Both will likely remain unfulfilled. Cancer's eating me away, now, with high fevers and an inability to keep food down.
Cue the sad violins.
Not.
There's a line from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade that sticks with me.
Are you doing this for your glory, or His?
The way I see it, our glory requires results; the book prominently displayed at Barnes and Noble, the aeroplane coming alive to the engine, under one's hands, the hands that built it.
But God's glory is something else. His sole desire for us is to come alive in Christ, and that can ever be only a process in this life. We can reach for the Christ-life, but we will fail, in word and in deed.
His glory is our willingness to try, and then try again.
My novels may never reach millions, and the ones still in progress may never be written, but the act of working on them sharpens my appreciation for His Grace, and informs the blog - well, yeah, this one - that I do maintain.
And I can take pleasure in a small job upon the aeroplane, done well. I give my best effort, and it's rewarded with a satisfaction that is not entirely temporal. God takes what I've built; and He's delighted.
Our goals will never, in the end, sustain us. There'll always be another novel, another aeroplane.
But His goals - for us - what we do there, they're what touches His Heart.
Music is a blast from the past, with Canned Heat's Going Up The COuntry.
Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.
I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.
Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.
Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.
Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.
If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.
Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.
Perhaps when we Move On there will be new dreams, greater than we can imagine now with our earthbound minds and bodies.
ReplyDeleteHugs from Annie in Texas
Annie, I think you are absolutely right.
DeleteAnd I do believe that our unfulfilled drams will be waiting for us, that we may work on them again.
Hugs back, from all of us.
Awww, Andrew, can I just tell you how much hope I find in this post and the perspective you share? We should want to touch God's heart above seeing our own goals fulfilled. Sometimes, the two intersect, but sometimes . . . they don't. It's then I must choose. Thank you for sharing these words.
ReplyDeleteI continue to pray for you, Barb, and the dogs
Jeanne, thank you so much for these gracious words...and especially your prayers. They're really needed.
DeleteWow! Your profundity is glorious in itself.
ReplyDeleteJan, thank you so much! You made my day.
DeleteAndrew. I love what you write. I think what you are doing makes a difference, and I agree with Anonymous that you are in preparation for something bigger and grander and still in the passion of writing and building aeroplanes.
ReplyDeleteBetsy, I so appreciate what you've said here. making a difference is really what it's all about, now.
DeleteAndrew, I may not leave a comment very often but I read every post you write. And I am awed by the depth of your insight, wisdom and grace, coming as it does from such a painful place. This is my favourite takeaway to mull over: "But His goals - for us - what we do there, they're what touches His Heart." Such truth. Bless you for your gutsy perseverance and the beautiful fruit it is producing. Those books and novels may not become best sellers, but you reach and bless so many with your hard wrought insights on life and faith. They have a holy ring of authenticity and inner resilience. Prayers continuing...
ReplyDelete