A quieted soul

It's been a pretty good week. I've accepted a job offer from HP, finally finished Twilight Princess, and.... well, that's it. Having managed to forget to tender the shares I bought, I'll have to wait another month or so for the fat stock and options check to roll in, but I'll survive without it. Not really sure what to do with it and the other stock money I have, since it's a shame to just leave it in a bank account earning squadouche in interest. Send your hot stock tips here.

I ended up reading a devotional written by Elizabeth Elliott drawn from the passage in Matthew where Jesus and the disciples encounter a storm on the lake and He's fallen asleep. She begins by making the point, how could He fall asleep in such a situation? He was so completely resigned to the total control of His Father over everything that He didn't see it as something to be worried about. A heart that is quieted in submission to the will of God is that only one that can react in such a manner.

Every thing in this world is geared to produce just the opposite of a quieted spirit. Whether it be the constancy of change, personal insecurities, a violated conscience, a controlling personality, or the drive of ambition, ... all are hardly conducive to quietness. To the contrary, our society banks on just the opposite. You don't have to watch adverts long to figure out that if you're content wth what you have, then you're a fool. All are geared to incite a feeling of dissatisfaction, because that's the only way you're going to go out and buy their better, stronger, faster. If you don't have the latest X, Y, or Z, then you're being left behind. If things in your life aren't going in the way you think is best, then you have to fix it. Now.

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
Ps 131:2

Someday I'll play poker tournaments for a living... or maybe not.

Kick back

Some days you just have to kick back. Guess what I'm doing?

Hold on
Hold on to yourself
For this is gonna hurt like hell
-- "Hold on", Sarah McLachlan

Take care of yourself
Be nice to your friends
And visit your relatives once in a while
Give love to your family
Take care of your baby
Don't be afraid to open your heart
-- "This is our life", Bosson

Great is Your faithfulness
To carry on with a sinner like me
Great is Your faithfulness
Turning shame into victory
-- "Great is Thy faithfulness", Newsboys

Just say no

Today was mostly ordinary, minus the working from the couch, dropping friends at the airport, and waiting around to drop another one off several hours from this writing.

Just say no. It's a saying coined back in the 80's as a suggestion for dealing with drugs, but it's really much older -- "do not present your members as instruments of sin". It only really applied when you want to do something that's harmful to you. If you didn't want it, you wouldn't have to be reminded "say no." That we have to be told is a testament to the hold sin has; it bends our affections toward the very things that destroy us, body and soul alike.

As a city broken into and without walls
So is a man who has no control over his spirit

Check your ego at the door

It's not every day that I get my ego knocked down a few pegs. It'd probably be better for my spiritual health if it happened more often, but at the same time I could do without feeling like crap. Other than that, it was a pretty ordinary day, thankfully.

Gossiping about a peer is one thing, because it poisons the way the hearer relates to that person. It's a whole other thing when said people complain about you to the leader of your group and don't say a word to you about it to your face. I'm not a stuck up person; believe it or not, I can take criticism. If you tell me I'm doing something wrong and what I'm doing wrong, I'll fix it. If you go behind my back, then I couldn't give a damn what you say and you're not even worth my contempt.

It's easy to be a humble person,... until someone points out your humility.

It's a strange thing to find yourself praying without having thought about doing it.

"The waiting.... is the hardest part." --Tom Petty

"What do these monkeys want me to do???" -- me, frustrated, while playing Twilight Princess