Two inconsequences of getting older

How long do you persist with a book before giving up? A while ago, I came across a handy rule of thumb that tells you how many pages you should read before deciding whether to stick with it or leave it:

(100 – your age) divided by 2

So for instance, if you’re 30, you would read 35 pages ((100-30) ÷2) before you guilt-freely give it the boot. And if you live to be 98, well, you can justifiably judge a book by its cover.

What is the basis of this rule? I’d like to think that the older we are, the better able we are to judge a book’s worthiness - to ourselves at least. But I suspect the simple reason is that we have less and less time. The stakes get higher with each passing year. There are only so many books, articles, blogposts you can fit in a lifetime. A sobering thought for those contemplating on doing the “100 books you must read before you die” challenge!

Da Vinci, a man of art and a man of science

Or perhaps we just have less stamina. I remember my adolescence when I would faithfully wait till the very last page of any Agatha Christie novel to find out whodunit. Plus I had good book hygiene. I would patiently go through one novel before starting another – why dilute the experience? But it all started to go awry came the HSC, when I never finished reading my English text, Emma. (Got up to the bit when Emma realised she loved Mr Knightley; Clueless and Cliff’s Notes filled in the rest. It’s very hard to keep the dramatic tension going once the sexual tension is resolved, isn’t it?)

Reading fatigue is not helped by the array of words plying for our attention. A friend used to say that we only have a certain amount of reading energy each day and if that is taken up by reading bullet points and legalese all day, there is precious little left for the important or pleasurable.

And so sadly I am putting this rule of thumb to good practice without intending to. Still, I can’t help feeling a pang of disappointment at not being able to finish what I started.

* * *

On a radio interview some time ago, a scientist made an interesting observation. He said that scientists usually do their groundbreaking work young, while musicians and artists continue producing into their old age.

Case in point: John Nash famously came up with his most important contribution to game theory in his 20s; whilst Picasso painted great works into his 80s.

Why is that? The same scientist postulates this is because in science, you need to be constantly interacting with new information in order to come up with a novel idea. An aging scientist is ill-suited to do this, not least because he or she is taken up by administrative tasks like running departments and applying for grants. Whereas in the arts, the information you need to create and keep creating is acquired in youth, and growth occurs internally.

Interesting. We don't choose our vocation based on its longevity – how a businessman might last longer than a barrister, who might last longer than a surgeon, who might last longer than a footballer. And at this rate of increasing life expectancy, we might all need second or third careers to round out our working lives. So it is natural that many people turn to writing and teaching in their retirement.

There’s a saying in Chinese tradition, “if you read ten thousand books, you might as well walk ten thousand miles” – meaning – it is better to step out, travel and experience the world firsthand than to read about it in books.

But when reading ability is in decline, and the wanderlust is gone, it’s good to know that the final and most thrilling journey happens inside.

Back to the future with Jesus

When a person becomes a Christian, we repent of our rebellion against God and accept Christ as our righteousness. From then on, we entrust our lives to Him – our present and our future.

But what about our past? Past events. People. Things that happened to us. Does Jesus lay claim to our past too? Do we have to surrender our past in order to follow him?

What I mean is this. It is not as if God is in the business of doing weird time warps and undoing history that has already occurred – thankfully He will never retract the historical fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection! So the question is less of a practical, and more of a philosophical one – what if our past, everything that has made us what we are today, were to unravel? Sure, we have all done things in the past we would rather forget; but there are also many things we cherish and celebrate. Do we have to give those up too? Would we still praise God?

To illustrate, consider the parable of the rich ruler. When asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’, Jesus answered “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The rich ruler walked away sad because he had great wealth.

Now imagine if Jesus had gone further, and said, “Not only do I ask you to give up your wealth, but I will erase from your former life everything that has contributed to what you are today.” What of it then?

Recently, I met someone who had lived through homelessness who challenged me deeply about what made me how I am. I thought to myself, what would I do if I were to be turned out onto the street tomorrow, homeless? I think I might manage to get to a Centrelink office and fill in a form. But my ability to do so is not because of some intrinsic virtue on my part. Something in my past, my upbringing, my education, has empowered me to do that. And so I am still hanging onto my own mental resources. I am still worshipping at the altar of the great “I” instead of the great “I Am”! We forget how much of what we are today, is owed to our past. Everyone is indebted for better or worse, to their past.

So I return again to the question: can you give up your past? What if you are not only required to give up a future life of comfort and ease but to give up the privileges of your past? What if you can no longer talk the way you do, think the way you do – and I’m not talking about being afflicted by some terrible disease or trauma in the future – what if you never had the opportunity in the first place? What if you are no longer you – Tommy from middle class Australia but born in the slums to illiterate parents who did not know the importance of reading to children or feeding them nutritious food? What if you were to lose your entire ancestry and heritage? Where is your identity then?

I finally conclude there is only one thing that reaches into our past far enough, past our parents, our grandparents, our ancestors, that is a sure foundation for who you are. Hear the words of St Paul,

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons thorough Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. “ (Ephesians 1:4-5)

My answer: God's election. You could be born into any place, any era, any circumstance, but before you were conceived, before any iota of you came to be, you were predestined for adoption as God’s children.

It’s like this. In the movie “Back to the Future 2” (surely a retro film now) Michael J Fox had to travel back in time to make sure his mum got together with his dad so that he could exist. It’s a shaky thing to depend on, isn’t it, our parents getting together. Who our parents are. But our ultimate existence is not shaky if undergirding it is the sovereign creation and election by the Living God of the universe.

Have you ever known expectant couples and thought, ah yes, their child is going to grow up with much love and guidance, because of the values and the character of the parents – whether it’s a boy or girl, able-bodied or disabled, through the vagaries of life, their general trajectory and foundation is sure. Now imagine if your parent is God the Father. No wonder Paul is convinced that “neither death nor life, neither angels’ nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This same friend I referred to before said, “My job is not my identity, my home is not my identity. Christ is my identity.”

Today I understood a little more of what that means. God’s grace grows a little bigger in my heart. Jesus’ claim over my past extends to more than just forgiveness of my sins. Everything I am I owe to Him alone and for that I must practise thankfulness. He is indeed my present, future and past, and all of it is to be redeemed for His glory.

Crafting around: Nature picture

Here is another craft idea I picked up from the same worksheet mentioned in my previous post. I loved doing it because it encouraged my child to get outdoors and explore the flora.

 

Material needed:

Collect gum nuts, flowers, leaves, pebbles and any other goodies from the backyard or a park.
A sheet of paper

We spent twenty minutes in the beautiful spring sun picking up interesting bits of leaves and nuts. Then we simply came in and arranged our bits and pieces on a sheet of paper into a crocodile, a fish and a turtle and stuck on some googly eyes.

Can you spot them?

 



Crafting around: Shaving cream painting

I came cross this idea of finger painting with a twist from a worksheet that my son brought home from the children's program at BSF. It seemed so simple and so fun that we got to work straightaway!

 

Material needed:

Shaving cream
Food colouring
Sheet of paper

On a large plate, spray a generous dollop of shaving cream. A tiny drop of food colouring will be enough to colour the whole dollop. Then, get your fingers in there and start painting!

We found the foam surprisingly easy to move around the paper (much smoother and fulsome than finger paint). The texture of the foam was wonderful to little fingers and as a bonus, my house smelt nice and fragrant afterwards!

To create a painting twice over, whilst you are spraying the shaving cream out of the can, do it slowly and try to 'draw' simple shapes like a flower or a circle with the foam. The resulting white drawing will be a nice contrast to your child's colourful smears.