Easily obsessed with change and the end of the world, Americans think little about the future past their own lifetime. We plan to be sure we have enough in the retirement account, but we rarely build anything that will last beyond our days on earth.
My friend Bud planted walnut trees when he was 60. Instead of looking for a harvest of nuts, he pruned the trees while young to provide long straight lumber someday. That day would come long after his graduation to heaven, but Bud increased the value of his property for his descendants. He was thinking past his own life span and concerns.
Too often we are short-sighted and self-focused. We don't think about our own family descendants and the legacy we are leaving them, much less how we are impacting the earth for coming generations.
Rumors swirl that the world will end in 2012, but that's not the first time that has happened. Such rumors circulated multiple times since Jesus left the earth, and the world may well last another 2000 years before its renewal in God's Kingdom. So we need to be responsible with creation, and with each other.
Bud didn't just plant trees for his family's future. He is a kind and gentle man, who has also passed on a firm foundation of spiritual nurture and health to his family. That will guide their future even more than trees.
What are you planting that will influence others?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summer
Summer is kids out of school. Early morning sunshine. Hot afternoons. Late evening sunsets. Time with family.
Summer is less on the schedule. More interests pulling every direction. Sweating. Swimming.
Summer is family time. Vacation. Reunions. Love.
Summer is my favorite time of year.
Summer is less on the schedule. More interests pulling every direction. Sweating. Swimming.
Summer is family time. Vacation. Reunions. Love.
Summer is my favorite time of year.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Looking Ahead
Planning vacations is my favorite pastime. I might just prefer it to going on them. After all, when the actual time arrives, so many events can fall short of expectation, but while they are still ideas, it sounds like the most fantastic week ever!
This year we begin by driving to see Nora's graduate exhibit in Baltimore. Check it out at: http://www.mica.edu/News/MACA_Thesis_Exhibition_Explores_Issues_of_Social_Justice_July_15-31.html
Her dad hasn't been to her school yet, and he'll get to see Nora in full force, with a crowd of people admiring her unique work.
From there we crash that night at the Faulkners, friends willing to let us use their floor to save money on a motel even though we don't have time to really stay. Then it's on to Boston, where Nora will read in her college roommate Farrell's wedding.
The next evening we visit Ben's church plant, another college friend of Nora's. Then we drive to the far west corner of Massachusetts to see the MassMoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, where they have some galleries as big as a football field to display large pieces.
That afternoon we will drive to the top of the highest peak in Massachusetts, before meandering south to camp in Connecticut so we can mark off another state visited.
Wednesday, which happens to be my birthday, we have three hours to drive with NY city in the middle, worth a stop for an urban fix. Pommes Frites and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Then on to a Doubletree in Wilmington, which I got for a great price on Priceline, warm chocolate chip cookies here we come. The next day we visit Du Pont gunpowder factory for Wesley, as well as driving to Dover to see their air command museum.
That night we sleep on Assateague Island, and the next morning visit the wild ponies I grew up loving from Marguerite Henry's book Misty. A childhood dream finally realized.
From there a stop at a NASA post, a drive by Annapolis, then back to Baltimore. Our last day will include a sport legends museum for Luke, an Orioles game, and somewhere in there some delicious gelato.
A month from now I'll be living this, and I hope it meets expectations. Typically part of it will, and part of it won't, and I only hope I can roll with it. Just being with the whole family will be the best part, especially since we don't know when that will stop being a vacation privilege.
When I consider my yearly ritual, planning a vacation, then living it, I am glad that one final "vacation" will exceed expectations. I really don't even have to plan, I already have my reservation. Just believing in Jesus means he's planning for me, he's got a deluxe room waiting. The weather will be blissful, the activities ample, and the fellowship literally divine. And my yearly stress reliever will become a never ending way of life.
May this year's vacation be a little taste of that coming reality.
This year we begin by driving to see Nora's graduate exhibit in Baltimore. Check it out at: http://www.mica.edu/News/MACA_Thesis_Exhibition_Explores_Issues_of_Social_Justice_July_15-31.html
Her dad hasn't been to her school yet, and he'll get to see Nora in full force, with a crowd of people admiring her unique work.
From there we crash that night at the Faulkners, friends willing to let us use their floor to save money on a motel even though we don't have time to really stay. Then it's on to Boston, where Nora will read in her college roommate Farrell's wedding.
The next evening we visit Ben's church plant, another college friend of Nora's. Then we drive to the far west corner of Massachusetts to see the MassMoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, where they have some galleries as big as a football field to display large pieces.
That afternoon we will drive to the top of the highest peak in Massachusetts, before meandering south to camp in Connecticut so we can mark off another state visited.
Wednesday, which happens to be my birthday, we have three hours to drive with NY city in the middle, worth a stop for an urban fix. Pommes Frites and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Then on to a Doubletree in Wilmington, which I got for a great price on Priceline, warm chocolate chip cookies here we come. The next day we visit Du Pont gunpowder factory for Wesley, as well as driving to Dover to see their air command museum.
That night we sleep on Assateague Island, and the next morning visit the wild ponies I grew up loving from Marguerite Henry's book Misty. A childhood dream finally realized.
From there a stop at a NASA post, a drive by Annapolis, then back to Baltimore. Our last day will include a sport legends museum for Luke, an Orioles game, and somewhere in there some delicious gelato.
A month from now I'll be living this, and I hope it meets expectations. Typically part of it will, and part of it won't, and I only hope I can roll with it. Just being with the whole family will be the best part, especially since we don't know when that will stop being a vacation privilege.
When I consider my yearly ritual, planning a vacation, then living it, I am glad that one final "vacation" will exceed expectations. I really don't even have to plan, I already have my reservation. Just believing in Jesus means he's planning for me, he's got a deluxe room waiting. The weather will be blissful, the activities ample, and the fellowship literally divine. And my yearly stress reliever will become a never ending way of life.
May this year's vacation be a little taste of that coming reality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
