Mortality and Eternity
Mortality motivates and eternity influences. These two things motivated and influenced Puritan leader Richard Baxter, who is credited with saying, “The face of death, and nearness of eternity, did much to convince me what books to read, what studies to prefer and prosecute, what company and conversation to choose. It drove me early into the vineyard of the Lord, and taught me to preach as a dying man to dying men.” Baxter’s mortality made him discriminating as to how to use his time. When we look at the Scriptures, it’s clear that they influenced his understanding.
Homes And Other Treasures
Recently I decided to renovate the living room of our old terrace house. I painted the ceiling and replaced the ugly and dated lights. I took down the faded curtains and put up roller blinds. I spent hours on the walls—sanding off flaking paint, filling the many dents and holes, resanding, then applying multiple coats of new paint. A cement slab in the corner was removed and new tiles were laid. The fireplace also needed to be replaced. Finally, I sanded back the skirting boards and repainted them with gloss. It was hard work, but I felt proud of the changes I saw each day.
no regrets
Sociologists at one university recently completed a study on regret. In it, they examined whether people felt more regret over what they had done or what they had failed to do. The researchers found that people’s regrets over their actions or inactions were roughly even when asked about the past week. Nearly the same number said, “I wish I hadn’t done that” as those who said “I wish I had done that.” But when asked to consider their life’s largest regrets, the vast majority said they were more troubled about missed opportunities. As John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’ ”
smelling good
Quite a number of my friends wear fragrances. But before long, the fragrance wears off and they have to spray on more to continue to smell good!
tough times ahead
You’ve sent out countless resumes. Yet employment still seems elusive. You’ve led a healthy lifestyle. Yet the cancer marker is abnormally high. You’ve tried to be a good parent. Yet your child is choosing not to follow God. The list goes on.
the only thing
My elderly friend called me to ask if I would come over and pray with his wife who he thought might not survive the night. It was a sacred privilege to kneel beside her bed.
every breath you take
I had never given much thought to the value of a single breath until I encountered 2-week-old Nicole in an orphanage in East Africa. The tiny infant, who fit in the palm of my hand, was born prematurely, abandoned by her mother in the hospital delivery room, afflicted with meningitis, and plagued with painful bedsores that reached to her frail hipbones.
not fair?
Today was a bit surreal as I sat with a friend in the doctor’s office, awaiting the results of her biopsy. You can talk about family plans, discuss the weather, and ask how the day went. But when it’s all said and done, all you really want to know is the truth.
withering grass, fading flowers
Elton Trueblood, noted Quaker author, educator, philosopher, theologian, former chaplain both to Harvard and Stanford Universities, and advisor to US Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, wrote 33 books, including the provocative The Predicament of Modern Man (1944). In this book, Trueblood warned of the dangers of a “cut-flower civilization.” He wrote, “Beautiful as cut flowers may be . . . they…
transience
When Sinclair Lewis, Nobel Prize winner for Literature, died and was cremated in 1951, his ashes were sent to Rome’s American embassy for disposal. One morning a visitor noticed a worker on her knees with a dustpan and broom. Next to her was an overturned urn. When asked what she was doing, she replied nonchalantly, “Sweeping up Sinclair Lewis.” What…
death-defining moments
You guys, line up alphabetically by height.” Huh? “We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees.” What?
These are two of many other bizarre quotes I came across recently.
Solomon said some pretty odd and outlandish things too. For instance, he wrote: “The day you die is better than the day you are born” (Ecclesiastes 7:1). “Better to spend…
a blink of time
In a blink of time, measured against eternity, our life on earth takes many twists and turns. We laugh, we cry, we have successes, and we have failures. Our hearts are broken, our spirits soar to the mountaintops, and we are blessed and sometimes even cursed. Yet we think our lives here will never end. Sometimes we’re so burdened and…
love like i'm leavin'
Autumn is a constant reminder that “change” is the only constant. What today might be green, tomorrow begins its change to yellow, possibly light gold, eventually turning darker and darker to the rich hues of oranges, red, and brown. So, too, in our lives, we are never promised more than the next breath, the next heartbeat.
The psalmist David writes in…
memento mori
Memento mori, a Latin phrase, is translated, “Remember you are mortal.” Historians believe the phrase was used in Rome when Julius Caesar returned after many years of fighting abroad. As the cavalcades of victory and the general himself paraded through the streets, a slave was behind Caesar repeating the words “Memento mori.” These words were a reminder to Caesar that his…
is it worth it?
Lou Gehrig may not have died from Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Hall of Fame pro baseball player is the namesake for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neurological disease that slowly paralyzes its victims and ultimately leads to death. New research reveals that Gehrig may not have had ALS, but exhibited similar symptoms due to blows to his head.
Gehrig…
