I'd like to be a Caleb. Everybody talks about the Biblical Caleb like he was the 'young guy,' and maybe he was compared to Joshua, but 40 years earlier he had done reconnaissance work in hostile territory, so he wasn't all that young. Not much younger than me.
If only the people had listened to him and his voice of faith instead of their own voice of fear. Through the time of punishment that wasn't even his own fault, he waited. He kept his heart young thru it all - he kept his faith active - and at 85 years old, God told him what He wanted.
What would most of us have asked for at age 85? A nice mountain cabin? Safety? A new set of teeth? Rest for our tired bones? I don't even know if we would have thought to criticize Caleb for wanting such things by that age.
B. O'Brien says: 'People enter business as bright, well-educated, high energy people, full of desire to make a difference. By the time they're 30, a few are on the fast track and the rest put in their time and do what really matters to them on the weekend. They lose the commitment, the sense of mission, and the excitement with which they started their careers. We get little of their energy and almost none of their spirit.'
Say it isn't so.
Most adults have little sense of real vision. We have goals and objectives, but these are not vision. When asked what they want, many adults will say what they want to get rid of. They'd like a better job - that is, they'd like to get rid of the boring job they have. They'd like to live in a better neighborhood or not have to worry about crime or about putting their kids thru college. They'd like it if their mother-in-law returned to her own house or if their back stopped hurting. Litanies of 'negative vision.'
As a teenager once said: 'We shouldn't call them grown-ups, we should call them 'given-ups.'
As soon as we stop living, we start dying.
Live.
And be blessed.
1 comment:
The future's so bright I've got to wear shades. True story.
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