Something About The Joy

  In this blog post I am going to digress, for a moment, from a pursuit of the meaning of my life in order to pursue the meaning of the universe.   I realize that's quite a leap--one might even say a significant one--but I can't help but feel there might be a connection between the two in the end.     My pursuit of the meaning of the universe came about the other day while I was pondering the meaning of my life and playing spider solitaire while I waited for inspiration.   I began to ask myself, "What do chess, spider solitaire and the Rubix cube have in common?"     There might be several things those games have in common, but the one that struck me is that they are all concerned with putting things in their proper places--getting things to their perfect final homes.   Finding meaning, order and purpose, you might say.   But even more than the pursuit of that ultimate goal, the solutions in all of these puzzles require--yes...

   I have a First World problem: I have lost my TV remote. I've looked everywhere--around the house, in the garage (which is so cluttered it could easily be there without my seeing it) and even in the garden shed, where I spent some time yesterday. I'm concerned about this because if there is a way to watch TV without using the remote I have no idea what it is.   My sister suggested looking in the fridge where she found hers the other day.   I did that, out of desperation, even though I couldn't imagine myself being quite that ditzy (my sister is a blond, after all), but it wasn't there either.   My best friend suggested the loss might be a case of divine intervention. I know she's kidding, sort of, but I have to admit that thought had occurred to me. I have been more or less addicted to the TV lately. It's an easy go-to antidote for COVID ennui.   It also occurs to me that boredom, itself, might be a First World Problem.   It might not...

Reading further in my March 24th journal entry:   Today it seems like I am reaching a climax in my search for what I am supposed to be doing instead of just killing time.   It's like I need answers to this question so badly I will (finally) quit trying to escape into activities, or mental distractions, and confront Him a final time for the answer.   I have spent the morning sorting through some books to put in the church library. I had been fasting, but I finally heated my coffee and fixed some breakfast. As I sat eating and looking out the window, I told the Lord (or was He telling me?) that I had done all I could to settle this issue of what I needed to be doing.    I suspect He was thinking that it was about time.  (Please excuse the pun.)   I have been reading in John 15 about Jesus being the vine and us being the branches. It seemed God wanted to remind me that it was HE who chose me, for fruit-bearing, whatever that looks like. ...

  I've decided to start blogging some of my journal entries here.   I'm a bit nervous about this, because when I journal I often go so deeply into my thinking that I wonder if what I say will make sense to anyone else. Or even to me in the end. Am I just musing myself into some wasteland of random thoughts that I will one day read over, scratch my head and wonder where I was coming from?   But lately some of my entries have made a little bit of sense and even helped me enter deeper into my walk with God, so I will share those with you, my reader.   Feel free to pick and choose. If there is anything that resonates with you, take it, and just leave the rest.   This March (2021) I began a new journal. It has been a strange year, immediately following the last strange year: two years like no other this generation has ever experienced, all over the globe. If nothing else, COVID has stopped the world in its tracks. It has forced us to slow down, give up, an...