dual personalities

It snowed on Wednesday–not much–just enough to be pretty.

Look at that blue sky for a change! We haven’t seen much of that blue sky this winter.

This is good information for those of us who worry about such things.

Wednesday was the 100th birthday of Donna Reed. Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds, proclaimed it “Donna Reed Day“–wasn’t that nice? Indeed, it is surprising to note how many of my favorite movies featured her back in the day, notably They Were Expendable (1945).

Her big scene is so well done, so understated, but powerful. Note that she is wearing her U.S. Navy jumpsuit, but has put on pearls for this big “dinner party” on the temporary island base. She won an Academy Award for playing against type in From Here to Eternity (1953) and she deserved it, but no one was better at playing to type, the fresh-faced Iowa girl.

This article on “the standing orders of the gospel” (“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances”) is worth your time to read. 

It is the will of God for us to rejoice always. But obedience to this command is not accomplished by an act of the will. It is only accomplished by faith in Christ. The believer’s unceasing rejoicing is the will of God for us “in Christ Jesus.” This is the key to the life of rejoicing. Unsaved people do not rejoice in God, pray to God, or give thanks to God. Religious people rejoice sometimes, pray when they feel like it, and give thanks when things are going well. But Christians rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances. This is not the believer’s response because we are impervious to life’s dangers, toils, and snares. It is our response to life because we are in Christ Jesus.

And I really liked this from the Almost Daily Devotional:

The term “obeisance” means to acknowledge another’s superiority or importance.  I love the way it is used in this provocative article in the UK’s The Guardian. “Even with the smartphone’s on-purpose designed-in distraction notification architecture, our prostration at their non-human feet is the real issue. Our obeisance demotes the advanced human, and we pretend it doesn’t. We don’t take charge of our attention. Our little robots do. And we caress them.”

Of course, our obsession with our phone is not the problem; it is a manifestation of the deeper problem. Sin – or in current terms, self-interested distractibility – is our problem. Our attention and obeisance rightly belong to our Lord. Single-mindedly, St. Paul says, “For I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)

While we may worship our Lord each day and in all kinds of settings, our current inability to worship Him in church is what truly “demotes the advanced human.” Worship, especially corporate worship, is a reset – it pulls our bent down heads and fixated eyes from our phone (or you name it) up to gaze at the cross. We are brought out of ourselves to, ironically, be ourselves, for we were made by God and for God – to love, worship, and obey Him.

Help us, Lord!

Tonight we will toast our other ancestor with a January birthday, John Wesley Prowers, on his 182nd birthday. Born in Missouri in 1838, you will recall that he became a trader, cattle rancher, legislator, and businessman in the territory and state of Colorado.

Speaking of ancestors and descendants, I hope we get to see the wee babes this weekend…

…and talk to these twinsies…

Indeed, I plan to take it easy this weekend–it was a long, hard week!–I’ll toast J.W. Prowers, watch a Donna Reed movie, do some needlepoint, talk on the phone with my loved ones (and then put my phone down for the duration), and get out of the house to do something.

And rejoice!

*”The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow–read the whole poem here.