Perfect
I seldom mention my work schedule in any detail on this blog, partly because I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, and partly because I don't want to wade through a series of well-meaning comments from friends that amount to "You should slow down!" The fact is, gentle reader, that I simply cannot---for what I believe to be God-given reasons---follow such advice.
However, the picture that I want to draw in this particular post won't work unless you know a few details. So, in advance, I'm asking that my friends avoid the "You should slow down" comment. Believe me, dear ones, I am listening to the Holy Spirit about this and am being careful as I can to balance my life biblically. But it is indeed biblical that there are some seasons of great effort in our lives, and it appears that this is one of them, for me.
Now, to it. Because of a series of crises that occurred last month on both personal and business fronts, we had to adjust our project schedule to a faster pace. As it fell out, the only way for me to accomplish the particular work that I have to do this month was by pushing myself to the limit this week. This meant: 1) staying up until 3 AM on two nights (soon to be three), and 2) and putting down my work only when I had to eat or attend to church commitments (ALPHA, caregroup, a ladies' meeting).
Eventually my body began to give out. I don't get sick easily, but when I'm run down and then exposed to an illness, I sometimes get it. So, although I started out the week fresh, I am now more or less asleep on my feet, mentally exhausted (Milton is no picnic for the mind, though he is in many ways a feast) and definitely fighting a chest cold. In addition, I have been fueling my late nights with coffee. My body responds very strongly to coffee, which is why I seldom drink it. So, though it keeps me up until 2 or 3 AM quite easily, it also makes it difficult either to work or to fall asleep between 3 and 4 AM, with attendant side effects of headaches and nausea.
That's the stage set for you. Now, gentle reader, pay attention to this. Yesterday was a blessedly quiet day full of mists and warm rain. I spent most of it curled up in front of my work with that curiously still, fragile feeling that you get when you know your body isn't strong. I saw by this that I had passed the stage of conscious pain and entered a sort of drifting. My mind grew curiously clear, but detached, like crystal. It was in this state that I arrived home at the end of the day, and oh....my....
The trees just in front of our house are a blaze of amber and topaz, like the plumage of brilliant parrots. Moreover their leaves crisp up like jeweled feathers in the lawn's cool, green hair. Purple lavender creeps beside the old gray stone walk. Just where the stoop meets the walk, I saw three of those flame-bright feathers scattered against the stone and purple and green.
Reader, I wanted to cry; my soul did cry out at the sight. The knees of my heart buckled because it was so beautiful. It was so beautiful. It was rest and celebration to me---it was beauty, and beauty is a greeting, and the greeting to me from my God was "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and be comforted also, because you see by this that I am, and that I love you. Have good courage, my servant, to continue in your work for Me."
It was perfect, and it reminded me that God is perfect. If you must spend all your strength in serving, gentle reader, wouldn't you like to serve Perfection?
However, the picture that I want to draw in this particular post won't work unless you know a few details. So, in advance, I'm asking that my friends avoid the "You should slow down" comment. Believe me, dear ones, I am listening to the Holy Spirit about this and am being careful as I can to balance my life biblically. But it is indeed biblical that there are some seasons of great effort in our lives, and it appears that this is one of them, for me.
Now, to it. Because of a series of crises that occurred last month on both personal and business fronts, we had to adjust our project schedule to a faster pace. As it fell out, the only way for me to accomplish the particular work that I have to do this month was by pushing myself to the limit this week. This meant: 1) staying up until 3 AM on two nights (soon to be three), and 2) and putting down my work only when I had to eat or attend to church commitments (ALPHA, caregroup, a ladies' meeting).
Eventually my body began to give out. I don't get sick easily, but when I'm run down and then exposed to an illness, I sometimes get it. So, although I started out the week fresh, I am now more or less asleep on my feet, mentally exhausted (Milton is no picnic for the mind, though he is in many ways a feast) and definitely fighting a chest cold. In addition, I have been fueling my late nights with coffee. My body responds very strongly to coffee, which is why I seldom drink it. So, though it keeps me up until 2 or 3 AM quite easily, it also makes it difficult either to work or to fall asleep between 3 and 4 AM, with attendant side effects of headaches and nausea.
That's the stage set for you. Now, gentle reader, pay attention to this. Yesterday was a blessedly quiet day full of mists and warm rain. I spent most of it curled up in front of my work with that curiously still, fragile feeling that you get when you know your body isn't strong. I saw by this that I had passed the stage of conscious pain and entered a sort of drifting. My mind grew curiously clear, but detached, like crystal. It was in this state that I arrived home at the end of the day, and oh....my....
The trees just in front of our house are a blaze of amber and topaz, like the plumage of brilliant parrots. Moreover their leaves crisp up like jeweled feathers in the lawn's cool, green hair. Purple lavender creeps beside the old gray stone walk. Just where the stoop meets the walk, I saw three of those flame-bright feathers scattered against the stone and purple and green.
Reader, I wanted to cry; my soul did cry out at the sight. The knees of my heart buckled because it was so beautiful. It was so beautiful. It was rest and celebration to me---it was beauty, and beauty is a greeting, and the greeting to me from my God was "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and be comforted also, because you see by this that I am, and that I love you. Have good courage, my servant, to continue in your work for Me."
It was perfect, and it reminded me that God is perfect. If you must spend all your strength in serving, gentle reader, wouldn't you like to serve Perfection?
posted by Praelucor at 11:51 AM
1 Comments:
A rather random thought struck me in reading this:
The same God who has given you a particularly hard and busy season, also gave you the ability to appreciate leaves on a sidewalk. Most people don't notice. But see, dear one, He giveth more grace!
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