Burma Shave signs along the road of life...keeping life in balance.
I've just returned from our seminary in Berkeley and on Friday participated in commencement activities with some thirty-five seniors who graduated and now go on to their future ministries. It was for me a wonderful opportunity to hand each their diploma and wish them Godspeed as they leave one place and time and activity for another place and time and ministry. There were, during the week, lots of farewells and parties and speeches about hopes and dreams for the future, about what to do and what not to do, from older and wiser people, and about how life comes and goes, like "Rules of the Road," as we used to call them in the Navy; which help ships safely navigate the seas; proven ways which make life just a bit easier in a complex world.
As I got to thinking about all this on the plane home Friday afternoon it occurred to me that this church season of Pentecost is a bit like commencement time. We parish folk have been busily involved in fall, winter and spring, like semesters, of Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter. And in a way we too are ready to graduate from this busy time into summertime. Pentecost, along with being a wonderful celebration of the entry of the Holy Spirit into the disciples of Jesus, is also the transition point from our busy church year into the long green summer. (And of course for us desert folk, the long hot, brown summer.) Pentecost is a time of coming together in preparation for going on. Many of our parishioners leave about now for summer homes and activities, and we who remain sort of graduate into a different way of life as crowds diminish, the heat sets in and life slows down.
So I thought it good that we too have a short commencement speech--some "Rules of the Road" for those of us who remain after the remembrances and farewells of a wonderful winter together at St. Margaret's.
Here then are ten "rules" which have helped me sail through much of my life and which I trust will help your Pentecost season go smoother. These are not so much ten commandments as they are like ten Burma Shave signs along the road of life. They will keep your journey lighter and more interesting and in balance. Tack them up on your refrigerator door and share them with a friend. Happy summer. Amen.
(For Summer)
1. Strike a balance between work and play--between seriousness and laughter. Go to church regularly. Also to the ball game.
2. Stick with the truth even if it makes you look or feel badly. Falsehoods are like wandering ghosts. They show up in the darndest places and at the most unwelcome times.
3. Forgive your enemies as part of the price you pay for the privilege of being forgiven. Realize that you are sometimes a "pain in the neck" yourself.
4. Walk, run, play tennis or golf. Get out of the house. Get lots of air and sunshine. Occasionally get some water or sand in your face, some dirt on your hands.
5. Talk your troubles and mistakes over with someone you trust. Your dreams too. Most of our loneliness is self-imposed. It helps to share it with someone.
6. Don't underestimate the ability of God to straighten out a situation--even when you can't. And for His sake and yours, give Him a little time.
7. Discriminate among your fears. Learn to tell which ones are useful--which ones destructive. Facing our fears is usually the first step to wholeness and health.
8. Remember when your fear of dying gets in the way of your living that the ultimate death rate is still one hundred percent. You would be getting "gypped" if everyone got to die and you didn't.
9. When you can't sleep, say, "Aha! Here's a chance for a little privacy and creative thinking. All day I've been too busy to pray. Now I can get around to listening to and thanking God, reading a good book or the Bible."
l0. Fall in love with life, with children, older people, sports cars, the theatre, music, books, cities, hills, the sea, the desert, the Bible, everything except money.
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