Belief

Hey, Y'all,

Hope this e-mail finds you well on your way to enjoying a relaxing weekend--a longer one for some of us, don't forget to be sure to thank a Veteran for their service! My mom forwarded this to me today (so today's RST is fresh-made!)(thanks, Mai)--she ran across it in the Sabbath school lesson study for this week, interestingly enough). It goes like this:

Scientist Ben Clausen points out that human beings want certainty, but uncertainty is an inescapable part of life...In "The Book of Beginnings" that Clausen co-authored with Gerald Wheeler he shares this quote from [Spanish writer and philosopher] Miguel de Unamuno: "Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in their minds, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without an element of despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God Himself."

Now THAT's an RST. Reminds me of a couple of conversations I had today--one said in essence that extraordinary accomplishments require extraordinary effort, but first they require extraordinary leaps of faith, all of which entails commitment and sacrifice and uncertainty...but that's just the way it is: there are no shortcuts, there are no other ways to accomplish great things. The other conversation was much more banal but fleshes out this idea on another level: a buddy told me at the gym earlier today when I tweaked my vastus medialis --- yeah, I said vastus medialis, look it up :-) --- that "that's a good thing, 'cause if you don't tweak something once in a while then you're not really trying." We seem to be able to grasp this about other aspects of life; why do we expect our walk, our attempt at relationship with an omnipotent and omniscient and omni-everything God to be straightforward or easy or even comprehensible?!?

So don't sweat it, keep on keepin' on, 'cause if it's hard then you're doing it right (and remember: if you're not tweakin' something once in a while, then you're not really trying).

You've been prayed for today...