Don’t Give It Feet: 3 Ways to Look at Thought Management
Our family is learning thought management from the oldest to the youngest. When inappropriate, illogical, strange, or depressing thoughts come into our minds, we have a few techniques. To handle “junk thoughts”(that every person has) we learn to quickly categorize them as either funny or unimportant. This works: A bizarre thought comes, and instead of dwelling […]
All My False Rests
Today I find an obscure and rare little document written in 1650 by R. Wilkinson, a member of the British army. He composed an 81 page paper entitled, The Saint’s Travel to the Land of Canaan: Wherein are Discovered Seventeen False Rests. The university library happens to have the images of this old text, and although […]
Becoming a Light Hibernator in Winter
I’m reading a fun book with my daughter that draws spiritual lessons from the animals. It’s an old book called Listen to the Animals: Devotionals for Families with Young Children by William Coleman. I love the idea of watching nature and forming spiritual lessons–like Jesus did when he talked about sparrows or lilies. Today I learn that […]
Backyard in Winter
Afraid of What They Think
This was a devotion I wrote for Camp Greystone that I call to mind this morning. Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to […]
Blessed are those who. . . acclaim!
Today I read in Psalm 89:15: “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long.” I notice the verb acclaim. It means to praise enthusiastically and publicly. Enthusiastically! Publicly! In front of people. Where they can hear […]
The Best Way to Get Along with Others
Two of my cats immensely dislike each other. They can’t stand to be in the same room together. Today I notice something very curious: When they’re focused on birdwatching, they suddenly love each other. They align themselves together in their attention on the birds. I know this: When I’m focused on Jesus, I’m aligned with […]
OK with Not OK: Wabi-Sabi!
Last night, my 3rd grader reports she’s learning all about wabi-sabi in her art class. I’ve never heard of the concept, so we research this Japanese aesthetic. We learn that wabi-sabi–at least in art–encourages the acceptance of imperfect, aged, or broken things. In fact, if a teacup you’re creating breaks apart, the Japanese artist would […]
5,000 a Day?
I’ve been reading various reports on how many advertisements we see in one day. Way back in 2006, CBS news reported that we might see up to 5,000 ads in a day. While I think that number is high, especially for those of us not living in major cities, I still reason that everywhere I […]
Even in Destruction
I’m sitting in a chair in the hallway of an old campus building. I face a large window. The view? Terrible. It’s all construction: colossal machines rise up like prehistoric monsters. The skeletal, metal neck of a crane crosses the window. Hammering, scraping, beeping, pounding, and smashing signal the sounds of destruction. The building to […]