Happy Friday
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.
Proverbs 4
Solomon’s words are those of a father pleading with his sons. He knew how easy it was to chase the wrong thing. He desperately wanted them to seek wisdom and understanding, regardless of the cost.
Managing Expectations: M. Scott Peck made a name for himself back in the 80s with The Road Less Traveled. Among the things celebrated about the book was its opening line: “Life is difficult.” I am tempted to say something snarky, like “apparently that was news for many”, but I will not. Instead I will note how much easier trouble is when you expect it. While preparing for this week’s lament service, I read a scholar who noted: if you do not expect tears, you end up crying over two things: the thing that grieves you and the fact that you are crying.
Without Comment: 1) Forty percent of Americans do not have $400 for an emergency expense. Twenty-seven percent could borrow the money (or sell something to come up with it), but the other twelve percent would not be able to raise the full amount. 2) About one in three students who enroll in college never earn a degree. 3) Americans will consume 818 hot dogs every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 4) In 2018, more CEOs were ousted for ethical lapses than poor performance. 5) 51% of Americans between the age of 18 and 35 do not have a steady partner. That is up from 35% in 1986.
Quote Worth Requoting: Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate. Rick Warren
Judgment: Two sports legends died this week. Bart Starr and Richard Buckner. Both had remarkable sports careers, but the first is famous for winning the Ice Bowl, and the second for losing the World Series. It seems unfair when a person’s memory is reduced to a single event. Perhaps I just worry that I will end up being remembered for one of my more idiotic moments. (Of course, that assumes I am remembered at all.)
Prayer Requests: 1) This weekend we continue a study of the Psalms by focusing on lament. Religious people distrust their feelings. Secular people defer to them. Lament Psalms model a third way – i.e., to pray them. Please pray that those who are suffering are able to be honest before God and find strength to move forward. 2) Recent elections in India suggest that the those favoring Hindu nationalism may make life harder for anyone who is not a Hindu nationalist.
Resilience: In last Sunday’s sermon on contentment – which you can access here – I made a reference to the declining emotional resilience among many, especially younger Americans. Among the follow up comments I heard, one directed me to a conversation between Tim Elmore (a long-time friend) and Clay Scroggins about just this topic. You can click here for my notes of their talk, or here to watch the video.
Closing Prayer: Keep us, O Lord, from the vain strife of words, and grant to us a constant profession of the truth. Preserve us in the faith, true and undefiled, so that we may ever hold fast that which we professed when we were baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; that we may have you for our Father, that we abide in your Son and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. -Hilary of Poitiers (310-368)