verbs from I Timothy 4:15-16
plot,
think about,
be in,
stop,
stay,
continue in
a translation of II Timothy 2:4
no one
who is soldiering
braids himself up like knotted hair
with the practical stuff of daily life.
why? so that
the one who is soldiering may please
the one who is soldier-recruiting.
there is much that would knot us up. there is much for us to plot and think about, to be in, to just linger over and be consumed with. what absorbs us? what draws us in? what has us, our thoughts and time and attention? the practical stuff of daily life? or the very Word of God to man?
we want to be the poet, to watch, to pay attention to the totality of ways in which God is present and active in this world. He is here, being and doing. His kingdom has crashed into the brokenness and there are clues everywhere. the "to-do list" is a lying distraction pulling us from the greatness right outside our front windows. let us look up and pour over it all.
let us go to work, seeing what we see and comparing everything to everything. we fashion similes and craft metaphors. we load the beds of our trucks with symbols and parables. we try to find new ways to say what God is like. we paw at words and ideas like, "He is the wrecking ball destroying the building of sin. He is the generous friend in the restaurant booth who always grabs the check and pays. He is the EMT racing toward trouble at night while we sleep, bringing help and presence and touch when there was no one else." And at the end of the day, we say that we are tired, but it was good work, but we have so much left to do. we smile because we know we have the best job of all and we can't wait to wake up and clock in again.
"Already you show signs of my nature, of being one who watches" -Roger Fanning, Henry
"gazing in silence" -Genesis 24:21
"meditating in the field" -Genesis 24:63
"reflected upon, looked upon that kind of life" -Proverbs 24:32
"meditate in your heart on your bed and be still" -Psalm 4:4b
"see, recognize, consider, gain insight about God" -Isaiah 41:20
"look at the birds, consider the lilies" -Matthew 6:26, 28
yes, this is good work. but it is dangerous work and we must be wary of thieves who would break in and steal while we are busy at labor. As the criminal Jack Handey said, "Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here looking through your stuff."
