Clearwater Bead Store

Philosophy has taken a back seat to the practicalities of business. We have been busy opening our fourth bead store, in Clearwater, Florida. If any beaders happen by, please post. I will try to be more faithful to my blogging. It's just like journaling - at least for me, because nobody reads my blog anyway (so far)!

My daughter gave me a very nice journal for my birthday. My first entry was about the following question - is it possible to be fully at peace about something and yet to be completely without joy at the same time? I think it is possible, and that is where hope comes in. Accepting things as they are is all well and good, but it is still ok to fervently desire a different state, isn't it (while not expecting that I can control this outcome myself)? I have a situation with my children that I feel I have accepted and am at peace with. But it destroys much joy in my life. So am I really at peace? I think so, because I still have hope. Even if I have no joy (and it would be too extreme to say I have no joy whatsoever) I allow for the possibility of having joy tomorrow or another day.

One plants, another waters, but God provides the growth. I am not the teacher. The Word is the teacher. I am only a seed planter or a waterer where someone else has planted. Intensity will not make the plant grow faster.

First Post

This is my first post, on Thanksgiving Day 2004. I really should go spend some time with my family.

Lampasas Encounter

I have been reading Kierkegaard extensively lately. I have become amazingly immersed in him, so much so that I can now even spell his name without looking it up. Seriously, I love the concept he expresses in Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. To simply will the Good and give oneself up to God's cause, without being overly concerned about effecting specific outcomes, is an enourmously liberating concept. So many things create 'busyness' in one's life without ever contributing anything to the One Thing. Drop them all, and you haven't lost anything. I am choosing to loose the stress of trying to get instant results, whether in other people or in myself. The Good works in the realm of Eternity, not in the realm of the temporal. There is simply no hurry.

In keeping with this, I am taking a four-day getaway by myself at a secluded lodge on a 200 acre ranch in Central Texas. I plan to read much, write a little, and simply be a peace and commune with God for the time I am there. I will ask several people close to me to think of/pray for a specific thing in support of me while I am there.