Happy Friday,
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.
King David, Psalm 43
Those who are acquainted only with David’s “wins” — e.g., his victory over Goliath, his musical and literary skills, his ascendancy to the throne, and his successes as a warrior and statesman — cannot understand his prayers. Those who reflect on his entire life — e.g., his years-long struggle with Saul, the leadership trials that dogged him, and the cascading effects sin visited on his family — are not. The Psalms of David are more despair, lament, confession, and pleading than they are praise. And when they are praise, as often as not, the praise comes after David overrides his emotions and directs his heart to gain a heavenly perspective. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to languish (the mental state between depression and thriving that too many people spend too much time in) and grammable (an adjective designating something worthy of being posted on Instagram — e.g., every picture of our granddaughter is grammable). I’m going with Copilot, which is the name of Microsoft’s recently released A.I.-powered personal assistant. If Satya Nadella is right, Copilot will be to the 2020s what the PC was to the 80s, the Web was to the 90s, mobile was to the mid-2000s, and the cloud was to the 2010s.
Secondhand Smoke: The endemic depression and confusion of today’s young has many parents keeping smartphones out of their kids’ hands. Expect a higher standard to roll out. Twice this week, I heard it suggested that children who are surrounded by parents with a smartphone addiction will suffer the tech equivalent of “secondhand smoke.”
IS2M (It Seems To Me): 1) If anyone had reason to be cynical, it was Jesus, and he wasn’t; 2) Many Christians spend more time planning their next vacation than they do thinking about heaven; 3) People living in rich countries can keep reality at bay for quite a while before it forces its hand; 4) We demand certainty before embracing things we do not want to be true but accept things we do want to be true on the basis of the scantest evidence; 5) We should neither ignore our emotions nor yield to them. The right approach is “to pray them,” using the Psalms as our guide; and 6) We are not spending enough time thinking about the $33 trillion debt we are passing along to the next generation.
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt; 2)“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” Upton Sinclair
Without Comment: 1) On an average weekend day, 29% of the workforce is at work; 2) Since 2016, enrollment in undergraduate computer science programs has increased 49%; 3) US children are the most likely in the world to live with only one parent; and 4) 98.2% of college students in a recent survey said they identified as either male or female.
What Say You?: In his book Breaking Bread with the Dead, Alan Jacobs argues that if we hope to navigate the volume and velocity of today’s culture, we are going to need more “depth and density.” If you agree, I’d like to hear what you are doing to that end. Reading? Reflecting? Travel? Service? Suffering? How are you gaining “depth and density?”
My Boys Were Right: I have long maintained that it’s polite and helpful to leave a VM if someone does not answer your call. My boys object. “They will see that I called and know to call back.” I’m suddenly hearing from more who side with them. Apparently, no one who is anyone leaves a voice message anymore. It’s very ‘80s. Let people call you back. Or, text them what you were going to leave in the VM. If you have an opinion, you can call and fill me in. Feel free to leave a VM.
Closing Prayer: I am not worthy, Master and Lord, that you should come beneath the roof of my soul; yet since in your love toward all, you wish to dwell in me, in boldness I come. You command; open the gates, which you alone have made. And you will come in, and enlighten my darkened reasoning. I believe that you will do this; for you did not send away the harlot who came to you with tears, nor cast out the repenting tax-collector, nor reject the thief who acknowledged your kingdom. But you counted all of these as members of your band of friends. You are blessed for evermore. Amen (John Chrysostom, 347–407)