1. Give yourself a break—you don’t need to be so hard on yourself.
2. Just say no! What are your real priorities?
3. Take time to write it down. Journaling will bring clarity to your life.
4. Slow down and savor living in the moment.
5. Plug into your kids so you can really connect with them.
6. Don’t forget about your husband—intimacy is life-affirming!
7. Reach out beyond your family. It will enrich everyone.
8. Make your physical and mental health a priority.
9. Is more always better?  Simplify everything.
10. Be a little selfish—you deserve it, and it will make you a better mother.”

Okay, if I were to address all ten and answer them all, this blog would be transformed into a Creed, the Parent’s Creed. Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But I don’t want to. So, I won’t. Instead, let me just break all ten down into one easy to understand sentence, and then attack the baksheesh out of that.

1-10. Parenting is a chore, but you deserves breaks every now and then, so be selfish.

Oh, I know that’s a little harsh. Let’s find the gold nuggets and then tear apart the rest. Point one is a no… Two… I don’t understand. I think prioritizing is great, as long as your family is the priority. Three, well, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Four is good, but again I think as a whole with the family. Five is the best one yet. Every parent should be involved with the ones they love. Oh, I stand corrected. Six… that’s the best one yet. So says Solomon, anyways. Seven can be taken in so many directions, I don’t know what to say about it. Eight… um… “a” priority, okay… but the family? Top priority. Yes, even more than your health. Pregnancy is not good for the body, but it does create new life. That is priority. Nine, I wish I knew just what you were “simplifying.” More children is always better! I do think that the simple life is a good life, however. Ten equals NO.

Yeah, I think that about covers it. So, what is the problem with what I left behind? (Oh, where to begin where to begin…) I got it! Okay, so we covered what Love was last time, right? It’s making your life, what you enjoy, what you desire the good of those said loved ones. Like God does to us, only, with us, on a small scale. I know a family that treat chores like a game so that the kids actually ask to clean the house instead of being forced to. I remember two of their daughters coming in to ask my mother if it was okay if they sweeped and cleaned the living room. Whenever I tell that story, my friends say, “Dude, that’s messed up! They shouldn’t be enjoying work, treating it like a privilege, they should be having fun doing worthless things, like slide, or swing, or running around in circles and falling face first on the ground.” Oh, they do those things too, but that doesn’t mean it should be any less gratifying raking a mop around the floor, getting water everywhere with a purpose.

It’s like, one time, I was working with my Dad, and he gave me a sledge hammer and told me to break concrete steps until he could get a jackhammer. I know you are all picturing me in a chain gang, singing blues and hammering to the beat, but, man, I felt like Thor crushing that stupid serpent’s head in. Was it tiring? Sure it was. Did I feel super powered? You bet your sweet tanned hide, I did! When those steps split in two after five hours of hammering, I lifted that baby hammer with one hand and screamed, “Righteous!” I could hear the guitar solo in my mind.

But does that carry over to parenting? I mean, it’s not always fun. Or is it? What is fun? Is it a thing? Is it a vegetable? Is it rest? It is hard? Can work and play truly be… attitude? In the Bible, and you knew I was going to bring that up, we find all kinds of things like this. Solomon, for example, writes in one place that there is nothing better for a man to do than to eat, drink, and be merry. But he also talks about work, and the criteria for a housewife and a husband. It sounds harder than those concrete steps I was talking about earlier. But what is the theme of the attitude? Have you ever seen a sad man in Proverbs that was doing the right thing? Someone dreading the hard, and lusting for the easy? Other than the fool, I mean, he didn’t end too well, with all the dieing and darkness and all. Man, what a way to go, beaten by a perfumy girl. Mighty men even.

To complete this voyage, I would like to rewrite those ten rules into three, making some well needed changes.

What to do if you are married and going to have the kiddies:

1. Read the Bible and do what it says, especially in Proverbs, Romans, Timothy, and Song of Solomon. That last one is not so much for the kiddies, but marriage is what is supposed to bring them along, you know!

2. Raise those kiddies up in the way that they should go by reading ALL of the Bible and teaching it to them all day and most of the night.

3. Selfishness is the root of all evil. Don’t do it. Being married means you are no longer you, but you are you plus 1, and your kids are an extension of that. Would you like it if your eyes said, “Hey, I’m tired of looking for the brain, let him look at the sunset himself. I’m taking a vacation.” No, you would not like that in the least. Unless you are blind and you did not have a choice. Than choose something else, a hand, a leg, a head… anything that is applicable to a part of you that you really need.

Okay, that won’t work. That is all way too long. Let me shorten those down to one easy to read sentence.

1-3. Love God and do what He says in the Bible.

Of course, that is really the answer to everything.

Today’s topic – danger. A rather incongruous subject to my present state of safety and repose, but one is always more disposed to discuss dangerous things in security than when actually in danger. And why not? It is danger that makes safety so delightful and terrifying things that make simplicity and mundaneness so enjoyable. Only those who have never experienced danger can be bored by everyday life. And only those who delight in the everydayness of life can truly be ready for danger when it comes. The reason for this, of course, is love.

The person who is content and happy with life, enjoying mundane things and delighting in pure simplicity has a reason to fight. Better a farmer with a pitchfork fighting for what he loves, than a rigorously trained, hardened warrior that doesn’t care. That farmer fights because he loves his chores, his work, his animals, his mundane routines, his sweat, his dirt, his family. He fights because he wants to wake up early in the morning, watch the sun rising to caress his land with a glorious red glow, feed his animals and hear their contented chewing, he wants to scratch a pig’s bristled back and smell freshly cut hay, he wants to revel in the first moments of a newly born lamb and watch the baby horse taking its first steps, he wants to tickle his daughters, chase them around the barn, see their eyes sparkle, their giggles startle the horses, and straws of hay get lost in their curls, he wants to kiss his wife every morning, growing old with her, he wants to see his God in every blade of grass, in every drop of dew, and praise Him for sun, rain, joy, sorrow, laughter, and tears. He wants life with all its tiny, unimpressive feats and everyday miracles. He doesn’t seek out danger, but when danger comes he will meet it head-on, plunge into it with fear, but without a backward glance, because he loves.

The other man has become tired of life, mundaneness irritates him, simplicity bores him, he has no time, but all the time in the world. He fills his life with emptiness, surrounds himself with complexity to hide his loneliness, plunges into activity to mask his idleness. He has lost his curiosity, lost his imagination, lost his love…he seeks danger because he has lost his desire to live.

That farmer, if he loses his life to danger, gives it willingly for love. If he conquers the danger he praises God and comes joyfully back to his mundane life. The other man, if he loses his life, has given it willingly because it bored him. He sacrifices it because he is tired of it. That farmer offers his life back to God saying “thanks for the ride, it was a good one.” The other man shoves his life in God’s face saying “thanks for nothing, take this back, I don’t want it anymore.” If he comes through danger with his life, he is disappointed, the home-coming is anti-climactic and he is already seeking another drink, another draught of danger. In the words of G. K. Chesterton “A martyr is a man who cares so much for something outside him, that he forgets his own personal life. A suicide is a man who cares so little for anything outside him, that he wants to see the last of everything.”

Danger gives spice to life, it makes life worth living. But danger is also…well…dangerous. Let us not be so eager for danger that we forget to enjoy mundane life, and let us not cling so tightly to life that we are unwilling to face danger for its sake.

Right, so, first, a slight recap with softer language. Courtship and dating are not sins, but I have a problem with them and a lot of its applications as I have seen. Great results have been done with both, mostly by courtship, but right now, I want to set aside results and go with Scripture. No I’m not saying courtshipers have never thought of Scripture, but that they might be wrong in this particular aspect of interpretation. Last time, I mostly pointed out my love for arranged marriage, but I hardly even touched why I don’t like courtship. Allow me, please, to explain.

First off, why don’t we as reformed peeps like dating? In general, I mean, not as a whole. It is because it takes the authority away from the father, has dangerous alone time, and seems too casual, blah blah blah, we got that, and agree. Why do “we” (not I said the fly) like courtship? That alone time is gone, usually, because of chaperons, it is considered serious, and it puts the authority back to the parents. Perfect! I like these aspects, by the way.

Now, allow me to diverge into a different headship discussion. Pastors. We complain about many Baptists because they take the authority away from the pastor and still give him the responsibility. With husbands, it’s the opposite complaint, they may give the authority to the wife while still having responsibility for the household. Both are bad. Agreed? I hope so.

Okay, back to courtship. Let’s ask some questions. I love Q and A.

Q. Who has the authority? A. The fathers.

Q. Who has the responsibility? A. The Fathers… don’t they?

In some cases, perhaps, but never in my experience or witness. Who is expected to be the one with the most pressure, who is being the one who gets blamed when it all falls apart, and who is getting the run over to see whether or not he is a mature, financially stable, righteous individual? (In what I have seen among reformers, not in EVERY case, I am sure!) A. The one who gets it in the end is usually the boy. Not that the girl doesn’t get hurt in the process, but that hurts the boy too if he is a Christian. Like I said earlier, I couldn’t care less how it goes down if they are infidels. Call me racist. (AH! Slipping into callous jerk again! Drink another beer… ah, that’s better.)

Here is the problem, the man is supposed to go after the girl through the father, right? That sounds great, except for this is a boy we are talking about. A big boy, but a boy never the less. I don’t care who it is, if he is male and he is under 45, and not married, he is immature and in serious need of a woman to set him straight. He cannot be a well rounded, stable individual unless he has a reason to… like the few that God has chosen to be celibate. If you are one of these men, please stop reading this, this is not directed at you in ANYway shape or form.

Look at us, guys! We are men. We go out to explore, we fight wars, we protect and club and yell and sweat. A man is not rooted down until he has his first child. Until then, they are warriors, they might miss home, but they are destined to leave the home… unless they are those particular nerds who are thirty and still live with mom. (No offence to nerds or Mom.) This happened to my once crazy brother-in-law, and everyone else that I now that has a kid now. (The maturing after their child’s birth, not the nerd.) It is not isolated, it happens in America, Romania, Italy, England, India, and I’m sure a lot of other places that I have not been to have the same thing. Family changes a man, and a woman… but in different ways.

The great thing about arranged marriage is that the father looks to the other father to see what the son WILL be… if the father trained the son for the job. The son is not the father, but he is an extension of him, and if he has good report, a brief discussion should be all that is needed to find out compatibility with his daughter, whom he knows intimately… right?

So man up, father! (Not that you aren’t, but if you are not, do so.) Don’t put all the pressure on the lad, for this should be new to him, and he is scared. He might have “feelings,” but you can smash them and turn them to darkness very easily. Don’t allow this to happen, you be the initiator! You go out and find your daughter a husband that get’s along well with her, that is her friend, perhaps, and whose father is an upright, Christian man who says his son would do well for your daughter. Trust each other, and trust God. The bud of friendship will bloom from brother and sister in Christ to a household worthy to serve the Lord. Your job is not to raise your daughter to be a perfect woman, but to raise her up to be a suitable helpmeet for a man who needs help. The two will make one, and they will be that mature, Christian family that unites your two households. A perfect picture of Christ and the Church to form… The Kingdom Complete!

Whoa, I don’t know what happened there. I got carried away, big time. At least I was honest.

This does not give the boy an excuse for being a rapist, or a thief, or a complete moron, but it’s a reminder to the fathers that the boy… is a boy. Get over it.

But is all that a legitimate reason? No, it is not. If the Bible says otherwise, then let all my words fall to ash!

Personally, to make it personal… I don’t think this is the only way. The Bible has other ways, such as with Ruth and Boaz. I like their story, and so does God. He says so. The law chose them. Why are we so afraid of the different? Why is it that if I say these things, many look at me like I am a freak? Show me the arguments’ errors, brothers, do not yell at me. If this is the better way, why not chose it? If you don’t want to, fine, go on and do what you want to do, but why? Are we not here to raise the Kingdom up to what is more perfect? Are we not here to bring Kingdom to Earth? Is this not what Reformers stand for? True ones? Remember, we are His, and we are not to rely on other’s understandings alone, but Scripture is our stronghold, as it was with Martin Luther, Calvin, Augustine. This may be the last time on this blog you hear me be this serious with no sarcasm, so enjoy it. Remember where we have come from. It is the smallest compromises that make Rome fall. It is the desire for something better, not the best, that brings Russians to Romania’s door. I am not saying “my” way is better, I am saying that what is in Scripture is the best. I am not sorry if that offends anyone… for if it does, we are lost.

Your friendly reminder,

Caleb

(Disclaimer: I do not own this photo! I found it on the internet, just like everyone else, so don’t sue me, please. It’s from qwickstep.com, FYI. [Editor’s note: replaced with a bigger version ripped from daylife.com. Heh.])

I think I want to smash a hornets’ nest. Yes, I think I do, so let me step into the room with a statement that will knock reformers’ socks off. Why is courtship so great when arranged marriage is everywhere in the Bible?

Oh, yes! I said it! You have no idea how long I’ve built the courage to say that. As soon as I thought of it, it took me at least fifteen seconds of going back and forth before I decided to bring it up. A new record of hesitation for me.

Let’s go with the first marriage, Adam and Eve. God created them and said to be fruitful and multiply. Pretty intense stuff, huh? But didn’t they have a choice? What if they only wanted two kids? Could they afford more? Well, considering the first two we hear about were male, and one killed the other, it doesn’t look like that would have worked in the long term. I’m just saying is all.

Let’s look at another one. Isaac got married. Yeah, I like Isaac. You know, Abraham’s son who got married to a girl whom the servant chose with a sign from God. Her parents seemed pleased with the deal of payment.

But what about all those horror stories we see in movies of aristocrats giving their daughters away to jerk princes just to make peace between those countries? Doesn’t that make them a commodity? Does this not dehumanize them? What about love? Don’t they have to love each other before they get married?

Where is that in Scripture? Yes, it commands husbands to love their wives, but if they are husband and wife already, does this mean they loved one another before hand? I’m not saying it is a bad thing for them to love one another before hand, but hey, God set the institution up, so shouldn’t He have set up a clearer system?

Ruth and Boaz chose one another, sort of… not really. They didn’t have a real courtship period either. Never mind, bad example for a counter point.

Ah! Here we go. Jacob and Rachel… and Leah… hmmm, interesting. He was put through a fourteen year courtship period. Doesn’t this mean that courtship is the better way to go?

Discounting the fact that the marriage of the three caused a civil war in Israel for a huge part of its history, what if only Rachel got hitched to Jacob. Isn’t this a Biblical example anyway? Only if the idol stealing Rachel did was just as Biblical. Just because it happens in Scripture by sinning people doesn’t make it Biblical.

Samson chose Delilah! Oops, never mind…

Um… we don’t know if Joseph chose Mary… at fourteen… but we don’t want to go there, because then we would have to say the age of fourteen is appropriate for marriage for young ladies. (It is, by the way.)

Uh… um… ah… oh… It is not UNBiblical. Neither is dating, right? My parents dated and are now a healthy Christian family. They said they wouldn’t let us ever date, but hey. That’s right, my and my sister’s significant others were chosen by the parents of both sides and presented to us, not the other way around. Gasp! I’m a freak! A sappy-happy freak, no less. Can it be abused? Yes, fathers can force daughters into an unhappy marriage with a rapist/murderer if they are unGodly, and dating and courtship can lead to happy marriages. But who knows the children more than the parent if they are in a Godly home? The UNGodly don’t have to get married as far as I’m concerned. It’s a God centered institution after all. Let them be hot or cold, let them be as heathenistic… heathenastic… forget it, bad as possible so that the simple may have a clear choice between good and evil. As for me and my house, we will choose the most Biblical way, not because of some self-righteousness that says we are more holy than you, but because we like God’s examples better than the “reformed” self-righteous path to holiness. Strange considering I’m reformed… I think so anyways. Bring on the rants, I still want to address this issue, but I’m tired for now. Screaming internally does that.

There’s a cool (or red-hot, depending on your view) anti-establishment attitude afoot. A well-deserved one, I should say, yet it has a problem. It’s wrong to hate people, even in groups. We should reserve our hate for sin and forgive people instead.

Groups are, of course, made up of human beings. People are the same inside of a group as outside. In a group, though, individual people are not always to blame for a corporate wrong. For instance, I am a citizen of the United States, ruled by the people, yet I am not directly to blame for our many problems. Yet I am a, albiet small, member of the party to be blamed.

Furthermore, it’s wrong to hate people. In Matthew 5, Jesus described hate, a murder in the heart. In addition, he commanded love for our enemies and prayer for our persecuters. We should not have an attitude of hate, but one of love. And the two cannot coexist.

However, greed, selfishness, unethical business practices, and all other sins are just as wrong in groups, too. We should condemn these things. There are wrong things here. Groups should change.

Indeed, if I sell you three pounds of peanuts, but bag 2 and a half for you, I’ve sinned. You shouldn’t hate me, but you should hate what I’ve done. And I’m not off the hook. I still owe you half a pound of peanutes (and probably some extra) and a confession. While there is still an issue, those wronged should be forgiving, but not dismissing of the wrong. Reconciliation is important, personally and in business.

Groups have problems. Some have massive problems. Neither fact absolves the duty to hate sin and not the sinners, the problem and not the foolish. Be ever forgiving, even of AT&T.

My problem with this, and the reason I personally messaged him about it, is that even unbelievers often evidence better charity than this, comporting themselves with goodwill even in heated disagreements. But they act only out of an intangible sense of sporting or intellectual solidarity. To employ the classic how-much-more argument, shouldn’t we Christians be legendarily quick to forgive? I think the excuse often given, and the misconception I want to address, is that we don’t have to forgive someone unless, or until, they’re truly repentant.

To begin with, forgiveness is different than reconciliation, meaning that you don’t have to wait for them to ask before you forgive them. Some might place the distinction between being prepared to forgive, and actually forgiving (once the other party has sincerely asked forgiveness), but I submit that these are different ways of getting at the same thing. Being prepared to forgive someone really just means you’ve forgiven them, otherwise you’re still holding something against them, whereas you should love them enough to pursue reconciliation.

In the above scenario, I told my friend that it didn’t seem very Christ-like to withhold forgiveness, to which he responded that God doesn’t forgive us unless we truly repent. My best answer was that we’re not God, which I think is a valid point. But more than that, I think God deals with us in a more forgiving way, though repenting of our sins is essential to being in fellowship with God, and conviction is how God brings us back because we are His atoned-for children. But if I were to die suddenly with unrepented sins, I don’t think I’d be cast into utter darkness or serving time in purgatory. And, on a more basic level, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Simply put, if God didn’t forgive us before we deserved it, we’d be screwed.

I was recently inspired to consider this topic again by a sermon on handling conflict, the telos of which was that we are told to forgive as we’ve been forgiven, or else God will do to us as the unforgiving servant of Matthew 18. The man in the parable was forgiven an impossible debt; we likewise, who have been forgiven much, are called to forgive much in return. And this fits nicely with a Thanksgiving theme, since I technically still have half an hour of “Turkey Day.” We’ve been forgiven everything, so we have no excuse for ungratefulness. We’ve been forgiven everything, so why not let’s forgive everyone, everywhere, everything?

That last line and the following excerpt, which I’ll end with, are from the lyrics to “bullet to Binary (pt. two)” by mewithoutYou:

We all well know
We’re gonna reap what we sow
But grace, we all know
Can take the place of all we owe
So why not, let’s forgive everyone, everywhere, everything
All the time, everyone, everywhere, everything

All the time, everyone, everywhere, everything…

https://www.abrokenmold.net/2010/11/so-why-not-lets-forgive-everyone/feed/ 4 https://www.abrokenmold.net/2010/11/nationalism-vs-patriotism/ Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:22:24 +0000 https://www.abrokenmold.net/?p=978 Hello, I’m Caleb Bob, and this is Broken Mold News. In today’s story we take you to engineer researchers in MIT to explain just how a cat… drinks milk. (True story.)

And now on to the actual issue. I am assuming you are an American if you are reading this. I will also assume you have some Christian values at least since you are reading this blog. Let me cut to the chase. Americans as a whole are proud to be an American. Even you will admit to this, whoever you are. My question is not if you should be or not, but how prideful you should be or not. Yes, I am an American. I like the fact I live here. Good people. Good food. But where is the line drawn between Nationalism (Nazi) and Patriotism (you like George Washington). Let’s find out.

Okay, so we can agree that if you believe your norms are perfect and without flaw, you are a nationalist, right? But is that all there is to it? As long as you think you have problems, are we safe from the label of the swastika? I don’t thinks so, and neither do you. Is it about race, then? Well, then all we have to do is like black people! Problem solved. What? No? Well, what else can Nationalism mean?

I bring out my Romanian alter ego to the stand. Ahem. (Que “Godfather” music.) In my homeland, we have a proverb, “If my goat dies, so does my neighbor’s.” It means, in basics, that it does not matter if I have problems, or if I am a jerk, or if I am falling apart. As long as everyone else is worse off than I am, I feel better about myself.

So, if you (I) say is true, Nationalism is all about my nation being better than all the other backward, third-world countries.

That’s right.

Uh oh, we have a problem then. We are the greatest country in the world. We know more about God, being founded in Christianity, we have more money, we have more freedom… I mean we got it all! That’s why everyone comes here.

Everyone?

Yeah, that’s right. So what’s Patriotism, if not national pride, smarty britches?

I am proud to be a Romanian, but that has nothing to do with Romania’s standing. It only means I love my neighbors, and will do everything in my power raise them up, and not tear them down. To go to another country and brag about how you are not starving to the hungry… that is not Patriotism. To say you have a better understanding of Theology to another Repenter across the sea, that is not Patriotism. Sometimes admitting you were in the wrong, learning from other cultures to raise yours up is Patriotism. All Nationalism does is tear down, a patriot raises up, in love and Christian Brotherhood. For we are all brothers in the faith, and comrades in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You (I) know something? You’re (I’m) right. I never thought of it that way before.

That’s because you (I) are a stupid American.

That hurt.

Yes we have made a great victory, but not because of the reason you might think. No, it’s not because the Democrats are now terrified of the Reps, as entertaining as that might be, but because of one little man with one big plan. That’s right, an “independent” has won the governorship of Rhode Island. I know, I know, it’s a tiny insignificant state that is so out of the way that Rhode shows up as misspelled in my spellchecker. I don’t care. I like Rhode. Now more than ever. But why am I not enthusiastic about the Reps victory? I haven’t seen many of them that I would actually vote for. No offense the ones that I have offended, but it all sounds like differing versions of Socialism to me. But for an independent to win the governorship gives me hope that a third party might arise and take the lead one day. A party that stands for Biblical truth, and not politics as usual. If one can win, two can win. And that is all the false hope I need to keep smiling.

But on the “Big Win” of November 2010, the war is far from over. The two sides are still fighting hard, casualties on both sides, even if they are just politically dead. Men have come back to the living, women have left their households, and name calling is prevalent on every page of your local newspaper. Now is not the time to celebrate, but to act! Arise, men of America! (and women) Vote against the income tax, the property tax, and government spending so much. Rise up in this cold war and live or die- okay I’m done. Seriously, this is good and all, but won’t fix a thing. It all is rather childish.

What the country needs is not a trust in the “P” word or the government, but a change of heart. My true challenge is to the pastors. Become leaders instead of followers. Bring Christ back into the lives of men (and women) and not just in the pews. Get personal, change lives, make a difference in their hearts and minds as well as their souls. Getting men (and women) to Heaven is not our job, but God’s. Our job is to proclaim and live Truth. Emphasize the “live.”

And another thing: I hate politics.

Thank you.

Since yesterday happened to be National Coming Out Day, I took the opportunity (albeit a day late) to express my thoughts on the topic.

My number one point is: we should love lesbians, gays, bi- and transexuals the same as everybody else. They don’t deserve to be despised or hated. In most ways, they are exactly like everybody else. In fact, they are everybody else. In one sense, it is as irrational to hate them as to hate left-handed people. Their differences from what one might call traditional views of sexuality do not justify hatred; neither does being a lefty.

Now, about this coming out bit. In a way that truly isn’t contrary to what I just said, I believe that in absolute truth, these sexual deviances are sinful. This fact directly makes the celebration of LGBT lifestyles sinful. While again that does not entitle you or me or anyone to hate these people. It does mean that they will suffer the consequences of their sin, whatever form that may take. That is not man’s responsibility but God’s right¹.

In the lives of our friends, family, larger culture, and selves, these lifestyles do create problems: STDs, breakdown of the family, loss of sexual profundity. We can take issue with that. Depending on who we are, we should take issue with that. People, especially Christians living in sin, can be confronted. We can engage. We can write, like I do now. We can rest in the satisfaction of godly sexuality and permeate the world with generational fruit. In fact, we’re supposed to.

But all that—never, never destroys our duty to love these people.

From Wednesday night to Friday afternoon a couple weeks ago, I worked almost exclusively on a paper proposal (abstract) for my History Colloquium class. It was the sort where you have to have your topic, sources, thesis and supporting argumentation—your paper in all but implementation—already decided and articulated in your abstract. I hadn’t done any work on it until Wednesday. Resultantly, much caffeine and stress ensued, and only four hours of sleep until Friday night.

But wait (as they say), there’s more! When I got home after turning in the abstract, the document was still up on my desktop, and as I scrolled back through it with great satisfaction, I realized that my last-minute margins adjustment to 1″ from the 0.79″ default (stupid, OpenOffice) had seriously rearranged my bibliography indentations. I didn’t end up failing the assignment, but regardless, it caused me no small mental agitation.

Which ultimately led me to recognize again something about how God deals with us in our self-importance. I say recognize again because this is a pattern I’ve observed before, but seem to forget without God’s occasional humbling reminders. Almost like I’m a fallen son of Adam or something. God blesses my endeavors much more than I deserve, given how often I am lazy or unfocused—not exactly working heartily as unto the Lord. But often, as I scramble to salvage the consequences of my own irresponsibility, I give no time to prayer and Bible reading. I neglect those around me. And in God’s mercy, I get flattened. Two verses in closing:

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” — Hebrews 12:6 (ESV)

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” — 2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)