   There is ground around me that is not always shifting and always constant.

   God can be the author of change and the answer to it at the same time, and that is worth holding on to today in our world.

   Embrace today's in His Hands.

 

One Simple Rule...

   Once upon a time, a well respected and successful CPA was interviewed by a leading business magazine. The inevitable question was posed by the interviewer as to the reason for his many successes and his sterling track record of achievements.

   Spurning a verbal reply, the accountant pulled open his middle desk drawer, to the inside of which was taped this one small card:

   "I remind my self each and every morning of this one simple rule", he said
   
      "Debits on the left and Credits on the right".

   As I walked this morning I thought of some people that I knew:

      A man I sat and talked to last Sunday at church who was separated from his kids..

      A woman that had just lost her husband..

      A man who was looking forward to a trip and had to cancel..

   Then I thought of two other instances that I had heard of just recently from friends..

      "yours scans are clear, cancer is not evident in them at all"

      "we have a match, and you are scheduled for a transplant this morning"

   Yes, there seems to be a simple rule in life also:

      God is in Control

   That short four word sentence can come in the midst of the ashes of life and also in the unexpected joys.

   And, just as that accounting rule is true, so much more so is God's.

   Open up your heart, get out your index card and tape.

   And Remember:

   His Ways Are Better, and His Ways Are For The Best

   And I'll attempt to do the same.