Life is good. In a few hours we're heading out the door to spend a few days in Big Bear. Mackenzie was up at 6 o'clock this morning and ready to go. It will be fun to experience a change of pace and enjoy the beauty of our local mountains. I'm also on a new exercise program. In this season of more sweets and fattening foods, I'm feeling great (in spite of all the fudge and chocolate I've eaten).
I picked up another new book yesterday, Strengthening the Soul for Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton. Whoa. Great book for the start of 2010. She writes about the way God formed Moses for the task of leadership. You might be thinking, "Hey Steve, you're no Moses." I know. But it appears that God can use anyone God chooses.
In my own life, I often wonder about how to find the balance between action and contemplation. I tend to favor the action side because I want to do something in this world. But there is always the need to tend to something much deeper. Sometimes my actions are more a reflection of my own frantic worries or fears. So where does prayer fit into it all? In relation to the practice of spiritual disciplines Ruth writes, "The key to the efficacy of rhythms is to understand that either one without the other would be less than adequate. If we pray and never do anything, God's will will never actually be done. If we keep doing things but shun stillness and prayer, chances are our actions will be less than what is really needed. It is the rhythm of silence and action that makes it good." (125-126). I really appreciate her insight. She also includes good exercises at the end of each chapter and a number of prayers written by Ted Loder. Here's one I really like:
"O God,
let something essential and joyful happen in me now,
something like the blooming of hope and faith,
like a grateful heart,
like a surge of awareness
of how precious each moment is,
that now, not next time,
now is the occasion
to take off my shoes,
to see every bush afire,
to lead and whirl with neighbor,
to gulp the air as sweet wine
until I've drunk enough
to dare to speak the tender word:
"Thank you";
"I love you";
"You're beautiful";
"Let's live forever beginning now";
And "I'm a fool for Christ's sake."
(71)
