Strictly from the standpoint of survival, it may be easier to live today than in days gone by.  At the same time, in an affluent society, it is easier to fall behind and suffer feelings of loss by comparison.  I’ve heard people who lived through the Great Depression say that their deprivation was less noticeable because they were about like everyone else.  Misery and company  

Once a standard is achieved, it’s hard to go back.  Automatic windows are huge.  After the option is exercised, it seems cumbersome and uncouth to roll the windows down.  Things once assumed become unthinkable to the denizens of a future society who take advancements for granted.

Currently, there may be more stress or, certainly, stressors of different sorts.  Nothing new being under the sun and all, this may not be gold but bears consideration.  In the past, some few worked themselves to death.  Today, people worry themselves into their graves.

Dissatisfaction is not a grand attainment of progress.  As mindset matters, I am amazed at the grateful with little and angered at those for whom the world is not enough.  In another day, paying dues was seen as honorable and a precursor to gratification.  In our time, dues are put on credit cards and promotions expected for showing up.

While it’s easy to follow the fool’s errand of judgment by and of peers, we would be better served by self-examination.  If we learn to want what we have, we will always have what we want.  This assertion is not meant as a remedy for sloth, rather as an encouragement to cultivate a spirit akin to giving rather than grasping.  A grateful heart is more apt to meet hurts with helps. 

Focusing on wants overlooks wealth.  Many of us have failed to appreciate our gifts until they were gone.  Overlooking orchids, we sought roses that did not grow in the soils of our lives.  Failing to appreciate our resources, we strained for desires beyond reach.  On the few occasions when we owned the longings, we found them to be less than advertised if not figments.

We are unhappy by choice for it was our choices that forged our destinations.  Our discontent is a by-product of resistance to the ideas of boundaries and the functionality of fences.  It is too easy to curse our lack and blame others.  Perhaps, we should consider that there is a purpose beyond ourselves.  Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. 

Ingratitude grins in the face of God.  It is difficult to accept limitations, but no human ever lived without them.  While it is common to question our status in the divine plan, it is not as if there is no rationale for our plights or plans for our progression.  In some cases, the years will reveal reasons why, while other matters we commit to faith.  Underneath are the everlasting arms.

Acceptance of the status quo often leads to stagnation.  We are meant for motion.  It is valid and can be honorable to seek advancement.  However, we learn through living that there are “bounds to our habitations.”  While some can be moved, we meet others with patience and perseverance.  In the end, we understand the whole world to be in God’s hands.

Sterl

There may be a downside to direction.  While convened drive is admirable, we should not ignore the larger picture.  I’m a person who would bet the farm on some issues but tries to keep things in perspective.  Sometimes.

When driving a vehicle, it is important to keeps eyes on the road.  However, one cannot contemplate the same spot for long.  You have to look ahead.  In addition, it is important to be aware of surroundings.  The scenery provides important clues impacting operation of any death machine.  Peripheral vision is integral in safety concerns, as well.

“Target fixation” is the term fighter pilots use for focusing on one thing to the exclusion of others.  If a pilot is fixated on their target to an improper degree, he or she may ignore other aspects of safe flight.  In a similar way, one may have a good goal that yet must remain in context and regarded as a piece and not the puzzle itself.  In driving a vehicle or driving for success, caution is in order to remain on the road.  Remember, there’s a ditch on either side. 

It is true that great risk brings great reward.  Where would our world or any field of endeavor be today if there were no innovators?  The wheels of progress would grind to a halt and crumble in rust if the odd person did not question the status quo and propose a new albeit unproven path.  And this destination could not be arrived apart from dogged determination and personal sacrifice.  Hats off to the fearless few!

On the other hand, when we are bound in spirit, it can be that we sacrifice the good on the altar of the great.  If our magnificent obsession becomes everything, there will be no air left in the room to breathe.  It is hard for dreamers to accept limitations.  Perhaps, that is why so many die young.

Occasionally, our targets are not so much related to achievement as to eradication.  This negative can have a positive intent.  Many societal issues flourish under the guise of freedom but actually foment the chains of practitioners.  We can become negative by nature if we allow our valid concerns to become our sole crusades.

It is important for us to distill our goals.  We can’t be committed to everything.  At the same time, there must be room in our lives for more than pet peeves.  It would be good for us to consult the Word of God for direction and the calendar for a timeline for project completion.  As if worthwhile endeavors have an end.

The Old Covenant prophets urged people to consider their ways.  Their people were to make value judgments.  Jesus instructed His hearers to count costs.  In these cases, the admonitions were not made to discourage commitment, rather to encourage informed decisions.  It is noble and necessary to prioritize, but there is a cost.  And the price cannot be so high as to consume other valuable things and render our efforts meaningless.

While accounting for coincidence, life is defined by choice.  In pursuing your dreams, may your devotion not lead to defeat.

Sterl

Using as an illustration a married couple where the husband has been physically abusive to his wife, let’s take a critical look at restoration.  There are other forms of abuse which are equally destructive, but this example will serve for the time.  In addition, let’s assume legal involvement.

When domestic violence enters a relationship, the road to bountiful becomes treacherous and progress slow.  How does a person forgive one who has done them harm, and how can one not be resentful of another who has sent them to jail?

Abuse is not necessarily cyclical, and many abusers are quite remorseful.  Of course, this is not always true, and fealty is ever foundational in reconciliation.  Best intentions, however, are not the sole arbiters of success.  Apologies may, indeed, be more than words but may not ring true to the hurting despite pleas and tears.  Trust is lacking in fractured relationships, and uncertainty is a fearsome though vacuous apparition.  Changes in behavior do not necessarily erase mistrust.

Perpetrators of abuse are anxious to “get over’ the past.  Forrest’s mother said, “You’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.”  One who has done the unthinkable wants mileage from the deed.  However, a victim may not be able to move on and continue to mention the event for some time.  The act remains fresh through remembrance and both parties are unable to experience freedom.  While the victim has difficulty releasing resentment, the perpetrator wonders (often aloud) if any act of contrition will ever be enough.

It is not my purpose to delineate steps to conciliation which may differ according to disputants and degree.  Rather, why is it that God can forgive when we cannot?

It is important to remember that God does not forgive the sins of people who are insincere.  As even the closest allies cannot see into one another’s hearts, we never really know if the remorseful are that.  God knows if we are remorseful.  The victim of another’s sin cannot know their depth of contrition, and uncertainty inhibits acceptance.

Sinners are diminished in the eyes of themselves and others.  While we’d like to think ourselves more open-handed and minded than that, it is flatly true.  Relationships are mended with difficulty if one party feels (perhaps rightly) morally superior and the other cannot forgive themselves.  God forgives our sins because of His Son’s sacrifice not remembering past transgressions, but the threshold of trust in human relationships lacks the vicarious.  Resentment is the enemy of the penitent.

When Jesus exhorted His disciples to forgive, they asked Him to increase their faith.  People are not God.  Seeing through a glass darkly, we simply cannot know the motives of other people.  As observers of deeds, we correctly judge orientation, but, even then, sinful natures make hypocrites of strivers and taskmasters of the aggrieved.

Sins against others will be forgiven or fixated by degree.  In the strictest terms of forgiveness, redemption is accomplished through Jesus’ death while complete restoration involves restitution.  The manner in which redress is addressed is the key to satisfaction for the hurtful and the harmed.

Sterl

A friend of mine defines conservatism as the maintaining of the status quo (whatever it may be at the time) and liberalism as the desire for change (at any particular time).  He will say these definitions serve for any issue regardless of moral or ethical propriety.  They are terms denoting positions- not parties or propriety.  He’s at least partly right.

There are things we would all like to keep and others we could do without.  Our homes are filled with memories of things forgotten, and we always want to upgrade with newer versions of the unneeded.  While most of us are realistic enough to know we aren’t world beaters, we’d like to change more than our underwear.

The search for significance has been expounded, written and read by more singular than me.  Within each of us is the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves and parcel of heroic deeds.  It can remain unspecified desire.

We’d all love to see the plan.  If you’ve got one, that is.  Having been one myself, I’m all for dreamers, but the rubber must meet the road at some point if traction is to be gained.  Politicians produce and pursue phantom vistas knowing they will never answer for their follies.  If there is going to be change, how will it be accomplished?  Specs are needed for building approval, and crack must meet codes.

When smoke gets in our eyes, we tend to think that good intentions and lofty aspirations will rule the day.  This is seldom the case, though they help.  While trusting God and walking by faith are life’s essentials, much of the Bible is wisdom literature teaching discretion and planning in our endeavors.

The slow grind of progress can be the marrying up of principles, preparations and God’s pilotage which may not suit the slash and burn tactics of zealots.  Funny, we complained about slow movement when young and later cautioned that fools rush in.  Perspective, I guess.  The world changes more slowly than its inhabitants.

It can be challenging to be of spiritual mind and earthly good.  The centrifugal force of living propels us outward from center.  Candidates don’t seem able to maintain reasonability, and spiritual suckers grasp at the smoke and mirrors of misinformation not realizing that our plans must meet the plans of God and be pursued with careful preparation to reach fruition.

In the end, we can only accomplish that which God allows.  While it can be difficult to accept limitations, it can be freeing to understand that our battles are not really ours at all.  It is helpful to remember that God is in control when life moves minimum wage slow.

When it seems that our dreams and desires are out of grasp, it may be helpful to reassess priorities.  I don’t say this as a matter of condoning underachievement or salvaging pride.  Simple observation teaches that headlining is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Many who have made the news did so at the expense of fidelity and family.  Many would trade notoriety for normalcy.

A friend once told me, “If a person can’t be satisfied with doing his best, pride has entered the picture.”  May God help us to act insofar as we are able and affect necessary changes while realizing the limitations of our best intentions.

Everything is gonna be alright.

Sterl

In my youth, possibilities seemed endless.  Seemed endless.  They never were for me or anybody else, and, really, we probably knew that, but it was time for us to wander.  The woods are greener over yonder.

Look down that lonesome road before you travel on.  I ran down it with eyes wide shut.

Have you had the dream where you are looking for something but don’t know what?  I’ve lived it in real time.  It’s been said a great part of living is discovering what you want in life.  I didn’t know it would take this long.

Vagabond that I am; I’ve lived in seven states in the last buncha years.  As I’ve been at my current residence for over twenty, I was on the go early.  That’s not uncommon for the ministerial per se.  There may be reasons for short and long assignments.

It’s easy to think that movement in life descends from a sense of dissatisfaction, and this element cannot be discounted.  However, a good number of God’s servants in biblical times served particular purposes for seasons only and then returned to whatever.  Our Lord may use brief tenures to accomplish His ends. 

I’ve tried to fit and not flit.  The work of God is a serious thing to me, and I have great admiration for those my peers who found their ways to shelters early and grew in fertile fields.  This is not the case with everyone, and many sincere workers have lived hardscrabble existences.  While struggle does not indicate misapplication, it may engender doubt in the striver. 

Many times, Satan whispered, “There is no use to try.”  Our adversary uses the circumstances of life against us.  As no one goes through their years unscathed, the dominant hope is that such remains unnoticed which is a bondage all its own.

While pitfalls accompany ramblin’ fever, new discoveries and fresh vistas encourage the soul.  We can be fixated on destinations and ignore beauties along the way.  On a family road trip from Tennessee to California, we were able to see dramatic changes in the landscapes you can’t get by staying in the county.  Variety can be the spice of life.

The feared outcome of working outside the ministry was not as feared.  It took some getting used to, but, in all, I have enjoyed working as other than clergy for periods interspersed throughout my cloth-related vocation and calling.  I will never return to full-time Christian service though I will never be otherwise. 

It may be that I’m winding down.  In the last few years, I have not had the restless leg syndrome.  At least, not to the same degree.  And I am on the adventure of my life with a new work for God from the bottom up.  A great door opened with many adversaries.

Your ship may not rest in port.  Then again, you may reach Fair Havens.  In any case, commit your voyage to the Master of the Sea.  Sail on, sailor.

Sterl

When I totaled my car, I didn’t cry.  When I blew out my knee, I took no time off.  When I lost my childhood home and family, there was nothing to do but carry on.  Paul said he learned to be content in all circumstances.  But situations arise content or no, and we adjust.  Play the hand that’s dealt ya.   

No one wants to hear us complain.  They are too busy thinking about themselves.  I used to think that my church members wondered what their preacher thought, but I came to realize they were not thinking about me at all.  It doesn’t bother me.  Half of ‘em don’t know how to spell my name, and we actually love each other.

Few will feign concern over your dilemmas.  A few years ago, I mentioned to my wife that I sometimes felt guilty for not staying in better touch with old friends.  She replied, “Well, they didn’t stay in touch with you.”  So true.

David encouraged himself.  Rather than wallow in loss, he picked himself up and brushed himself off.  Each of us must learn hard lessons of self-reliance.  You will face times and trials with nowhere to hide.

Life consumes each of us, and we are fortunate if it does not overwhelm.  As he who hesitates is lost, we must stay on our feet if it means stumbling in the dark.  Kipling said we must hang on with nothing in us except the will to hang on. 

Years ago, I slipped on black ice in a school parking lot and cracked my noggin.  For a moment, everything went black.  I lay for a few seconds gathering my wits until reality kicked in.  I thought, “If I don’t get up, I’m going to get run over!”  I find the same application in all of life.  Few times have I been allowed the luxury of repose.  The urgency of living has ruled the days of my life.  Like sand through the hourglass. 

There’s a hard truth to face.  We are not the centers of it all.  Even things in which we are integral do not exist solely because of us.  When we pass from this life, few will miss us and things will go on much as they ever did.  Morose as it may sound, Jesus said as much regarding the proverbial Rich Fool.

This life is preparation for the next.  Its cyclical nature is burdensome to the hardiest citizens.  We suffer losses of constitution and companionship on the toilsome road of life.  Solomon asked what we truly possessed from all our efforts.

The good world of creation is no longer.  For all its beauty, few blessings remain amid the curses, but we are not forgotten.  Splendor once was and so continues to be for those with sight and hearing.

Jesus said the weary and heavy-hearted can find rest in Him.  His teachings and instructions lighten the loads of the burdened.  If they come.

Sterl

Many have tried to take self-photos with cameras of old.  None too easy with all the lining up and awkward hand positions.  Cellphone cameras, however, provide anyone the ability to take fairly good snapshots of Numero Uno.  What with the reverse viewfinder and all.  Even more so as digitized degenerates can be erased with ease.  Only the best portraits will do in sharing with a billion or so folks.  Sometimes, I miss the days when we were stuck with the hard copies.

Recently, I heard on the radio that those who take a lot of “selfies” may have problems with self-esteem.  Mental health issues aside, we are in love with ourselves and hope others will love images of us.  Those we want the world to see.  We erase the rest.

I appreciate good presentations as much as the next guy, but façades often bewray actuality. The inner person is the real person, and Paul said intangible things are reality.  But we get stuck on what people think of the outward appearance while God is looking on the heart.

Trademark of the last days is self-love.  While self-criticism can be extremely damaging, the self-congratulatory have damned our age.  Despite the biblical admonition to avoid self-promotion, many have found it to be the only path to recognition in the current clime and have joined the bandwagon.  We live diminished lives if we over-appreciate ourselves.

Obsession with self brings manifold heartaches.  The natural (and needed) self-protecting bias can become exorbitantly powerful and self-gratification the primary life goal.  When this occurs, the doors are open to all sorts of sins and empathy for others is lost.  Media sources encourage the unruly pursuit of self-actualization by constantly trumpeting individual worth and rights.  Such have been achieved at the expense of others to grand applause.  My heart breaks seeing the downtrodden fear to lift their eyes, and I tire seeing others pat themselves on their backs.

Is there a reasonable explanation for our usage of spare time other than love of self?  How can we possibly justify wasted monies on perishable items in any way other than that we are bent on pursuing excitement and ease?  The part of the brain dedicated to survival is easily converted to the pleasure principle through indulgence and affluence.  Reaching for wants has pierced us through with sorrows.

Acquisitions are not the only indicators of self-love.  Many seek acclaim as if they could be satisfied in the having.  We will not be able to fill pits we have dug with our own hands.

When we seek self-aggrandizement, we do it at the expense of God’s will for us.  Like sheep, we wander through life looking into the reverse-view finder and wonder why our true needs remain unsated. 

It could be that contentment is found in the appreciation of others and the approval of God.  It will be hard to obtain either if our devotions are inwardly directed.

Sterl

Self-serving as it may sound, it is impossible to reach any negotiated agreement without taking seriously another’s point of view.  Even if it is not serious.

Parties will often not reach grounds of settlement on equal terms.  This being true, it does not negate polite consideration.  Cast ballots may not be informed, but count they will in the tally.  One who would win the day must win the wills of the populace.

Agreement can only be achieved if agreed to be the goal with accepted individualism.  It can be difficult to hold on loosely without letting go, but it will be impractical if not impossible to hold each cherished thought in equal esteem.  While we often equate compromise with cowardice, it may be the path of wisdom.  We should differentiate between self and divinity.

Sacrifice is inextricably linked to success.  All of life is a trade-off, and someone or something suffers loss for the greater good at every turn.  Occasionally, the best path must yield to a good path for the sake of those who cannot or will not understand.

Each treaty is reached with consideration of the particular and the whole.  There are qualified and unqualified voices on every issue.  Consideration must be given to the knowledgeable for their bonafides, as well as, to those most affected by outcomes.  When the gavel falls, it is to be hoped that the edict will bless rather than curse the mob.

As a veteran of important and inconsequential wars, I have spilled and shed innocent blood.  That’s what happens when terms waste.  Much good dwindles and dies on unsanctified altars deemed valuable by worshippers.

Scripture encourages us to make peace and early.  I am one for whom some issues are inviolate, but all beliefs are not of the same degree.  The most stringent will cede this point as will the libertines.  Efforts at conciliation will pacify the wrathful and facilitate peace with God.  While identical, good relations with fellows enhance one’s relationship with God.

The very wise do not see all ends.  Even the biblically-informed will not interpret each worriment with skill.  When brothers and sisters in Christ and kingdom work itself have been destroyed over food, drink and observances of holy days, we will have nothing left over which to quarrel.

Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong.  The same goes for you and the mouse in your pocket.  Considering the final reckoning, that pretty much sums it.  There may be more than one road to an achieved end.  While some will take the scenic route and others prefer the direct approach, the important thing is journey’s end.  There is no profit in making good time on a goose-chase.

They say in the darkest night there’s a light beyond.  When common ground seems unattainable, we will simply have to look harder.  Efforts at accord are not wasted though they may frustrate.  In the grand scheme, it will be wise to make alliances rather than enemies.

Sterl

It’s hard to find a handle on the current state.  Perhaps, the concerned are as much to blame in attempting to accommodate fashion as the fomenters of radical ideas.  There is much analytical and anecdotal evidence supporting my claim, but allow me one illustration.

The idea of America beginning as a Christian nation is currently in question.  Many claim that our country was begun as and intended to be a secular nation apart from any belief system.  Some Christians join the chorus in denying that the United States had anything other than civil birth.  In my opinion, mental gymnastics are in order to land this conclusion.  Practice makes perfect.

The founders of our land were not all Christians nor did each individual or group reach the continent with the same goals.  However, there was a strong religious element to the general endeavor.  One cannot give a fair reading to our nation’s founding documents and the personal writings of many influencers without understanding that belief in the providence of God led many of them.  The Judeo-Christian ethic was assumed though personal faith was spotty.  It is the same today.  All professors, past and present, were not and are not Christians, but the influence of Christianity has been a driving force throughout American history.  Likewise, nodding assent was given to the fall of man and the influence of sin.  The idea that our nation would shed the mantle of faith was not in the minds of the Founding Fathers.  To say that American was meant to be a secular nation with no allegiance to divinity is incorrect and possibly dishonest.  There are other dimensions.

“Christian” in name only could describe many of our forebears as surely as it fits today.  I am one who believes that cultural believers are not redeemed and questions the public face of faith.  It would be inappropriate to ascribe saving faith to all the framers in the same way that it is inaccurate to assess the current level of godliness by polls.  If there are as many Christians nationally or worldwide as we like to think, why are things so bad?  Still, the positions of the Christian church and the Scriptures lent weight to the development of the United States of America.  No question here.  However, the downgrade observed by Spurgeon is unabated.

My college professor said, “When I was a child, everyone I knew was either a Christian or God-fearing.”  The consciousness of God, however faint, was a societal norm even in my youth.  It is verily on the decline though it may have been overstated in the past.  This loss has devastating consequences.

Today’s world is adrift on the sea of moral relativism.  Baseline morality, as biblically defined, has lost sway as humanistic ideals have supplanted the scriptural in the minds of a significant portion of the populace.  As bad as this may be, possibly worse are ideas among the purported faithful that current losses are not losses at all but refinements of a previously misguided belief system.  The insidious thing about such teaching is that there have indeed been misapplications of truth throughout the centuries.  So it is that we have doubters who claim to be believers and sinners who claim to be saints.

Governmental control of faith practices pollutes true religion.  We do not live in a theocracy.  However, when Christian values cease to inform civil discourse and deportment, wickedness unforeseen and unnamed enters the equation.  Moral realignment conforming to cultural norms becomes the new virtue, and Christians are greatly to blame.  The new religion purports itself to be the old faith with improvements and the historicity of faith in society is renamed, misunderstood or denied. 

Sterl

We miss so much in the course of living.  No one can be or do all things, and we do ourselves service by expanding our horizons in so far as we are able.  When our small family lived in North Carolina, I knew a man who had only been out of the county twice.  Needless to say, he was closeminded and harsh.  Look and listen for little actions and events outside yourself.

The great deeds of any time are mostly accomplished in concert with others whose names and contributions are unknown to us.  Unintentionally and unknowingly, we undervalue the integral.  In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Elrond said, “Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”

The big events of my life have thrilled my soul, but the small events have broken my heart.  We will not realize the importance of brief kindnesses as they are mostly unrequited in human (and measurable) terms.  When we were children, we sang songs reminding us of God’s watchfulness but forgot them as adults.  If there’s not a plaque in it, I’m not in it.

Few (if any) lofty sermons make my playlist.  Rather, the gentle nudges of caring friends and unpreached advice echo daily in my ears.  This type learning fits us.  Too much at a time and teaching runs off like the sudden showers of summertime.

In a world favoring rapidity in any form, it is still true that measured progress makes for stability.  Achievers would rather be the hare than the tortoise, but the end of that story is not unlike the rises and falls of industries, movements and churches today.  Easy come, easy go.

Of Monsters and Men sing, “There’s an old voice in my head that’s holding me back.  Well, tell her that I miss our little talks. Soon it will be over and buried with our past.  We used to play outside when we were young, and full of life and full of love.”  The day will come when simple pleasures are not available to us.  Then, we will miss the minor miracles of our lives.

We hear God in a voice behind.  Seldom does He speak to us in dramatic ways.  The wind, fire and earthquake impress the uninitiated, but solid saints hear the Almighty in still, small whisperings.  A part of this is because they are listening.  Our world demands divine drama drowning the noise inundating every facet of society.  Seldom has such occur in all of history.

Jesus spoke to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  We find God when we seek Him with our whole hearts.  He will not force Himself into our lives though circumstances and consequences lead us to heaven’s door.  Jesus will not force entrance to our hearts and homes.  Rather, He stands at the door and knocks.

God’s goodness leads us to repentance.  I we look and listen, tranquil experiences will reveal the Most High.  Some will not see God apart from His manifest displeasure.  To them, His grace is affirmation.  Others will view their lives as products of His leading in little things.

Sterl