Summer Has Ended

 Today is Labor Day, and my goodness, did I labor!  I spent the majority of it doing a reorganization of my quarters here, and I am overall impressed as some things needed to be done.  It has been my view that Summer starts with Memorial Day weekend, and ends with Labor Day.  Although equinox Summer won't end until around September 21st, the Summer season (meaning the time people take off for vacations, schools being out, etc.) is essentially over.  We will have warm days for a while for sure - I may not even have to wear a coat out until at least mid-October, so the weather will be nice out but not insufferably hot.  Technically, by the time Labor Day weekend comes, many schools have been back in session for about a week, including the school where I used to work which started classes on August 31st.  But, today ends the Summer season, and for the next week or so people will be shifting into Fall mode as the pumpkin spice flavors of everything from cupcakes to Rice-a-Roni (yes, I did see that!) will be starting to populate your local grocery store's shelves.  I like pumpkin spice myself, but there are limits as to what you can add a pumpkin spice variety to in all honesty.   Oddly, just a couple of weeks ago I finished up some pumpkin spice Tootsie Rolls I had gotten last year - candy tends to last a very long time for me these days, and I have had candy in the house in some form for months.  Pumpkin spice Tootsie Rolls are one of those things I have tried, and have also decided they are no longer a bucket list item - while they are not bad, I don't think I will get them again (I stick with the classic chocolate ones or the fruit-flavored variety bags - the orange and the lime ones are delicious).  Come to think of it, I think this year I will restrict my pumpkin spice indulgences to coffee and pies - that will be sufficient, thank you. 

Speaking of school things, as I was cleaning out a ton of papers I had accumulated over the past few years, I managed to save a lot of my old lesson plans from my classes.  I am thinking they will make a nice portfolio of my work for later, and I may even construct a few articles here out of some of that, as they are overall good lessons.  I am actually toying with the idea of maybe compiling them into a bound book for use later, or at least GBC them into a book of some sort so that they look better and then I can add them to my personal papers as a sort of personal work accomplishment.  While I am notorious for letting clutter accumulate over a lengthy amount of time, there is also something cleansing about sorting it out and throwing useless junk away - as much as I love keeping memorabilia, I also cannot be called a hoarder either as I am not adverse to getting rid of things I don't need.  Given I am a bit crunched for space in my quarters, I undertook some major reorganization over the past couple of weeks, and my room now has a new and more organized look as well as being less congested.  That is one benefit of preparing for the months ahead as I get ready for a potential move soon - that all depends on where God opens a door, and I wanted to talk a bit about that now and tie it to the changing seasons a little. 

When one thinks of Summer, the most popular thought of the season is recreation - the weather is good for swimming, outdoor activities, and vacations.  That's a positive view.  However, there is the other side of the Summer months too - they are insufferably hot, things are slow, and if you're strapped for cash or have limited transportation, your house can soon take on the atmosphere of a prison.  That is why even since I was a kid, I have always sort of liked it when the Fall came - I was never overly thrilled about going back to school (what normal kid is?) but something about the Fall season just felt good.   The coolness of the air, the more frequent cloudiness and rains, and the hustle and bustle of a lot of upcoming holidays and the conclusion of an old year with the dawn of a new one was something that was somewhat exciting.  Even seeing the first snow in November was exciting - everyone loves that first snowfall, especially as it blankets the ground in a beautiful white blanket of cold frozen water vapor.  Now, come March, you are also glad to see the snow go too, because after the below-freezing temps and endless white snow outside by that point it starts to get a bit depressing.  Again, it's the changing seasons.  The two seasons most people seem to not have issues with though - the ones that avoid extremes of weather - are Spring and Fall.  Spring and Fall both mean that a refreshing break comes after months of either extreme heat or extreme cold, and both are seasons that signify for me anyway times of new beginnings and fresh starts.   So, both Labor Day and March 1st herald significant renewal times.   Now, how does that relate to life?  This is where I want to get a bit personal.

I have not divulged a lot of my everyday life and challenges I face here unless it is in retrospect later, and I am not going to do that here or now either.  However, I can say that there are some challenges and decisions I have been facing over the past couple of months, and I am ready for a new season to dawn in my life.  By the time the calendar year gets to Labor Day, like today, the weather takes on this strange sort of battle, and especially in September and early October, there are extremes within one week - a week can start out extremely hot, then get really chilly, and then heat up again.  It is as if the old season does not want to let go and give way to the new one, and that struggle in climate can be challenging.  In life that happens too - we get very impatient for change, and wonder why God is not doing anything, and what makes it even more complicated is that you may feel really good about things one day and then wake up in a cold sweat worrying the next.  It is not the greatest feeling to swing between those extremes in all honesty, and I will be open to say that is something I have experienced recently myself.  So, what did I do?  Let me talk about that.

In my own life, I am not the only one going through some intense challenges - Azi, Barbara, and several of my friends have been hit with this too over the past couple of weeks, and it has really stretched us.  One friend of mine, who is a very accomplished minister and writer in Texas, has been faced with challenges to his late parents' property, the death of an uncle he was really close to, and also dealing with some unfair treatment he received from a very crooked activist general when he was in the military.  Though the circumstances in my life as compared with his are somewhat different, I actually relate on a level - we both seem to be asking the question "what in hell is going on??"  And, there are others I have talked to that feel this way too.  So, what do you do in this case, and how do you pray, make sense of things, etc.?  I will give you my response to the particular situations I am addressing, and you can judge for yourself whether it resonates or not when you hear how I approached that issues. 

When we ask God for something, there needs to be a couple of things to consider.  First, is it God's will to ask for it?  There are promises in Scripture, notably Philippians 4:19, which say God provides for needs, and indeed one of the Hebrew names for God in the Psalms and elsewhere is Jehovah Jireh, meaning simply "The Lord Who Provides."  What that means is that God's will has already been established - he provides for needs.  Now, over the years you have greedy televangelists like Kenneth Copeland who have twisted this into the whole "name it and claim it" heresy, which emphasizes lustful indulgence over needs.  You don't need a multimillion dollar jet, but you do need a reliable source of transportation in today's society, and a suitable income to provide for your food, shelter, and other things.  This is where I believe a more correct application of "sowing seed" comes into play here that is more consistent with reality.  The way we "sow seed" to secure our necessities entails building experience, getting a decent education to have a suitable vocation, and doing so in a way that builds something.   In other words, "sowing seed" is not about giving tithes to get something back from God, but rather it is putting forth the labor and effort to cultivate something, and this also has a dimension in the statement in James that says "faith without works is dead."  There is nothing in Scripture that says God gives people things just because they are entitled - the only promise there is our eternal salvation, not a temporal situation.  In temporal situations, there is a meritocracy which necessitates proper background for proper status, so if you work hard, study hard, and do so with a level of competence that matches intelligence, you should be rewarded.  So, if you rightly ask God to open some doors for you and you rightly hold him to actual promises in Scripture he himself said, then you are not doing anything wrong or heretical - it doesn't have bearing on your eternal soul (at least not completely) and it doesn't entail miraculous intervention either.  God opening a door for what you already have the merit for is not a miracle - it should be the fruit of your labor.  So, it is OK to ask for that.  And, let me be completely honest with you - I have really gotten frustrated at God for this at times, and even now I have some frustration about a couple of things as I write this.  I want to address this in a more practical way for you, as it may relate.

We have all been there - it feels like the end of our rope, and we are starting to get desperate.  So, we get very agitated with God, and that is when the bargaining in prayer starts.  I am guilty of this myself, as I want to be as honest and consistent with you as possible, and I often have prayed in the past that if God will do this, I will do that.  The problem wasn't the bargaining necessarily - that just shows you are a person who doesn't want to get something for nothing and you are trying to establish you are willing to make a commitment.  But, perhaps that is not the approach that is necessary.  For one, we are taught in Scripture itself to "study to show ourselves approved," and that means knowing what God actually says in all areas.  Part of that is promises God actually makes - he promises to supply our needs, he encourages us to come to him with our burdens, he tells us that we have to be able to put some effort into things to cultivate fruit, and he also has clearly stated in Acts I believe that if you have an actual vocation from God, it is a permanent call that cannot be taken back by him.  And, as far as getting frustrated with God, not only is it natural to do that, but even Scripture records in Genesis about Jacob wrestling with God too and demanding a blessing.  Also, we are human beings, so we have limits to what we can deal with at this point too - so, it is natural to get mad at God on occasion, and I am not too proud to admit my own imperfection here because I have to be honest in saying that I have even cussed God out on occasion too.  In many cases, once you cool down, there is time to repent of anything really volatile later, but you and I are human beings with limits, and God's silence at times can be deafening for us.  What is worse, often it is only in retrospect that we see where God was truly at work, and even then you still have the nagging questions as to why it had to happen the way it did, and that tends to resurface once we have a word with God in frustration later.  This now gets me to a point about something that needs to be said about the judgment of others.

There are some Christians who would probably be a bit shocked and appalled at what I just said, and I have something to say to those people.  For one, I bet the image they maintain on the outside is not as squeaky-clean as they want to present it to be - for all the displayed piety and sanctimonious act they show to others, I would wager a month's salary that they too have felt the same way in their prayers as well, and they are just too ashamed to say so.  They have an attitude similar to the fictional Hyacinth Bucket from the aptly-titled Keeping Up Appearances Brit-com in that image means everything to them, but image doesn't always reflect reality - it's called being human, and as holy and sanctimonious as they may appear, they fail too at times and they have vulnerable moments.   I have seen both Catholics and Evangelicals who act like that too, and a part of me just wants to slap them upside the head and say "Cut the crap!" but I restrain myself and just mock their sanctimonious tone.  Or, worse, they get caught up in the world of people like Kenneth Copeland, and they think they can "claim" things they didn't earn and are not actually entitled to.  If you have only managed to work a $15 an hour job at Wal-Mart as a greeter, you are not entitled to a Lamborghini - God will provide adequate transportation for you which is his providing for your needs, but if you want to "roll and stroll with the big dogs," you need to think about upping your own game and maybe preparing for that role that will pay you the $100K annual salary to afford a luxury car like that.  And, you may bemoan not having a 6-bedroom estate in a luxury gated community, but on a Wal-Mart salary that isn't going to happen either - you work hard to build your credit, and you can get a pretty decent but less-extravagant home somewhere that you can live comfortably in.  However, on the other side of that, if you have earned a Ph.D. in something and you have a long illustrious track record of quality work and experience, then it works the other way too - if you feel your credentials and work warrant producing fruit, and you have sought to do that, then there should be doors opening for you.  And, that is where it gets frustrating, because you keep wondering what's missing, what you are doing wrong, etc.  And, you are wondering why God is not opening the doors you worked so hard to have opened for you.  You are not "claiming" something by faith that is not yours in that instance, but you are asking real questions.  This is where the silence on the other end of your prayer conversation can be deafening, and I want to offer something here for that too.

The way I approach a prayer like this is simple - I first recall what God's actual promises are, and I also reflect on what I should have based on what I have worked for, and then I lay it out before God.  Upon doing that, there are some things to keep in mind:

1. Be open - God can - and should - open doors based on his promises, and you want to be ready for whatever that door is.

2. Set conditions within reason - For those who say that we should not "demand of God," I have something to say.  First, you can demand from God what he has actually promised, and even Biblical characters like Jacob did that.  Second, you have every reason to ask God to make the path clear of what door he is actually opening to you - if this is truly him, then you have a right to expect that all the necessary factors will fall into place to make it happen.  It is perfectly OK to pray like that.  God is a God of truth, and if his word is true, he has to honor it.  However, just be informed realistically about those promises, and don't ask anything you don't feel,  or more importantly realistically know, you deserve.

3. Realize you are not alone - In life, we may know of others who are going through similar or even worse conditions, and like us they are Christians and need God's intervention too.  If you know who those people are, remember them please, and intercede like a public advocate for them as well.  

4. Anagogical vocation promises - Here is a very hot take on this.  Many of us feel a calling of God to a certain vocation, and there is an evangelical underpinning to that.  I am of the belief that each person called of God is specifically called to certain people, as yours may be the only voice that impacts them.  Your success in life, and your satisfactory fulfillment of that calling that burdens you, is contingent upon the souls of those people.  Remind God of that too - if he truly loves everyone and died for the sins of the world, then he cannot hinder you to reach those only you can reach.  Place those souls on the allegorical altar of your prayers, and remind God that if he loves them, he also needs to help you too.  

There are those who are going to think my approach to prayers like this is a bit weird, and that I may even be on the verge of disrespecting God and insulting his feelings.  Here's the thing about that people - God is a big boy, OK?  You cannot project your own fragile egos on him because he transcends us all, and believe me, he has probably heard much worse from others.  If God had such a fragile ego and was easily offended like that, he would have zapped this planet into oblivion centuries ago.  Maybe those who have a problem are actually the ones with fragile egos, and you might want to be careful if you are - you are creating a god in your own image, and that perilously borders on idolatry. 

I think I have made my point with these thoughts, and I went to an entirely different place than I intended, and that is OK.  If this encourages you, then my job is done - you may be that person that only a word like this could reach, and if it encourages you, I have done what I am supposed to do.  Thank you, and will see you next time.