Screens

So many screens to catch my eye

Big screens, small screens, screens I pass by

They pay bills, share friends, and entertain

Though sometimes it seems my energy they drain

Useful, important, these screens are a tool

To communicate, and connect, but don't be a fool

Sometimes our eyes need to wander a field

Or look at a person not the screen that they wield

We can benefit from the progress technologies gives

But let's not forget, its our lives we must live.

-Kristen Harmon

Thought for Today

Kristen

It's just...fill in the blank

It rarely rains in Florida during the "winter" but the other day was a drizzly day from the page of northern states. I know we need the rain and in my head I'm grateful for it but that doesn't mean I particularly enjoy being rained on.

So when I voiced my slight gripe to an acquaintance that day, her response didn't sit well. It was something like: It's just water. Exactly. Water that gets my pants wet in the parking lot. Water that makes my hair have extra "style."

Now this is a mild case of the "It's just..." condition. But it's symptoms can be easy to miss, often seen in phrases like the following: It's just a sprain...toughen up. It's just a ball game. It's just an extra 10 min a day of exercise....no big deal.

And while there may be valid reasoning even truth in these statements, what is just a simple fact of life to me could be a real frustration or struggle for someone else.

So unless you know someone well enough to offer this teaching sortof advice in a helpful manner, let's be careful with the words, "It's just.."

Because there is no such thing as "just words."

The old and the new: thoughts from two smart men

Whether you prefer Mac or PC, most people acknowledge that Steve Jobs was a pretty smart man.

I recently watched his commencement speech from Stanford and was intrigued with the similarities in his section on life and death to another speech made in Ecclesiastes by a man who is often considered of the wisest men to walk the Earth.

Below are some excerpts on life and death from each of these men.

Excerpt from Steve Job's commencement speech at Stanford

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." (Quote from http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-10-06/tech/30249828_1_college-tuition-calligraphy-adoption/3#ixzz1ie4OvWNU)

Excerpt from King Solomon's testimony

"I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?"

-Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Interestingly it seems to me like, wise as they were, both men were lacking an important piece of knowledge. We can know what will happen to us. And as children of God, death is not our destination, but life.

Check out the wonderful promise in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

January

Every year it seems I'm amazed by it's passing and the beginning of another January. How does time go by so quickly?

Perhaps one reason we struggle with the passing of time is our fear of growing older, of things changing with each year: kids going to college or turning a milestone age that we aren't ready to reach.

How would we feel toward time if we didn't worry about its limitations but instead saw it as possibilities?

Ecclesiastes 3:13 states that God has set eternity in the hearts of men.

It's hard to fathom eternity within the bounds of human experience but yet my heart resounds with this thought from the ancient king. Yes, God has placed eternity in my heart. We were not meant to die. We were meant to eat of the tree of life and to live.

Sin entered this world and stole moments of life from many of us, but God sent his Son to restore our future. The moments lost are nothing compared to eternity gained.

We just celebrated the birth of Jesus, but as our pastor reminded us, the Christmas miracle is something to be celebrated all year. Not only are we saved from the bondage of sin but we are free to live the short moments of this life without fear. God has placed eternity in our hearts. And He has sent Jesus his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Praise God for time, not measured by limits of years but instead gifted to our hearts in the knowledge and hope of life eternal.