Being awake is more than a condition, it is a command for living.
So, I am musing over it "acroymically."
A=ATTENTION - I've heard this as a command as you have. It usually sounds like a short "a" with a dramatic "TEN," followed by a profound "HUT!" It means, "Come to a state of attention mentally, spiritually, and physically." Only then do we begin to awaken.
W=WATCH - Sometimes awakening just means watching for what is next. We awaken with a sense of wonder and "not knowing" about the day. This morning, I woke up and spent some time in a morning "watch" as I considered the day, prayed, and meditated.
A=ADJUSTMENTS - We begin to adjust our thinking, schedules, and even muscles (translation - STRETCH) as we prepare to be awake for a day of opportunity and productivity.
K=KNOWLEDGE - We need it. We need more of it. We need to gather it, assimilate it, and use it. If we are truly awake, we will be growing in knowledge. If we grow in knowledge, it will help to keep us awake. It is a cycle.
E=Energize. Do it. Drink your green tea; read your bible; pray; listen to some news; pray some more (The news will do that for you); eat a healthy breakfast; exercise; keep praying; work on your to-do list; pray some more (Do you see a pattern here?). Get energized for the day and then, start spending it.
TIME - Today is certainly a matter of timing. It is now, the time you are in, the only time you can be sure you have. Use it or abuse it; it is what it is.
OPPORUNITY - There are opportunities today that did not exist yesterday and may not exist tomorrow. Will you embrace them or let them pass? What will you do about them? We are well into today. Decisions must be made. Make them now and follow through.
DEFINITION - TODAY is easily defined. Everyone knows what it is. It needs no explanation. If I say I will do something today, it means before midnight. Tomorrow is another matter. What will you do today? It is a matter of integrity to DO what you say you will do within this well defined moment in time.
ACTION - Attitudes drive actions, but actions reveal our real attitudes. Now is the time to decide on a course of action that will drive you to the next level of movement toward your objectives.
YES! Say , no shout YES to your hopes, dreams, and challenges today. Embrace today and squeeze every ounce of life out of it that there is. Then rest tonight and rise for a new day tomorrow!
"'Tut, tut child,'" said the Duchess. 'Everythings got a moral if only you can find it.'" Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Everything.
We are not all stuck in a Carollian Wonderland.
Or are we?
We are all observers of the stories of others as they intersect with and pass by our own.
There are thousands of stories within our reach and somehow, one big story comprised of layers and strands of weaving themes.
History.
And everything has a moral ...
IF you can find it.
Today, as I live, part of and outside of the hectic hubbub of harried, hurried masses, I am looking for the moral of the story.
I want to hear the music and sing along.
I am searching for the meaning, anchored to the greater meaning thaqt anchors me, I want to hear the Message.
I do not believe that the Author and Composer orchestrates every event; He invites us to participate as co-authors in that process. However, I do believe He orchestrates the symphony of meaning that emerges from the dissonance of our bleating attempts to find the right notes and join the rhythmic pulse of the ensemble.
He makes it beautiful and weaves it into the eternal story that we might find the moral of the most mudane.
If I can find it!
I shall consult my composer/conductor who, like every conductor for whom I have ever sung, keeps reminding me not to keep my nose buried in the score with these words, often shouted ...
A "tude" is condition, state, or quality according to the dictionary definition of the suffix.
Our problem is not with the suffixes of our lives. We may not be able to fix them, but we can certainly pre-fix them and thus, redefine and reorient them into something positive and productive.
If you are interested in the vartieties of tudes one might exude, brood over this list.
A sample would include: aptitude, attitude, and altitude, three of my favorites (which make a nice speech or sermon).
One would also be imbued with: magnitude, quietude, vicissitude, and terpitude.
But today, I propose a servitude to gratitude, that one tude that colors our view of our world and informs our thinking about most everything.
Gratitude lifts us as it lifts others out of chance and circumstance and into a higher place of purpose and grace.
We are a people blessed by God. Let us live, not in our conditions, but let us condition ourselves by cultivating the state and quality of thankfulness in every circumstance. Let us prefix that tude to every thought, word, and deed.
Vastness ... Heavens declaring the glory of God .... Wonder ... Magnificence ... Mind boggling awe ... Playful grace ... Awesome power ... I'm glad to live here too ... wherever we are ... centered in His love!
"To climb steep hills ... requires slow pace at first." - Shakespeare
The bard was right. Climbing is difficult and arduous, but it is the only way up.
Whether we climb quickly or slowly, it is a process. As Jonathan rallied his armor bearer to climb the mountain and to take on the Philistines, so we have hazardous climbs ahead of us. It is good to know when to climb and how to climb.
Just thinking about climbing and recalling both painful and exhilarating moments in the process, I wondered if an acronym might emerge.
C - Constant clarity and consciousneess of a calling to a higher purpose and the courage to complete the journey - These are the "c"s that seize us for the climb. Perhaps CLARITY and COURAGE are the key "c"s. We must know where we are going and be willing to pay the price to get there. This is where we start and is where we mist stay connected.
L - We need to be liberated from all that holds us down. The liberty to pursue our dreams is vital to our ability to climb higher. We have to loosen our loads and lose our unnecessary burdens before we are free to climb. Assess what is necessary and what is adjunct. Lose the adjunct baggage and lighten yourself for the journey.
I - We must be inspired. Inspiration is as necessary as respiration. It means "spirit within." We must breath in life and breath out all that is not life. God is the ultimate source of our inspiration because it is He who first breathed into us the breath (wind, spirit) of life when we became living souls or persons. Hope inspires. Feed your mind, heart, and spirit constantly with ideas and spiritual food that inspires because after the I comes the M:
M - Mundane monotony is in your future if you choose to climb higher. That is hard because climbers are ofter people whose minds are very busy and whose hearts gravitate toward fresh ideas and new challenges. A commitment to persevere through the boredom of putting one foot in front of the other will move us closer to our goals. Monotony is, sadly, a key word. There will be much adventure, variety, creativity, and room for self-expression along the climb, but there will also be some sheer drudgery. Endure it and keep climbing.
B - Be encouraged to be the best at climbing. Be busy. Be bold. Be brazen without being rude or cruel. Some will always think you to be out-of-line and audacious when you openly attempt great things. Ignore the criticism and opinions of others when that drag you down and BE who you are and who God has called you to be. Get used to the fact that you will be thought odd and worse. You have been fashioned for a purpose. Be willing to invent your own life with God's guidance and to live it.
C = Clarity & Courage; L= Liberty; I = Inspiration; M = Monotony; B = Be
Death is natural. Some things should die. All things shall die. But that which dreams is still alive. If there is even a flicker of a dream, fan it to a flame. As long as you are dreaming, you are living. As long as you are living, keep moving. The Dream Giver is prompting you, step by step, to move in a direction that will surprise and delight. Never stop. When it is time to die, the Dream Giver will let you know and take you by the hand to lead you to the that which is next - the Dream that never dies.
Given the fact that not all people have the exact same political convictions (not even all solid Evangelical Christians), that our country is more important than our individual views, and that we have been through a nasty, hostile, and polarizing political season, I have a suggestion and request. Let's give it a rest.
Relationships are more crucial to building national well being than legislation. Legislation itself, depends on cooperation. Good will is more characteristic of the American experience and aspiration than pervasive bigotry and mistrust. People are willing to bend toward opposing ideas when respected and heard.
All these factors are ample reasons to give the infighting, backbiting, inciting, igniting, and left-righting a much needed rest. Rest from the insults, innuendos, accusations, assumptions, generalizations, characterizations, manipulations, politicization, polarizations, and pious pronouncements along with dire predictions and victory marches. Just rest.
Rest is good. Regroup, rethink, retool, and reflect.
Your opponent's motives are not all wrong and your presumptions are not all right. Knowing that is a good mix of graciousness and humility.
It would be nice to have a conversation with friends I love and respect without having to choose between biting my tongue or defending my positions.
We can maintain our personal integrity without expressing every opinion we have in every context on all the time. And ... my fellow Christians ... we might try trusting God and each other a little more ... especially the One who said, "Come unto me and rest."
There will be ample time to duke it out. I'd just like a break from it - at least the nasty part of it.
It is not the cessation of violence. It is that which creates an atmosphere where violence cannot exist.
Peace is well being, within and without. It is wholeness and holiness.
Peace is what we deeply desire and yet, war against within our souls and in our relationships.
Peace is desireing for others what we most profoundly desire for ourselves - the best and fullest joy and grace. It is desiring it and working for it.
Peace is about something within us before it is about something outside of us.
When peace pervades and God's peace stands sentry over our hearts, something beyond comprehension and description happens and we can become instruments of peace.
Let us sow love. Let us proclaim pardon. Let us nurture faith. Let us speak and act in hope. Let us be and reflect light. Let us stimulate genuine joy. Let us die to all that is death and be born to live to all that is truly life.
I have little use for a culture of anger and fear. I have little patience with bickering and polarization. I have an aversion for political fights, but I understand their place in the process. Now is the time for men and women of good will to work together toward peace. Now is the time to do what is best by becoming what we were created to be.
Let there be peace - wholeness, well-being, wisdom, and love.
If I ever write a book of profound thoughts, it will be a collection of deep thinking collected in unlikely places like the thought that passed through my hollow, shallow brain the other day in the locker room at the gym. Mark it down as "words to live by."
"If you are wearing high top shoes and your pants are long enough, it really does not matter what color your socks are."
I hear a lot about so-called angry voters this year and frankly I either have not met them or have been insensitive to them so that I did not notice their seething or the steam coming out of their nostrils.
Angry?
Anger is not a primary emotion. It comes from fear which is a darned poor motivation to nurture. It is an even worse basis for decision making - especially for people about which it is said, "perfect love casteth out all fear," and to whom it is often said, "fear not."
Perfect love. I have not fully approrpriated it yet, but it is available to me by faith. Sometimes I get afraid - fearful that unwise people will be placed in positions of great responsibility, fearful of change, fearful that fear will rule over good thinking.
But then, I remember to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I remember to turn the dial in my own thinking. I remember that I am only, ultimately responsible for my own choices and that I can choose faith, hope, and love.
Faith, hope, and love abide and the greatest is love.
Jesus said that loving God and loving our neighbors was our entire duty in fulfilling the law. Every law that was worth anything (God's for instance), hung on those two.
There is really not much room for anger in that system and those who spend all of their time prodding people to be angry and act on anger in their decision making are doing no one favors.
Critical thinking is to be applauded. Criticism can be a part of that. Dissatisfaction is often legitimate. The urge for change is natural. It can also be loving. Conservatism grounds us. Liberalism challenges us. Moderation balances us. There is a place for all sorts of thinking as long as it really is thinking.
I voted as soon a I received my ballot in the mail and mailed it back. I have been immune to all the silliness around me ... but still, troubled by the vitrolic utterances and yelling contests.
I vote every day on the choices presented to me. More and more, every day, I strive to act, not in fear and anger, but in faith, hope, and love - especially love.
It is liberating and it is godly and it is that for which I strive with God's help.
I don't know how you should vote on anything. I do think you should vote intelligently, rationallly, and in acccordance with your own values, but I also think you might consider consciously and consicenteously taking the longest and sharpest view possible through the lenses of faith and hope and, especially, love.
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