Friday thoughts gone by

 I have had a great week. Like your week, mine has been filled with opportunities disguised as challenges and blessings disguised as troubles.

I have also had some of the most amazing memories at home and at work:
On Tuesday I took a walk up to the third floor and got a glimpse of the coming of fall. The color change of the leaves are so beautiful and offer such peace and refreshment.

Ava took Emma for a ride on Wednesday morning, pushing her around in her bouncer.  Imagine that one moment the two are laughing and playing in plain sight, you turn away and the next moment they are both gone! :).

On Thursday morning I was nearly able to get a picture of a majestic hawk perched outside the office on a car roof. As I fumbled for my phone he/she stretched out these beautiful wings and glided off into the woods. (Reason #100 why I want a new phone).  I also enjoyed the deer that came out to play at work also.

Perhaps the best part of Thursday was Ava giving herself a chocolate pudding facial at dinner time.
All in all, a very thankful week. The girls are well and doing well.   Cassarra has finished marching band with finals that took place on November 2nd in Irmo. Gabbi has advanced in gymnastics and finally is catching a glimpse of her enormous God given potential and gifts. Sydney is training for a 5k in Girls on the Run. Paige made it to high Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do. Ava and Emma are doing well. Ava is making history in the terrible 2's.  Emma is crawling and exploring more each day. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and seems so fascinated with touching them & eating.   These are just some thoughts from a Friday gone by...

A couple of amazing quotes

Today, I was listening to a wonderful talk on Ted.com.  The talk was given by Sarah Kay and the title given on the website was "Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter."  In the end of her talk she made reference to this moment.  I cannot recall the actual quote but she spoke about meeting you in this one moment and she mixed into that this idea of the impossible and your own uniqueness.  Please check out her presentation for the fullness of its power and see for yourself how it led me to this, my own moment and quote.

Coincidentally or providentially, prior to listening to this Ted talk I was just finishing up a reading on the Upper Room.  In this devotional the author, Roger C. Palms spoke about "Living in the Moment."  Mr. Palms used as a devotional the concept of living in the moment from the vantage of watching an aging father and a growing child.  The author described how an aging Father with dementia and a growing infant came together to share a moment.  It was a priceless moment that we can just picture with our eyes.  A child with his grandfather sharing ice cream and lucid memories of days gone by.  It was a priceless moment; it was a moment that only existed once!

 

From these two sources I'd like to share these thoughts:

We only have this one moment - once!

We will only have this one time where we are this age, with these thoughts, with these expectations, with this opportunity, with this set of skills and abilities, surrounded by these people or surrounded by no one at all.  Whatever our current circumstance, wishes, dreams or abilities the moment we are in only comes by this one time and then it is gone.  Once!  This moment, right now, is that moment.  In another space a new moment will come complete with new context, new ideas, new regrets or successes.  Which leads me to my second and bigger thought.

In this moment - do the impossible!  

In this moment, do the impossible!  Yes, you are right that sounds huge!  It is!  It should be!  It must be!  We must strive to do the impossible with every moment that we have.  Why?  Because we only have this moment once.  When else should we begin reaching for that impossible dream?  What other time is right for searching for the cure to cancer, AIDS, despair, ALS, Alzheimer, war and destruction, or widespread neglect and poverty?  What other time or moment is right for you to launch out into the deep end of your wonderful dreams to grab hold of the potential that you have and make it your slave to transform potential into reality?  When should you start down the path of making your future destiny, your current reality, and your current reality a footnote of other past accolades and acclaim?  If not in this moment, when?  The impossible for each of us sits out there waiting to be transformed into the possible.  Dance, poetry, science, archeology, mathematics, physics, and engineering feats all cry out in this moment to intertwine with you in such a way that their impossibility meets the one who will make it possible.  The one who will make the most of this moment!

In this moment, right now with your set of dreams, and your set of circumstances do the impossible.  Be the impossible!  Dare the impossible.  Is it a huge task.  Yes!  Yet, it is one that we must strive and seek to do each time we have this one moment. 
 

We waste too much time

Today it dawned on me.  We waste too much time.  No, I'm not talking about the waste that goes on when we get up and mill around in the mornings.  I'm not talking about wasting time, as when we sit like couch potatoes on the couch on Saturday and Sunday during football season.  Really, I'm not even bashing any of those activities.  No, I'm saying we actually wast too much time pursuing things and do things that have no real value and don't really matter.

We spend a lot of time working to be the best in a career that only lines someones pockets, but does nothing for the environment.  We spend time creating solutions to problems, without thinking about the fact that the solution and the problem are manufactured.  Or we churn night and day to solve problems in technology that are the direct result of a technologically induced problem.  We talk about solving issues with crops and food sources that were created by previous ideas for improving crop yields and farm land.  Seriously, as I reflect these are only even the tip, the very tip of the iceberg of our waste.  But even as black as these wastes are, that's not what I want to focus on.

Deeply, I think that we waste too much time hiding our gifts instead of using them wisely.  Sure, there are the rocket scientists, the astrophysicist, the computer wiz, the medical revolutionary, the refreshing throwback artist, the grand master performer and the talented athlete.  However, these few gifted people applying their gifts and talents are only a mere fraction of those who are gifted.  The whole world has been gifted.  However, much of the world keeps these gifts buried behind walls and walls of boredom and safety.  The difference between the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the IT multi-millionaire inventor and you is probably a lot less than you think.  In fact it might be the short distance between the words passion and lack of passion.  We waste too much timing filling our time with pursuits that we are not passionate about.  As a result our gifts, talents and in some cases our very lives are wasted. 

We all waste too much time pursuing the safety of 9 - 5, or careers that put 3 squares on the table and a nice four bedroom 3 bath roof over our heads.  We all waste too much time trying to blend in, without realizing that we were made to stand out.  We weren't made to look like the Jonesses or even keep up with them.  If anything, they should be trying to keep up with you.  You have a fire, a passion an interest that yearns to be set free and can only be quenched by the gifts God has given you.  

We waste our time.  We want to be careful, conservative and safe.  We don't want people to know that we love purple hair, crazy colored socks, cooking for others, and caring for seniors and children.  We take that corner office graphic artist gig, because mom said, "find something that pays the bills."  Meanwhile every time our eyes and hearts are set ablaze when we see that perfect sunset, that innocent child and that iconic moment that we'd love to capture - if only we weren't running off to the mundane meeting to sketch designs for the next ad campaign of 'Tasty Treats', or the next vision meeting for a dog that won't hunt!  

Now, I'm not saying everyone turn in the badge for some boots and a knapsack and start hitching the rail cars.  But, hear me out.  I am saying that someone should know that that it breaks your heart to see the homeless, that education means more to you than getting a degree, that you can create a video game with unlocking levels, but you can also write code that will one day unlock the mystery to defeating cancer.  

Really, we need to stop wasting so much time with pursuits that won't amount to a hill of beans and start pursuing something that will have eternal value and a legacy well beyond our days.  Start with being passionate about God, then ask him to help you find the thing in this world that he wants you to be passionate about until he returns.  And stop wasting your time.

P.S.  What do you think?

--- Cassius Rhue "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:28)

Thought for the week [09.15.2013]: And what did it cost God to become our Father? His only-begotten Son. The infinite delight of his infinite heart. Betrayed, beaten, scourged, mocked, spit on, nailed, stripped, and forsaken. How much our Father loves us!