The Good Is the Enemy of the Best

Sometimes (well, most of the time) when people tell me their dreams, I stop listening right after the "I dreamed" part. I do this because I know it's not going to make any sense, and I'm never going to have to remember it. (I might listen if it's an entertaining dream that includes volcanoes and/or murder.)

That being said, I'm going to write about some dreams that I had. You are perfectly welcome to stop reading after the words, "I dreamed."

A few nights ago, I dreamed that a demon had a stranglehold on me. While it had me in its clutches, it was mocking me, telling me that it had me right where it wanted me. It said I could never get away. As it spoke, its face and voice continuously changed to the faces and voices of people I knew. It seemed to be saying that in my life, it didn't appear as a demon: it appeared instead as something good and pleasant that I enjoyed, but behind the pleasantness, it had me hooked.

It has often been said that the good is the enemy of the best, and I believe this is true. I've been thinking lately about the way I spend my time and wondering if perhaps I am letting the demons win by neglecting important tasks and relationships for more pleasurable activities. The other activities aren't wrong in themselves; but because they are taking up time I should be spending in prayer, Bible reading, and relationship building, maybe they are tools of Satan.

I promise I don't think that all my dreams have meaning. However, I do think that once in a while, what I am consciously or subconsciously thinking about can come through loud and clear in a dream. At times, I think they are worth paying attention to.

So my dream last night? I dreamed I had a newborn baby boy and that I was teaching math at the elementary school. I still haven't figured that one out. ;-)

To Take a Walk, Where Waters Flow

Why, on an overall good day, do I let little things get me down? On my way home from school I was in a bad mood. Reflecting over it as I drove, I realized it was based on three little annoying things that happened:

1. The kids said that my hair didn't look as good today as it did yesterday. (Why even bother to mention that, kids?)
2. A friend sent me a text saying she was going to do something that I thought was a bad idea, but I didn't feel I had the footing to tell her so.
3. I caught a student with a phone five minutes before the last bell rang. She wouldn't give it up, and, after some other drama, ended up getting suspended from school for a week for insubordination.

This kind of bad mood always compels me to go for a walk/jog. (I jog until I use up all the extra adrenalin, then I walk.) This time I left my phone behind so that I would have nothing to distract me. I just walked and thought.

It picked me up again this time, although it took a little longer than usual. I was determined to walk down to the river, which is about a mile, I guess. I walked down the street where I used to live as a teenager. (Oddly enough, I saw a childhood friend at his mother's house, where we used to shoot hoops in the driveway.) I walked by my old home that's the same, but different. I walked by houses that used to be there, replaced by houses that are new. I walked by trees, and looked up into their crowns to see if mistletoe still grows there. I walked down to the river, the river that is always different, yet the same still. At the river, I watched men loading a rusty barge with grain so that one end sunk down into the water, and wondered how many tons it could hold. I walked by the school, and wondered if someone in this school was wondering who I am, the way I do when I see someone at my school who is not a student. I walked by the old barn, where there used to be goats, but there are none now, and the roof is falling in. I walked by the cotton gin that my great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather ran many years ago, but now is just a brick skeleton.

By this time, I began to get very cold and tired. The wind began to blow harder, and the sun was too low in the sky to be of any help. I had to tie my hood down to keep my eardrums from throbbing. That's when I stopped thinking of anything other than, man, I wish I were home now!

Now the little things aren't bothering me so much. I left them behind somewhere between here and the river.

Why Do I Have to Go to Church?

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger. --Keith Green

On the other hand, if you're not going to church, you're not much of a Christian either. --Me

Raise your hand if you've heard this before: "I believe in God, but I don't like organized religion." Or how about this one, "I don't have to go to church to worship God. I can worship him anywhere." These are just a couple of the many reasons people give for not attending church services.

Let's hit the first one first. Organized religion. Who do they think organized it? Hmmm, well, I believe it was Jesus Christ who did that. Maybe God is in favor of organized religion. Maybe if you don't like organized religion, you are not on God's side.

²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

²⁵Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24, 25

Now for the second one. Can you really worship God anywhere, in any way? The Samaritans thought they could. They worshipped God, but not in the way the Jews worshipped him. They worshipped in the mountain instead of at Jerusalem as was commanded by the law. Jesus didn't think much of their worship. He said they didn't know what they worshipped.

¹⁹The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

²⁰Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

²¹Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

²²Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

²⁴God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:19-24

Jesus said that two things were necessary for worship of God: spirit and truth. I believe that worshipping in spirit means that I am not making an outward show, but that I am truly worshpping him in my heart. I believe that worshipping in truth means doing it in the correct way. In this time period, we are to worship God along with a body of believers, a church.

²¹Unto [God] be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians 3:21

People don't want to be part of a church because it's hard. You have to put up with folks that irritate you sometimes. You have to make decisions and be responsible. You have to roll out of bed on Sunday morning and get dressed. You have to be accountable for your actions.

I know. It's hard sometimes. Still, I believe that it's totally worth it.

Fishing for Snakes?

One of my tweets/statuses this week was this: If I asked God for a fish, why do I keep picking up snakes? It comes from the scripture in Matthew 7 where Jesus says that God will give us the good things that we ask for. He compares God to our earthly fathers. If we ask our earthly father for bread, will he give us a stone? Of course not. If we ask him for a fish, will he give us a serpent? Unthinkable. In the same way, if we ask God for something good, he's going to give us something good.

However, I seem to have a problem believing this promise. I ask God for things often. Some things I have been requesting for many months or years. Sometimes it seems that God is not answering my prayers.

When this happens, I tend to look around to see if I can "find" God's answer. I go rooting around through the dust and dirt, finding "snakes." These are answers that are obviously not God's will for me, but what I think will satisfy my desire.

Picking up those snakes is no fun. Not only do they fail to satisfy for long, they also inject a little poison into my life. Yuk! Why do I keep picking them up?

This reminds me of another story in the Bible: that of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Problem was, God was taking a mighty long time to give Abraham and Sarah a child. Sarah got worried. Maybe God wasn't going to give her a child! She had to do something, right?

Sarah worried so much that she asked Abraham to try to have a child by her servant, Hagar. (I suppose Sarah figured that God wouldn't notice the difference between her child and her servant's child.) Abraham did what Sarah asked, and he fathered a son, Ishmael.

Of course, this wasn't God's plan. God planned to bless Abraham through Sarah. He was just waiting until Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children. (God never explains why He did this. I suppose it's not our place to know at this point.) And, in the proper time, Sarah did have a child, Isaac.

Now enters the snake analogy. Ishmael is Abraham's son. Isaac is Abraham's son. One is the son of a servant, the other the son of the free woman. A million difficulties arise, especially since Ishmael is the FIRST BORN son. Yikes! Now Sarah has to get rid of the snake that she picked up. You can read more about that in Genesis 16, 17, and 21.

In my life, I want to avoid picking up snakes. If I am praying for something, I want to be sure that I wait for it. I don't want to get so impatient that I try to make circumstances fit my request when they don't. I know that if I trust God and wait on him, I will receive what is best for me: a fish, not a snake.

Freaky Friday

Something strange happened Friday. I don't know why. Maybe it was because of the nasty weather, or maybe because most of the less well-behaved children were in In-School Suspension. In any case, on Friday, most of my students were actually sweet to me. They spoke to me like I was a human being. They asked me about my weekend plans. They listened to me when I talked to them. It was great!

This weekend I have done very very little. I put together lesson plans yesterday, but I have not even touched the stack of papers I have to grade. I stayed up until 1:30 (old time) last night randomly surfing the internet. I wasn't even enjoying it that much, I just didn't want to go to bed.

This means that this week I am going to have to work like crazy to catch up. (Yeep!) On top of that, my church has a meeting almost every night this week.

But there is one bright spot. We get out on Thursday and Friday for professional development and the AEA meeting. Neither of which I have to do. Yay for days off!

OK, I'll bring this rambling, non-informative blog post to a close.