What is Legacy?

I have recently begun to think about the legacy we leave behind.  I enjoy the poet W.H. Auden and his poem "The Unknown Citizen" is a statement on this topic.  Is the point of our life to leave an imprint of somekind?  Do we strive to make a mark for ourselves or something greater than ourselves?  Should I spend my life being remembered or making the world better?  Is I live with eternity is view, will I not desire a legacy on earth?  Is the desire to be remembered wrong?  I understand that my first goal in life is to please God and that earthly recognition of any kind is unnecessary.  However, when I think of family and loved ones, there is that creeping desire to be important or cherished.  Pride is very persuasive.

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Christmas Music

The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year.  I love winter and snow and most of all, Christmas music.  I listen to it all year long although I have to keep it to myself since my wife does not approve until we pass Thanksgiving.  There are hundreds of varieties and versions of classics and great new songs introduced every year.  I myself seek to get my hands on as much Christmas music as possible.  With the exception of two songs, I have never heard a Christmas song which I did not like.  And truly, many of the timeless classics reverberate frequently in many versions in my collection.
But for the sake of this post, I wanted to highlight an underrated Christmas song and album.

1. Song - His Favorite Christmas Story by Capital Lights (listen here)  This song is just a great story that centers around Christmas time.  It highlights the fact that memories made during the Christmas holiday can reverberate throughout a person's life.
2. Album - Do You See What I See? by Todd Agnew (and friends) (order or sample here) Todd Agnew has a powerful voice and a great skill for creating lyrics.  In this album, he weaves a masterful collections of stories.  Each song is a different character's interaction with the happenings of the incarnation.  From Mary and Joseph to the innkeeper and John the Baptist's mother, each character's song explores the fears and trepidations that they as humans must have faced.  And the album concludes with the greatest rendition of In The First Light I have ever heard.  It is truly worth a listen if you can get your hands on it. 

I welcome suggestions for other music or songs that I may not have heard.  Have a great Incarnation Season.

The Humor of Calvin

© Universal Press Syndicate

This is still by far one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes episodes.  Below is a link to one person's idea of the best 25 Calvin and Hobbes ever.

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm

Mirror Image

I enjoy taking and making notes in mirror image.  It was a habit I started when I was young and have continued to use it throughout my life.  While in college, I had to read a book titled How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci.  One of the suggested assignments was to write in mirror image as Da Vinci was known to do.  The book claimed that writing in mirror image would force you to use both halves of your brain.  I never knew any of that.  I just enjoyed writing in mirror image and it would annoy people who tried to read my notes.  It really isn't that hard.  Try it sometime.  All you have to do is pretend you are sitting on the opposite side of the paper.  Then just write normally and it will be in mirror image.  It truly is helpful for keeping you focused.  I am prone to drifting off in church services but have found that writing in this way keeps me attentive and alert.

Counter Cultural Faith

The current construct of common culture constrains our conscience into a confused commonplace coexistence with the chaotic complexities of this circus of life.  However, Christ has called us Christian citizens to conduct our character in contrast to the culture and not capitulate to complacent causality.  Continuing then we are to circumvent our callous carcass of carnality and to contemplate the character of Christ.  And finally to completely consider our celestial certainty and to champion the cause of our commander and consider our consecrated, crucified Christ and concentrate on a continued constitutional which challenges complacency with that which is counter cultural.