I read a book

I don't usually promote material that I have studied. It isn't that I don't like the material, I just usually write on my thoughts in the moment but this book has occupied my thoughts since I read it. I have added a slightly edited critique that I wrote for the book. 

"Dr. Swenson’s book on margin is a must read and should be a required reading for ministry staff, business people and people struggling with being to busy. Even with a misplaced concern for the nature of the problem, the scriptural based good advice is sound and needed in today’s society. The four areas of margin which are; emotional energy, physical energy, finances and time, are often out of balance and learning about them and how to safeguard for margin are important. The book is not fluffy or overbearing but concise and powerful in the message that humanity needs God and His established parameters for margin to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I would expect that this book could be used in several capacities such as small groups, personal counseling situations, pastoral training, and leadership training.. Margin is the key to avoiding overload which leads to the decay of one’s mind and body and eventually service to God." 

You may read that and say well I am not looking to serve God and that is ok but if you ever feel overloaded in life, I would suggest this book anyway. 

Value in time

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

The answer is time, and not time I would want. It does seem to move with results unpleasant to some (Gollum ---->). The conundrum is that time is valued as we try to capture it with picture and tale. We long for a time and would give anything for a moment of it. Time, though is continually moving, being devoured, slaying those kings and bending the world as it travels on. We cannot stop time or go back in it. It cannot be bought, made or borrowed, time can only be had, wasted or spent. We can make the most of it, and let wisdom rule it and even ponder what is a momentous realization in the value of time. We have only a time and with it we can do things valuable to us and spend it on those worthy of it. Do not let time pass by and suffer decay as the lonely mountain which is full of dismay. Use time on the ones you love for just like your own, their moment in time is moving and you cannot catch or hold. So cherish your time as it moves quickly on. Cherish its present along with its past and hope for its future which surely will last. In all three tenses, value is found but the present is special for it is now.  I will remember my times, and look forward toward but carry the precious now even more. 

My Own Advice, D'oh

The sting of realizing that your own advice is not being followed is certainly a Homer Simpson moment.

 I recently challenged a couple hundred people with the thought of fighting for relationship, pushing past the difficulties and fighting for restoration. I was encouraging everyone with a life lesson from my mom, who would often seek out reconciliation. She wasn't perfect at it, but the principle was there and I was often reminded to forgive and to seek forgiveness. As for not following my own advice, I have been running from relationship and seeking solitude. Using disagreement and theological differences of the smallest form to create space, I was looking for a way out of several situations. I will have to continue to evaluate the motivation of my heart in those situations, but in any case my responsibility and initial motivation should be to fight for relationship. It is what my mom would suggest and I think it is what is right. (Matthew 5:23-24, Ephesians 4:2-3)

Now one to another Homer S. moment, I am getting a donut.

Ardog