Hi Folks:

Our big news this week is that Jan and I celebrated our 16th anniversary this weekend. We hired a sitter for the boys and went to a cozy inn in Yarmouth, about an hour's drive from here. We've never done anything quite like that for our anniversary, but thought we would this year. It was nice to get away.

Today we start a series in the Psalms. We'll look at issues of faith and character here. Don't worry - we're not going psalm by psalm. That would take about three years at my pace. My pattern is simply to read until something strikes me. I figure that if it is an issue for me, it is for someone else also. A few years ago I started reading the psalms in my Bible reading. For a while I found them, honestly, a little dull, but they have grown on me and I find them refreshing and helpful now. A lot of the thoughts you'll see here started in my journal.

Have a good week.

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Its been an interesting three weeks since I injured my arm. People laugh when I tell them the story. I jumped up to do a chin-up on a branch and partially tore my bicep. I’ve heard a number of aging jokes since then.

This is like no injury I’ve ever had. I have no pain, but my arm doesn’t work like it should. Most activities pose no difficulty at all, but other things I once considered simple I now have to think about. This week I went to help load a canoe on a truck and had to change sides in order to flip the boat over my head. Using a screwdriver is a little difficult also.

Its taking a while to rethink how I do things, but this isn’t all bad. I’m all for doing things an easier way. For instance, my friend Dan and I salvage heavy timbers from the shore to use in his garden. These 10-foot-long 12 inch beams weigh 500-600 lbs. Recently we took a small log to use as a lever and a roller. It was amazing how much easier it was to move them. It makes me wonder why we did it the hard way for so long.

Its good to rethink how we do things. This spring has been crazy busy for me, among my fullest ever. Its forcing me to consider how and why I do things. I’ve realized there are things I do because I want people to think better of me. I want them to see me as competent, capable, successful.

But who, really, am I performing for? I can’t answer the question, because there really isn’t anyone in particular. Its just the image of success I’ve created in my mind. At times like this I realize I’ve gotten things turned around the wrong way again.

I see this when I look at passages like Psalm 1:1-3. "Blessed is the man [whose]... delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither."

The tree which the psalmist had in mind would produce nothing but withered leaves if it did not have a steady supply of pure, fresh water to sustain it. The yield of high quality fruit at its proper time was a sign of a good supply of water. The order is important. Water first, then the fruit.

Its no different for me. I can’t produce the fruit God designed me for unless I’m drawing continually upon Him. I start to wither and dry up when I move away from the Source of Life. When my focus is on pleasing the Lord and not on fulfilling some notion of success I’ve created, life is easier, less stressful, more joyful, and the results of my labours are increased.

I’m looking back in my journal at when I first noted this passage. I wrote, "Lord, may I drink from your water and yield your fruit in its season. May I not be so concerned with the yield." This is still a fitting prayer as I seek to please Him instead of my images of success.

Hope this helps. Be OnFire

Troy

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. This letter published May 22, 2006.