Time today and time tomorrow is digesting into time yesterday. Soon enough, just like the food we eat, time will be disposed of. We take in time wanting copious amounts, having intentions of doing all kinds of spectacular things (if you're something like me you want to build cabins, climb cliffs, write entire novels, start a small business of all the cool things I haven't made yet, or attempt martyrdom) but then when a grand bowl of time is given to us in a day or even a week, it almost hardly gets used for all the good intentions I had for them. Instead, veering away from work means sleeping more, eating more, moving around less, and getting bored (and boredom is a dangerous place to be). My heart is the director of my time, but I often delude myself into thinking the measure of time is what will direct how I use it. Being aware of the state of my heart has become difficult to look at, but the more I study my heart the clearer it gets to understand my actions. Good thoughts dry out when I am given the pipes to assemble them, it suddenly becomes arduous, as if I thought water could flow from sand. As usual I hadn't thought about the work involved to begin doing the things I know would make me happy. I feel entitled to things I don't work for and that's when I begin to grumble. I think we were designed to work, and to work hard. Whether as a man who cleans pools or a woman spear heading a team of investors on wall street, we were made to be somewhat consistently mobile, expending energy to produce the fruits of our labor. Oftentimes we shift our focus from why we work to what work we are doing. While having a good job is nice, it's not the most important reason for our keeping at it. Most people don't work in the settings they desire, while some do, but regardless whether we are given a denarius for one hour or for five, we are not entitled to grumble at the God who gave His Son for us to make a way into eternity with Him. Working is not the meaning of our lives, but it is essential for our well being, and something to note is that it doesn't really matter what it is that you do, so long as you are doing something (and doing that thing diligently since we are reflections of Jesus wherever we are), and diligently striving to know God and give Him all the glory with a thankful heart. There. Joy. Is found; even amidst what the world may view as a terrible circumstance.
(this began as a vent about how I had nothing incredible (or decently proper) to write about given the opportunity and time TO write...then all this just sort of fell out of my fingers here.)
It's difficult to remind ourselves of the real reasons we work or clean or make efforts to invest in or perhaps let go of, relationships with others . To remind ourselves that we should do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but rather, at the expense of possibly losing face, we are to value others above or as much as we value ourselves, and look more intently to their interests. This is the formula to shining like stars. (Philippians 2)
Having walked in the rain,
J
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