A scholar spoke about two virtues:
Resume virtues and eulogy virtues.
The first are achievement and education,
The second are character traits.
We focus on the former at the expense of the latter
To our harm.
Only a fool would count a diploma
More worth than honesty, peace, love.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Dream Doubled
The doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means this future is fixed by God, and He will make it happen very soon.
Joseph proclaims the meaning of two troubling dreams.
The shocking statement comes between explanation and suggestion:
Two dreams are a guarantee of what is to come.
Joseph, sold a slave, thrown in prison,
A dozen years or so spent simply surviving faithfully …
This Joseph also had a double dream.
His future fixed by God, he walked
In faith that God would make it happen very soon.
October 21
Four sons we dedicated
At our small hippie church.
All four grandparents there.
I wanted a special dedication for Caleb.
All four grandparents were in town
One night, and so we gathered
At the home of his nativity,
With our biological family
And our Virginia family.
Some of both families attended
The dedication of our oldest son
And youngest son.
We sang songs and read Scripture,
Said the same beautiful prayers,
And then talked and ate and laughed.
It was all very me, very us,
A celebration of the child
God has given.
At our small hippie church.
All four grandparents there.
I wanted a special dedication for Caleb.
All four grandparents were in town
One night, and so we gathered
At the home of his nativity,
With our biological family
And our Virginia family.
Some of both families attended
The dedication of our oldest son
And youngest son.
We sang songs and read Scripture,
Said the same beautiful prayers,
And then talked and ate and laughed.
It was all very me, very us,
A celebration of the child
God has given.
L'Abri
Years ago I read about a chalet
That took in wanderers.
They trusted in the Lord’s provision.
They asked that those who should come,
Would come,
And that the rest would stay away.
They asked for guidance for each day,
And avoided efficient plans for the future.
They asked for God to send co-laborers,
As he chose.
In four weeks,
We’ve hosted twenty people or groups
And had more than a dozen other visits off farm.
As I look at the calendar,
There is a pattern: no one turned away,
Visits like clock-work,
Like someone is coordinating our lives
Day by day.
This was not what I anticipated
When we moved to the land.
I expected literal fruit.
But if what God offers is a different kind of fruitfulness,
I’ll take it.
That took in wanderers.
They trusted in the Lord’s provision.
They asked that those who should come,
Would come,
And that the rest would stay away.
They asked for guidance for each day,
And avoided efficient plans for the future.
They asked for God to send co-laborers,
As he chose.
In four weeks,
We’ve hosted twenty people or groups
And had more than a dozen other visits off farm.
As I look at the calendar,
There is a pattern: no one turned away,
Visits like clock-work,
Like someone is coordinating our lives
Day by day.
This was not what I anticipated
When we moved to the land.
I expected literal fruit.
But if what God offers is a different kind of fruitfulness,
I’ll take it.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Cathedral Motto
Inservi Deo et Laetari.
Serve God and be cheerful.
I like this motto, written in a cathedral
Where the Living God is worshipped.
I understand “Serve God.”
I often serve with cheerfulness.
But if I look at Noah, with survivor guilt,
The unnamed saints sawn asunder:
Is good cheer the right response to
Brokenness?
Serve God and be cheerful.
I like this motto, written in a cathedral
Where the Living God is worshipped.
I understand “Serve God.”
I often serve with cheerfulness.
But if I look at Noah, with survivor guilt,
The unnamed saints sawn asunder:
Is good cheer the right response to
Brokenness?
Parents
We expected you to soon be pregnant.
No preventions, a bride suited to motherhood
More than any I’ve met.
Barrenness.
And so you were pregnant on paper,
Going through the process of adoption
With trepidation and faith.
Matched with three siblings,
Cousins to my sons.
Until Kazakhstan closed permanently.
A paper miscarriage.
Presumably, too, the monthly bleeding
Offered a slap.
Every month, year by year.
Body betrayal.
A secret pregnancy,
Baby delivered at eight weeks,
And nothing but a bouquet to commemorate.
A few years later, an unexpected call.
Ten weeks of pregnancy.
Time to announce, to celebrate.
I was with friends, and I hung up the phone and wept,
Speechless and shaking
With joy.
Hours later, the baby was born.
You are a mother,
My brother a father,
With all of the pain and none of the joy.
“Here is the world.
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.
Don’t be afraid.”
No preventions, a bride suited to motherhood
More than any I’ve met.
Barrenness.
And so you were pregnant on paper,
Going through the process of adoption
With trepidation and faith.
Matched with three siblings,
Cousins to my sons.
Until Kazakhstan closed permanently.
A paper miscarriage.
Presumably, too, the monthly bleeding
Offered a slap.
Every month, year by year.
Body betrayal.
A secret pregnancy,
Baby delivered at eight weeks,
And nothing but a bouquet to commemorate.
A few years later, an unexpected call.
Ten weeks of pregnancy.
Time to announce, to celebrate.
I was with friends, and I hung up the phone and wept,
Speechless and shaking
With joy.
Hours later, the baby was born.
You are a mother,
My brother a father,
With all of the pain and none of the joy.
“Here is the world.
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.
Don’t be afraid.”
Monday, October 20, 2014
Expected
With the perspective of war in the heavenlies,
It came as no surprise that minor disaster struck today,
After a rich week for many of my closest friends.
And so, when we backed up the driveway to church
And found the freezer no longer freezing,
With three full cows inside: it felt almost predictable.
We’ve been here before.
While Phil refilled the Freon, I drove to church with boys,
Filled with questions about what exactly we are doing here.
In prayer with a friend after service:
The fruitfulness of this farm may not be seen yet in crops,
But there is fruitfulness in rich relationship with our friends,
Finding healing and beauty as they walk with God.
In light of transformation, defrosted meat is hardly a trial.
The first time and second times freezers failed,
I was shocked and appalled.
Would it be called maturity that this third time hardly bothered me?
Because frankly, I would prefer maturity to resignation and despair.
It came as no surprise that minor disaster struck today,
After a rich week for many of my closest friends.
And so, when we backed up the driveway to church
And found the freezer no longer freezing,
With three full cows inside: it felt almost predictable.
We’ve been here before.
While Phil refilled the Freon, I drove to church with boys,
Filled with questions about what exactly we are doing here.
In prayer with a friend after service:
The fruitfulness of this farm may not be seen yet in crops,
But there is fruitfulness in rich relationship with our friends,
Finding healing and beauty as they walk with God.
In light of transformation, defrosted meat is hardly a trial.
The first time and second times freezers failed,
I was shocked and appalled.
Would it be called maturity that this third time hardly bothered me?
Because frankly, I would prefer maturity to resignation and despair.
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