Ancient Civilizations

So with all I have to do this week, there's no way I should have picked up a book to read. But I was sick last week, and started one--oh, but it was a good one...and it's so good--I just had to start the second one after I finished the first.

For anyone who has read Francine Rivers books, you know what I'm talking about. The Mark of the Lion series is about ten years old. But they are amazing. They're set around Rome in about 70 A.D. and they follow the forturnes and trials of one slave girl, the family she serves and a gladiator she befriends. The characters are so lifelike that you want to cry for them and scream at them sometimes, and of course know what happens next in their lives.

I also find myself learning from them. Hadassah is the name of the slave girl--and her quiet persistant faith and witness is incredible. She has this peace and joy that is evident to all who know her. It always makes me wonder what people see when they look at me.

The other interesting thing about these books, is their depiction of Rome and the moral decay one could find there. Since the story includes a gladiator, there's much talk of the games, and the bloodlust of the Roman mob. And as you read, you are disgusted that people could be so cruel--but the more you read about the society they live in, the more you see how they could have come to putting so low a price on human life.

But then as you read, you find their morals sound eerily familiar. The idea that there is no absolute truth, and you need only to look out for your own happiness, and those traditionalists are all wrong, and we should live for today and get all we want and...

So I'm not one to sililoquize over the moral decay in America today, but something resonantes with me when I read these stories. The once great, invincible Roman empire crumbled. Scattered to the four winds. It makes one think.

An Eye Condition

So I've suffered from an condition my whole life..and it has to do with where I look and what I see. I get so focused on my life and my problems that I feel overwhelmed, and depressed...or I get judgemental and snobbish... and neither one is healthy or helpful. I mean, just this week..I've been sick and tired and stressed and...

And then I hear from friends-- friends who have lost love ones tragically, women who have suffered multiple miscarriages, people who struggle with their health day after day after day...guys who've lost their jobs and can't find another.

I hear stories from afar of people who don't have enough to eat, who are dying because of not enough supplies or resources or food or shelter..I read blog entries online of people who are hurting so much that they think there is no hope in the world...

I see that I have been abundantly blessed. With family and friends, with shelter and food, with money enough in the bank and a job that I enjoy most days. And more than all that--I have been blessed to know that there IS hope in the world. And love and truth and beauty. And Someone who loves not only me--but all those who are hurting around me. And when I can comprehend that--really soak that in...

The only possible result is praise, and suddenly my eyes are clear again.

10,000 Hours

I went to a conference this weekend and one of the speakers said that you had to spend ten thousand hours doing something before you would be good at it--so if you look at it in a year--if you spend one hour a day doing something, for a year--you'd spend 365 hours. So in this speaker's estimation--it would only take you 27.4 years to get really good.

So in all this abstract estimation, I decided that I like to write. I want to write. I worry that I don't write well. Or I write tritely. Or I write silly drivel that no one else would want to read. But the important thing is that I write. So I'm going to try and commit to writing every day...

And just think..if I can get up to two hours a day.. it should only take 13.7 years to get really good.