I've pasted this picture with today's blog because it reminds me of how, walking through narrow streets, busy with commerce, sometimes (when you take the time to look up) there will be this impossible to miss reminder that there is more to this universe, a sense of "other" that transcends the mundane and the ordinary. This first photograph is from the medieval walled city of Lucca; later in the blog I've posted the Pantheon in Rome and then the church above the legendary Spanish Steps. All three pictures support the theme of the sacred emerging out of and beyond the architecture of secular values... - DEREKToday I'm thinking about the balance between getting my work done - the work that actually pays a little bit of money - and getting my work done - the more creative, exploratory, requires-several-consecutive-uninterrupted-days-to-get-off-the-ground kind of work.
The good news is that I enjoy all my writing projects. That means my commitment to complete a newspaper article on an Episcopalian Priest this morning is not wasted. It also means I'll get a lot out of working on a piece that focuses on care for children in crisis when I turn to it this afternoon. And I'm actually looking forward to scheduling another preacher interview for later this week as well as a visit to some churches developing "Community Gardens" in the Orlando area in the next couple of days.
It's all good... but at the same time I'm literally aching to begin my next book, and I know the project can't even begin to get off the ground until I dedicate a couple of consecutive, exclusive, concentrated weeks for outlining and getting the ball rolling.That's why the words from Psalm 46:10 are so helpful to me this morning. "Be still, and know that I am God." Be still... other translations substitute "cease striving", or the more active "pay attention!"
With so much going on in our lives to distract us from what is essential, from what really counts, from what it is that means anything at all in the final analysis... making the effort to deliberately realize and to understand what it means to know that God "actually is" makes a lot of sense, both in the spiritual sense and as regards simple mental health! God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
So this morning I'm spending a little extra "I AM" time, just to get this emerging day on the correct footing. It's slippery enough out there as it is.
Love and blessings - DEREK
1 comment:
I find I must make a conscious effort to keep Him in the front of my mind; to maintain a biblical world view, and prioritize accordingly. I suppose it means more if we must expend some effort to seek Him, but sometimes I wish it just come naturally! Thanks for another thoughtful post.
Daryl
Post a Comment