A WELCOME NOTE:
Greetings, and a very warm welcome to you. Thank you for taking some time to share in my philosophical foibles. It's my hope that within these entries you might find encouragement, challenge, laughter, counsel and companionship for the journey ahead. Carpe Diem!
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Such is the nature of the universe that it is governed by certain laws. These laws do not require us to like them or agree with them, but we would do well to take heed of them. A true law can never really be broken. It can perhaps be counter-acted or resisted with a certain amount of pressure or force, but in the end, the law always wins. Why? Because the law expends no energy existing as it is. It can rest in that state infinitely. Any effort to resist it however, is eventually doomed to exhaustion, and to the subsequent consequences of standing in opposition to that law.
As it is with the universe, so it is with the human condition. We, too, are governed by laws. One such law, as I have heard it referred to, is the law of work. Simply put, the law of work states that nothing starved of attention and effort ever improves on its own. Never. Things that are left to neglect, are ultimately left to ruin or to loss. That's the problem with stagnation - things don't actually stop. They rot.
A few days ago, along with hundreds of millions of people around the world, I watched the final day of the London 2012 Paralympic athletics programme. I witnessed individuals with some of the most severe disabilities known, push themselves to the limit of their physical capability.
A typical response to this kind of display is often pity. Sometimes, it's ridicule or insult. As I watched these athletes compete, I couldn't help but think that if any pity was called for, it ought to rest squarely on the shoulders of us 'normal' people spectating, before it could ever rightfully be directed towards any Paralympian.
So, with today being my birthday, it's got me feeling a bit contemplative. You know, the kind of thoughts that deal with dreams and potential, purpose and destiny. I've been sensing a gentle nudge over the last few weeks - a reminder that there's something for me to do, and that it will require some dedication of me to do it. It's a sobering thought that I will never be the person I have the potential to be unless I commit passion and persistence to the endeavours that I believe matter to me.
You may be familiar with the well known concept about boiling a frog in a pot of water. There's a smart way to go about it (not that you have any such intention, of course). If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water it will immediately hop right out if possible. I mean, come on...it's flippin' hot. However, place that same frog in some nice cool water, and gradually increase the temperature to a boil, and that sucker will just continue to park off right there and eventually boil to death. What's the moral of the story then? The danger, as it relates to the frog, lies in the threat of subtlety and stealth.
Good day boys and girls. I hope everyone is fine and dandy this gorgeous Cape Town day, or wherever and whenever it is in the world as you are reading this. I'd like to direct your attention to a freshly published article of mine. If you've ever been curious about trying your hand at a freelance career of some kind, you may find the following read useful:
Isn't this what striving to do something significant or meaningful often feels like? We feel dwarfed by the immensity of the task even before we begin. We wallow in self-defeatism and procrastination while precious opportunities for growth and development slip through our fingers. There is a time for relaxation and leisure no doubt, but embracing the practice of habitually resting before we are tired is nothing short of laziness. Even times of leisure not intentionally and thoughtfully engaged in can degrade into a mere "killing of time"...a nice way of defining what really amounts to the robbing of life.
This is a state which we should resist...and this resistance is especially hard when the fight is new and the soldier is untested by the rigors of battle. Sometimes the most difficult part of the journey toward excellence and purpose is the psychological barrier we face before a single ounce of energy is spent on the activity or craft itself. That moment when the urge to postpone just once more is so attractive. This is the problem of inertia...a resistance to a change of course or action. Don't be deceived. Rewards aplenty await us on the other side of work and diligence. (Proverbs 14:23)
What is God calling you to do...both this moment and with your future? Open that Bible? Write that card of encouragement? Learn that instrument? Read that book? Make that call? Take that run? Just do it!
There can be no freedom without boundaries. No talk of liberty without constraints. True pleasure and satisfaction without remorse lies in the enjoyment of the gifts that God offers, within the context of self-control and moderation. It is a paradox. Seemingly, the way of abandoned surrender to our desires and obsessions would promise the quenching of our weary soul's thirsts. But it is a lie. That road is one that leads to vice, bondage, and slavery. A tennis match without rules erodes the meaning of the game. A diet without constraints undermines the purpose of a nutritional plan. A country governed without parameters breeds anarchy and chaos. In his wisdom, God has outlined His guidelines for humanity, in the hope that we would embrace them, and through living them out discover the fountain of joy, to which no sorrow or regret is added.
I need to relearn the value of humble beginnings and small things. Not to be overwhelmed by the panoramic picture because of fear or ambition, but to find faithfulness and steadfastness in the persistent pursuit of the incremental daily priorities, that when diligently strung together spell out the makings of a destiny. I need to rediscover life in the now. This moment. There is so much capacity in me for wickedness, pride, sloth and apathy. So easy it is to be deluded by empty promises of tomorrow and the opportunities that await me there.
The epic journey. The colossal elephant. Undertaken with one step after the other. Consumed one bite after another. Repetition. Consistency. Habitual practice of a craft or a behavior might never bring about absolute perfection, but it would develop permanence, and that is how all true progress is made. Water breaks the rock not through sheer force, but through the perpetual drip and the constant flow. Mastery over the routine, the discipline, the everyday...this I believe is the key that unlocks the door of potential realized. This is the foundation on which greatness is built.
I often hear of the analogy made between the Christian life and the practical waging of war...and rightly so. Battle and war imagery used in depicting spiritual warfare is not a foreign concept when it comes to the Bible. One of the most recent struggles highlighted in Christian media has been the concept of "Every Man's Battle"...the struggle and fight for sexual purity and integrity. Of course, this is a conflict that applies to women as well, and one which has been addressed in similar fashion. And sexuality is but one of the areas where battle lines are being drawn in the name of righteousness and the advancement of God's kingdom. Believers around the world are being taught and challenged to wage war against carnal and ungodly desires including greed, unforgiveness and pride. So...I got to thinking one day.
Looking at lust as an example...which I'll define as a harmful, idolatrous, deviant and obsessive distortion of the beautiful God-inspired pleasure and gift we call sex: The nature of war implies a willful, deliberate resistance against a detestable enemy...an enemy whose ideals and intentions I am in complete opposition to. War also implies an authentic, passionate devotion to the values and characteristics of the entity to which I've pledged my allegiance...be that a king, a country, or an ideology. If this be the case, what am I to do when the alleged enemy I face is not only one I fail to hate, but one I've learned to co-exist with and tolerate...even indulge? What do I do when the kingdom who's interests I'm meant to enforce fails to rouse the previously mentioned passion and commitment in my heart toward it? How do I effectively and perpetually declare and wage war on the enemy of lust or any other demonic vice? It's my belief that this war, and a war it is indeed, is first and foremost fought and won or lost in the deepest reaches of my heart.
It starts with a heartfelt cry to my heavenly Father to be blessed with the supernatural gift of loving what He loves, and hating what He hates. It begins with me being grieved by my own sin in the same way that my sins grieve the heart of my God...and as passion for the glory of His name begins to run through my veins like an unquenchable flame. It is upon this passion that virtues like self-control find their strength. It's to the degree that my own desires are conformed to the will and desires of God, that I can expect a sustainable, genuine victory over the onslaught of depravity launched against me. The greater my hunger for purity, the greater my dedication to the fight for it. (Proverbs 16:26) If my desire for obedience to God is complacent and apathetic at best, my chances of resisting the seductions of hell are about as good as a snowball's chance of surviving in it.
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