Aware

I want to increase my awareness of God. To live as though He is present at all times. To think about Him regardless of what I am doing. To do everything with the perspective of doing it for Him. To truly have Jesus as my centre.

I want to fill my mind, my heart, my life with Christ.

Essentially, I want to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Work in Progress

I want things to work right. I want them to be right on the first try. I want it to be easy. I want it to be good and happy and perfect.

But it is not.

My shelves get dusty again. My clothes get unorganised again. My desk gets cluttered again. I waste time. I get frustrated. I fail.

I want to jump to the part where happily ever after happens, but I am in the middle of the story where things are messy and sometimes unpleasant and don't go right.

This is the place where learning happens. Where character is forged. Where progress is made. It might be slow, but when I look back I see the progress. There is much more to be accomplished, but there is progress.

I am a work in progress.

Success

On Sunday evening, I read a play by A.A. Milne [most notably known for writing Winnie the Pooh] called Success. I keep thinking about it.

The narrative questions the meaning of success by highlighting the life of a seemingly very successful man. R. Selby Mannock has it all: an excellent career, wealth, a handsome wife, daughters who have married well, power, fame, respect, and surely a future that will bring only more success.

But then Mannock encounters a childhood friend whose life contrasts sharply with his own. This second man doesn't have all the nice things: he doesn't have riches, fame, or power; he has to work hard for a living; his only son died in the war. He lives an ordinary life.

This childhood friend, however, has something Mannock does not. He does what he truly loves. He is married to the woman he truly loves. He sacrificed for the country he truly loves. He lives with satisfaction and he lives with the hope of heavenly reunions.

So who is successful? The man who pursued it and found "it closes in on you"? (p.61). Or the man who lived a hard life, but one full of love?

I don't want to live a life in which I find myself saying, "I've thrown them away--all the lovely things of life, all the precious things. I've thrown them away--for nothing" (p.61).

German Time

Because every time I see a clock tower, I think of my cousin.

Heidelberg

Friedrichshafen

Konstanz

Lindau

Neckarwestheim

[plus a few more]

Present, Past, and Future

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

I generally focus on what God has already done or look forward to what He is going to do. I forget that He is working right now.

God has done something in the past. We are instructed to remember these wondrous works (Psalm 105:5).

God is going to do something in the future. Because of this we have surety and hope (Proverbs 23:18).

God is also doing something in the present. He does something new right now (Isaiah 43:19).

At all times, God is at work -- past, future, and even at this moment.

I am to live with remembrance, with hope, and with the knowledge that now matters too.