Non Resolutionary Living

Yes, my taxes are finished. Sent. Done. And yes, you should be jealous.

Not really. But they are finished. I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but that's because I'm bragging.

Notice: I'm not telling you how I'm going to get them done early this year. I'm telling you they're done.

I have also cleared the file cabinet of the old papers. Yes, I have. At least the biggest chunk of them. There are a few things still to go, but it's down to a few hours of work.

And I have been getting through some serious reviews of things at work and at home. Working to get plans in place for work and home. Serious, careful plans to get real things done.

All of this, I have done, without having made a single New Year's resolution. Which is not bragging. It's simply a fact.

I've just never been big on resolutions, if by "resolutions" you mean those brief little wish statements people make at the end of the year. "This next year I'm going to do this or that!" No real plan. No real commitment to change. No serious self examination and thinking about how to follow through.

I don't like empty talk. It makes me nervous to talk about what I'd simply kind of "like" to do because I know how easy it is to talk, and yet how hard it is to actually do things that are challenging to do. I prefer the simple act of doing something and letting the doing of it be the evidence of my intent.

Matthew 5: 37 Simply let your `Yes' be `Yes,' and your`No,' `No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.




© LW Publishing 2013

Feeling Prudish

So this is what 2011 looks like.

I thought it would look, you know, different somehow.

Well, maybe we should just give it a little time.

Last night we were watching the Dick Clark countdown thing. We like watching to see how Dick Clark is doing each year. But we've become wary. Dick Clark is a class act, but ABC doesn't have a clue. This is the one night when young kids are trying to stay up until midnight with their folks to watch the countdown. And ABC treats the time slot with the reckless abandon they have come to be known for. Trying to keep up with FOX on the cool meter, I guess. So we're down to watching the last ten or fifteen minutes before midnight, because it's so out of hand. It makes you wish fervently that John Lasseter would be put in charge of the entire empire, top to bottom, simply to inject a little common sense into the enterprise.

And last night was the same deal as always. A few people on there are trying to do it right, trying to show a little class, like Dick Clark and even Ryan Seacrest. But they are surrounded by "celebrities" and singers and whatnot who don't have a clue. They are only on there because they are popular at the moment, or because their agent thought it would be good for their image. But they can't manage to get through a three minute segment of live television without saying something completely stupid and inappropriate.

Seconds before midnight, someone who is clearly completely self absorbed and immature was on the show, and they said something that demonstrated very clearly how self absorbed and immature they are. Stupid stuff, which left us with a seven year old asking us to explain things to them that they are not ready to even begin thinking about.

I don't blame the people on the show. The self absorbed ones. At least not completely. They are what they are. You wish better from them, and for them, but the people at ABC know what they are getting when they put them on the show. Most Americans, as well as people all over the world, don't really know much about these celebrities. We don't really know who they are. Most of us aren't interested in their exploits. So they are trotted out on these broadcast shows to expose them to a wider audience, which they don't deserve. They are not wider audience material. And one wonders why the programmers at ABC don't know this? Or maybe they do, and they just don't care?

I'm thinking that's it.

But don't worry, it won't happen again. Not in our house anyway. We'll check up on Dick Clark some other way.



Peace to you.



© LW Publishing 2011

More

I’ve learned to be more careful over the years about making pronouncements about myself or my plans or what I think God is going to do. I’ve become wary of making declarations of intent, as if I need to tell people what I’m going to do or what God is going to do. My soul just cries out at me to shut up about it. Too much talk just complicates everything and brings out my foolishness. We think we have to proclaim our intent in order to accomplish it, but I’m not so sure about that.

Which goes against the grain in a world where we’re supposed to catch a “vision” and cast a “vision” and call people to do “great things.” We’re supposed to do this personally, and we’re supposed to do this as leaders if we’re in leadership positions.

Here’s a problem with all of that.

How do we define “success” or “great things” these days? That’s easy, right? Success = more. That’s really what it seems to come down to most, if not all, of the time.

More.

People give lip service to other things but, let me tell you from experience, “more” is everything in this world. If you have more, then you are “successful” and admired. More money. More influence. More people showing up. More power. Whatever you have, what you need is more, more, more. If you get more or make more or do more, people will affirm that. They will be impressed. They will take it as evidence that you’re doing things right, and you will too, most likely.

Maybe you are. But maybe you aren’t.

It makes me wonder how many people are stuck in the middle of some grand vision, some quest for more, trapped like rats, knowing they are not ever going to be satisfied. Not really. So many people seem to have everything, but inside they are empty, starving for approval and affirmation. It’s like Kurt Cobain wrote in his suicide letter about his fame and success in Nirvana. He wrote, “I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do, God, believe me I do, but it's not enough).”

Do I really just want to lead people to more? Do I want my own life to be about this constant reaching and grasping?

I have been personally victimized by this idealization of “more.” Not that “more” has anything intrinsically wrong with it. More of the right things could be good, I suppose. "More" is not an evil concept in and of itself. It’s just what we do with it. It’s how we turn it into a little god to bow down to that I find disturbing.

This passage from the Bible has me thinking about these things: Ecclesiastes 5: 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

And this one. Jesus said this: Matthew 5:37 Simply let your `Yes' be `Yes,' and your`No,' `No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.


Peace to you.



© LW Publishing 2010