I was raised to do the very best at anything that I attempted. That is good and agrees with the Scripture that says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:23-24) In context that is speaking to slaves, but it must surely include employees, and in reality, all who belong to Christ. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” We cannot do less than our best.
But my upbringing extended beyond that. I was put under considerable pressure to be really good at all that I did.
My little brain and emotions interpreted that to mean that I was supposed to be the best at whatever I did. Then, because I never seemed to meet my father’s expectations, I strove to be the best at a good many things and did not accept less than excellent or even perfect in all that I attempted. It is obvious where this is headed. I was frustrated, angry, and depressed because I didn’t meet up to my own or my perceived expectations from others. I had a deep-seated fear of being found out to be a fraud because I didn’t know how to do something.
Praise be to God that I have been rescued from the guilt and shame of that thinking. But old habits and patterns die hard. I was on a walk today, enjoying the exercise and the beauty of the view from the hill I was surmounting, when a tune came to me, Minuet in G Major by Bach. I was joyously pacing my steps by it. Then a sudden flash of sadness came across me and I felt as if tears would well up within me. I took piano lessons for seven years when I was a child, deeply desiring to succeed at it. I could in fact play quite hard pieces, but I was never able, though I try real hard, to sit down and play most hymns from a hymnbook so that others might sing along. It frustrated me that I was not really good at the piano and here all these years later there was still this tinge of regret and sorrow.
But God has been rich in His grace toward me. The next thoughts that came to my mind as I neared the top of the hill were of a thankful sort. Most of what I had desired and dreamed of attempted and pursued and trained for, frustrated over, and failed at had fallen by the wayside. In its placed He has developed other talents, pursuits, compassions, joys for which He has made me and with which He is pleased. I still try my best to do my best, but I don’t need to be the best and far less than perfect is acceptable and pleasing. I am more content with who I am and what I can do than ever in my life, and that is better than best. In those moments when I regress, I have opportunity to repent and find rest in who He has made me to be. All glory be to His name. He is a loving, patient, kind, and caring teacher and guide.
CreatorWorship 
Choppy Seas Ahead
Posted in Blessing, Change, Cultural commentary, General, tagged Blessing, Cultural commentary, Foundations of Life, Grammar on May 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I decided awhile back in writing blogs that since accurate quotes are hard to come by, especially from notes taken from live talks (sermons, lectures, conversations, etc), that I would at least communicate with myself when I was not exactly quoting, but just accurately summarizing with words actually spoken (or synonyms thereof) but not necessarily in that order, to surround them with apostrophes (‘) rather than quotation marks (“).(1) See if you think that I am wrong to pass these off as nearly quotes.(2)
In the sermon this morning, my pastor said many noteworthy things. I was dull of mind and slow of pen and didn’t get many of them down, but following are a few essentials I grabbed out of the verbal stream:
“God is Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer… These are the foundational issues we build our lives upon.”
‘In the variable winds and choppy waves of our rapidly changing culture that make us soul sick, we do not build our lives upon trends in our culture or traditions of better days, but the truth of God’s Word.’ Actually, he didn’t use ‘variable’ or ‘choppy’ but described the bounce on a small boat that made him sick. And though he conveyed all of the thoughts with almost all those words, they never appeared in one sentence. So, what are you building your life upon in these changeable time- trends, traditions, or truth? Trends and traditions may align with truth, but they are not the judge or guide of our choices, truth is.
He read about the sixth day of creation from Genesis 1:24-31. Though he said much more could be gleaned, he did offer 5 applications:
“God is our authority. Life is precious. Men and women are different theologically and biologically. We should celebrate the differences in men and women.” ‘We live within our God given callings and then we are blessed.’ I was behind on my writing and could not get down the last one exactly, but it most interested me. He talked about how obeying God’s calling, which he prefers over the word role, brings life, while living counter to it brings death. We see the promotion of so much death in our culture these days that verify the judgements of Romans 1 on those who refuse to acknowledge God and His callings. Are you as a church-goer, perhaps even devotee of Christ, following these life cursing trends in our culture? For the sake of us all, please stop!
1. That was such a fun sentence to write. I hope it is grammatically correct and easily understood.
2. Do you realize that I am suggesting a new grammatical form and use of the apostrophe? Old School Grammarians would disdain my attempt to amend the rules. They might say, ‘You do not need such non-sense. We already have quotes and summaries of ideas.’ I would retort, “That is what they said. I just am not willing to swear in court that they used those exact words in that exact order.”
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