March 18, 2013

We have received much needed rain over the last 2 days. While Audrey and I were attending the Donald Miller event yesterday afternoon, there must have been quite the hailstorm at our house, as there were piles of hail in the front yard. I do not think it hailed where we were at Remington’s, just 3 miles away.

Today I will have a root canal performed on a rear molar. It frames my day off. I will try to enjoy the morning, relaxing, reading, exercising. I will rest in the afternoon and evening.

Exodus 17 – 18

In these two chapters, Moses endures much pressure from the people. They are thirsty, demanding water in the desert. God instructs Moses to gather leaders, then strike the rock, which then flows with water. Moses sends Joshua as a general out to fight the Amalekites, and as long as Moses’ arms are up, the Israelites prevail. Moses needs Aaron and Hur to help him as he cannot hold his arms up by himself. Jethro comes to visit, and points out to Moses that the people wait all day for his judgements, and this is not good for them or for Moses. He advises Moses to delegate: “then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.” (18:23)

I experience a lot of pressure in my work. Audrey notices it often. I need to constantly widen my support, to accomplish greater good for the Kingdom. I need to pay closer attention to all the people who shoulder responsibility at Wesley. 

Yesterday as we listened to Donald Miller, his talk inspired me to think along several lines. The essence of his direction, he says comes from Victor Frankl who wrote Man’s Search for Meaning (originally titled Saying yes to Life in Spite of Everything: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp, 1945.) According to Miller, Frankl postulates that meaning comes from undertaking difficult work, in community with people you love, to save many lives. Miller observes that our culture’s obsession with pleasure is really a by-product of life without meaning. In response to one of the audience’s questions, he advised us to continually focus, by saying no to more and more, and pursuing the one thing that we are being led toward.

In reading about Victor Frankl in Wikipedia, I discover one of his observations is that the Statue of Liberty should be complimented by a “statue of responsibility”, that liberty is only half the equation, and that a meaningful life includes responsibility.

 “He is thought to have coined the term Sunday neurosis.  The term refers to a form of anxiety resulting from an awareness in some people of the emptiness of their lives once the working week is over.^[11] Some complain of a void and a vague discontent.^[10] This arises from an existential vacuum, or feeling of meaninglessness, which is a common phenomenon and is characterised by the subjective state of boredom, apathy, and emptiness. One feels cynical, lacks direction and questions the point of most of life's activities.”

I imagine that this same concept could be applied to retirement also. I will peruse my copy of Man’s Search for Meaning to glean other nuggets.

Guide me today, most holy Lord in the life and work to which you have called me. I give you thanks for this day, and all that it will hold.