Sunday, March 11, 2007
'The End of Striving' -- salvation
Poor Dr. ER! She has caught my bug! It's worse for her. All I know to do is check in on her once in awhile.
I asked her if she wanted me to stay home from church and she said yes, so I did -- and so, as usual, comes a "God thing" along an unexpected turn in the road ...
On Feb. 11, I was in Stillwater, OK, and missed services at my church. So, this morning I listened to the preaching from that day.
The God thing is I was ready to hear this sermon this morning, and would not have had ears to hear it the day it was preached:
"The End of Striving," (audio) preached by Dr. Robin Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational-UCC Church.
I've been striving almost blindly since November -- striving to be there for Mama ER, to do my job well, to not get too far behind on several history research-writing projects, and more recently striving not to freak out totally over the prospect of giving up the comfortable existence I have here, while striving to conjure up the desire and energy to embrace the excitement and uncertainty of unimagined possibilities in Colorado.
And it's wearing me out. Being sick this week forced me to slow down, thanks be to God: I slept 13 hours last night, which is basically unheard of, after, like, 11 or 12 hours the night before.
"The End of Striving" -- I don't think I strive to accomplish things these days as much as I strive to protect that which I have accomplished, and that which has been given to me. But that's just as bad.
Lord help me to chill. Help me see the truth behind the joke: His eye is on the sparrow when it falls -- but it still falls! Help me see the humor in this modern interpretation of Peter's attempt to walk on the water: Sink or swim, Jesus loves us!
"The End of Striving" -- therein lies salvation.
Jeremiah 17: 5-8.
--ER
I asked her if she wanted me to stay home from church and she said yes, so I did -- and so, as usual, comes a "God thing" along an unexpected turn in the road ...
On Feb. 11, I was in Stillwater, OK, and missed services at my church. So, this morning I listened to the preaching from that day.
The God thing is I was ready to hear this sermon this morning, and would not have had ears to hear it the day it was preached:
"The End of Striving," (audio) preached by Dr. Robin Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational-UCC Church.
I've been striving almost blindly since November -- striving to be there for Mama ER, to do my job well, to not get too far behind on several history research-writing projects, and more recently striving not to freak out totally over the prospect of giving up the comfortable existence I have here, while striving to conjure up the desire and energy to embrace the excitement and uncertainty of unimagined possibilities in Colorado.
And it's wearing me out. Being sick this week forced me to slow down, thanks be to God: I slept 13 hours last night, which is basically unheard of, after, like, 11 or 12 hours the night before.
"The End of Striving" -- I don't think I strive to accomplish things these days as much as I strive to protect that which I have accomplished, and that which has been given to me. But that's just as bad.
Lord help me to chill. Help me see the truth behind the joke: His eye is on the sparrow when it falls -- but it still falls! Help me see the humor in this modern interpretation of Peter's attempt to walk on the water: Sink or swim, Jesus loves us!
"The End of Striving" -- therein lies salvation.
Jeremiah 17: 5-8.
--ER
Comments:
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Cosmic Advice:
One of the hardest things about being human is understanding that we don't know what we don't know.
We are taught that action has a cause and effect. That something is "responsible" for everything that happens.
But sometimes, no almost always, the sparrow just falls. God knows the sparrow is falling for he is in the sparrow right down to its every quark and glueon etc.. The sparrow falls because the laws of the universe apply to it. God makes the laws of the universe. God does not violate God's laws.
In the scheme of things going to Colorado is no big thing really. It just feels big because we are so small.
We are humbled by the sight of all the Gallaxies and stars and the vast empty spaces of the Universe.
We can't fathom any of it, hold it in our minds, or understand its cause. We call it God sometimes in order to try to capture it.
Climb on that little shred of leaf that is floating by on the torrents and ride it to Denver. It is a small thing after all.
Especially when consider that what you see in this whole vast Universe is only 4% of the actual Universe that exist, that 96% can not be seen or known.
Each of us are like Bilbo Baggins who have great adventures and may even have fulfill prophecies or won medals but in the end are such little fellows:
Gandalf to Bilbo: "You don't really suppose that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a lttle fellow in a wide world after all!"
--The Hobbit
As for the missing and invisable 96%, check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/magazine/11dark.t.html?th&emc=th
One of the hardest things about being human is understanding that we don't know what we don't know.
We are taught that action has a cause and effect. That something is "responsible" for everything that happens.
But sometimes, no almost always, the sparrow just falls. God knows the sparrow is falling for he is in the sparrow right down to its every quark and glueon etc.. The sparrow falls because the laws of the universe apply to it. God makes the laws of the universe. God does not violate God's laws.
In the scheme of things going to Colorado is no big thing really. It just feels big because we are so small.
We are humbled by the sight of all the Gallaxies and stars and the vast empty spaces of the Universe.
We can't fathom any of it, hold it in our minds, or understand its cause. We call it God sometimes in order to try to capture it.
Climb on that little shred of leaf that is floating by on the torrents and ride it to Denver. It is a small thing after all.
Especially when consider that what you see in this whole vast Universe is only 4% of the actual Universe that exist, that 96% can not be seen or known.
Each of us are like Bilbo Baggins who have great adventures and may even have fulfill prophecies or won medals but in the end are such little fellows:
Gandalf to Bilbo: "You don't really suppose that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a lttle fellow in a wide world after all!"
--The Hobbit
As for the missing and invisable 96%, check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/magazine/11dark.t.html?th&emc=th
# posted by 
: 5:57 PM
: 5:57 PM
Yeah, just when you think it is safe to go back into the water...signs announcing "there be dragons here" start cropping up all over the supposedly mapped cosmos. I'm getting too old to absorb.
# posted by : 10:20 PM
: 10:20 PM
ER, I guess my theory is to strive for what's most important. That depends on the person. For me, it's striving to be the best person I can be, and I feel better when I go about it doing the things that help me. Church. Time with my family. Doing things that make me happy.
Whatever it is, my friend, do it. Smile through life.
It's advice I should take myself, and I don't often do it.
Don't worry, be happy. :-)
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Whatever it is, my friend, do it. Smile through life.
It's advice I should take myself, and I don't often do it.
Don't worry, be happy. :-)
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