41
Today is my 41st birthday, and I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned this past pandemic year is to enjoy the gifts you have while you have them, because you never know when they’ll be taken away.
Say your worst fears of the future will be realized—what good is it to allow future pains to rob you of present joys?
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34.)
Each day may have trouble, but each day has plenty in which to delight, too.
So, here’s to delighting in each day that comes.
P.S. Folks at church surprised me with a cake tonight. 41 candles!
If Today Were the Last Day of Your Life
If today were the last day of your life
you wouldn’t spend it fretting in anxiety about an election outcome over which you have no control;
you wouldn’t foment a sense of outrage at people who have the wrong facts, opinions, and ideas;
you wouldn’t frantically refresh your newsfeeds to see what’s changed in the last 4 minutes.
If today were the last day of your life
you’d savor every sip of your coffee;
you’d smile at the sight of every human face, considering it a great privilege just to be in that person’s presence;
and
you’d be grateful to God for every breath you had left.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Oscar Grace
A moment of grace can change everything.
I remember watching the Academy Awards in 2004. Bill Murray—one of my favorite actors—had been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar that year for his movie Lost in Translation.
At the Oscars, the camera lingers on the faces of each of the losing nominees after the winner has been announced. (We like to see the pain and disappointment of others, I suppose.) I remember Bill Murray looking particularly crushed when Sean Penn was announced as the winner. He had to have known that he’d never get back there again, particularly as he has made a career as a comic actor and not as someone who takes on the sorts of dramatic roles that are like catnip to the Academy.
I was reminded of that moment when I saw the award given for Best Director at last night’s 2020 Academy Awards. The Korean director Bong Joon-Ho was announced as the winner, and then the camera lingered on the faces of the four losing directors: Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarentino, Sam Mendes, and Todd Phillips. (I thought Mr. Phillips looked particularly disappointed.) Seeing the real-time disappointment of men who have been working their entire lives to win something made me uncomfortable; I felt sorry for them.
And then Bong Joon-Ho made his speech, and the entire feel of the moment changed. The whole thing is worth watching.
Mr. Bong first deftly recognizes Martin Scorsese in such a pure and heartfelt way that the entire audience gives Martin Scorsese a standing ovation. Then, he credits Quentin Tarentino with generously promoting his films in American when no one had heard of him, and then he tells Todd Phillips and Sam Mendes that he wishes he could cut the Oscar statuette in pieces and share it with them. Todd Phillips grins. It’s as if grace has been poured out on the entire theater, with everyone just grateful to be there and experience it.
It’s such a beautiful moment.
Grace changes everything.
One More Year
One more year. We've been spared to see another year. Last Sunday, my wife and I knelt at the communion rail at our church and prayed and thanked the Lord for his provision over the previous twelve months. Another year wasn't promised to any of us, and yet we made it. We thanked God for all the cool stuff that had happened since Christmas Commitment Sunday last year, and all the blessings we received, and all the joys we experienced, and we were grateful. Thank you Jesus! We then prayed for God's blessing on our family and our work for the year to come. We asked for his favor on our lives and for him to give us strength for today and a bright hope for tomorrow.One more year.Amen.
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You Need to Know the Background to This Prayer
My friend Lin Thomas is blind. He was diagnosed a few years ago with irreversible glaucoma; the doctor who evaluated him told him, "You'll never work again."Lin can't work, but he's busy. He rides up and down on the DART train in Dallas making connections with troubled young men who remind him of himself when he was younger. His disability has given him the time to do that sort of thing.Lin lives on a disability check. Even in straitened financial circumstances, he tithes--gives 10%--to our church.Last Sunday, Lin gave me a prayer he'd written, and I asked him to read it in church today. Here's his prayer (text below the video):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVzl2uDub-w&feature=youtu.be
Lin Thomas's Thanksgiving Prayer
(1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give Thanks Always)Father, thank you for the life that we live;Thank you for the love that you give;Thank you for the food that we eat;Thank you for a strong heartbeat;Thank you for the water we drink;Thank you for the thought we think;Thank you for the pleasure and pain;Thank you for the sunshine and rain;Thank you for a place here on Earth;Thank you for the grace of our birth.In Jesus' name, Amen.