called to stand here

I'm thankful for the kids in my life. There's nothing like a 2-, 6-, or 7-year-old to remind me that all work and no play makes Ted a dull boy. They need to work pretty hard to convince me, however, that playing is worth my time and attention. All too often I'm consumed with the misperception (read: lie) that I need to focus on some task like ... like... well, you know -- something that squeaks loudly enough to convince me that it needs doing at the moment. I read an article on the differences in how Americans and Europeans handle their vacation time , and it's alarming to see the workaholism that appears rampant here. The observations noted at the end of this article about parents choosing to avoid the stress of vacations with quarrelling children are supported by research into why visits to national parks has dropped from 1.2 visits per citizen per year to 0.9 visits. NPR ran a story on that research that you might find interesting; I did. Apparently the research sh...

I was reading an article by an expert in one of the disciplines in my field. He followed it with some "fun links." One in particular got my attention: the Official Reality Dot Appreciation page. What is there in this exercise that reminds me that we are at significant risk when we trust our eyes? When I do some changes to my fixed focal point, I can see that it's true: there isn't a green dot--just a sequential flicker of on/off that makes the circle of pink dots appear like they rotate; and the "off" condition of the pink dot makes it's complementary color--green--appear in its place. Can we afford not to trust our eyes? Get in your car and turn on the key. You'd better trust your eyes. But I'm not always in my car, and if I use my eyes to tell me what to trust all the time, I'll run over somebody who I knew was in a weakened/wounded state, but I couldn't see it. Paul says we walk by faith, and not by sight ; and that we work our our ...