Do The Next Thing

How does one move on after the dust of unexpected, harsh reality begins to settle?  Elisabeth (Elliott) would tell you to simply do the next thing.  She would know.  Those are the words that the Holy Spirit whispered to her as she sat in the jungles of Ecuador hearing  the news that no young wife wants to hear; her husband was dead. Jim Elliot, and four other missionaries had been speared to death by the Auca Indians, an unreached tribe that they were praying would come to know Jesus.   

As Elizabeth sat at the ham radio, stunned by the news, she asked God how she could go on in the jungles without her beloved Jim, and as a single mother with an ten month old baby girl.  The Lord impressed a question upon her heart, “What needs to be done next?”  She looked down at her ten month old and thought, Valerie’s diaper needs to be changed.  Elisabeth changed Valerie's diaper.  And then she did the next thing that needed to be done and then the next thing and then …. Elisabeth’s “do the next thing” mantra got her through many dark days.  It is the way to move on from harsh reality ....

Responding to Evil

How easily we are overcome with evil.  Once overcome, we attempt to respond to evil with more evil which simply leads to even more evil. Evil-thinking.  Evil-speaking.  Evil-doing. It doesn't work.  

Jesus tells us the way to overcome evil is with good.  King David implores us to not spend our time fretting over evil, or evil doers as it only leads to more evil-doing. So, here's to random acts of goodness!

(Psalm 37 Amplified Bible; Romans 12:21)

Steve Jobs, The Man

I wrote this post last week, one day prior to the breaking news of the sexual abuse scandal of retired Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky.  I find that interesting.  When you read the last line, I think you will too.

I was mildly astounded at the outpouring of accolades for Steve Jobs upon the announcement of his death.  I’m all about respectfully remembering the deceased and the personal and corporate accomplishments of Steve Jobs deserved our attention.  He was after all, the brilliant pioneer of the computer revolution, not to mention the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. along with a myriad of admirable and respectable accomplishments. I was astounded however, because Steve Jobs was also known for being a highly unlikable and uncaring man.  One of his hallmark habits was parking in the handicapped parking space at Apple.  He was not handicapped nor was he considerate. Clearly.

In reading the website allaboutstevejobs.com I discovered that back in 1981, the Macintosh project founder sent a list of complaints about Steve Jobs to the Apple president, of those complaints were listed:

• Jobs regularly misses appointments.
• He acts without thinking and with bad judgment.
• He does not give credit where due.
• He interrupts and doesn’t listen.
• He does not keep promises or meet commitments.
• Jobs is often irresponsible, and inconsiderate.

Steve Jobs was also known for having a bad temper; getting angry at random employees and firing them on the spot for trivial reasons.

 

I have to wonder if the outpouring of awe toward Steve Jobs reveals that we are still convinced that we what we DO outweighs WHO we are.  We have it backwards and that's tragic.

Forward Motion in Midlife

"We are disappointed because we age. 
We are dissatisfied because our dreams 

slipped out of our hands. 
We are discouraged that in our sin, we failed many, many times. 

We are disappointed that good things come to an end 
and that people move on. 

Midlife exposes how much we struggle with that fact that 
God completes His work of redemption

in us by keeping us in the middle 
of all of the harsh realities of the fall.  

- Paul Trip, Lost in The Middle

The question that begs my answer is how will I move forward, from grace-to-grace, in this transitory season that is shadowed by disappointment and dissatisfaction instead of, or rather than getting stuck in the quicksand of sadness and regret?  The midlife question is about how one moves on with the new normal that often keeps loss and seeming limitations at the forefront. 

God affirms that the one who finds his/her strength in Him, and in whose heart are the highways of heaven will journey through life from strength-to-strength. (Psalm 84:5-7)

The Weight of Wrong-doing

The weight of wrong-doing.  You've felt it. I've felt it. 

The mental and emotional heaviness of heart and conscience ignited by angry words and loaded reactions. The hurtful tone. The lie that kept things in my favor.  The greed or entitlement that grabbed instead of gave.  The reaction that hurt instead of helped, condemned instead of cared.  The selfishness. The loose lips about another.  The retaliation.  The private relief over the failure of one who hurt first. The bitter heart and rude response. The weight of temptation turned into reality. 

The weight.  That heaviness of heart and mind left behind from the aftermath of sin.  Up close and personal sin or up close and someone else's sin.

The weight of another's choices can prove just as burdensome as the weight of mine.  The worry and the wondering of their wrong-doing.  The unwanted ramifications.  The hurt and betrayal.  The shock and disbelief. The loss. The heartache. 

Wrong-doing is heavy. It's weight paralyzes. It's oppressive. It keeps one down for the count.  

Enter the prophet, Isaiah.  Relief for the inner-weight .... an exchange offered by the anointed One  "... a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness ..."  The only help for the weight of wrong-doing.

Do You Have a Snippet of Time?

We have a Penn State grad student living with us.  A female student named Elyse. Yay! It's amazing, there's actually someone in my home who not only listens to me but hears what I have to say. Smile. In fact, Elyse dialogues with me.  About things I want to talk about.  Don't get me wrong, I love my three guys but I'll let you in on a little secret ... one dad plus two sons plus one mom does not equal deep, meaningful conversation.  Rarely. Even when Ben and Andy lived at home,  time didn't often lend itself to regular, substantial, detailed or emoting kinds of conversation.  It was more on-the-fly, to the point, factual and activated kind of conversation. Meaning, just tell me what I need to DO  and please don't ask me to join you in any kind of mental or emotional calisthenics. (haha)  Most of the time it could barely be labeled "conversation."  Let's just say that's why talking to myself  over the years escalated to a whole new level. Again, don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no doubt that my three guys love me, and the one I sleep with takes really good care of me.  Really good.  None of that is in question but the conversations I have with the Jameson men don't exactly fill me up.  Ok, point made. Hopefully, point well-taken. 

On the other hand, I do love the female chatter that rings in the walls of our home these days.  One of my recent and allusive conversations with Elyse, left me feeling spurred on to offer something a little different for my blog followers ... many who may have moved on to more regular-writing bloggers by now.  Ugh. I discovered something during my late night babble with Elyse that revealed reason behind my not so regular posts. The posts I wrote took big chunks of time. I don't have big chunks of discretionary time in this season of life.  Soon after Elyse and I chatted, she scooted off to bed, always earlier than I scoot and as she did, I had an aha moment. Why not blog with snippets of thought, instead of chunks? Likely my readers can't afford chunks of time to read my posts any more than I can to write them? Yes. That's it. Snippets of thought, wisdom, musings, insight and more.  Snippets it will be.  Final answer. 

So, here's to snippets instead of chunks .... I hope you'll click onto backdrop more regularly again. Let me know how you like it. Or how you don't.