Wednesday, November 24, 2010
My Feet Are Strong
One night while camping, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I saw the words "My Feet Are Strong" craved into the wall of a bathroom in Yosemite Valley. I am not sure what they actually mean, but to me it was slightly inspiring. Inspiring might be taking it a little too far, one might be thinking, it is just writing on the walls. But for me, as I looked at it, I could not help to think about what I was going to be doing the next day. Summiting a peak at 8,000ish feet on a hike that would be a total of 17 miles. It would be a long day. I thought about the last summit I did, and the failure of it. Its not that I did not make it, its that I left my mind behind. I was mentally not strong enough and was in a sour mood the entire time. (Sour is a nice way to put it) My feet were strong enough to carry me to the top but my mind was lagging behind me, struggling to keep up. I think that is why we are "strong in the power of His might." Because our might can get us to the top, or in some cases, almost to the top, but we dont thrive when we make it. We seem to be falling apart gasping for air and rest at the top. But in His might, we continue on with and are able to thrive to our end goal/position, its not my power but his. My feet are strong, but can only do so much.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Celebrating Life
Today I was snowed in. I was unable to leave my campus unless i walked through the snow somewhere. Unfortunately, there are not many places within walking distance. So I stayed on campus. Today is Sunday, and I go to church on Sundays. So as you probably put together, I could not go to church. My RD decided to have our own little church service in one of our community rooms. after a few fun songs of praise, my RD gave a small sermon. It was the idea that we don't always seem to celebrate life. It was interesting because I began to think about that, and I would have to say that we do not always celebrate our lives. Jesus did. He was at so many parties that people began to ask him why he ate and drank so much! He was celebrating. He loved life. He rose two children from the dead that the may enjoy their lives. My RD talked about enjoying life, and that children seem to know how to celebrate life. Jesus said we are supposed to be child like when it comes to our faith, could that mean also that we should enjoy ourselves? After a short moment of speaking, my RD said that we are going to celebrate life today and go play like children in the snow. There were smiles on everyone's faces. In our play time we played together as a community and celebrated life together. It was one of the best church services I have ever been to. And deeply spiritual, whether some people realized it or not.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
10 Commandments - Honoring the daddy and mommy
In some recent studies I have been going through the 10 commandments. I have been thinking about their significance, how they were received by the people, why they are separated from the rest of the commandments and laws that God gives to Moses. I've thought of whether there is a difference that they are called commandments rather than laws? (maybe that a law is something you can break and have consequences for such actions and a commandment is something that is simply done without question)So I have decided to further my studies and talk about what I have learned and found about these commandments.
Lets get the cliche`s out of the way first. The Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets according Deuteronomy 5, but not in the way we probably think. It was most likely to be written out fully with all the explanations and rewards that came with certain commands. They were not written five on one tablet and 5 on the other split perfectly evenly. It is actually thought to possibly have been written on a stone tablet that is similar to a cylinder that one would roll over to continue reading; that is interesting.
For this post, I am going to skip a middle commandment and talk about the fifth commandment, Honoring the father and the mother. This commandment actually has reasoning behind it. "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (Deut. 5:16) God says to do it in order for you to have long days. That sounds pretty good, I know that some times there does not seem to be enough time in the day to get all I need to get done done. But what I want to go about is the idea of how people teach this commandment. Whenever people read this verse they always seem to relate it to children, that children need to respect their parents, do what they say without questioning, meaning to eat their vegetables and clean their rooms without complaining. But if one would take time to think about the situation of who the commandments were being told to, we might not think of this commandment as for children. When Moses was telling the children of Israel, he was speaking to the adults, not specifically the children. He was not speaking to the 18 and under group and say this one is for you from God, he just said it to everyone. Now what does this commandment mean to those who are living out of their house with families of their own? How are they supposed to Honor their fathers and mothers when they could be living across the state, country, or world? I think it means that there was a specific message that was going out to the people. A message of that was saying that parents are the ones that teach you what you know, they have the connection with God and lead you to that connection as well. I think also that Frederick Buechner has the idea when he says it does not even matter if you consider your parents to be "good," but to honor them because they gave you life when they did not have to. They might not deserve honor, or do anything honorable, but it commanded that we do so. If it is for nothing but an example for others that elders need to be honored, because their life paved a way for you to live. Or an example for the next generation or more specifically your children that they should treat you when reaching a older age with honor because that is what you showed them to do with your own parents. How do we honor? Well, to honor means to hold in high respect, to think highly of, to accept as valid and to confirm the request and demands of. That is a simple example of honoring, and not even I can say that I am completely honoring to any person really.
Honoring your father and mother has its benefits as the scripture clearly states being long days which are fulfilled in the land which God is giving you (I believe that the latter part "land God is giving you" is specific to the Israelites because he was moving them literally to land he was giving them, for modern people like ourselves, we can assume in our land, which is given by God anyways...). The thing is you have to honor first; you have to set the example of honoring for those around you, those under you and all you have never seen such honoring. God says to honor not for the benefit of the parents who receive the honor, but for those who give it. Maybe the father and mother are the ones who should be doing more honoring, so the children have an example.
Lets get the cliche`s out of the way first. The Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets according Deuteronomy 5, but not in the way we probably think. It was most likely to be written out fully with all the explanations and rewards that came with certain commands. They were not written five on one tablet and 5 on the other split perfectly evenly. It is actually thought to possibly have been written on a stone tablet that is similar to a cylinder that one would roll over to continue reading; that is interesting.
For this post, I am going to skip a middle commandment and talk about the fifth commandment, Honoring the father and the mother. This commandment actually has reasoning behind it. "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (Deut. 5:16) God says to do it in order for you to have long days. That sounds pretty good, I know that some times there does not seem to be enough time in the day to get all I need to get done done. But what I want to go about is the idea of how people teach this commandment. Whenever people read this verse they always seem to relate it to children, that children need to respect their parents, do what they say without questioning, meaning to eat their vegetables and clean their rooms without complaining. But if one would take time to think about the situation of who the commandments were being told to, we might not think of this commandment as for children. When Moses was telling the children of Israel, he was speaking to the adults, not specifically the children. He was not speaking to the 18 and under group and say this one is for you from God, he just said it to everyone. Now what does this commandment mean to those who are living out of their house with families of their own? How are they supposed to Honor their fathers and mothers when they could be living across the state, country, or world? I think it means that there was a specific message that was going out to the people. A message of that was saying that parents are the ones that teach you what you know, they have the connection with God and lead you to that connection as well. I think also that Frederick Buechner has the idea when he says it does not even matter if you consider your parents to be "good," but to honor them because they gave you life when they did not have to. They might not deserve honor, or do anything honorable, but it commanded that we do so. If it is for nothing but an example for others that elders need to be honored, because their life paved a way for you to live. Or an example for the next generation or more specifically your children that they should treat you when reaching a older age with honor because that is what you showed them to do with your own parents. How do we honor? Well, to honor means to hold in high respect, to think highly of, to accept as valid and to confirm the request and demands of. That is a simple example of honoring, and not even I can say that I am completely honoring to any person really.
Honoring your father and mother has its benefits as the scripture clearly states being long days which are fulfilled in the land which God is giving you (I believe that the latter part "land God is giving you" is specific to the Israelites because he was moving them literally to land he was giving them, for modern people like ourselves, we can assume in our land, which is given by God anyways...). The thing is you have to honor first; you have to set the example of honoring for those around you, those under you and all you have never seen such honoring. God says to honor not for the benefit of the parents who receive the honor, but for those who give it. Maybe the father and mother are the ones who should be doing more honoring, so the children have an example.
Monday, November 1, 2010
What To Enjoy
I enjoy sitting reading a good book with some tea or coffee or sitting in the same room with a few of my good friends simply enjoying one another's company. I enjoy conversations that lead to deeper friendships or a change in a person's life or a challenge for my own life. I enjoy good food for dinner and playing an exciting game of Volley Pong after. I enjoy playing my guitar (named Ms. Abby) in my room, or lulling someone to sleep at night.
(I almost feel as though this introduction should be placed on a list of things I enjoy on eHarmony or another dating site...)
There are many things that I enjoy. I've been thinking lately about what I enjoy and do not enjoy. Its mostly the difference between work and play. I was reading about a man long ago who search in everything for joy. He wrote about his experiences, you can think of this as a sort of documentary about his endeavors or a memoir, I like to say he was blogging about his experiences before blogging even existed; the first blogger!. It is called Ecclesiastes if you are interested in reading it. The man's name was Solomon, (its pronounced Shlomo in the Hebrew language; slightly humorous) he was the king of the Israelites, who has been said to have more wisdom than any man before him and any that came after him. He inherited a kingdom at the peak of its existence from his father David. With his power as king, he sought to please himself. In his memoir, the two words that he write the most (or forms of it) are vanity and joy. I find it interesting that a man who is out seeking his own desires speaks so much vanity over what he did. There was much that he enjoyed, but it still was not completely pleasing. Sure he admits to enjoying a lot of it, but he still calls all of it vanity.
Despite all the vanity he did find good in his search for joy and pleasure. Solomon says over five times in his book, which for a book so short is like he is a train blowing his horn on and on again, a certain phrase that he considered good and enjoyable. "A man can do nothing better than eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This is a gift from God." This phrase is said over and over again accompanied with different ideas like: God allows those who please him to enjoy their toil, and those who do not please him are not allowed to enjoy it; God wants us to enjoy what we are doing so we do not worry about the future or complain about what may happen. Perhaps you are now finding this interesting too. Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, who spent his time seeking to please his desires, says there is nothing better to do than eat, drink and enjoy work? Do I enjoy my work? Maybe he meant that we should enjoy the fruit of our labor? (the PAYCHECK!) Either way it says that this joy we get is a gift from God...odd...because when God banished man from the Garden of Eden, he said he would be cursed by having to toil/work with the ground. Yet we are supposed to get joy out this curse? Somehow this curse has become a gift. I feel like this should be an idea from the New Testament, but its found in Ecclesiastes a book that may have been the first written in the Old Testament. It is sort of an odd concept though, that the gift from God is that we are able to find enjoyment in this curse. Maybe thats why its a gift? Maybe God knows that is exactly what we need in our lives, something that we enjoy. Work takes up most of our time, it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea to start enjoying it.
(I almost feel as though this introduction should be placed on a list of things I enjoy on eHarmony or another dating site...)
There are many things that I enjoy. I've been thinking lately about what I enjoy and do not enjoy. Its mostly the difference between work and play. I was reading about a man long ago who search in everything for joy. He wrote about his experiences, you can think of this as a sort of documentary about his endeavors or a memoir, I like to say he was blogging about his experiences before blogging even existed; the first blogger!. It is called Ecclesiastes if you are interested in reading it. The man's name was Solomon, (its pronounced Shlomo in the Hebrew language; slightly humorous) he was the king of the Israelites, who has been said to have more wisdom than any man before him and any that came after him. He inherited a kingdom at the peak of its existence from his father David. With his power as king, he sought to please himself. In his memoir, the two words that he write the most (or forms of it) are vanity and joy. I find it interesting that a man who is out seeking his own desires speaks so much vanity over what he did. There was much that he enjoyed, but it still was not completely pleasing. Sure he admits to enjoying a lot of it, but he still calls all of it vanity.
Despite all the vanity he did find good in his search for joy and pleasure. Solomon says over five times in his book, which for a book so short is like he is a train blowing his horn on and on again, a certain phrase that he considered good and enjoyable. "A man can do nothing better than eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This is a gift from God." This phrase is said over and over again accompanied with different ideas like: God allows those who please him to enjoy their toil, and those who do not please him are not allowed to enjoy it; God wants us to enjoy what we are doing so we do not worry about the future or complain about what may happen. Perhaps you are now finding this interesting too. Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, who spent his time seeking to please his desires, says there is nothing better to do than eat, drink and enjoy work? Do I enjoy my work? Maybe he meant that we should enjoy the fruit of our labor? (the PAYCHECK!) Either way it says that this joy we get is a gift from God...odd...because when God banished man from the Garden of Eden, he said he would be cursed by having to toil/work with the ground. Yet we are supposed to get joy out this curse? Somehow this curse has become a gift. I feel like this should be an idea from the New Testament, but its found in Ecclesiastes a book that may have been the first written in the Old Testament. It is sort of an odd concept though, that the gift from God is that we are able to find enjoyment in this curse. Maybe thats why its a gift? Maybe God knows that is exactly what we need in our lives, something that we enjoy. Work takes up most of our time, it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea to start enjoying it.
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