Stopping to Think

"Autograph your work with excellence." Dave Donnerberg Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. Anyhow. Hope you enjoyed week's installment.

Today (I'm sure it will be yesterday by the time I hit Publish) I turn twenty-five. That may not seem like much to many of you, for you passed it up long ago. Or you haven't yet, but to do so is a forgone conclusion. But it feels significant to me. Maybe it's because I'm the morbid type. Perhaps it's because I've known so many who didn't make it. It could be that I've never been able to imagine myself as being older than twenty-four. Or maybe it's just my megalomania at work blowing every aspect of my life out of proportion. But I wanted to pause here, and reflect on twenty-five things I've learned in these years. The order is completely stream-of-consciousness, which at this time of night can be...scattered.  Life is short. Like a mist. Here today and gone...well, today.  Because life is short, every second counts. Which doesn't mean every second must be filled with frenetic activity, but it does mean that one should pause and evalu...

A quitter is something I have always been afraid of being. I want to be steadfast; I want to be someone who people could count on. If there is ever a time I swear to my own hurt, I want to be the guy who follows through on it anyway. So in light of that, I didn’t originally have much interest in Jon Acuff’s book titled “ Quitter: Closing the gap between your day job &your dream job ” (Brentwood, TN: Lampo Press, 2011). Who wants to be a quitter? But alas, my dear wife had heard this book plugged on Dave Ramsey’s show a number of times, and was convinced I needed it. And so on my birthday, I received this book (along with one I had asked for!). This would be one case where I totally misjudged the book based on its cover…er, uh, title. This is a very good, exceptionally readable, practical, and helpful book. What’s it about? The first dose of practicality comes in the title of chapter one- “Don’t Quit Your Day Job.” You pick up a book about pursuing your dreams,...

Prayer. Bible reading. Meditation. Fasting. These, along with a number of other things, are what we refer to collectively as "the spiritual disciplines." What an obtuse term. Who really wants to practice spiritual discipline? The idea of discipline seems so boring, restrictive, and terribly un-modern. Patience, discipline, toil- these things have become somewhat akin to curse words. Shouldn't religion or spirituality be more free flowing than this? More free flowing, perhaps, than any part of life? And more gratifying, too. Right? I don't have any data on this, but it is my assumption that most Christians would like to know God better. I have a simple question. Why do we think that it would be easy? Don't get me wrong, God isn't grading us on a "he tried harder than she did" scale. The only basis for a right relationship with and forgiveness by God is the finished work of Christ on the cross. Nor is a relationship with God difficult in the same way...

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23 ESV)   King David here very clearly, and very beautifully, demonstrates the rest to be found in being known and loved by the Almighty God of all the universe. We read this Psalm and words like peace, tranquility, and assurance come to mind. Which to me begs the question- how do I reconcile this peace with my insanely paced life? Does my constant screen viewing, errand running, email sendin...