Because I’m lazy.
Sung by my son this morning:
“The bears will not be grown, and the chairs will stand”
That’s either the ramblings of an Apocalyptic Prophet or #ThingsMyKidSang
A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.
Paul Valer
I have a real preference for easy resolutions. I mean, you could make those hard ones, but then you have to either deal with the pressure of trying to make things happen or the disappointment of failure. Boo to both those things.
So, my favorite resolutions are ones about reading. I like to read. I read a fairly significant amount anyway. So, challenging myself to read a little bit more seems like the way to go. I set my goal at 26 books. I think that’s pretty light for me, anyway, but hey… at least I’ll succeed!
If you made resolutions, did you include a “gimme” like that? If so, what was it?
“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”- G.K. Chesterton
When something is so great an experience that it robs you of previous experiences that you thought were good, it ought to have a warning label. I can think of a few things in life that have been this way:
The first video game system I ever owned was the Sega Master system. It was fine… decent… okay for its time. And then, one of my friends got an NES. And it was way awesomer. There was a gun controller. There was Mario. It was the greatest thing of all time. And my Sega Master System was, all of the sudden, not as awesome. That Christmas, we got an NES. And the master system, well, I don’t even remember it being connected to the TV after that.
Ender’s Game did that for books, but in a good way. After I read it, it felt like many of the other books I was reading were hollow… no where near as good (even the sequels to Ender’s Game). It was a good thing — it made me chase good reading experiences. Every great book I’ve read since has caused the same chase.
Most recently (and prompting this post), I received a French Press coffee maker for Christmas. I’ve had coffee from other people’s french presses before, and it’s always been wonderful. But, I’ve assumed that there was some special magic in their kitchen that made it different than what would happen in my kitchen.
For better or worse, I was wrong. I can make really great coffee in my kitchen. Using the same coffee, even, that I put in my drip machine. And it’s ruined (well, not ruined, but cheapened) the regular coffee experience. I look at my mug and think, I could be having this rich experience, and instead I’m drinking swill.
A week ago, I was proud of the coffee that I made in my standard coffee machine. It was the right blend of not too bitter, but not weak. This French Press should’ve come with a warning label!
So, we’ve had a parade of Christmas movies on, largely based on what Huluplus and Netflix have to offer. Let me just tell you, there are a whole lot of stinkers out there. It seems like for every Elf and Charlie Brown Christmas, there are twenty like Gotta Catch Santa Claus, not just not great, but actually pretty bad.
And I’ve seen all twenty.
So, I’d love to hear suggestions. What are great Christmas movies that we should have Luke watching? (Reminder, he’s three, so even Home Alone is way too grown up). Help!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24.
After a weekend that felt very murphy’s law, that’s a good reminder right there. Job could look at his life falling apart and say “I haven’t sinned.” I can’t even look at a mildly rough weekend and say the same.
What does that look like in your life? What are you currently doing to care for the least of these? That’s a question that North American Christianity doesn’t seem to engage very well (at least the parts that I’m familiar with).
The thing that gets me about the social gospel thing is that more often than not, the people who are crusading for social transformation are doing it by yelling instead of getting their hands dirty. But, if you can look at your church and say, we haven’t done anything for the widows and orphans, can you genuinely say you’re the church? (I know, I know, harsh… but still a worthy question).
It’s easy to not see the value of things like that. But, it’s really hard to calculate the negative impact on a believer / church / community when the church is not engaging these issues well.
It’s that time of year. Everyone is reflecting on how the year has gone. What questions do you ask yourself? What things do you investigate in your life?
The dog doesn’t know the difference between Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so I have to walk the dog early those days too.
Donna Shalala
