Only Time

I've heard the song 'Only Time' by Enya several times lately. She gives an inspirational list of questions not to worry about because only time can give the answer. 

Most of the answers are destined to be vague at best.

This one is a little more decisive.

Angels on a Bad Day

What's an angel's point of view when we're having a bad day? They are serving us ALL the time. Dare you to give some thought to what that means (let's just say privacy is not a barrier). By God's direction, they are powerful hands working "all things together for the better" for us on a daily basis (mind that context, Romans 8:28), but they do not see the future any better than we do. They do not share his omniscience, and this requires to them to have faith...a lot (especially for certain ones of us. You know who you are).

source

So without letting my imagination run too wild, I catch myself in a funk sometimes and I think, If there's an angel with me today, he must be thinking, "I really wonder what this assignment is about. I hope this pays off," in the most selfless and faithful way possible of course. It's like a superhero babysitter with an I.Q. of 1000 assigned to keeping a stubborn child out of the street. And for the demons they have to fight in the process, I'm sure they still recognize us as the biggest hazard to ourselves. I truly look forward to rejoicing with them some day at how we turned out in the end. But for now I see them in the position of working very hard for very delayed gratification. They see God face to face, so they have no uncertainty about how worthwhile their labor is, but they're still getting paid on back side of the job.

The least I can say is I'm very thankful for them. When scripture says we will judge angels, I imagine it to be the same sort of judgement that believers will face with God, mainly a rewarding of our works above and beyond the salvation we have by faith alone. When God gives me my spiritual pay day by His infinite grace (and I mean infinite), I'm going to turn to the angel(s) that saved my life (and my children's, and my wife's, and...) at least a dozen times and give him the most meaningful reward I can from what I've just received. Then we'll spend eternity laughing together about how crazy my first life was, and praising God that he got us both through it.

It's just me thinking, so take it with a grain of salt. To the Kingdom.

Worth It's weight in Gold

We never make idols out of cheap stuff. If they don't soak our money, they soak our time. Mine soaked my floor after it soaked my money and my time. They hold our hopes and dreams. Mine held 240 gallons of water (for four days). We pour ourselves into them. I just climbed into mine, and smiled like we always do when it still has that new idol smell. It had a much different smell when I was trying to clean up the mess it made. I just got rid of the last piece of it today. Time to be obedient and redirect the time and resources I spent on this to the things God has already given me to do instead. Apparently He's not in the mood to compete with a fish tank for my attention right now.

Our Way

The result of our way. If we spend enough time and effort trying to alter the course of (His) nature, we are destined to be overwhelmed by it. We are better off to surrender what belongs to the flames when they naturally come.

Do I Really

Do I believe what I say of where I’m going?

Do I rejoice in the pain of getting old?

Do I long to meet the One who’s gone before me?

Do I cherish what I suffer on His road?

Do I really hope to from this flesh be parted?

Do I fear of missing out on earthly things?

Do I trust the everlasting work he's started,

Enough to live like death has lost its sting?

As time accelerates me towards my Maker,

As my youthful dreams outlast the time they’re given,

As creation will return to its Creator,

Lord, lead my heart to love my earthly end.

Take It Personal

No matter how carefully it's done, getting your hair cut with a lawnmower is a bad idea. Somehow we convinced ourselves it was just a haircut. That's OK. We'll blame it on the salesman. He'll sell us the upgrade next week.

Yep

It's surprising what you face when you set out to write. Not just to pen words and thoughts like this, but to produce something meaningful to others and interesting to yourself as well. creativity is something you have to work very hard at to make it relevant. You learn that what you set your mind on at the beginning of the day is very difficult to change along the way. Creativity can be a problem in the wrong setting too. It's hard to turn off once you've made a habit of it...I could never control it very well anyway. A room full of people who are serious about the purpose of their meeting will most likely not appreciate the wanderings of your mind if you speak your thoughts as they came to you, prompted by their own talk or by nothing at all that's present in the room. I've done this (and still do this) often. I'm amused at how a whole room full of talkative people can suddenly become awkwardly silent when someone makes the right (wrong) comment. It's more enjoyable still when the person is unfazed at the at the fallout.
For example: Pre-meeting small talk
Person 1 - "I wish they would close the forest sooner when it's this dry. Some idiot's going to start a fire and ruin it for the rest of us."
Person 2 - "Yeah! They aught to do a better job of keeping the wrong people out of there too. There are too many idiots in there already."
Group - "Yeah. Yeah. We all agree. Stricter rules. better enforcement. Yeah."
Person 3 - "I wish they would let it burn and leave it open"
Group - "Uhhh...........................................................".
Awkward stares while everybody tries to figure out if he's serious... He stares back. He is serious. Awkward silence while everyone comes to terms with the fact that he's serious.
Group Leader - "Ok? The reason I called this meeting is to..."

For some, creativity is a nearly involuntary point of view that differs from the norm on nearly everything. Yes please.

How does this thing work anyway?