I stumbled upon (not the website) a great quote from Donald Miller today.  What would it mean to listen to the voice of God every day.  To play off His rhythms, and to grow by His voice?  Check out my article on The Real Voice on my blog Theolook.

I read a bit of John Adams' work recently.  What an amazing man!  I felt compelled to write a little story on the type of man he was on my political blog "Elephants on Parade."  Check it out if you have a chance, the article is called The Statesman .  I would love some feedback.

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."

   -Benjamin Franklin, June 1746

      I heard this quote for the first time today as I walked down a very wet Fountain Street in Grand Rapids.  It was drizzling, that quintessential Michigan spring rain, cool to the skin, and cold to the heart.  My dear friend's dad, Mr. Niewiadomski, a man known for frequent words of wisdom, imparted upon me this trifle while discussing the importance of timeliness.       I never gave much thought to time.  Time is a precarious substance.  Very difficult to really place.  It seems that the only occasion upon which I've given it much attention are those times that I have hated it the most; such as ten minutes of time out in the corner as a a child, or the doctor telling me he'll be out with an update in a half an hour.  Those times when I am the most aware of time are the moments I hate it the most.   

     Yet, as Mr. Franklin points out, time may be the most essential thing of this life.  Could it be that life truly is made up of time?  Not in the sense of physicality, but that more so than any other element, time gives the created order most of its form.  I have noticed a trend in my life as of late, that time is very much dealt with apathetically.  I do not pay much note to time or those moments that slip past me with every breath.  To a youth time is an endless well.  It is not until near death, and only in the case that one is knowledgeable of its impending instance, that humans truly live out the fullness of time.             Time is wasted on youth. A professor of mine, Dr. Dave Smith, spoke with me once about Sabbath Living.  Its this idea that life is intended to be experienced in rhythms and cycles.  He proposed a Hebraic idea that one's day began at sundown with the rest one took to prepare for it.  In this notion life was lived out of the overflow.  This really caught me off guard.  My life is the exact converse.  I run myself ragged until I cannot go on any longer, and then I sleep.  But I only sleep until moments before I have to be at my first event of the day.       My life needs rhythm.  Something new, an entire retooling of methodology.  As I have thought about this more, I've come to realize my waking moments too need to be re-imagined.  What would it be like if I used up every moment with laser focus.  What would I accomplish if I lived my life with exacting discipline?        I have entered a season where I need to make this a reality.  I must become more efficient.  I feel this pressure to live life with urgency, a very palpable sense of urgency that directs my every movement.  I must squeeze every drop out of life.  To this I commit myself.  I will learn to live my life well.