"mastering the mundane matters"

I found these words in the following blog entry: http://www.boundlessline.org/2007/10/doing-boring-st.html , in which the author comments on information found on Lifehacker.com . Here's another blurb from this entry:

"Everybody always wants to do the fun stuff, but it's the menial stuff that defines you, especially Christians. It's sort of like that saying about what you do when nobody's looking. Anyway, Lifehacker has some tips on how to do it and like it.

1. Look at the long-term benefit
2. Find what you can learn from it
3. Think of doing it for someone you love
4. Enjoy the interaction with the people
5. Think and say something positive
6. Gather with passionate people

It seems that number three fits perfectly with Paul's command in Colossians to work 'as working for the Lord.' All the others could become a natural outflow from it if you get that one right."

Students are human, too!

Obviously. But really, encountering a wide spectrum of personalities is one of the fascinating aspects of teaching!

Two examples from today --

1) Honesty -- One student approached me because he thought he should have received one point less. I used to be like about points when I was a student, too!! Wow!

-- After school today, I helped and chatted with another student. One question she asked me was about a sentence she wrote for another class. She was supposed to have written a compound sentence, so she was supposed to rewrite the sentence she wrote. I think her concern was not knowing what else to write about to expand the sentence because she'd already written about all the pets in her home in America, I think.

2) Passionate Frustration -- So today in class a student was frustrated about a question on the quiz. He was also frustrated about a particular section (he only underlined the part he thought was the mistake; he didn't change the mistakes like he was supposed to). I addressed his question for awhile before moving on, and after the class it seemed as if his passionate frustration had subsided or disappeared.

3) Concern -- As I mentioned in #1, I met with a student after school today. She seems sweet and bubbly, but also she seems to have her share of difficulties with her life here (ie. transportation, not speaking English at lunchtime). I am glad she shared those concerns with me.

I like the relational aspect of teaching! And even #2 had a benefit -- seeing how wait time can truly seem to heal or subdue 'trauma' (even if it's seemingly very minor to most people).

"You have 6 months..."

How do people feel who are given the number of days or months they are expected to live? I bet for many their whole life perspective changes - how they view life, their interactions, etc. When they walk down the street (if they're able), do they think "nobody knows"...? Is life often put into perspective...an eternal perspective (for believers)? Is it scary? Do they worry about the unknown, about those they'll leave behind?

Life...it's so short. I wonder, though if being told you have a terminal illness can be a blessing in some ways. If the person has a loving family, it might lead to the strengthening of family ties. It might cause the person to reflect more upon God and things eternal, on what matters...

In Short

(deleted a bit on 10/15)

Just a few words on a few topics...

1) Politics (at work) -- Not really into them, but, at the same time, it's interesting to listen to discussion of them.

2) Politics (ie. president) -- Not really into people's president-bashing, but if they are going to criticize the president, why don't they talk rationally and objectively about the actual politics vs. the intelligence/verbal abilities of the president. I can be clumsy at communicating; perhaps people who bash the intellectual capacity of the president internally judge me as well.

3) It's all in the name -- politics vs. selfishness, passionate vs. obsessed, busy-minded vs. procrastinator, too busy/stressed vs. uncaring

4) Confession -- I wonder if the confession of one's own personal sins among Christian friends/relatives is simply not often done. And if people were to do that more often, there is the risk of being gossiped about.

5) Setting the mind on things above -- Would be neat if I could more often focus on the deeper aspects of life and interactions that if extended might become more meaningful. Should think more about things that matter.

6) Life is life -- Mon. - Thursdays of this quarter, I've been trying not to do work at home. But if one is single, and there are no commitments on particular nights, is the ideal life necessarily getting all work done in a timely manner and saving the evenings for oneself? There is no mandate. Even if one were to work from morning to late night at the same place, God could still bring joy in that case. Who says that work has to finish by early evening, and pleasure must be had at home (again, on commitment-free nights)? Life is...life. "Wherever I go, there I am."

Conversation with "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"

Well, it would be nice if someone I knew were simultaneously reading the same book, so I could have an actual conversation(s) about some of the topics in the book, but, hey, ... anyway...

Okay so for now I want to talk about the idea of the 'romance' or sensationalistic element of missions or helping those in need. I will begin with a couple of quotes from the book -

Were the Scraps accomplishing anything? Amy wondered. 'Do not say, 'Oh, they interest us.' I do not care about 'interesting' you.
(p.164)

Because missionary reports generally included more about successes than about failures, Amy tried to shift the weight to the other side. 'It is more important that you should know about the reverses than about the successes of the war. We shall have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but we have only the few hours before sunset in which to win them. We are not winning them as we should, because the fact of the reverses is so little realized, and the needed reinforcements are not forthcoming, as they would be if the position were thoroughly understood. . . . So we have tried to tell you the truth - the uninteresting, unromantic truth.'
(p.161-162)

From the book, though, I do get the sense that Amy did long for adventure and thrill in the missionary life, where she could see God work. I think that's cool that Amy wanted to focus more on the truth of what actually happens, rather than romanticizing her work.

I wonder if for me part of my interest in missions (even if it is a somewhat distant interest) and helping those in need is sensationalistic. I'm attracted to photography and videos and ministry fairs and learning about the stories and plight of those in need. But then...I think even when I was a child I was attracted to missions, so, probably the seed of interest was planted by God. Yet still I wonder if part of my interest is fueled in part by external factors...

Excerpts from "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"

"The girl from the Irish village on the North Sea, standing in the pouring rain beside her pile of luggage on the shore of Japan, laughing. 'All this was part of the going forth unto a land I knew not, and everything was just right, and if things went wrong it was so much the more fun. I knew they would come right in the end. And they always did.' So with the charming lightheartedness of faith she only wondered, What next?" (p. 68)

"During the few days' wait for the lady who was to meet her Amy walked one day along the seashore, talking with one of the Shimonoseki missionaries. A casual remark was dropped which elicited an astonished question from Amy. 'You don't mean to say,' the missionary replied, 'you think all missionaries love one another?' Precisely what she had thought. How coiuld it be otherwise? 'No faintest foreshadowing of the purposes of God was mine that morning,' she wrote, 'but I remember the thoughts that rushed through me then. What of 'See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently'? Was such a life of love lived nowhere?' It was a gray day, with a gray sea, a gray drizzle, and gray thoughts. But it spurred her to prayer, to an earnest beseeching that the Lord would enable her to love as He commanded us to love." (p.68-69)

Life Reminder #18

18. Expect the worst, hope for the best.

Life Reminders #14-17

14. "We don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future."
15. We don't always know when people have busy minds.
16. "Stress is overrated."
17. Trials can act as opportunities for faith tests.

Couple of quotes

Recent quote finds:

"It's not about 'us' going and saving 'them,' but it is very much neighbors extending hands to neighbors, helping to bear one another's burdens." ~ Darrah (an Invisible Children 'roadie')

"Be of good cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it." ~ Ridley's (I think a martyr) last words