Contentment

Shoot!  It's 11:00 and I haven't posted today.  I had a long day at work and earlier this evening I had the chance to help out a friend.  But after I got home from that, I sat down with my salad and started reading instead of working on this.  And now it's late, so I'm going to cheat a little today and share with you one of the things I read tonight.  It actually is pretty fitting, considering my quest.  It reminds me of Genesis 2, and how God gives humankind everything it needs.  And it makes me think how sad it is to not see that it's enough.

I promise a real post tomorrow.  For sure.

A great teacher once told a story in his preaching about a man who for eight years besought God to show him a man who would make known to him the way of truth.  While he was in this state of anxiety there came a voice from God and spake to him:  "Go in front of the church, and there shalt thou find a man who will make known to thee the way of truth."

He went, and found a poor man whose feet were chapped and full of dirt, and all his clothes were hardly worth twopence-halfpenny.  He greeted this poor man and said to him, "God give thee a good morning."  The poor man answered, "I never had a bad morning."  The other said, "God give thee happiness. How answerest thou that?"  The poor man answered, "I was never unhappy."  The first then said, "God send thee blessedness. How answerest thou that?"  :I was never unblessed," was the answer.  Lastly the questioner said, "God give thee health!  Now enlighten me, for I cannot understand it."  And the poor man replied, "When thou saidst to me, may God give thee a good morning, I said I never had a bad morning. If I am hungry, I praise God for it; if I am cold, I praise God for it; if I am distressful and despised, I praise God for it; and that is why I never had a bad morning. When thou askedst God to give me happiness, I answered that I had never been unhappy; for what God gives or ordains for me, whether it be His love or suffering, sour or sweet, I take it all from God as being the best, and that is why I was never unhappy. Thou saidst further, May God make thee blessed, and I said, I was never unblessed, for I have given up my will so entirely to God's will, that what God wills, that I also will, and that is why I was never unblessed, because I willed alone God's will."

"Ah! dear fellow," replied the man; "but if God should will to throw thee into hell, what wouldst thou say then?"  He replied, "Throw me into hell! Then I would resist Him.  But even if He threw me into hell, I should still have two arms wherewith to embrace Him.  One arm is true humility, which I should place under Him, and with the arm of love I should embrace Him."  And he concluded, "I would rather be in hell and possess God, than in the kingdom of heaven without Him."

Ordinary Talents

I am not in the mood for time or treasure today (don't ask) so I decided to try something talent-y.  I thought, "Let me try one of those Spiritual Gift questionnaires."  That way I can cut to the chase on the talent stewardship goal, right?  The sooner I know my natural ability and capability, the sooner I can get to work and cross it off of my list.  Done and done.  Here we go.

Test #1:  Administration.  Yuck.

Test #2:  Administration.  Srsly?

Test #3:  Administration.  Now you're just messing with me.

Alright, maybe administration means something different 'spiritually'.  Let me take a look at the definitions...

"The special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to understand clearly the immediate and long-range goals of a particular unit of the body of Christ and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals....characterized by people who lead the body by steering others to remain on task... concerned with the details of how to accomplish tasks..."

Hmph. Let's try that again...

"The gift of administration is the God-given ability to give direction and make decisions on behalf of others that result in efficient operation and accomplishment of goals. Administration includes the ability to organize people, things, information, finances, etc. Often the mark of an administrator is the ability to accomplish things in a fitting and orderly way."

*sigh*  It sounds like work.   I was hoping for something more fun, like, oh, I don't know, "hospitality".  Or at least something more metaphysical, like "discerning of spirits."  At the very least something really cool and spiritual like "faith." 

And then there are the supporting scripture texts:

Discerning spirits?  Peter in the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  Exciting!

Faith?  The recounting of Abraham's faith in Romans.  Inspiring!!

Administration?   “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’"  Boring!!!

Well, it's just a quiz, right?  Maybe administration is my talent, and to the extent that it's useful to my church, awesome.  I'm blessed by whatever talent(s?) God has decided I can handle.  But I don't want to stop there. Maybe I have other gifts or talents to offer.  And maybe I don't have to know what they are right now.  I just need to try some stuff and see.  As long as I keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities, I'm sure I'll figure it out. 

But if you have any ideas, lemme know.

"Don't assume you have to be extraordinary to be used by God. You don't have to have exceptional gifts, talents, abilities, or connections. God specializes in using ordinary people whose limitations and weaknesses make them ideal showcases for His greatness and glory."  Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When I Grow Up

Today has been the kind of day that, for no apparent reason, I stop and think about what I want to be doing with my life.  Not in any kind of heavy, existential, angsty way, just more like wondering.  Could I, should I, be doing something else? Something more?  What's missing in my life's Venn?

This morning, I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the Philadelphia Presbytery.  As opposed to last month's meeting, this one was quite sedate - but still interesting.  During the meeting two candidates presented their Statement of Motivations, and another presented his Statement of Faith.  Now, I'm not saying I have any interest in becoming a member of the clergy, and, to be honest, I wasn't particularly inspired by the Statements.  But I did feel drawn to the world behind the speeches.  To be able to go back to school and learn something besides economics or industrial management.  To be an academe immersed in all things God.  To get credit for learning about my faith.  What a wonderful world that would be.  Sure I could do the reading on my own, but what's to show for it?  I know it sounds crazy, but I miss the lectures, the papers, the debates. Talk about sacred time in a sacred place...  Perhaps it will all have to go on my bucket list.

When I was in junior high, I thought I was going to be a zoologist.  In high school, an artist.  This evening, I'm watching a Chopped marathon on the Food Network, so now I want to be a cook.

By the morning, I'll probably want to be a pony.