The Three-Dimensional Life

Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman - dedicated to her husband, her country and public service. Recently I finished her book, You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life. 

She wrote several books, but as this one was written at the age of seventy-six, she had acquired experiences that enabled her to give good advice for those who want to live a full life. 

She was very honest in her assessment of herself. She shared many instances of how others taught her the value of learning, but an example (in her first chapter) of an adjustment in her own thinking set the pattern for the rest of the book. 

"Perhaps the most essential thing for a continuing education is to develop the capacity to know what you see and to understand what it means...As an example, many years ago the Consumers League asked me to check on conditions in department stores. I made my report. It was valueless.

"But," I was asked,"do these women have any stools to sit on behind the counter when they are not waiting on customers or must they stand all day?"

For years I had gone to department stores, I have seen women behind counters. It never occurred to me that perhaps they could never sit down and rest. I hadn't looked....

When I began - so slowly - actually to look around me and to try to understand the meaning of what I saw, everything I encountered became more interesting and more valuable. It was like a two-dimensional picture seen in three dimensions, with depth."

This was not the last time Mrs. Roosevelt mentioned questions that made her think. She learned by listening and looking. 

Mrs. Roosevelt did not indicate that she was talking about a lack of spiritual eyes and understanding, but her example reminded me of Jesus speaking of people - even believers - who have eyes, but cannot see. That would, I believe, present the two-dimensional picture Mrs. Roosevelt described. We live in a three-dimensional world, but we can ignore the spiritual side of it. Depth of living and learning comes from observing the world - as much as possible - from God's perspective. 

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?" (Mark 8:17-21).

The Safe Room

I live in an area of the United States of America that encounters tornado activity. Some years are worse than others, but every time a tornado comes through or near where I live, I am more and more convinced that it would be a good idea to have a "safe room" - one that would not be blown away by the ravaging winds of a tornado.

When the news media covers the storms and resulting devastation, the reporters show or tell how residents made it through the storm. The house may be leveled, but if the family rides out the storm in a storm cellar or a safe room, they survive with no injuries. Reporters relate story after story of people who heard the effects of the storm while in the safe room. Often the residents walk out of the safe room into what used to be their home with a sense of amazement that they made it through unscathed.

Companies that manufacture preformed safe rooms are busiest during this time of year. Those who did not have a safe room realize the value of one and place orders.

Life is full of storms. Many of them are as unexpected as tornadoes can be. They pop up when you least expect them. Often we are unprepared for the illness, job loss, family crisis or death that comes our way.

Christians have a permanent safe room. We should abide there not just in the storms of life, but every day. Even when things are going well, we need and have the loving presence and protection of our heavenly Father.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday (Psalm 91:1-6).

Fear and Panic Can Cloud Your Thinking

I do a lot of reading about fear - in the Bible and other sources - because fear and panic come naturally to me. I am always working to conquer both.

Although few Americans owned any stock at the time, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the first in a sequence of events that eventually resulted in a wide spread panic and a Great Depression that lasted well over ten years.

With their economic stability threatened, some lost their ability to reason and hope.  Some even committed suicide. 

Failures of massive financial institutions in the U.S. in the fall of 2008 began another economic worldwide crisis. The stock market crash of that year has now been described as the Wall Street Panic of 2008.

By definition, a stock market crash is a result of panic. "A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors. They often follow speculative stock market bubbles." (from Wikipedia)

Regardless of why a stock market crashes, the resulting impact is very personal. Loss of resources you have worked hard to acquire is a major blow. Having to start over again in middle age or retirement age can be devastating. 

It does take money to live. You cannot obtain food, clothing or houses without it. If you are responsible for a family, the concern is magnified. 

However, despair is not inevitable. As President Roosevelt said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

If a major lifestyle change has become necessary for you, it need not ruin your life. Solutions begin with a positive attitude and a faith that God is with you.

The choice is yours. You can panic and lose hope or you can explore creative ways to provide what you need.

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred (Proverbs 15:16-17).

Note: This is an excerpt from Money: How to Be Rich Without It and How to Stretch It Using Ten Hints from the Past and the Technology of Today.  Money is available as an e-book and in paperback on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Money-Without-Stretch-Using-Technology/dp/1479389161
It is also available on smashwords in all digital formats:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/221060

The Balancing Act

As a child, one of my favorite times of year was when the state fair or circus came to town. One of the attractions, to me, was the number of balancing acts. Since I have a very bad sense of balance myself, I always admired the trapeze artists who could swing through the air with the greatest of ease, the jugglers who could toss plates and what appeared to be bowling pins in the air and they never landed on the ground. Even the elephants could work their way around the ring balancing on a ball. I thought those acts were amazing then and I still do.

Life is like those balancing acts. Most of us have to balance several things throughout a day - a job, family, mealtime, time for exercise, church and community obligations  - for some people the balancing act seems endless. Many feel they should multitask many of these things. Although many things can successfully be done together (one of my favorite things is to have my grandchildren help me cook combining family time with mealtime), trying to do more than one thing at once can often be very frustrating. Contrary to popular opinion, multitasking does not necessarily lead to more productivity.

The key to a balanced life is to prioritize. Unless we successfully prioritize those plates we are juggling in the air can all come crashing down on us in extreme stress and diminished health.

Prioritizing means planning - doing the most important things first. Obviously there are times in life when we have to make adjustments. Emergencies do happen. Without planning, though, the events of the day take over and we might not accomplish the things God wanted us to do.

A lot of us are guilty of leaving out the most important thing of all. That is time with God. Martin Luther said, "I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." Billy Graham was asked in an interview, "If you were to do things over again, would you do it differently?" His answer was, "Yes, I would spend more time in meditation and prayer." Talking about his many speaking engagements, he said, "If I were to do it over again, I would organize it much better." If Billy Graham looked back on his incredibly productive ministry and made that statement, what about the rest of us?

"Teacher what is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Matthew 22:36-39).

The Justice System

Once, when our insurance company refused to pay some legitimate claims (totaling thousands of dollars), we had to get an attorney involved. Thankfully, he was able to accomplish what we couldn't. Without him, though, we would not have had a chance. We had reasoned all we could. We had made every call we could make. We had sent in every document they asked for. They said no. We appealed. Their committee said no. We had only one chance left. We sought professional help. We needed an advocate - someone with authority in the justice system. A few weeks later, the insurance people apologized and paid the bills - finally.

Spiritually, we owe an enormous amount of debt. It keeps adding up. In this case, we have no legitimacy in which to file a claim. The debt is ours. The One to whom we owe the debt could rightly send us to prison because we have no means to pay those bills - whatsoever.

Enter our advocate Jesus. He knows we owe that debt and we can't pay, but He has absolute authority in the spiritual justice system. He doesn't make any calls. He doesn't write any letters. He doesn't have to. He is the One we owe. He does something remarkable. He pays our debt for us. Our bills are stamped "paid in full" never to be drudged up again.

The reason God does this is hard to comprehend. He does it for His own sake. God's standard is perfection so if we are to fellowship with Him, our sin debt must disappear - forever. Our holy and just heavenly Father demonstrated His love with the gift of the perfect life, sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25).

There is no committee that meets to consider our debt problem, but there is a judgment rendered. In His courtroom, He is prosecutor, defender and judge. The case is presented. Prosecutor (the law of God) makes the case. Our defender (Jesus) knows we are guilty. His plea is not that we are innocent, but He and the Judge have decided that He be allowed to take our punishment on Himself. Even though the cost is great both to the righteous Judge and His innocent Advocate, the substitution is accepted. His innocence is then transferred to us - the ones who deserved a guilty verdict but through faith in Christ became a child of God. 

God’s standards did not change for us once we became part of His family. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. As God’s children, we have escaped God’s wrath for eternal damnation, but we can still cause Him grief by continuing to sin. I think the sins of a child of God must cause Him more pain than sins of an unbeliever. We should know better. We should be grateful our debt has been paid. 

Our sin separated us from God and crucified His Son. The sins of His children can pierce the heart of the Father by treating the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus lightly. Amazingly, His grace continues to work to bring us into right standing with the Father. 

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).