Back in the Saddle

Writers write. That's what they say. I haven't written in forever. I've been reminded this week of the concept of a long obedience. It's the idea that obedience isn't always a one-shot deal. Many times, life as a follower of Christ requires obeying today, and again tomorrow, and the next day, and so on. It comes from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche that goes something like this: "The essential thing "in heaven and earth" is...that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living."

Writing is a weird thing for me. It's a gift I've been given, I think, and so, I'm supposed to use it to build up and benefit the body of Christ. I haven't been using it, for lots of different reasons, but I think they all boil down to really not being obedient. I'm a gonna' get back on the horse. I'm going to try to obey in that "long obedience in a same direction" way... today, and again tomorrow, and so on. Except not actually tomorrow, ha! Monday through Friday, so there ya go. That's my explanation for why I'm back. And since I created this blog long ago to be a place where I share God's activity in and around me, I guess I'll get to it.

Earlier this week, we had some serious weather. Wind, mostly. 70 mile-per-hour gusts. It was positively spooky to be outside; things that were supposed to be still were flying all around, trees down, construction barrels rolling this way and that. Luckily for Lily's teacher at school, this was the week they were studying weather in science. Lily made a beautiful chart where she tracked the wind speed and temperature. She thought it was so funny to see completely different things outside depending on whether you looked out the front window or the back window. In the front, the tree has not one single leaf left, and the branches don't look like they move much in the wind. In the back, wow, could you see the weather! The big maple, whose leaves haven't even changed color yet, looked like someone with crazy hair blowing all over.


My, how appearances can deceive. The wind was windy everywhere, front and back. But it didn't look like that when you looked out the front window, because there wasn't much catching the wind. How many times, and in how many ways do I think I know what I'm seeing, forgetting that I have a limited perspective? Changing our perspective, where and how we look at things makes all the difference. We make decisions based on what we see, from our perspective. And God's perspective? Right, He can see everything, front and back.