In today's post: work that makes a difference, an astronaut's guide to life,
****************
Tim Challies on the meaning of work:
Here’s the thing I had to see, and the thing I still need to call to mind: Work is not significant only when it utilizes my full capacity or full capabilities. Work is not significant only when it offers unusual challenge or special opportunity. Work is not significant only when it is measurable in dollars and cents or praise and compliments. Work has intrinsic significance because it gives me the opportunity to do something with joy—with joy in the Lord. I can do my work in such a way that it glorifies God, or I can do it in such a way that it dishonors him. Anything I can do to God’s glory has significance. It has great significance!
How do I do my work to the glory of God? I embrace that task, no matter how menial or insignificant it may seem. I do it when I’m told to do it, I do it to completion, and I do it with joy. When I do it this way, I am glorifying God.
****************
Astronaut Chris Hadfield on success:
If you view crossing the finish line as the measure of your life, you’re setting yourself up for a personal disaster. … Commanding a spaceship or doing a spacewalk is a very rare, singular moment-in-time event in the continuum of life. You need to honor the highs and the peaks in the moments — you need to prepare your life for them — but recognize the fact that the preparation for those moments is your life and, in fact, that’s the richness of your life. … The challenge that we set for each other, and the way that we shape ourselves to rise to that challenge, is life.
****************
How to deal with the dreaded "to be read" (TBR) list:
What we do, I think, is throw away the lists. Delete the anxiety-inducing, peer pressure-based apps. Break up with the social networks and the reading challenges and the book clubs we like attending because the people are great even though we never finish the books. We kick prescriptive reading plans to the curb. We remind ourselves that there are no “shoulds” in the reading life, that there are myriad reasons for reading, and that we can read whatever we want, whenever we want, for whatever reason floats our bookish boats. We are not beholden to the list of hundreds or thousands of want-to-read titles we’ve been tracking for years.
We are not the same people we were when we began those lists, and it is not only okay but actually good for us to do some culling. If your TBR list has become a source of stress, get rid of it. If that pile of unread books in your home gives you guilt rather than anticipatory pleasure, spread those suckers out on the floor and yank out the ones you’re no longer interested in. If you really wanted to read that book you’ve had sitting around for a decade, you’d have done it by now. So what that you spent fifteen bucks on it back in the day? Donate it to a shelter or charity, and give yourself the gift of reading freedom. If buying books makes you feel committed, try your library or an ebook subscription service. You’re not going to get a better seat in heaven or earn imaginary reader brownie points or get any recognition or reward at all for making yourself read a book you felt obligated to. You’re just going to lose time you could have spent reading something you would have gotten more out of.
*****************
The amazing story of the woman who survived three ship accidents including the sinking of the Titanic.
*****************
13 Sleeping Beauty facts in honor of the film's 55th anniversary. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Sleeping Beauty was not a darling at the time. Critics thought the movie moved slowly and lacked character development.
Sleeping Beauty was such a box office bomb (at least, compared to the cost of production) that the company decided that princess movies weren’t exactly the wave of the future. They didn’t make another princess movie until 30 years later, when The Little Mermaid was released in 1989.******************
Ethical concerns and the Oscars. Which begs the question of how you deal with the art of people who are despicable.
No comments:
Post a Comment