God made man upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.*

There it is, the best explanation of things as we see them.

Newspapers may be having a hard time staying afloat these days but not for lack of bad news.

I still get one delivered to my driveway. How many times have I muttered to myself, “Okay, I’ll give you one more chance to give me some good news?” But it rarely happens.

I’ve sometimes thought instead of “Times” or “Tribune” or “Sun,” a more accurate masthead would be “The Daily Sin.”

Okay, it’s not the newspaper’s fault. Communication is the lubricant of a democracy and all that. We need to know what’s going on. The occupation is worthy.

I remember a fascination with making newspapers as a child. I’d produce a small sheet complete with clever headlines and brief copy with maybe a drawing or so. It was before the days of photocopiers so I charged “five cents a read.” I don’t remember the news, likely fairly mundane and close to home. All very innocent and “upright.”

That was before exposure years later to wayward influences and my personal “search for many schemes.” Then my news was not so fit to print . . . not large swaths of it anyway.

Even now, God knows, there’s plenty I wouldn’t want read by the general public.

That God knows is enough. That he reads it, uncomfortable enough.

At five cents a read I’d be rich.

But not always comfortably.

Happily there are new beginnings. A personal newspaper keeps coming: “Morning Mercies.”**

I’ll keep my subscription up with that one.

(Especially since it’s been paid.)

_____________________

*   Ecclesiastes 7:29
** Lamentations 3:22-23

Next: Words: Goads and Nails. Coming Tuesday.

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He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.*

How limited we are in these earthly bodies, with only so much energy, and only so many years. Certainly we are finite beings with boundaries. Yet, in mysterious ways, we are somehow connected to the infinite.

Our brains may be matter, but out minds are more. The gray stuff is sheltered within a shell, the mind however is free to wander. And wander it will, if it wants, like to anywhere in the world and beyond, or through the skies winglessly flying (a personal favorite).

Here are some notes from my sketchbook.

Imagination:
The largest capacity we have.
How tentatively we venture into it . . .
Our fences staked so close to home.
Yet there really is no end
Of where it can go
Or where I can go by it.

At least that’s my thought.

It’s another thing that separates us from the animals.

We can’t do everything. But we can imagine most anything.

It just takes two words to get things started: “What if?”

Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Or was it, “more important than intelligence”? Either way, it all works together. Knowledge is about “what is,” imagination about “what could be.” Together they’re greater than the sum of their parts.

Of all our faculties, imagination is our most expansive.

But for all that, there’s more than we’ll ever fathom. The “eternity in our hearts” is hint that there’s a lot more here than meets the eye, and much more yet to come.

Imagine that.

_________________________

*Ecclesiastes 3:11b

Next: How Things Went South. Coming Thursday.

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Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.*

Awe, now there’s a word that’s suffered a devolution.

“The universe is 10 billion light years across.” “Awesome.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at 5:00.” “Awesome.”

Can they both be awesome?

Seems it takes a lot to form a new word but very little to dilute an old one.

(“Awesome thought, Hyatt.” “Thanks.”)

I checked out the etymology of the word and find that awful came first. That’s “full of awe,” meaning “knee-shaking fear.” But when that word went mostly to the dark side, awesome came along to lift us up. Used correctly, it means “dread mixed with veneration,” particularly in reference to the Supreme Being. Still pretty knee shaking.

It’s a result of colloquial weakening that’s brought it down to merely “impressive,” or “very good.”

Or even “pretty good,” like . . . “Hey, I got a B on my test.” “Awesome.”**

Okay, but then what word do we use when we consider the following?

If the distance between the earth and the sun (92 million miles) was the thickness of a sheet of paper,
then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of paper 70 feet high.
The distance across the galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high.

Or this:

Our galaxy (the Milky Way) has 500 thousand million stars.
Some galaxies are 100 times larger than ours.
There are an estimated 200 billion galaxies! 

What do you say to that?

“Uhhhhhh . . . ”

(“Uhhhsome?”)

The Ecclesiastes writer, who had a clearer view of the night sky, said, “Your little thoughts and plans are just that, stand in awe of God.”

It helps to put things in perspective.

See you next time.

Awesome?

______________________

*  Ecclesiastes 5:7
**Actually, for me in high school, getting a B really was pretty awesome.
Next: Imagination: Peep Holes in the Walls of our Minds. Coming Sunday

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Though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him . . .
there is a proper time and procedure for every matter . . .
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.*

Those are three phrases from Ecclesiastes cited in reverse order. It makes sense either way, but this seems the better procedure.

Here’s the meaning: Sometimes we’ve got such challenges that discouragement sets in. We wonder if there even IS an answer. But there is. It’s all about a time and order . . . and wisdom will find the way.

When something isn’t working it’s basically a wisdom lack. Wisdom is a multi-faceted word. Here the context defines its use: The knowledge of the best time and procedure for any situation.

Timing is everything. The right approach at the wrong time won’t work.

Procedure is everything. The right steps in the wrong order won’t work.

It’s true with simple things and just as true with complex things. The complex ones might take longer . . .  or require more of the “W” word.

There’s always an answer. If we haven’t got it figured out yet, it’s not ITS fault. Eschew the heavy heart, instead seek wisdom . . . like a set of lost keys . . . without them you won’t go anywhere.

The solution has to be at the right time. When it is, put first things first, last things last, and everything else correctly ordered in between.

Not that it’s always so easy. Not at all. If it was, where would be the challenge? Why bother to work, to study, to practice, to get help? These are the things that fill our days, and nights.

The easy things bring small reward, the hard ones large. The really big ones require huge pyramids of time and procedure, but don’t lose heart; there is an answer. It’s a promise.

Remind me next time you see me stumped.

_________________________

*Ecclesiastes 8:5,6

Next: Moderately Awesome. Coming Wednesday.

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The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.*

Such a brief statement, nothing more than just a quick remark nestled among the Ecclesiastical many. It’s such a passive, nonaggressive, “innocent” act, the folding of the hands, for such devastating results.

The Biblical book of Proverbs has more to say about this, but I looked instead at other authors. I found much on the topic, of idleness and it’s opposite: LIFE!

Here’s one, “Idleness is the enemy of the soul,” from soulful Saint Benedict back in the sixth century.

Closer to our times but still early language: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” Ben Franklin.

Or by 1800’s journalist and abolitionist Gamaliel Bailey: “We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on the dial; we should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”

I love that . . . deeds not years, thoughts not breaths, feelings not figures in the bank balance (okay, I changed his quote for that).

Note there’s no“folding of the hands” in any of this.

“Idleness is the gate of all harms . . . An idle man is like a house that hath no walls; the devils may enter on every side.” That’s Canterbury Tale’s Geoffrey Chaucer.

Or from Shakespeare: “Ten thousand harms more than the ills we know, our idleness doth hatch.”

And I love this one, a Turkish proverb: “The devil temps all men, but the idle man tempts the devil.” Whoooooh!

Finally, by 19th-century English dramatist Sir James Matthew Barrie: “The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story and writes another; his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he hoped to make it.”

That’s inspiring. And haunting.

Excuse me, I’ve got to run. I have much to do. And so do you.

______________________
*Ecclesiastes 4:5

Next: A Proper Time and Procedure for Everything.

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Scrooge, as played by Jim Carey, the archetype of a life of poverty as wages for a love of money.
(By the way, that 2009 retelling of A Christmas Carol was the best version I’ve seen. We watched it twice last season.)

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.*

Here’s a truth about one of our favorite preoccupations. But note that it’s not really about money, it’s about a love affair with it.

God knows we need income, and promises our sustenance one way or another. He also reminds us that a person’s worth does not consist of the sum of his possessions. Still, it can take over . . . a one-sided love affair with a partner that is always elusive, generally unfaithful, looking beyond, and just not as interested in us as we are in her.

One defense is to be as casual about her as she is about us.

Anne and I just had another experience with her. We were offered the opportunity of showing and selling our art at a giant home and garden show. Throngs of people would be there, and it not being an art show per se, there would be little competition. Plus, every home needs art, right?

Wrong! At least not in the eyes of those who passed us by with hardly a glance. It’s not that we hadn’t done our part . . . a full week of preparation, plenty of out of pocket in expenses, the best examples of our art, all the wisdom we could muster, and prayers. Yet in the three days of the event, we made not a penny.

What’s with that?

Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s our prices? Maybe it’s the state of the culture generally. Or maybe it was just the wrong event for us. There may be a hundred reasons, and we endeavor to learn from it all.

On other levels, maybe it’s a test of resolve, or maybe it’s guidance, or maybe it’s just another example of the irregularities of life. Nobody’s exempt from these things.

One thing it wasn’t was a big disappointment. Why? Because it wasn’t only about the money anyway. That would have been one measure of success, and a nice one, but there are always others. We made a number of friends, made a few people happy with gifts or encouragements, became wiser through it all, and generally had a good time. When I think about it, my love for those things is a lot more reciprocal than any love affair with money.

Besides that, we never missed a meal, had everything we needed, traveled in a functioning car and returned to a comfortable home. All these things are being provided for somehow.

There are many ways to measure success. Money’s one; but not if it’s wished for too much. Then the wishing never ends.

Wishing you all contentment, and peace, today.

___________________________

*Ecclesiastes 5:10

Next: The Passive Path to Ruin. Coming Friday.

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A photo I just came across of our son about the time he learned to pray for “WCandS.” He now has them all, plus a wife and three children of his own.

When our kids were young they’d ask, “Dad, what do you want for Christmas?” To which I’d answer, “Wisdom.” To which they’d answer, “Daaaaaaaaaaad…”

Okay, it wasn’t something they could buy at the store, but it is what I wanted . . . that and a few other qualities on that level.

Wisdom is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. If you have that, you have access to pretty much everything else worth having.

Seems it was the source of everything for Solomon. He famously prayed for wisdom as he was starting out, and the Lord was so pleased with the humility (and wisdom) that he gave it to Solomon and ten times more.

Or was it by his wisdom Solomon learned how to gain ten times more?

Either way, it was the same result.

When our son was young, we suggested that if he prayed consistently for wisdom as a child he’d have it when he grew up. He (wisely) took us up on it, in time adding “courage” and “strength.” He got so where, when it was his turn at meals, he would pray with such rapidity it came out as one word: “wisdomcourageandstrength.”

I don’t know how much that had to do with his later being on the Naval Academy wrestling team, his facing dangers in his submarine and high aircraft Naval intelligence work, or his current pursuits for a PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford. But it all seems somehow connected with those three-fold childhood prayers.

We’re proud of him of course, but we’re just as proud of all of our children so that’s not the point. I use it as an example of what wisdom can do for a person.

Here’s the Scripture: Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter . . . wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.*

There it is: The benefit of wisdom is what it does. Like an inheritance, it’s a head start in life. Like money, it’s a protection against what might befall. A life preserver, it provides basic common sense against that which can shorten life.

There’s more to say on the wisdom topic, much more, but I’ll save it for another day.

At least that seems like wisdom to me.

_________________________

*Ecclesiastes 7:11-12

Next: Money, the Unfaithful Lover. Coming Monday.

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Terry Martin, from my 2008 sketchbook. Terry died last week, as graciously as he lived, honored by a thousand peers. He left a legacy of hand shaping some 80,000 surfboards. That and the simple honesty of his yes meaning yes and his no meaning no, nothing more.

Here’s one:

“When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.”*

It’s one of the few places in the Bible where vows are discussed at all. They don’t seem to be so God-required as we might think. Rather, we tend to come up with them on our own, to add power to our resolve. But in the end, they usually only show up our weakness. And when we don’t fulfill them, we’re worse off.

Better advice might be a shortened version: “When you go to make a vow to God, don’t.”

It’s not that God doesn’t hear it; he hears everything. You want to be taken seriously? He’ll take you seriously. But when you fail, then what?

Here’s what follows: “Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?”

Noooooooooo! That’s about the most fearsome threat I can think of.

The work of our hands . . . metaphor for EVERYTHING WE DO. To experience frustration with it is, well, frustrating, exasperating, and mega-discouraging. It can make everything seem futile. If anything, the work of my hands needs God’s help, not God’s opposition.

So what about this?

I’ve made vows. Not so much anymore as I know how I am . . . zealous at the beginning but then, encountering obstacles, my resolve weakens. In time, it’s all shot full of holes.

Then I appeal to another aspect to the All-hearing All-seeing: MERCY. And though he takes no pleasure in fools, maybe he’ll make exception for just this one, once again.

Jesus’ approach was simpler, “Just say Yes or No and mean it; anything else (like a vow) just messes it up.”**

So there it is: Just get back to work, don’t say too much, deliver more than you promise and you’ll be on the safe side. Let God, who takes no pleasure in hindering you, bless the work of your hands.

It can make all the difference.

___________________________

*Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, **Matthew 5:33-37 (my paraphrase)

Next: Wisdom Is What Wisdom Does. Coming Thursday.

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Boat Buoy, oil, 11×14, click for larger view.

A few posts ago I mentioned chumming. It was one of the points in What I Learned about Life from Dad’s Fishing, which said, “When chumming, be extravagant.” Chumming is the strategy of throwing bucket-fulls of very small fish over the side of an ocean-going fishing boat to attract big fish. If the fisherman don’t do it, chances are slim that any fish will come their way.

So often, if not always, illustrations from the natural world also fit in the spiritual. And here it is in Ecclesiastes: Cast your bread on the waters, for after many days you will find it again.*

Why “bread” I don’t know, unless it was bread that was lacking. That’s how it works.

One time, many years ago, in the midst of a particularly challenging time financially, I was moved in my spirit to give away my boat. “What? My sailboat?” It was a beautiful mahogany-hulled racing sloop that I’d long loved. But we were going through a life change and moving to a place where it wouldn’t be useful and when I asked what to do with it, this is what I heard in my mind, “Give it away.” So after a moment’s wrestling, and checking with Anne, I committed to go through with it. We donated it to a worthy cause which sold it and used the money.

We were no poorer for doing it, and possibly a good deal richer in the soul. It was years later that it began to dawn on me that every time I came near water, whether lake, river or ocean, a boat was provided for our pleasure and for however long we wanted to use it.

I could wonder if the translation should have been, “Cast your BOAT upon the waters and after many days . . .” except I’ve seen this reality happen in many, many ways, both tangible and intangible. It’s got to be the best of all investment strategies.

Funny how it can be so scary at the front end.

All it is is a risk!

All it requires is faith!

(That’s real faith . . . the action kind.)

“But what if I get it wrong?” I ask. “What if my motive is selfish?

Seems to me we’ll never get those motives completely pure. A certain self-interest is built into every one of us . . . and built into the promise.

“But what if it doesn’t work? Then I get no big fish and all the little fish are gone, too!”

Yes, doubt undermines. If doubt wins there will be no chumming at all. And no big fish.

Giving costs. Spreading the bread involves faith. We’re dealing here in the invisible world where our physical eyes don’t serve. In fact, they work against us.

Who can say what’s really going on in the invisible world? Except this: “Not nothing.” Behind the scenes the tiniest detail matters, nothing goes unnoticed, and after many days, every investments receives return.

You can bank on it.

Get spreading some bread.

__________________________

*Ecclesiastes 11:1

Next: Vows and the Work of Our Hands. Coming Friday.

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From an old journal,
a ballpoint sketch I drew in the air. The caption just says, “Between Buenas Aires and Houston, 5/28/09.”
Is she content? You decide.

Better what the eyes see than the roving of the appetite.*

Contentment is a greatly underrated value, until you don’t have it.

It sounds so Vanilla when Double Chocolate Whipped Rocky Mountain Mousse is right there . . . just out of reach.

Why settle for what you already have when something better is looming in the mirage of your mind?

Well, for one reason, your eyes look better when focused.
Your mouth looks better without the drool.
Your conversation is better in the moment.
And your Attention Deficient Disorder is less obvious.

Question: How much time is misspent wishing things were different?
Answer: All of it.

I read an account of a man in prison who chose solitary confinement so he could better focus. Doing time, he had plenty of it, and didn’t want to waste a minute. He became a scholar in his chosen field (Egyptology), communicating with researchers on the outside. He’s getting out early for good behavior, well cured of the lifestyle that got him in, and now a man with a future.

Seeing value in the potential of his present situation was the key to everything.

The eyes are beautiful things to reveal what’s in front of us. But they also take in a lot of what we don’t have and leave us dry. It may be a hodge podge of mixed metaphor, but the roving appetite is the mother of a sunken rib cage of the mind.

To have “more” is a pretty human preoccupation. But I’ve often wondered, “Would I be happier?”

Or wishing for more again?

Happiness is a present tense state of mind.

Having all is never enough.
But having enough is all.

______________________

*Ecclesiastes 6:9

PS My sister Sue’s blog today features a pictorial tribute to my parents’ 70th anniversary. She was fourth of five, myself eldest. Take a look here.

Next: The e-gallery. Coming Thursday.

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