29. December 2009 by admin.

In three days, we’ll enter 2010. If you’ve read my previous post on ‘Vision,’ you know I’ve been spending time thinking about how I want to grow in the coming years. I’ve decided to make lifelong learning a part of my regular discipline. It’s been a few years since I’ve sat in a classroom and I’ve forgotten to just learn for learning’s sake - without an exam or quiz or paper hanging over my head.

I graduated from Columbia University and it was my first choice college. Columbia was my first choice school due to its Core Curriculum. For the first two years as an undergraduate, I studied the great classics of literature, political theory, art, and music. This education didn’t prepare me for an occupation per se, but it did teach me how to think critically, a skill which has benefited me greatly in my adult years. It’s also a skill which doesn’t have to end once you have a diploma in hand. If you have a library card and an intense desire, you can learn about anything.

So, I’ve commited to a lifelong learning plan. In 2010, I’ll read one book a week, at least 10 of thise books will be from Columbia’s Core Curriculum list. To aid in my learning experience, I’ll keep a ‘Commonplace Book.’ A commonplace book became popular in early modern Europe. It’s a place to compile knowledge. You can write quotes, book summaries, and your personal reflections/responses to the ideas you’ve read. It’s an active form of reading which aids in retention. Well known people like John Milton and Francis Bacon have also kept commonplace books. I’ve decided to use a journal with acid free paper as my commonplace book. Acid free paper lasts for about 100 years. When I’m old and grey, I can pass my notebooks on to my children

I looked up the syllabi for Columbia’s Core Curriculum online. Here’s the link for the Sophomore Contemporary Civilization (CC) syllabus: http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/cc.php And here’s the link for the freshman Literature Humanities (Lit Hum) syllabus: http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/lh.php

The first classic that I’ll read is Rousseau’s ‘Discourse on the Nature of Inequality’. I read Rousseau in high school and his writings had a profound impact on me as a teenager. So, I’m rereading him to refresh my memory. I’ll probably post some of my thoughts on this blog from time to time.

That’s my big goal: lifelong learning. As with any big goal, I’m breaking it into small chunks of one book a week, 10 of which are classics. Rousseau is the first classic on my list.

What are your goals for the new year…or for life?

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21. December 2009 by admin.

Two weeks ago, I drove past a young man standing in the middle of the highway, in the pouring rain, with a  soaked piece of cardboard in hand, asking for money. A young woman stood there with him. When I saw the two of them my heart broke. How could a human being, created in God’s image, get to that point of desperation?

I believe their process was gradual. A series of decisions reaped certain results. He could have made the decision to not work out a payment plan with a bill collector, or not look for another job when he got laid off, or not try to go to counseling to work on his marriage, or not study for that important test. This could have caused an eviction, a divorce, or getting kicked out of school. And now, he’s standing in the rain, asking for help. 

I’ve never been placed in a position where I had to stand on a corner and ask for money, but I have been in situations where I have been a beggar. At 22 years old, I worked two part time jobs which paid $7.00 per hour, I lived at home with my mother, and used my entire paycheck to make a car payment I couldn’t afford. The hope of a Bachelor’s degree from my dream school was a faint memory.  I settled into a deadly routine.

Deadly routines usually start with one seemingly insignificant decision which leads to another decision which then culminates in disaster. For me, it was the decision to wallow in self pity and negative thinking. This led to scraping the bottom of the barrel, hoping and wishing while still blaming and complaining.

One day, my husband (we were dating at the time) visited me while I was working at one of my part time jobs and asked: “What are you doing here?” That question changed my life. What was I doing there? 

I faced the ugly facts and started to re-vision my life. I then took steps to change and eventually I got to my destination. But I still ask myself that question regularly. Otherwise, the nature of this fallen world will lead me downhill.

At the close of 2009, I am again asking myself: “What am I doing here?” Do I see an upward trend in different areas of my life (spiritually, mentally, financially, emotionally, physically, in my marriage and friendships)? Or is the trend in any (or all) of these areas downhill?  For me, it takes weeks to re-inventory myself but the results are worth it.

So, I ask you, what are you doing? If you continue with the same habits for a year or more, what results would you reap?

“Without vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).

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14. December 2009 by admin.

I found scriptures with “In Him,” “In Whom,” and “In Christ” in the Bible. If you didn’t get to read my November ‘09 post, I am trekking through the New Testament to find all the scriptures with these phrases because most of them tell me who I am in Christ. If we read these scriptures regularly, our self concept will change. Here’s what I gathered from Ephesians:

Eph 1:3-4 “I bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ME with all spiritual blessings in heaven places in Christ. According as he hath chosen ME in him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

Eph 1:6-7 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made ME accepted in the beloved. In whom I have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

Eph 1:9-13 “Having made known unto ME the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he migh gather together inone all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.

In whom also I have obtained an interitance, being predestined according tot he purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will.

Tha I should be to the praise of his glory, who first truseted in Christ. In whom I also trusted after that I heard the word of truth, the gospel of MY salvation, in whom also after that I believe, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Eph 2:5-6 “Even when I were dead in sins hath he quickened ME together with Christ (by grace I am saved) And hath raised ME up together and made ME to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Eph 2:10 “I am his workmanship, created in Christ Hesis unto good works, which God hath before ordained that I should walk in them.”

Eph 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus I who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Eph 2:18 “For through him I both have access by one spirit unto the father.”

Eph 2:21-22 “In whom al the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom I also am builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Eph 3:6 “That I, a Gentile, should befellow heirs of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

Eph 3:11-12 “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom I have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him”

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