Sometimes it's hard to focus.
I am having one of those days. Weeks?
I am thinking about nonesense daydreams instead of what I need to be.
In Beginning Lit. we talked about the Pastoral Myth which was the ideal country life - everything beautiful, everyone's in love and no one does anything. We discussed that we need that daydream in order to trudge through life. We are able to bring some of that Pastoral image to our daily lives. I just haven't figured out how to get my daydreams into reality yet.
It's especially hard when reality is nothing but uncertain, frustrating, difficult and tiring. Who wants to be stuck in that mudhole? I don't. I want to kick it in 4WD and drive...
where to?
I don't know. Somewhere that is not this claustrophobic apartment. Somewhere away from essays, reading, exams. Somewhere like this weekend.
This weekend was pretty close to my Pastoral daydream.
Leaving was actually kind of painful. Because it meant facing all the things I don't want to again.
This weekend I put everything on hold. (Probably not a good thing...but it was wonderful all the same).
This was a handy reminder:
"Fear God, and everything will be perfect. Love God, and nothing bad will ever happen to you. Simple! Except, of course, that every one of us knows it doesn't work that way, that good people and bad things happen to each other. The Psalm is gorgeous (Psalm 121), but the theology seems simplistic, too easy, too naive.
I mean, look what happened to Jesus! He surely feared the Lord, surely walked in all God's ways. And they crucified him! So much for "it shall go well with you."
Then again, even while he was on the cross, he did keep praying to God. Even when the worst of things happened to the best of people, he did keep his faith in God. And in the end, Jesus was resurrected. So maybe the Psalm isn't as much about direct cause-and-effect relationships as it is about hope. Maybe it's not so much a prediction of exactly how things go as it is a description of how life with God feels. Maybe it's not about being a realist but about refusing to lose hope in a hopeless situation. Maybe being a Christian is about believing that life with God will be good in the end, even if life now isn't. I mean, look what happened to Jesus!
Prayer: God, grant me wisdom enough to praise you even when it doesn't make sense, strength enough to follow you down every path, and joy enough to sing your praises even in adversity. Amen." --by, Quinn G. Caldwell i.ucc daily devotional for Lent
I mean, look what happened to Jesus! He surely feared the Lord, surely walked in all God's ways. And they crucified him! So much for "it shall go well with you."
Then again, even while he was on the cross, he did keep praying to God. Even when the worst of things happened to the best of people, he did keep his faith in God. And in the end, Jesus was resurrected. So maybe the Psalm isn't as much about direct cause-and-effect relationships as it is about hope. Maybe it's not so much a prediction of exactly how things go as it is a description of how life with God feels. Maybe it's not about being a realist but about refusing to lose hope in a hopeless situation. Maybe being a Christian is about believing that life with God will be good in the end, even if life now isn't. I mean, look what happened to Jesus!
Prayer: God, grant me wisdom enough to praise you even when it doesn't make sense, strength enough to follow you down every path, and joy enough to sing your praises even in adversity. Amen." --by, Quinn G. Caldwell i.ucc daily devotional for Lent
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