A view to the Ceiling

I am looking for a clever way to tell an otherwise pedestrian tale. This weekend, (July 27-9, 2007) I took my brother to Williamsport, PA to help install a drop ceiling in a rental house Karen and I own. I had already done the same job in the other half of the double house (like a REALLY big house split down the middle) back when it was our residence. So I knew exactly what we had to do.

What we found is that it is not at all the same. To such an extent that the job that took me 10 hours by myself on the otherside took closer to 16 hours with my brother and a friend! But the result is wonderful, the lady that lives there is happy and my 'to-do' list is one item shorter. So if this is really an unmitigated success, why did I set it up so you'd read it like a failure or a quagmire?

I think it comes down to this: We have to be careful where we stand and who we listen to when we survey our lives (and others). If a surveyor stands in a valley, it appears from his data that everything around him is TALL. He is also prone to miss many details that he cannot see from his low angle. Conversely, if he surveys from a mountaintop, besides needing a very long plumb bob or story pole, his data will indicate that everything around him is very small. Here, too, he will be hard pressed to detect smooth undulations because of his view from above the horizon.

It is only when I am carefully being circumspect that my appraisal of self or others is reasonably accurate. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 5:15: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

I cannot think of an easier way to make a fool of myself than to speak more highly of myself than I ought. But my character and judgement is equally questionable if I denegrate myself in an unbalanced way. My friend Mike and my brother Steve were often called on to check if the ceiling was level to their eye because I was often too close. Likewise, I have often been spared heartache or disaster because I had someone challenge my myopia (and I have lived a few disasters because I didn't or because I didn't listen)

I just realized that these two thoughts tie back together here: you want to have circumspect people in your life giving you input. I don't really desire advice from Betty Better than You or Wally Woe is Me. Besides, there's something comforting about hearing from a peer you respect even if what they're saying isn't rosy... I know it's true.

Thanks for reading. You are a treasure!

ksk<><

first step

The old Chinese proverb says that the first part of a long journey is the first step. And this is mine. I have never blogged before, but have been reading my dear friends Brent and Emancipation's blogs at www.lefttowrite.net and http://provokedthinking.blogspot.com/and am really inspired both by their transparency and by the encouragement I have gotten from all that they've done there.

Perhaps a bit of introduction would be good, So would some pictures and stuff, but I don't really have time for that now. I really want to post a thought that's been rolling around inside my head:

Yesterday I read the following from Amos chapter 5 verses 21-24 and it would like to have jumped off the page and smacked me in the face:

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice peace (or fellowship) offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream."

I often wonder what God thinks of the worship I see and hear. I really wonder what He thinks of my worship and I guess in my heart of hearts I fear that this is exactly how He feels. So I re read the chapter to try to ferret out WHY God said this. The chapter title in my Bible (although NOT Divinely inspired) is "A Lament and Call to Repentance" and here's the pivotal verse to me: "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is" (emphasis mine)

Over and over again, Scripture tells us, in essence:
It is not about what it looks like
It is not about how impressed others are
It is not about how impressed you are
It IS about your heart.

Now my sister Faith will jump in and remind me (rightly) that although it is true, a right heart will not be without right actions like preparation for worship, modest appearance, humility etc. But it starts in the heart.

OK, so how do I straighten out my selfish (and a myriad of other issues) heart? Obey what I already know. God doesn't hold me to an impossible standard. Sure he says, "Be Holy because I am Holy" but the outworking of that is simply to obey what you know right now. It reminds me of a Chinese Proverb.

the First part of a long journey is the first step. Will you step with me?