2015-09-01 Newsletter Message
Summer has flown by. School has begun. And I have been hearing from many of you about life balance – or maybe it’s lack thereof?
Do you remember that image of a calendar that I shared with you months ago? At the beginning of 2014, I think it was. My friend wrote a blog about a blank calendar – the same blank calendar that all of us have to fill. Every day is like a blank canvas, and we each choose how to use the minutes and hours available to us.
There is a gripping song entitled Seasons of Love in the Broadway musical, Rent, with a chorus that goes:
In the movie version, the song is sung by the whole company, and the scene that always comes to my mind is when Jesse Martin (whose character is “Roger,” a man diagnosed with AIDS/HIV) sings a solo verse, contemplating the woman he loves who is dying of AIDS. This song has been used as a kind of reflection on endings. My friend’s blog encourages us to consider those precious moments ahead of moments like that – to consider how we invest our time.
Is your time invested the way you want it to be? What are the things that are high on your list of values? Does time slip away and you suddenly realize that you have not invested your time in what you see as your calling? Have you realized that you haven’t been investing an adequate number of those precious minutes with family and others dear to you? Investing or just spending – to me there is a huge difference!
Psalm 90, verse 12 is a prayer – perhaps it’s not too dramatic to say an “urgent” prayer – asking God to Teach us to count our days. The Psalm begins with a declaration that The Lord has been our dwelling place for generations and then becomes a prayer asking that God have patience with us – God’s children who often forget God’s ways.
Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! (Eugene Peterson’s version in The Message)
Right now I am praying for all of us to live well. I am also praying that all of us will live in ways that will give us the deep satisfaction of knowing that we have
- served God and loved our families and those dear to us to the best of our ability,
- reached out in love to our neighbors, and
- continued to grow spiritually.
The next worship series begins on September 13, when we will spend 3 weeks focusing on the theology and history of John Wesley.
Blessings on you!
