Face to face – Laugh as a family – still not for me – Our purpose: Glorify God – Wait on the sign – slow to anger
Three days into my routine and many things are not yet habits. I think they say it takes 21 days which would put me at September 12. For those of you too young to remember September 11 is a significant day in the history of our country and this year will be the 20-year anniversary of that tragedy. With the US pulling out of Afghanistan this month, there is potential for negative circumstances. Please pray that as messed up as our country seems to be, that God protects us from terror.
When I was a kid, I had a terrible temper and I was often confronted with the admonitions of Christ to be slow to anger. I still get really mad at the computer (or myself when on the computer), but I have really tried to convert my outward behavior to exhibit the slow to anger concept over my sinful drive to lash out when provoked.
A friend mentioned some negative impacts from the debacle that is Biden’s response to Afghanistan in 2021. The potential harm to US citizens invoked a thought to have our military strike back. Thinking through how the government has not handled this whole process well leads me to believe any negative Taliban actions will be met with nothing worse than a few blusterous words. I wish all the US citizens had been smart enough to leave before the month ends, but I fear for the consequences on individuals who expected more from our government. Maybe they were waiting on their sign and missed it. I have spent time waiting on a sign and know it can eat you with worry or drive you to senseless action if you let it.
For the rest of the year, I think I am going to go back to the daily devotional I used last year. I may get some repeats, but the others I have tried were still not for me. Interestingly enough, this devotional started with a series of sequential bible verses once again giving the whole randomness a test.
One of my clients has been pushing his client for a face-to-face meeting. The end client has other, better things to do, but as a group they are struggling to understand the nuances of our position with just video meetings and phone calls. I have taken a large number of trips the last couple months and I am sick of traveling, but there is a huge impact of people interfacing face to face. God designed us to spend time with people. I know movies tend to hasten the affection people develop for each other when sharing experiences, but the basic concept is true. Many people become friends just through the volume of time spent together.
Our Purpose: Glorify God. I feel this is a constantly recurring theme in my studies and pray that it is not losing impact on my audience. One of my people mentioned something that initially felt odd, but has grow more pertinent over time. The comment indicated spending more time with my family. Having spent all summer in close proximity and on many trips, I kind of assumed I had checked the box on the issue, but two things are emerging. One, we did not really spend much one-on-one time together and two, we were not laughing as a family much when together. I have denoted the need for more one on one time and hope to figure out a good way to implement that as the fall unravels. The laughing has me a little stumped, but when we went to a magic show on our last trip, we definitely had both time together and time laughing.
As I look forward to getting my routine habitual, I carry the sense that it can not be so process oriented that I miss out on low pressure times spent with family that allow laughter along with glorifying God. As I told someone recently, make sure to pick your big rocks and get them in first. Family and laughing have to be big.