Shades of Truth (More of a Reminder for Myself than Anything Else)

I get the weekly devotional from The Project emailed to me, and last week's is one that I want to remember, so I'll publish it here. In the meantime, perhaps it may speak to others as well (all 3 of you who read my blog). :) CS Weirsma will be leaving Millwoods Pentecostal at the end of the summer to be part of a new church aimed at young adults in Toronto. That makes me sad, because I think his sermons are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I'd like to make it to the Sunday night services as often as possible before he leaves. If anyone is interested, sermons can be downloaded by going to mwpa.com and clicking on The Project.

There are systems of thought that are effective at “getting the job done”. Revenge is a powerful motivator. Hate can bring a clarity of thought and purpose. And envy can make you work harder than you ever have before. Of course we also know that as effective as these kinds of thoughts may be, we also know they carry terrible baggage with them. Or at least that’s what we’ve been trained to think.

The trouble is, in our own hearts, it’s not always so easy to categorize our thoughts. “This is envy and I’ve got to stop it” or “This is self pity and it will lead to nowhere” are not the kinds of things we tend to think about the things going on in our minds. But maybe we should.

Your entire life will be an elaborate dance with the subtleties of human nature and the dark shadows of your own heart. It won’t always be these full blown examples of weak thinking that will cost us our potential. More often than not, I think, it’s about the all too hard to detect beginnings of them, and the shades of mixed thoughts we actually tend to think. Envy dressed up as “passion”. Revenge masquerading as “justice”. And hate denied all together, telling ourselves “Just because I forgive doesn’t mean I have to forget.”

Do you know who you are? Do you know what actually holds you from your potential? Do you practice a dressed up version of these thoughts that “get the job done” but will leave you far from where you want to be in the end? Jesus said there are 2 paths in life. The one that leads to life is narrow. That means: hard to find, hard to stay on, and few people traveling on it. Are those the kinds of decisions you are making? (Searching carefully, choosing wisely and set apart).

Just a thought.

A Lot of Pretty Things

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? At first glance, perhaps, but read on. It was a "Find of the Week" a few weeks back on foundmagazine.com. Cool website, really... makes me want to pick up other people's garbage and analyze it.

The author of the note is probably a boy, and has made a cute gesture of writing the "o" in "to" as a heart, if that was intentional. What I'm wondering though, is if he is going to buy the pretty things and offer them to his girl (or the girl he wants to be his) with premeditated shyness, then is it really so shy? It seems he wants to do it to appear shy and that he really likes her, but then why would he tip her off to this fact? Why tell her beforehand? He might as well say, "I want to give you a gift and appear shy as I do it so that you'll think it took a lot of courage for me to give it to you... but really it doesn't take that much courage because I'm telling you about it before it even happens. This is all part of an elaborate ploy to get you to like me... isn't that smart for an eight-year old?" And if the girl isn't as smart as the boy, maybe she'll think this note is the cutest thing she's ever seen.

My Nose Knows

Another list. This one is my favorite scents, in no particular order.

rain
the ocean
a forest
roses
the smell of the Christmas tree in my house in December
mountain fresh air
fresh bread
Escape for Men by Calvin Klein
gasoline
Jiffy markers

Listaholic

I love lists. I write a To Do list every day and frequently add to my Things I Plan to Research list, my Books/CDs I'd Like to Learn More About and Possibly Buy list, my List of Favorite Websites, and so on. There are probably 2 or 3 little pieces of paper in my pocket every day with a list written on each one. It's so prolific, a friend from college eventually gave me a little coil notebook specifically for list writing. My Book of Lists (not to be confused with the actual published Book of Lists or Lists to Live By, which, of course, I own) now contains various lists about my thoughts, ideas, things I like, etc. That's also what my blog is about, so over the next while I will be publishing one little list at a time for your viewing pleasure. And mine.

I'll start with a list of a few of Lisa's and My Theories...
- Most British people look a little bit inbred (Lisa)
- If you run through rain, you'll get wetter than if you walk (me)
- If you've never broken a bone as a child, you'll never break one as an adult (Lisa)
- The best love ballads are sung by country and hard rock bands (me)
- If you can't roll your tongue, you can't whistle (Lisa)
- Contrary to popular opinion, there are no good looking men in Australia that are Australian (me)

If you don't agree with any of my theories, please let me know and I'll reconsider the theory based on your evidence and tests.

Next list coming soon!