Advent Meditation

For most folks, this is the time of year to prepare for the Christmas celebration.  Lots of activities to in which to participate... decorating, baking, parties, Sunday School Christmas pageants, sending Christmas cards - just a few of the things we do during this time of year.  

We've been doing some of those very same things.  But I've also been working on a project that started several years ago: the task of reducing the amount of stuff I have in my possession that my kids will not have to deal with one day.  We have made countless trips to Savers and Goodwill, the recycling center, the landfill.  Back in Worthington we filled three huge dumpsters - and we still have stuff.

One of the boxes of stuff I've been going through had several items that actually surprised me.  I didn't realize that I had kept them all of these years.  What are these items, you ask?   They are every year end tax forms since I first started filling out tax forms.  Yeah, no kidding!  From 1974 (the first year I actually started to fill out a tax form) until last year, I had evidently saved every one of them.  Here is a copy of that form (with ss info blocked out for security reasons).

What is wrong with me?  

Don't ask me why... I suppose it just became a habit - something I wanted to hold on to over the years but didn't need to.  I checked this out - a person only needs to hold on to the last three years of their tax returns.  According to a tax expert, a person really should hold on to the past seven years.  And I read this quote which really opened my eyes: No one needs to keep twenty years' worth of tax documents.

Guilty.  Not only guilty, but excessively guilty.  I discovered that I have tax returns from the past fifty years!  Who does that?

Not me.  Not anymore.  Sometimes you just have to make a decision to stop let something that you've been holding ono to for decades go.  Maybe it's tax returns.  Maybe it's a behavior that is actually harmful to you or others.  Maybe it's a grudge and you haven't forgiven that one thing.    Isaiah 43 tells us to look ahead to the new thing that God is doing - forget the former things.  Do not dwell on the mistakes of the past.  

Perhaps that is easier said than done.  But it does hold a lot of merit.  During this season of Advent preparation, get rid of the old things which you've held on to that haven't been helpful at all.  Holding on to them will only tax your spirit.

Get it?

The Mystery of the Cube

I've always enjoyed a good puzzle.  My dad was a big fan of puzzles.  We'd always have a puzzle that we'd be working on, using the card table to put it together.  Of course, throughout the years, little games like Wordle, Scrabble, Words with Friends and the like were always an occupation of my time here and there.  I fancied myself as an excellent puzzle solver.  I could usually figure out any puzzle that was put before me.  Expect one.

The Rubik Cube.

I was never able to solve the cube's secret - getting all of the colors on their own side.  I was never able to solve the progression - turning the cube this way and that until finally all the colors were on their own side.  Out of the blue, I suddenly decided that I was going to do this.  If there was one puzzle that I was bound and determined to solve, it was going to be this one.  I picked up the original Rubik's Cube from the nearest store and started to work on figuring it out.  I have no qualms about using Goggle to help me figure this one out either.  

But I ran into a little bit of a problem right away.  I could not figure out how to get the cube out of the package!  All of the writing on the package was in French (I think).  I took two years of French in high school, so I could tell that there were no specific instructions on how to "ouvrir le paquet" - the French translation for "open the package").  I twisted the package - no luck.  I looked for a tab that might spring the puzzle from its package - not happening.  I even Googled how do you open the package of a Rubik's Cube?  

Nice!  The first hit was the following: To open a Rubik's Cube package, simply locate the sealed edge of the box, usually a glued or taped section, and carefully peel it back to access the cube inside; most packages will have a designated tear line or tab to help you open it cleanly.  Well sure, that seemed easy enough, once I knew the answer.

Solving the Cube will be a different story.  It's complex.  It's not easy.  And don't let them fool you into thinking it's so easy a three-year-old can do it.  Lies!  Nothing but lies!  Even having all of the technological advantages of hundreds of digital clues, it is not that easy to solve the Rubik's Cube.

I think there is a parallel between my inability to solve a puzzle block to solving some of the great mysteries of life: What is the meaning of life?  What did I do to deserve this bad luck?   Why do I press harder on a remote-control when I know the battery is dead?  Why do I always forget where I put my keys?

Just joking on some of those, but it is true that some of the most perplexing mysteries of life may never be solved - in this life.  I've learned to be okay with that.  I don't have to know the answer to everything.  In fact, if I only know a few things, that's good enough for me.  I know my family loves me, even though I am clueless sometimes.  I know that the Vikings may never win the Super Bowl in my lifetime, but I still enjoy watching them each Sunday.  I know I am a better than average pastor, or so I've been told.  And I know that I am not perfect, but I'm not supposed to be.  

And one more thing - I know that Jesus loves me- this I know - for the Bible tells me so!

Checking the Time

When I go to work at St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic, I usually park in the East Parking Lot - a huge parking lot for Mayo employees.  I get out of my car and walk a short distance to where a Mayo bus is waiting.  The bus waits a few minutes and then proceeds to the Mayo Clinic downtown where many of the employees work.  I get off that bus and get on another that is called the "intercampus" bus, which drives about ten blocks to St. Mary's where I begin my workday.  I repeat the process in reverse when I am ready to go home.

I haven't met many people or befriended many people on these short bus excursions.  In fact, I do not believe I have met anyone that I even remotely recognize, especially if they work at St. Mary's.  I do recognize some of the bus drivers - there are fewer of them.  There is one common denominator that is present whether I am coming to work or going home that is very recognizable: the number of persons who are on their cell phones on the bus is remarkable!  I looked today when I was coming home and - no kidding - almost 100% of the persons who were heading home were on their cell phones - checking texts or Twitter posts, talking to loved ones, watching videos from Instagram, or if you are old school, checking the emails on your phone.  

I don't have any issues with anyone who is on their cell phone.  I do wonder what life was like before we got them.  I can only imagine I might have met someone and actually talked with them while on the bus.  I can only speculate that over the sound of the air brakes we might hear conversation between people who know one another.  

I do know this - cell phones are an amazing invention that is not going away any time soon.  It was back in the middle of the last century when speculation about what the future might look like was interestingly accurate.  Like this clipping from The Tacoma News Tribune from 1953.  Or the forward-thinking comic strip Dick Tracy, showing his two-way tv wristwatch.  In some ways, these predictions were uncanny in their accuracy.

But there are things that we sacrifice for the convenience and ability to connect is these modern "space age" ways.  We miss the connectivity of relationships.  It's so easy to talk on the smartphone or text someone or even FaceTime with them (which is closer but still lacks that warmth of the human touch).  But in this time in which we live, it is much harder to meet people and talk with them face to face.  

We have forgotten how to do that, quite frankly: how to meet others in the scope of normal everyday living.  Think about it - how challenging is it to strike up a conversation with someone who is using their smartphone?  Or even not using one, we lack the skill set that would have been developed over the years - where we learned how to converse with one another.

Trust me, I use my smartphone everyday:  I check arrangements with our family members; I want to know what today's weather will be like; I need to take a photo of our dog Maisy doing something that only dogs can do; I need to post that once in a lifetime picture instantly on my Facebook account; I check the news; I listen to podcasts; I set up live stream for worship services; I get updates on sports scores; and I can map out the next travel destination.  There are thousands of things I can do with my smartphone.  I would miss many things if I didn't have a smartphone.  I'm confident I would survive, but life would seem much quieter and simpler.

But I can't check the smartphone's feelings like I can when I'm talking with someone about their challenges.  I can't know the pain the smartphone might be going through like I can when someone is hurting.  I can't receive a warm hug from a smartphone like I can from a friend or a loved one.  For as much as the smartphone can bring to my world, it cannot bring me meaningful relationships with my friends - or begin ones with strangers, for that matter.  It requires personal interaction, something we need to be better at.  I do think about what this world would be like if we spent as much time cultivating our one-to-one relationships as we do checking our devices.

I'm not advocating anyone get rid of their devices.  I would guess that some are reading this post right now on a device.  But look up every so often and breathe in the air others are breathing.  Check in with a friend by meeting them face-to-face.  Put the phone down and read a book.  Paint a picture.  Go for a walk to see the fall colors on the landscape.  Don't miss the joys this life has to offer just for the sake of checking your phone.  It will be there.  Give yourself the gift of time.

"Time is a gift. But the wise know that this gift will eventually run out."

Psalm 90:12

Cleaning Out the Garage

Power Outage

Since moving to Rochester in June, Nancy and I have been working hard to eliminate a lot of the stuff that we've accumulated throughout the fifty years we've been together.  There are the incomplete sets of old dishes that are hard to toss away because they have been in your family for so many years and heaven forbid that we should ever get rid of them.  I cannot tell you how many picture frames we have - many with family photos taken throughout the years and some that have no real significance whatsoever.  There are clothes which are on the hope list - hoping that I can fit into them someday (maybe by that day they'll be back in style.)  And, of course, there are the remnants of computer programs from days gone by - computer disks with programs designed to make my life simpler but they no longer work because their technology hasn't kept up with the newer, faster systems.

But the most surprising item that I have discovered in every box tucked away, every loose bag that we stuffed in a box that was tucked away, and drawers upon drawers of knick-knacks inundated with this item.  It's the extension cords.  I have all kinds: 7 brown extension cords, 6 white ones which work inside the house only, 1 six count outlet which plugs into an existing outlet, 2 power strips (I know there are more - these are the ones I've counted so far), and one outlet extension cord that only works with one item.  I have scads of three prong adapters because the previous home we lived in had older outlets, many of them without a ground plug so we needed adapters for them.  

I'm not even including all of the power cords I have for outside use (I know it's a double-digit number).  Neither am I including tens upon tens of device cords that have no known devices attached to them, LAN cords which are no longer needed because of the wireless phase we are in, and more earphone cords than I have ears.  Somewhere in time I have devices that each of these cords fit.  But who cares?  If I'm not using the device now and haven't for years, why do I think I need to keep them?  It's insanity!

I can tell you right now I don't need any of these cords.  None of them.  Not at all.  The moment I realize this will be the moment I will have conquered a huge obstacle in life - accumulating things that have no value. 

Listen to how Jesus said it: 

Yeah, I should know that by now.  I don't really consider tens of tens of extension cords and other similar things to be a treasure, but perhaps I can rethink the purpose for purchasing things.  Do I really need it or do I want it?  In most cases, I'm guessing the answer in my life would be "No".  I believe if I do that (and I'm thinking it's harder than just saying it than it is to do it) then perhaps I'll be able to tap into a bigger power source that will provide for anything I might need.

I guess I have some work to do... I need to donate some extension cords so others can access the power!

Reading about the World - Weekly

Life has changed so much since I was a young person - it's actually mind-numbing to consider how far we have come.  Nearly every day, we can look for information on the world wide web through Google or some other search engine.  We see pictures and video of events in other parts of the world live - as they are happening.  These appear on our phones, our iPads, our computers - yes, even our smart televisions.  The information we have at our fingertips is simply amazing.

Contrast that with how we received information in the mid-60's.  At a grade schooler, our sources of information were discovered in the library.  We would walk through the underground tunnel at Vandyke Grade School to the Coleraine Carnegie Library - right across the street.  When you walked in this library, you knew you were in a library.  The smell of the books, newspapers and archives was unmistakably unique.  Books were plentiful.  We would check out the books we thought we would like and we learned about the world through the writings of those books - some classic stories. some true and others pure fiction.  It spurred our quest to learn more about the world in which we lived.  (Incidentally, that particular library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is still open today, 113 years after it was first built.  You can read more about it here.)

There were other means of learning back then.  Our school library also had what most libraries carried - a set of encyclopedias.  My folks purchased a set of World Book encyclopedias, complete with an annual subscription for a yearbook and a science yearbook that brought all the information up to date.  I remember Nancy and I purchasing a set for our children - way before the internet became a thing. 

But there was one item in my memory that is dear to my heart even as I think about it today.  The Weekly Reader.  During our grade school years, each week we would receive the latest copy of My Weekly Reader.  In our classrooms, we would pour over the information found in each issue, learning about the latest developments in space exploration, world events, and modern inventions.  We learned about world leaders and so many other lands which we could only dream about.  With our teachers leading the conversation, we learned more about the world each week.  We learned together, as classmates.  We learned from our teachers, who we respected and looked up to.  They were our role models of the day.  We brought the papers home and talked with them with our parents, interacting with them about our day at school.  And I would like to believe, we learned from our parents what they thought about the things that we were learning about in school.  We can't even imagine how precious and important those moments were in our early development.

Looking back, I treasure the memories of these instruments which helped to shape us as people.   I believe we have lost a great deal since those days.  

I wonder if we could google that to see if we could find it again.

Stories from the Retirement Files...

July 1st was my official retirement date from full-time ministry.  I've been blessed with so many memories and precious moments I'd have to write a book to document them all.  I've met so many people whom I have consider good friends.  34 years in full time ministry - yeah, it was an amazing journey.

But the journey has changed dramatically.

So quickly - it seems - I have been launched into the long and winding road of retirement.  I have always felt confident about today and - quite frankly - about what tomorrow may hold.  Retirement hasn't really altered those thoughts, but the transition feels different.  I am still adjusting to this different pace I've been experiencing since July 1st.  

Honestly, it doesn't feel like retirement because I am serving as a part-time pastor for the Kenyon United Methodist Church (meeting some very nice people in that church).  I lead worship on Sundays and try to visit the community one day during the week.  I also work about seven to nine days a month as a chaplain at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester (St. Mary's and Methodist), a fabulous location to continue to learn and be helpful to others in need.   

Don't get me wrong... after ten months of anticipating retirement, I have been reunited with my beloved of fifty years (we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in August).  Nancy has done a terrific job of decorating and preparing our new home since last October - and I love the fact that we are first-time homeowners.  I am thrilled with the realization that I live in the same town was one of my children and her family.  I am also closer to my other daughter's family.  I anticipate with a quickened heart the ability to travel to visit my son and his family who live in Florida (it hasn't happened yet, but I'm working on it).  I have a great deal to be grateful for and I do have a thankful heart.  God has been so good to us.  

We've been working on the home we moved into this past year... replaced the carpeting with laminate flooring, installing a new bookshelf in my office area, a sewing center for Nancy.  And a host of things that a new homeowner has to deal with - my new favorite place to shop is Home Depot.  Even the greeter knows me by name.

"So, what's your problem?" - you might ask.  

It's the adjustment.  I remind myself that I've been in a community for 34 years... people whom you have walked with in faith, laughed with them, cried with them, been in service with them, challenged them, learned from them.  I served in Worthington for eleven years - Emmanuel Church and Adrian for seven.  I have come to realize how much I appreciated their friendship, their guidance, their faithfulness, their personalities, and their kindness and love.  And truthfully, I miss all of that.  I have yet to replicate those kinds of relationships.  Like I said, it is an adjustment.

The other thing that has happened is one that I could not have expected.  I've done more doctoring since retirement in June than I have at any time in the past.  Just little things... edema in my leg, cataract in my left eye, colonoscopy, echocardiogram, diagnosed with sleep apnea, and an ultrasound on my leg.  I think I'm okay, but it's just been a pretty thorough checklist to make sure that I am okay.  

Welcome to the long and winding road of retirement, Daren.