Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 314

Mnemonics

Jesus was talking about different kinds of dirt. Dirt that is full of rocks does allow seeds to sprout, but there is no place for the roots to go. The eager sprouts die with hot sun and no roots.

Our hearts pick up all kinds of stones, all kinds of hard places. Little conflicts. Big betrayals. Persistent resistance. They accumulate. A day at a time, almost without noticing. Eventually, they fill most of the space under the layer of polite topsoil. Seeds start, ideas germinate, and then burn up...

Tomorrow.

Sometimes, after you wonder about something for three years, after you worry and work toward it for six months, after it actually happens, you need to be quiet while looking for words. This is one of those days.

See you tomorrow.

Filed under: bible reading

No more rocks.

On Easter Sunday, I picked up a rock. On Easter Monday, I thought, “pick up a rock every day.”

Was it a voice from God? Was it brainstorming? Was it something else? I don’t know for sure. But I picked up a rock.

Several stories made sense as I moved ahead with picking up a rock every day. Some of them I have used to help you and me think through some things.

1. Picking up a rock every day teaches us about forming habits. We could pick up a wheelbarrow worth every six weeks, but we wouldn’t learn...

Giving away a piece of your life.

A few years ago, I took some small stones to a conference. They were from a little gravel path Nancy and I made in our backyard. I took them to the conference because I was going to see people face-to-face who I had only talked with online. They were tangible evidence that we had met, that I came from a real place and knew they did as well.

That’s why I have small stones from Brazil, a river in Thailand, the floor of a church in a dump in Ethiopia, the floor of a home in Haiti, a hill in Oklah...

Totally different values

We forget. I forget.

Almost all over this planet, we are surrounded by the message that the richer you are, the better your life will be. Everywhere we turn, we hear and see messages that we need to:

have our dishes washed by a better machine
drive a newer car
eat tasty food prepared by someone else
have more time to relax
work less for greater gain
have bigger closets to hold more contemporary clothes
send our kids to a better college
have a beautiful garden that someone else tends
feel insulated from...

I sometimes cannot think hard enough.

My friend is writing a paper about propitiation and atonement.

“There are five definitions of propitiation,” he told me. And I know that there are at least five major approaches to explaining atonement. I know this because I’ve spent so0me time recently reading those explanations. And listening to lectures.

And I walk away from the conversations about theological concepts feeling tired and a bit defeated. I cannot muster the energy to weigh all the aspects of each of the definitions, each of th...

one at a time

I started digging dandelions out of our lawn on a Saturday. I had wanted to put fertilizer with weed-killer on the lawn. I couldn’t get the timing right between rain and projects. So I started digging dandelions on Saturday.

One a time. Section by section. Front yard, then back. Stooping, then kneeling.

It took time, but there weren’t drifts of color, only dots.

I walked into the house. “The lawn is free of blooming dandelions,” I said calmly. I wasn’t using the British sense of the word bloomin...

Praying with open eyes.

The king was up early, before the rest of the household. It was an old habit from years of living in caves and in fields. He couldn’t forget being watchful of sheep and soldiers, watching for wolves, both animal and human.

He slipped through the building and out the door, nodding silently at the salute from the sleeping sentinel. He sat on the portico, in David’s chair. He looked east, across a valley. The top of the hill, in later years to be known for it’s olive trees, was tinged with pink.

“...

Setting down gratitude.

I’m sitting in my office at church on Sunday evening. Hope’s in the gym rehearsing for a worship time. Singing, praying, listening, laughing, being together. That’s what happens in these gatherings we have every few months. I’m grateful for them.

My friend Lee leads us and works hard to not work hard. He creates space for us. And most of the other people on the platform and running tech are friends of mine. I’m grateful for the community that Lee has cultivated in our worship team, grateful fo...

Personal stones of remembrance

Yesterday we talked about a pile of stones near the Jordan river. They were a conversation-starter for kids. But there was another pile as well. Joshua gathered some stones from the riverbank and made a pile in the middle of the river. Where no one would see them again.

There is value in remembrance actions that no one will ever see. There is value in small tangible actions that are gone from sight quickly, but before they disappear etch reminders on your heart.

It’s the funeral message for you...