An Occasion for Reflection

The foes of quiet reflection are at work this morning. Fortunately, they arrived too late. The sojourn at Hopi is almost over. It has been a good time for reflection. I have found those with very little who are very happy and those with much who struggle with sorrow and trial. Hope and indifference live side by side here. They are the neighbor to unlocked potential for all and the petty insecurity of the powerful. In the most important ways Hopi is no different than anywhere else life takes place.

 In this life God sends the rain on the just and the unjust; time and circumstance happen to us all. The question is: to what end? “ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..” Everything has a time and a season, but everything also has a purpose. The purpose of everything in life is a very personal one.

Life is an opportunity to choose between reconciliation and and estrangement. This is true not only at the divine level, but at every level and in every circumstance. We can be so busy making a living that we forget we are also making a life. Which is more important? Reflection is necessary if for no other reason than that the day will come when we are no longer be able to make a living. On that day we will be left with only the life we have made. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The secret is in knowing which bridges to build--and which to burn. To do that successfully a man must know where he is going. He must also know the mistakes he has made along the way. If gray hair is worth anything; know that reconciliation is better than estrangement just as joy is better than sorrow.

The Hopi Project

How do you change the world? One person at a time. There are many Hopi people here on the reservation without running water, inside toilets, and electricity. It is easy to look around and be discouraged. It’s easy to see why alcoholism, depression and suicide are rampant. The size of the want is overwhelming. It is easy to shake your head and pass by on the other side. Inability to help all must not prevent helping one.
The Hopi Project is an effort to provide a single Hopi family with a roof and running water. The ultimate expectation is for a new or used single wide mobile home. It is not about solving everyone’s problems. It is not even about helping everyone. It is about helping one. It is done in hope that one will become two and two become four. The Naha family did not ask us for help. They hoped and prayed for something better. God heard and sent an answer; just as He did when reclaiming them from alcoholism, drugs and violence. God spiritually and emotionally lifted them. God has broken the cycle of chains on the next generation. Now, we hope to add some physical comfort.
True----God could give this family a home that doesn’t leak and has indoor plumbing without our help. God can do anything. God has chosen to invite you and me to share in the working of a blessing.
Why should we care? What’s in it for you and me? Nothing less than divine adoption.
“ And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye?  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? ...do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest...”
You can help. You can donate to the project on Blogger or on my website www.jacklafountain.com . You may give a tax deductible donation by sending your help through the Altus Church of God (900 S. Park, Altus, Ok).
“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Center of Interest

          It’s been a long time since I was up at three in the morning with an urge to write. I wouldn’t call it writer’s block; it’s more like life intruding on my passion. Little things like the dog scratching at my hand right now and wanting to go outside are expected and relatively easy to fix.

          I got up and took her out for a look at the full moon. You probably didn’t even know I was gone. Trying to earn a living and maintain relationships while getting lost enough in ideas to write them down isn’t fixed as quickly or simply. It is my experience that life rarely cooperates. Life is always challenging; always demanding more from us than we are comfortable giving. If you’re not careful, you might end up far away from home in a remote canyon wondering, “What am I doing here?”

          There’s an old bumper sticker that explains this phenomenon. It’s not appropriate to repeat it here. Bowels move, it’s important that our values do not. “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

          I was watching a lesson on painting composition yesterday and was impressed at how art does imitate life. All the elements of a painting are designed to serve the “center of interest.” The center of interest can be a house, a mountain, anything thing at all. It is the thing you really want to viewer to see. Life must not dictate what we treasure. Rather, life must be wrestled to feed the true treasure of the heart. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Plot Twists

A plot twist is a turn in the story that the reader doesn’t see coming, yet when it happens, the reader feeling things could not have happened differently. Nevertheless, no matter how well written a plot may be, there are some who just don’t get it. I used to think this was a function of poor writing or a lack of intelligence. I’ve since discovered it’s not necessarily either one. Though words on a page seem clear, there are those who look without seeing and listen without hearing.  

In order to draw readers into the twists and turns of a story authors must persuade the reader to suspend his disbelief; enter the story and get lost in it. The author is asking the reader to accept the his word as truth and follow him through the world he has created. This “suspension of disbelief” is, in reality, a suspension of self. It is a putting aside of preconceived notions in order to listen without prejudice. If the story is well written, it’s a simple task we do without thinking much about it.

Nothing will get us to put the book down quicker than an author’s world that threatens the naked self. If he tries to take us into a world we refuse to believe, we won’t go. When that world is hostile to our self view, we criticize the author; our defensive walls go up.

The story God wrote has an interesting plot twist. God became a man in order to repair their broken relationship and save all men. Like all bestsellers, the Bible has believers, critics and the indifferent.