Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Psalm 119:37 – Futility!

    Psalm 119:37 – Futility!

    Turn my eyes away from looking at what is futile;
    Give me life in your pathway.

    This one seems pretty obvious. Recently we looked at Isaiah 55:2 – “Why spend your money on what is not food, and your labor for what doesn’t satisfy.” The question becomes exactly what is vain? What is futile?

    There are many things that people describe as futile, or not worth spending your time on. It’s very easy for us to start to equate God’s way (the non-futile way) with what we imagine is a good idea. I’ve encountered church people who thought any form of imagination or fiction was vanity and futility, but in turn spent hours gossiping, passing on information which not one of them need, and from which they will never benefit.

    There are people who call time spent in prayer futile, because one is not busy making money. You need to take care of that first, they’ll tell you. Others see spirituality as the greatest reality and think any sort of detailed study of scripture is a waste of time because people don’t really need to know all that stuff. God will tell them what they need to know. They’re matched by those who think any time spent in meditation or other spiritual activities is wasted, since they can be misled by all that stuff. They should spend their time on scripture and serious theology.

    I know that my parents were told that they were not raising me right because I didn’t get enough social activities, but rather spent too much of my time reading books and playing with electrical equipment. This attitude is often matched by those who argue the balance of social activities, sports, and more intellectual things for students. Some “serious” people think you should get rid of frivolities as art and music. They’re a waste of money, aka “vanity.”

    I recall attending a computer show back in 1980 with a friend of mine. The whole show fit in one classroom at the university. My friend and I were discussing the possibility that one day computers would be able to drive cars. Someone at one of the exhibitor’s tables was listening to us and told us we were being frivolous. If we thought such things could happen we really had no understanding of computers at all. If we ever wanted to do anything in the industry, we needed to get serious. For him, “looking at vain things” was imagining a world in which cars might drive themselves.

    I wonder what he would have thought if we had expressed a much more frivolous thought, by his standards, and talked about a car that you could summon by pressing a button. We had no such idea at the time. I was watching a discussion about a new beta option from Tesla that can do just that, using GPS to locate you. Ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. And in beta testing. The discussion was about the safety of proving actual customers with beta features. I vote no, but nobody asked me!

    The point I’m making here is that a verse of this sort gives us a simple truth. We need to look for God’s way, or more precisely, allow God to “enliven” us in that path. But that simple truth is the door to a great deal more. It’s very easy to dismiss useful things as futile, and embrace futile things as truly important. One key is always just where it is that you’re going.

    And that leads me to the next thing. It’s Sunday. I spent some time thinking about this one!

    How narrowly do you define “God’s path”? For many, if you’re spiritually oriented, everything has to be about religion. So the pastor is much more spiritual and much more “on God’s path” than say the doctor, or the engineer, the fantasy author, the comedian, or the artist. But all of these are part of God’s world. Futility would be to pursue something that is not your calling.

    Don’t assume that you know what is futile. Think about it. Seriously.

    What is God’s path for you? Can you think of some job you’ve looked down on as doing something less valuable than you do? Should you reconsider?

    (Featured image from Adobe Stock, By Sergey Nivens. Licensed, not public domain.)

  • Psalm 119:36 – What’s Your Inclination

    Psalm 119:36 – What’s Your Inclination

    Turn my mind to your testimonies,
    And not to ill-gotten gain.

    How about some alternatives.

    Hearten my mind to your testimonies
    and not to extortion.

    Bob MacDonald, Seeing the Psalter, 382

    Dispose my heart towards your instruction,
    not towards love of gain.

    Psalm 119:36 (REB)

    Christians frequently speak of the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) as a book of all about law, and even sometimes as a book of legalism, in which salvation is to be earned by energetic keeping of God’s law(s). They contrast this to the New Testament, which is a book of love and of grace received through faith.

    I keep wondering whether those who believe this have actually read either. The Hebrew scriptures are filled with God’s grace, and constantly portray God as the one who acts first, while the New Testament speaks a great deal about action, things to do. Paul goes on about salvation by grace through faith, and then goes into a list of good things to do.

    The issue in both cases is the role that these things play in our relationship to God. This verse is a prime example. The Psalmist asks God to incline his heart (or mind) to do what God says. He then says the same thing in reverse. Incline me away from ill-gotten gain. Or from just the stuff.

    God does the inclining first, and we are inclined away from one sort of actions toward another. God’s action precedes and leads to our action. Scripturally, it is always this way. In fact, the very desire to ask for that inclination is the result of divine action.

    This verse points just a bit further than that to what I would say is the most common manifestation of idolatry, and that is the drive to acquisition. I’m not talking about getting things that one needs to live, or carrying out useful and productive work, or even investment. The question is what is the driving force. Why am I doing what I’m doing.

    You see, idolatry keeps our vision low. It makes us short-sighted. Do I want to acquire money so that I can accomplish good things with it? Or do I want money or other stuff just to make myself more important? Please don’t read this as merely wanting money for charitable purposes vs for business activities. I include productive activity, including investment, as accomplishing good things.

    This can go astray in a couple of ways. First, I can gain things by cheating. Cheating takes many forms, but it usually involves a form of manipulation, such as an employer convincing an employee that they will never get anything better, and that their only hope is to accept what that employer has to offer. Or it could be a worker who manipulates the work situation so as to appear more valuable that he or she really is.

    Second, this can take the form of pure acquisition for the sake of possession. I’ve often thought that Ebenezer Scrooge was more to be pitied for the fact that he did not actually enjoy any of his stuff than looked down on for his business practices. He manipulated people in order to acquire, and didn’t even enjoy the possession.

    If the stuff drives the bus, it’s going in the wrong direction.

    We often fail to see the value in things that God commands, whether through the written word, or simply through the nature of the world in which we live. As humans, we regularly try to live in ways that are not sustainable. We can see this in history time after time, yet we are inclined to act as though the consequences won’t catch us.

    Rules are hard to enforce on people who are not inclined to keep them. Just check out the traffic laws and observe the speed and other driving practices taking place on the road. We are inclined to take what shortcuts we think we can get by with. But if we change our inclinations our actions can change. And as the Psalmist demonstrates here, God is the one to ask for that change.

    What are you inclined to do? Would you like to see it change?

    (Featured image generated by Adobe’s Firefly in Adobe Express.)

  • Psalm 119:35 – Make Me Do What I Want To

    Psalm 119:35 – Make Me Do What I Want To

    Make me walk in the path of your commands,
    For in it I take delight.

    On first read, this verse can sound very strange. Some translations and some interpreters tend to take a less forceful reading of the first verb, the one I translate “make me walk.” We sometimes think that we do what we want to do when we turn of our good judgment and our will and just go with the flow. But often following the path of least resistance leads to regret and to doing things we very much do not want to do.

    That sounds a bit complicated. Let me illustrate.

    When I was in college and yes, even in graduate school I was a good student getting good grades. The records bear this out. But I had some less than excellent study habits. So I’d end up the night before some assignment was due with nothing in hand and I’d have to work all night. I wanted to have the assignment done earlier. I wanted to work with less tension. I wanted to do a better job.

    But I didn’t.

    I remember the Monday morning when I had a five page discussion of the literary form of French “fabliaux,” a particular form of poetic short story. I would likely not remember the name except for the way I did this. I woke up, realized I have about an hour to produce five pages, get to class and present it to the class–in French, no less. I read one story, wrote five pages, arrived at class out of breath, and presented the paper. I did OK, but I wonder what I might have discovered had I done more study.

    This verse speaks to me in that sort of situation. Following the best path makes everything better, even though I may have to force myself to do it. The path of least resistance may feel good, but it’s not the delight. I join in the Psalmist’s prayer to ask God to put him on that delightful path, the one that comes out with the satisfying result. That call to the best path falls under what we Wesleyans call prevenient grace.

    While we may wish for the good result without following the good path, we generally realize that doesn’t work, and we live with the occasions on which we have followed the easy path instead of the best one.

    Let this verse be a prayer. Lord help me to get where I really, under the guidance and prompting of Your Spirit, want to go.

  • Psalm 119:34 – I Will Guard It with My Whole Mind

    Psalm 119:34 – I Will Guard It with My Whole Mind

    Give me understanding, and I will keep your Instruction (Torah).
    I will guard it with my entire mind.

    The heart, in ancient Israel, represented the mind or intellect. I have translated this as “mind.” This goes with the beginning of the verse, “Give me understanding.”

    There’s a basic principle here that I find repeatedly in scripture: God gives the power for all we do. God grants the intellectual ability, and with that understanding, the Psalmist promises to keep the entire law.

    But I allowed my own mind to wander again through scripture. The time I just spend on my treadmill, listening to Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, led me through the introduction to 1 Kings and then to the first couple of chapters. There are some interesting things that stand out from the story.

    Solomon was a wise man. Until he wasn’t.

    Solomon was a great king. Until he wasn’t.

    He was king of a united Israel, until he wasn’t and it wasn’t.

    There’s a lesson here. Intellectual ability is a useful thing. Until it isn’t.

    I can’t count the number of times I have figured out that something was utterly impossible, only the find the possibility opening up. More than 10 years ago I returned from a mission trip which had eaten up my resources. I knew I had to stick with my work and guard such money as was coming in to make it through the next few weeks.

    While I was thinking these thoughts, I was approached to join another mission trip. I didn’t want to go. I wearily explained that I had just returned from a month overseas and had used up my energy and my resources. But then I continued with the fateful words. “If the resources will be provided somehow, I’ll go. But I don’t expect it.”

    It was less than a week before someone had provided the entire cost of the mission trip. I had expected this not to happen, as the group going had a policy of not allowing full scholarships. They believed each person going on the mission should support themselves with at least half of the resources needed. Yet somehow nobody had the slightest objection.

    But God wasn’t yet done with me. After setting aside money for my family while I was gone, my pocket was literally empty. I knew food was covered, and I’d be OK, but it wasn’t the best feeling ever. The day before I left, a friend of mine who knew i was going asked me if I had anything for myself for the trip. I said I was tapped out with covering expenses at home. He took out his wallet and handed me $200.

    I hadn’t asked. I hadn’t even prayed for it. I had been convinced in my mind that it was impossible.

    Let me go back in history a bit to my parents. (I like the four generations idea expressed in the opening verses of Psalm 78. If you aren’t acquainted with that chapter, you could do worse than to stop right now and read it.)

    Back in 1971 my parents and I headed to Guyana, South America, not to be confused with Ghana, which is in west Africa, and regularly received our mail! Since I really love that little country, and many people don’t know where it is, here is a map and some information for you!

    Guyana world map polygon with a diamond pattern.
    By kameonline

    Within a couple of days of our arrival, my father, a physician, required major emergency surgery. The surgeon who performed this surgery stated that my father would never work again, and wouldn’t live more than 10 years.

    For two weeks this seemed to be the verdict. He was just not getting better. The mission board wanted to bring him home. In fact, they were starting to make the arrangements. My parents said that they had gone to Guyana to do a mission and they hadn’t done it yet. I was 14 years old at the time and was dismayed by the lack of progress.

    My parents chose to call for the elders of the church and have my father anointed with oil as they prayed for his healing. I was seriously disappointed with the results. There was no miraculous activity, such as him getting up off the bed and heading out to work.

    But that was the limits of human understanding again. Two weeks later my dad took over as the medical director of a 54 bed hospital and was on call 24/7 for the next year. He lived another 37 years. Later in his life, he and I had a little joke when I’d call and ask him how he was, and he’d say, “I think I’m xx years overdue to be dead!”

    Solomon exemplified this limitation. With many wonderful things taking place and with many demonstrations of wisdom, he still failed as a leader in the end, with the kingdom divided. Perhaps this line from Proverbs gives the right feeling: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (3:6, KJV). In fact, my mother wrote a book about her life experiences with the title Directed Paths.

    Where do you need God to give you understanding?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:33 – You Teach Me

    Psalm 119:33 – You Teach Me

    Teach me, LORD, the path of your statutes,
    and I will keep them to the end.

    Once when I was scheduled to teach on prayer at a conference, I had prepared an hour long talk, but as the time approached, I kept hearing in my head, “Let the Holy Spirit do the teaching.” In my mental outline, pieces of my planned talk fell away. It got slimmer and slimmer. (Those who have heard me speak will doubtless regard that as a good result!)

    In the end, everyone else that day (I was last) went overtime, so I was asked to try to keep it to a half hour. I actually spoke for just 20 minutes and went to a short time of prayer. Several of my best encounters with others on the topic happened after that short teaching, and I learned from many of those people.

    I’m not saying that teaching is a bad thing and we should just tell people to listen to the Holy Spirit. But we should tell people to listen to the Holy Spirit. Biblical scholars, teachers, preachers, and people with years of experience in church get in the habit of telling everyone what to do. We often forget to tell people how we came to our conclusions so they can recheck our sources. We fail to encourage them to go to the source.

    I’d like to make a commitment to suggest the teaching from this verse more often and suggest to people that they ask the Lord to teach them, because in the end, learning from the source is the only thing that will make it all the way to the end.

    Teachers are important, but like all of scripture, we need to point people to the source.

    Who is your ultimate teacher? If you teach, do you point people to the source?

  • Psalm 119:32 – Enlargement

    Psalm 119:32 – Enlargement

    The way of your commands I will run,
    As you broaden my understanding.

    A young man once commented to me that he thought that perhaps we were trespassing on God’s sphere with scientific discoveries, that we were approaching knowledge that God had kept to himself alone. I asked him this: Do you believe that God is so fragile that he can be threatened by what little we can learn of the incredible amount there is to learn about this amazing universe. And what we know as the universe may not truly be the universe, or all that there is.

    There’s a much more likely reaction. There’s an episode in Life, the Universe, and Everything, the third book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. The Krikkiters have lived for ages on a planet enclosed in a dust cloud and thus have not known that there were any other stars or galaxies. For reasons explained in the book, they build a spaceship and travel past the edge of the dust cloud that encases their galaxy, and come upon the incredible site of the galaxies and starts that surround them. Seeing this, they immediately determine two things. First, it’s very beautiful. Second, it’s got to go!

    We often act very much like that. Push our horizon a bit too far out and we want to settle back into things that are already well known. “We ain’t never done it that way before” becomes “we ain’t never thought of anything like that before.”

    We like a small and easily imagined universe, and with that we want a carefully delimited god suitable to our imagined universe. When we see something bigger, we may think it’s beautiful, but it’s got to go.

    In turn, we read scripture in such a way as to fit it into our limited universe, and so as to imagine it produced by a similarly limited god. If someone goes beyond those boundaries we are quick to yell “heretic” and “corrupter.”

    And we read the Psalms in this way. I have heard material from Psalm 119 and other Psalms used simply to explain why we ought to be so thankful to God for making up some very good rules. Many of these rules could be deduced from just looking around our little corner of the universe.

    The keepers of the acceptable often complain that those who speak of the power of God’s grace, and do not see the value of a path of holiness that is just about doing certain stuff and not doing certain other stuff as being against God’s law. Antinomian is the word.

    I teach a principle in Bible study that I call the hammer and saw principle. “Don’t criticize your hammer because it won’t saw boards.” Don’t criticize the law, conceived as a set of rules, because it won’t make people holy or even good. That’s not what it’s there for.

    Psalm 119 turns into a boring and trite piece of propaganda when read as high praise of a list of rules. But when read as the high praise of the God who stands behind those rules and invites people to ever greater things, it sounds very different.

    I used “broaden” in our verse today as a translation. In other translations you’ll find many ways of translating this Hebrew word. But it comes to the word party with a sense of widening and making something bigger. Combining various senses of a word can be dangerous, but I think it’s also dangerous to ignore where a word came from. We can lose the broader sense that the word brings to us when we totally ignore its origins.

    “Make my mind bigger.” This is what will bring on running in the way depicted by God’s commands. It doesn’t bring on checklist managing. It doesn’t bring on a life restricted from greatness by a list of petty limitations. It’s a life made possible by the broadening power of the God of the commandments.

    The law can be a most horrifying and destructive force when it is allowed to replace the Lawgiver. It is God who broadens. It is God who acts first. And it is a God of enlargement that is involved in it all. A giving God, a gracious God, is One who opens doors onto broad vistas of life now and in the future.

    I believe the Psalmist sees this as he praises God as revealed in the instructions, the Word that God has given.

    As a Christian reader of the Psalms, I have come to this particular verse on Christmas Eve, writing something that will be published Christmas morning. For me, the incarnation is the central doctrine of my faith. It’s one I won’t let go of. But more importantly it’s one I want to understand more and more.

    The incarnation is not just an historical event. Yes, I see it as something that happened in history. There was a time and place at which God became present (was revealed) in a human infant. But that moment also represents the timeless fact that God has always been and will always be with us.

    Glory came into a stable. Something that could not be contained was represented in the small, the ordinary, the limited. We try to make this seem better in so many ways. We want it to seem more dignified. But there is nothing more undignified that pure Glory contained in a human body. Philippians 2:5-11 gives a bit of the sense of that.

    But in the same mode, what is human, what is small, what is limited, was called to something greater by the touch of infinity. The incarnation in that place had/has/will have impact and meaning at all times and in all places. It says fundamentally who God is. It says that Infinity chooses to connect with the finite, indeed that Infinity created the finite and calls it to greatness.

    When we note that we cannot keep the law, or be worthy of God’s glory as noted in scripture, it’s not merely that we’re going to screw up and do stupid and destructive things, though we will. It is that we can’t even conceive of the glory to which we are constantly called by the same Infinity that showed up in a manger and showed us that yes, it could happen.

    Creation, redemption, first and second coming all combine into the ultimate reality of the God whose nature is such that God appears in a stable.

    To what glory is God calling you from your stable?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:31 – Holding God’s Testimonies

    Psalm 119:31 – Holding God’s Testimonies

    I have held tightly to your testimonies;
    Don’t let me be put to shame.

    It’s quite possible to translate the second half of this verse as “don’t put me to shame.”

    Have you ever felt that God was calling on you to take a certain stand, or act in a certain way, and you hope you’re right? Have you considered the prayer offered here? “Don’t leaving me hanging, Lord! I’m doing your work. I need you to make things work out here.”

    It’s easy to cover up my own concerns with concerns for God’s reputation. “Lord, if I do this and you don’t back me up, people will think You are not faithful!” But behind that are the more human thoughts. “If I step out in faith and God doesn’t perform a miracle, I’m going to look like at idiot.” Or simply, “If I take that particular moral stand, people are going to despise me.”

    Sticking with God’s plan can be unpleasant. Just look at the apostles. Being an apostle was not a life-choice conducive to longevity. The path of God’s instructions may not be easy. You don’t need to go that far back. Today, as I write, I know people who face persecution for the stand they take for their faith.

    And don’t imagine that all these problems come from non-Christians. You may be asked to take a stand in your own church, against those who should be your friends, supporters, and prayer partners. “Don’t let me be put to shame, Lord!”

    You’ll also find those whose claim to cling to God’s testimonies is just a pretense. Very likely you’ll be tempted along the same lines. There’s always a good cause, or a cause that appears to be good, and the temptation will be to jump on the bandwagon while claiming that you’re clinging to God’s testimonies. Don’t tell me that you don’t care about the opinion of other people in your church, or those from that “more successful” church down the road with more members.

    And then there’s the simple fact that no matter how hard you cling, sometimes you’re going to be wrong. Sometimes you’re going to be quite when you should speak, or you’re going to speak when you should be quiet. Probably lots of times, if you’re honest.

    It’s a very human prayer: “Lord I’m doing all I can, help me out. Don’t let me look like a fool. Don’t let me look like a hypocrite.”

    Then it’s time to remember that as God’s child, it all belongs to God. Your successes and failures both! The next breath, the next step, is in God’s hands.

    (Featured image from Adobe Stock. Not public domain.)

  • Psalm 119:30 – I Have Chosen

    Psalm 119:30 – I Have Chosen

    I have chosen faithfulness as my path.
    I’m in place1 with your judgments.

    1 There is considerable controversy about how this verb should be translated.

    A literal translation may make this clearer:

    Decided have I a way of faith
    with your judgments I have agreed

    D. Robert MacDonald, Seeing the Psalter, p. 382

    Let me commend again, Bob MacDonald’s treatment of the Psalms, and indeed is work with music of Hebrew scripture.

    As I meditated on this verse, I kept coming back to New Year’s resolutions and the fact that I don’t make them. I have done so in the past, but I haven’t for years. New Year’s resolutions are famous for their short duration. We determine to do things, but then we really don’t. Thus the broken New Year’s resolution has become a cliche. I heard this question recently on a Family Feud episode, and if I recall correctly, the #1 answer was two weeks. And that might have been optimistic.

    We joke about it, but then we tend to live our lives that way. So should we give up on making decisions? Should we cease to try to do right because we so often fail?

    About two years ago, I got the results of some blood tests that showed my glucose was way too high. The doctor already had a list of prescription medications he wanted me to take. I said, “I don’t think so. I’m going to do some lifestyle changes and see how that goes.” The look of skepticism he gave me was memorable. But he agreed with my process, and I graciously (!) didn’t tell him it wouldn’t have mattered if he hadn’t.

    Three months later the relevant numbers, including now A1C and blood glucose had dropped below levels of concern. They weren’t down to where one would like them, but he confessed that most of his patients who were on medications had trouble maintaining that good of numbers.

    I made a decision, and for the most part, I carried it out. Not nearly to perfection, but to my own benefit. My sleep is better, my productivity is better, I have more energy. The result is great!

    So what if I said, “Most people fail at these things. In fact, I usually fail at these things. There’s no point in making an effort”? I’d be taking more medications, and while my glucose level would likely be lower due to medication, the other benefits would not have occurred.

    Or, on the other hand, I could observe difficult moments, days on which I didn’t complete my exercise goals, or the time back in September when I was sick for a week, and then practically had to start over building up my activity levels.

    I don’t know if Psalm 119 is a Psalm of David, but David was “a man after God’s own heart,” (1 Samuel 13:14), and wrote some of the Psalms. I’ve just been listening to the stories of David including his behavior with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. We also have Psalm 51, which the superscription presents as David’s confession and determination to follow God’s way after God has forgiven and restored him.

    I think it’s important to recognize when decisions and resolutions are valuable and when they are not. Writing these meditations was a decision. I plan to write 176 of them. I may skip Christmas and New Year’s Day, but then again, I might not. I can tell you that while my statistics indicate readership is dismally low, simply taking the time to mediate on these verses as been a worthwhile resolution.

    Might I suggest that Hebrews 6:1 “be carried on to perfection” provides a similar resolution. I’ve summarized the message of Hebrews as this: “Get on the right train and stay on it till it reaches the destination.” With the author of Hebrews, I’m determined to stay on the train.

    But don’t let your value be determined by your resolutions or your success at carrying them out. You are “a little lower than God” (Psalm 8:5), you are a child of God, a brother of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:11). You are all that already.

    Make good decisions; rest in God’s goodness.

  • Psalm 119:29 – Grace Me with Your Instruction

    Psalm 119:29 – Grace Me with Your Instruction

    Deceitful ways turn aside from me
    and graciously give me your instruction [Torah].

    It’s hard to read this verse when we use “law” as the English gloss for Torah. Graciously give me your rules? Graciously let me live in your rules?

    But that none of those are actually bad translations. Law or instruction, and the Torah as instruction includes lots of rules, is a gracious gift of a gracious God. Further, any ability to walk in those laws is also a gracious gift of a gracious God.

    There is no plan for people, Jews or gentiles, in scripture that does not include the creation at some point of a holy people. Our problem is in trying to approach law without grace. Law seen as a hurdle, as the means by which we somehow work our way into God’s favor, is always negative. It shows us up, makes us feel bad, discourages us, and eventually destroys us.

    But God offers another way, which is simply to allow the operation of God’s grace in our lives.

    The Psalmist recognizes this. Repeatedly he talks about what he is trying to do. But also repeatedly he asks God to help him, or even to make him do it right. He has joy in the law only because he also has joy in the God of Israel.

    In New Testament terms, I could quote Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure.” I think the spirit there is much like the spirit of the psalmist.

    Another New Testament passage is also important. It’s quoted frequently by Wesleyans, but I translate it differently. “[L]et us go on unto perfection …” (Hebrews 6:1) is the KJV reading. But the verb is passive (or might be regarded as middle in meaning, which the KJV and many other versions do. I take it as passive: “Let us be carried on to perfection.” Perfection is the goal, but the route is different. The law is still the standard and still challenging, but instead of a hurdle to jump in one’s approach to God, it’s a glorious goal toward which God, in power and grace, is carrying us.

    I challenge you (and myself) to rest in God’s grace. It’s not that it’s the easiest or the fastest way. It’s the only way.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Lazy Labeling

    Lazy Labeling

    I frequently hear various people complain about labeling. We shouldn’t label people, they tell me. But labeling is essential. Language wouldn’t function without labels.

    For example, sitting right next to me as I write this is a cat. I label him “cat” and I tell you he’s a cat, and we communicated. Behold, the cat, also named, labeled, that is, Li’l Mo.

    Li’l Mo, a Cat!

    Thus the label is useful. None of you are shocked at the picture after being told it would be that of a cat.

    But …

    A Tale of Two Cats

    Now behold two cats.

    The cat with longer fur is Cheena. In this video, which was taken only a couple years before Cheena crossed over the rainbow bridge at 16 years of age, Li’l Mo is about 6 months old.

    I credit Li’l Mo with extending Cheena’s life by perhaps a year because she seemed to gain new energy with him around. She mothered him, in the way a crotchety old aunt might, not too clingy, but playing with him and occasionally putting him in his place. As long as she was alive, she remained the dominant cat.

    So we have two animals labeled cats, one labeled Li’l Mo, and one labeled Cheena.

    Where Labels Cause Problems

    I have repeatedly noticed something interesting when I describe these two cats. I love both. I remember Cheena fondly and frequently.

    Cheena was very set in her ways. She would spend her time sleeping on the bed, specifically on my side. She didn’t want a lot of attention but about once a week she’d spend an hour or so on my lap. She adored having her hair brushed every night. She was picky about her food. She was dignified, and would take what I called “princess strolls” through the house, head high, looking left and right, making sure everything was in order.

    She also hated the vacuum cleaner, and would hide at the opposite end of the house when I brought it out. As most animals do, she hated the vet, but unlike any other cat I’ve had, she was very sweet about it. I remember after I picked her up from surgery after her foot got infected (Li’l Mo bit it!), the vet offered me a carrier box as they saw I hadn’t brought one with me. “No,” I said, “I don’t need it.” A couple of members of the staff followed me and watched as I carried her across a waiting room filled with dogs and a few other cats while she just hung out against my shoulder. Not a peep or a wiggle.

    Cheena was generally unconcerned with the activities of the humans as long as she got dinner on time and found me in my chair where she could sit on my lap.

    When I tell people about Cheena, they often say, “Well, she was a cat.”

    Mo, on the other hand flies around the house like a mad cat. Princely strolls are only occasional and generally short. He also hates the vet, but I wouldn’t even think of taking him there without a carrier. Oddly, he’s totally cooperative with the staff, and totally uncooperative the entire rest of the time. He’s unafraid of the vacuum cleaner. If he deigns to notice it at all it’s to chase it and pounce on it. He has no concept of riding peacefully on my shoulder. He is deeply concerned about his food being on time.

    When I tell people about Li’l Mo, they often say, “Well, he’s a cat!”

    And therein lies the problem, though it’s usually not an issue with cats. It’s not important, except to me regarding my cats, and perhaps to the cats, that people notice their individuality. But in many other cases, it very much does matter.

    A Personal Example

    A friend of mine for some years never conducted what I would regard as a complete conversation. Whether the issue was religious, political, or even how to accomplish some task, he would jump in when I was half-way through explaining my position and say, “Yes, I understand completely.” He would then carry on the conversation in a way that made it clear to me that he had checked off my view as matching some compartment he had created in his mind, and I was stuck in that compartment. Discussion would die.

    I found this very frustrating, as he was a person with interesting ideas and I would have enjoyed exploring our differences more seriously. But once I was placed in the compartment, the discussion was over. He never appeared to be thinking of me negatively. He’d usually put me in a compartment that was agreeable to him., but it was still frustrating.

    Lazy Labeling

    And that is the problem with labeling. Not the use of labels in itself, but refusing to use accurate, or at least carefully chosen labels. This doesn’t mean we can’t use general labels. Cheena and Li’l Mo are (or were) indeed cats. They’re also individuals.

    My views might generally fall into a category chosen, but they might also differ in important ways.

    Make the Effort

    In relationships and discussions of ideas, be willing to do the work of understanding and labeling accurately. Your life will be enriched for the effort.