Well, it's been a long time. I had hoped to get back on this whole blogging thing and make more regular contributions to the haze, but it was not to be. But life is busy and this hasn't been the top of my priorities. Among some things that have been going on: I am writing the musical our church is doing this Christmas (no small task), I am applying for grad school, plus some fun trips this summer and family stuff. All in all, things keep me busy.
But in reality, I probably have more time than I think. I certainly find a lot of ways to waste time. I'm sure I don't need to spend quite so much time surfing various websites, or dinking around on the computer. I could certainly spend less time watching TV. But then again there are a lot of other things that I should or could be doing, that I don't.
I think there's always that push and pull between busy and quiet. So maybe it's a matter of balancing what needs to be done, what ought to be done, and what you want to do, and not feeling guilty when you choose one over the other for a time.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Ownership
Why do we have such an intense desire to own things?
This question started nagging at me over Christmas and popped up again around my birthday. I'm not totally sure why, but you can't deny that humans have a desire, some times even a need, to own things. Is it a control issue? Does it make us feel more powerful or significant when we own something? Perhaps it is a need for security, and our stuff insulates us from the harsh realities of the world? Why are we so greedy and protective of the things we own or don't own, when we know that in the end, all of our stuff will mean nothing?
Then again, is ownership even real, or is it merely an illusion? Just because it is in our possession, do we really own it? This is especially murky when we talk about intellectual and artistic property. According to copyright law, you only own a copy of some one else's property that you have paid for the right to use, but only for limited applications.
And yet, there is plenty of money to be made from this illusion of ownership. Just ask amazon.com, where you can not only buy just about anything you can imagine, you can make a wishlist of all the wonderful little goodies others can buy for you. How thoughtfully convenient!
But this isn't just a phenomenon of the digital age. Jesus spoke quite a bit about ownership, and usually quite harshly. (Matthew 6:19-34) In fact, much of law throughout history deals with ownership. Apparently, we have always been greedy, needy people. And believe me, it starts at an early age. In the time since I sat down to write this, I've had to separate my 19-month-old twins at least four times, because they were fighting over a toy.
While I don't completely know what makes us desire this ownership of objects, I do know that it makes us do terrible, irrational things, and it should be resisted. I do still have my amazon.com wishlist, but i have been more thoughtful of late as to what I put on it. Do I actually have a valid reason to want to own that movie, book, or CD, or do I just want the empty satisfaction of ownership? My wife and I have enjoyed using the Blockbuster online system for movies, and I suddenly have less desire to own various DVDs. I have also recently rediscovered the joy of the public library system. I guess if my tax dollars are paying for it, why not use it? But seriously, it has helped me to see that I don't need to own every book I want to read.
This attitude might also help us be more generous with what we do have. I think generosity comes from not being too attached to the material. When we care too much about our things, we guard them very closely. But when we know their true value, we are free to give of our possessions. And that is something I know God desires from us.
This question started nagging at me over Christmas and popped up again around my birthday. I'm not totally sure why, but you can't deny that humans have a desire, some times even a need, to own things. Is it a control issue? Does it make us feel more powerful or significant when we own something? Perhaps it is a need for security, and our stuff insulates us from the harsh realities of the world? Why are we so greedy and protective of the things we own or don't own, when we know that in the end, all of our stuff will mean nothing?
Then again, is ownership even real, or is it merely an illusion? Just because it is in our possession, do we really own it? This is especially murky when we talk about intellectual and artistic property. According to copyright law, you only own a copy of some one else's property that you have paid for the right to use, but only for limited applications.
And yet, there is plenty of money to be made from this illusion of ownership. Just ask amazon.com, where you can not only buy just about anything you can imagine, you can make a wishlist of all the wonderful little goodies others can buy for you. How thoughtfully convenient!
But this isn't just a phenomenon of the digital age. Jesus spoke quite a bit about ownership, and usually quite harshly. (Matthew 6:19-34) In fact, much of law throughout history deals with ownership. Apparently, we have always been greedy, needy people. And believe me, it starts at an early age. In the time since I sat down to write this, I've had to separate my 19-month-old twins at least four times, because they were fighting over a toy.
While I don't completely know what makes us desire this ownership of objects, I do know that it makes us do terrible, irrational things, and it should be resisted. I do still have my amazon.com wishlist, but i have been more thoughtful of late as to what I put on it. Do I actually have a valid reason to want to own that movie, book, or CD, or do I just want the empty satisfaction of ownership? My wife and I have enjoyed using the Blockbuster online system for movies, and I suddenly have less desire to own various DVDs. I have also recently rediscovered the joy of the public library system. I guess if my tax dollars are paying for it, why not use it? But seriously, it has helped me to see that I don't need to own every book I want to read.
This attitude might also help us be more generous with what we do have. I think generosity comes from not being too attached to the material. When we care too much about our things, we guard them very closely. But when we know their true value, we are free to give of our possessions. And that is something I know God desires from us.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Query
Why do we spend so much time telling Christians to bring people to church, when Jesus tells us to do the exact opposite - bring the Church to people? Matthew 28:19-20
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Update
It's been a while since I've posted. Things have been just a tad busy. In December, we put on a dinner theater with our church and moved into a new house, all in the same weekend. No we aren't crazy, the two just happened to coincide, and there was really no better options. At least by moving in that weekend, we had three weeks to move before Christmas.
Christmas came with its usual assortment of busy schedules, followed by a week-long trip to Reno and Sacramento to visit family. Of course with 15-month-old babies, that made for some very long trips, but overall, the boys did very well.
After returning home, I was scheduled to preach the following Sunday, so naturally I came down with food poisoning or something. The day I preached was the first day in the previous three that I was able to stand for more than 5 minutes without feeling nauseous. Overall, I think it went well. The best comment I received was someone telling me, "it made me think." If that is all I did, then I accomplished what I set out to do. If you want to hear some of my thoughts on the church, you can go here: http://bethanyto.com/sounds/2008-01-06LW-BeTheChurch.mp3
Since then, our lives have mostly been occupied with the continued process of moving and settling into our new home. I have been working on a script, so that has taken much of my writing effort. The aforementioned dinner theater, while incredibly fun, was a terrible script, so the director and I are writing out scripts of our own, to better match our needs and audience. It will be interesting to see if these scripts ever really see the light of day.
I have a few other things that I have been working on for posts, but haven't finished, so keep checking back. Perhaps I will actually have something posted. Then again, perhaps not.
Christmas came with its usual assortment of busy schedules, followed by a week-long trip to Reno and Sacramento to visit family. Of course with 15-month-old babies, that made for some very long trips, but overall, the boys did very well.
After returning home, I was scheduled to preach the following Sunday, so naturally I came down with food poisoning or something. The day I preached was the first day in the previous three that I was able to stand for more than 5 minutes without feeling nauseous. Overall, I think it went well. The best comment I received was someone telling me, "it made me think." If that is all I did, then I accomplished what I set out to do. If you want to hear some of my thoughts on the church, you can go here: http://bethanyto.com/sounds/2008-01-06LW-BeTheChurch.mp3
Since then, our lives have mostly been occupied with the continued process of moving and settling into our new home. I have been working on a script, so that has taken much of my writing effort. The aforementioned dinner theater, while incredibly fun, was a terrible script, so the director and I are writing out scripts of our own, to better match our needs and audience. It will be interesting to see if these scripts ever really see the light of day.
I have a few other things that I have been working on for posts, but haven't finished, so keep checking back. Perhaps I will actually have something posted. Then again, perhaps not.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)