Consumption v Contentment

Sunday 9/8/2013 7:12 AM

This is the first year in twenty-five years that Jaci has not worked outside the home.  She always worked part time so the income she generated was not enormous but it always helped to fill the gaps in our budget or to help pay for unexpected emergencies.  Now that we no longer have her check coming in I find that I become more concerned when I find that she has gone shopping and bought something that I had not been expecting.  She has always been a frugal shopper, buying things on sale or at a discount store, but now I find myself wondering if we will be able to live the way we lived before while continuing to give a significant portion of our income away.

These words from Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster, are good words for me to hear today.  “… Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes.  If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. … What we have is not the result of our labor, but of the gracious care of God.  When we are tempted to think that what we own is the result of our personal efforts, it takes only a little drought or a small accident to show us once again how radically dependent we are for everything.  To know that it is God’s business, and not ours, to care for what we have is the second inner attitude of simplicity.  God is able to protect what we possess.  We can trust him.  To have our goods available to others marks the third inner attitude of simplicity.  Martin Luther said somewhere, ‘If our goods are not available to the community they are stolen goods.’  The reason we find these words so difficult is our fear of the future…. But if we truly believe that God is who Jesus said he is, then we do not need to be afraid.”

After reading what I wrote in the first paragraph I noticed this phrase, “… if we will be able to live the way we lived before…”.  Perhaps if I were not so concerned with living like I did before this would not be such a big issue.  Hans Küng addresses this in his book On Being a Christian.  “… the Christian message can make something clear which is apparently not envisaged at all either in the economic theory or in the practical scale of values of the modern consumer- and efficiency-oriented society, but which perhaps could have a part to play: replacement of the compulsion to consume by freedom in regard to consumption.  In any case there is some point in not constructing one’s happiness on the basis of consumption and prosperity alone.  But in the light of Jesus Christ it also makes sense not to be always striving, not always to be trying to have everything; not to be governed by the laws of prestige and competition; not to take part in the cult of abundance; but even with children exercise the freedom to renounce consumption.  This is ‘poverty in spirit’ as inward freedom from possessions: contented unpretentiousness and confident unconcernedness as a basic attitude.”

I have always felt that I did a pretty good job of recognizing that it is God who provides for my needs by giving me my health, my abilities, my job, my work ethic, etc.    I think I really need to ask God to change my attitude toward consumption, to create in me an attitude of contentment.

Encouragement Instead of Criticism

Sunday 9/1/2013 7:56 AM

A couple of days ago one of my Facebook friends posted a status update something like this: If I died tomorrow what is one thing you would remember about me?  No one, including me, responded.  This person has struggled with mental health issues over the years and has few friends.  I have had lunch with the person on more than one occasion but our conversation has always been forced and awkward.  I wanted to respond to the post, stressing some positive quality that has been meaningful to me, but I had difficulty coming up with something that was not trite or insincere.  Why is it so easy for me to find and comment on the negative traits of a person and so difficult to do the same with the positive?  I often blame it on my vocation as a teacher, always looking for things that need correction, but I have a feeling it goes deeper than that.

Today I read an excerpt from the book With Open Heart by Michael Quoist that I find very convicting.  “R. has just told me that Bernard (a priest and a friend, a wonderful, remarkable, generous man of action who gave his all) has died, defeated by depression. … I am going to the funeral.  I had hesitated–why go?  For him?  I can pray for him right here.  For his family, friends, myself?  Perhaps.  However I know that I will be going to very little more than a show.  I can already hear the sudden concert of unanimous praise and the miraculous disappearance of all criticism and reservation.  Like all sensitive beings, Bernard wanted a bit of approval, a little encouragement.  But he would never have believed the amount of praise that’s going to be heaped on him now.  The tragic thing is that just a fraction of it could have perhaps saved him.  Despite all, I’m going to the interment.  I haven’t got the courage not to go.”  Quoist’s observations are similar to those I have made at memorial services and I wonder what it is that keeps me, and others like me, from extending compliments and expressions of gratitude to others for who they are and for how they have impacted our lives.  Am I so concerned about what others think of me that I am afraid to think about what I think of others?  Am I afraid that I might give a compliment to someone, expecting one in return, only to be disappointed when the compliment is not reciprocated?

What I really need is to find my worth and security in how God views me.  If I recognize and believe that God thinks enough of me to die for me then the need for approval from others should disappear and I will be free to dispense that same grace of God to others through my human voice.  Lord, give me a clearer vision of who I am, and who others are, in your eyes.

Dethatching

Sunday 8/25/2013 5:32 AM

This year my lawn frustrates me.  I have fertilized it regularly but watering has been somewhat irregular.  Lately I have been trying to be more consistent in watering but the lawn is not turning its normal lush green, it has dead, brown spots that never seem to green up.  Friday I finally lost patience with it and scalped it by mowing it with the lowest level on my mower.  It is now completely brown but I did notice there were a number of bugs that were dislodged from their homes in the process.  I think the thickness of the thatch was keeping the water from reaching the roots and also providing sanctuary for bugs that were keeping the lawn unhealthy.  I will see if this results in a healthier, lush green lawn.

My devotional theme this week has been meditation.  The writings for the week encourage me to take time to be quiet before God, to listen and to patiently wait to see what God will say.  This kind of patient listening is something that is difficult to do in our modern, fast-paced world.  However, sometimes I think I spend too much time reading my Bible and meditating without actually doing what it is that God is telling me.  There is a sense in which I am like my lawn, overgrown with a thatch of God-knowledge so deep that the pain of the world doesn’t penetrate to my heart.  Perhaps God needs to do some scalping, dislodging the sin that lies hidden deep within the façade I show the world so his love can penetrate my heart to make me more loving toward those who need to experience it the most.

Sins of Commission and Omission

Saturday 8/17/2013 7:56 AM

Here it is, Saturday, and this is the first time I have had my devotional time this week.  Jaci and I went on a short vacation and my Bible pretty much stayed in my backpack.  I turned to my new week in my devotional book to discover the theme for the week is time management.  This does not surprise me at all since it seems that whatever the topic for the week is it is always relevant to my life in some way.

My assigned reading for today includes James 4:13-17, a warning about boasting about the future plans I have.  James gives a stern reminder that I don’t know what will happen tomorrow so I should live in the present and speak of the future only when acknowledging the fact that it will come only if God wills it to be.  The section ends with verse 17, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”  The church tradition in which I grew up taught there were two types of sin, sins of commission and sins of omission, doing something I shouldn’t do and not doing something I should.  The teaching of the church stressed that both were bad but, when push came to shove, in practice, the sin of commission was viewed more severely than that of omission.

An action that I take is open for all to see so if I do something I shouldn’t the community of which I am a part is well aware of it.  However if I do nothing when prompted by God to do something, then God and I are the only ones who are aware.  It seems like I get off scot-free.  The Bible warns against hindering the Spirit’s work in my life.  I imagine a sin of omission might fit into that category.  If the Spirit of God prompts me to act and I fail to do so then I hinder the working of God in the world.  His kingdom will be established my some means but my disobedience to his call forces him to use other means.  I do not want to be a hindrance to God but there are times when I am.  Lord, give me the ears to hear your Spirit and the courage to obey.

Prayer and Forgiveness

Thursday 8/1/2013 6:01 AM

I did not listen to music this morning during my run.  Normally I do but this morning I decided to spend some time praying.  I prayed for the Verkaiks in Minnesota as they prepare for Ryan’s bone marrow transplant and for others that came to mind.  Praying for those in severe need, like the Verkaiks, comes easily and naturally.  The need is glaringly evident and my heart goes out to them as I pray.  Praying for those whose life seems to be moving along fairly well is somewhat more difficult and I find that I often pray for God to “bless” those people.  I have a vague sense of what I mean by bless but it lacks specificity and direction.  I fail to pray for those people I either dislike or who have hurt me.  I guess it is a passive aggressive way of hoping that God will give them what I consider to be their just desserts.

This morning I am convicted by the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together.  He writes, “A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses.  I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I prayer, no matter how much trouble he causes me.  His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner.  This is a happy discovery for the Christian who begins to pray for others.  There is no dislike, no personal tension, no estrangement that cannot be overcome by intercession as far as our side of it is concerned.”  I need to spend more time praying for people that I find troublesome.  God needs to change my heart and my attitude toward them.  Maybe my prayer can be the avenue he uses to accomplish that.