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Monday, December 13, 2010

Excessive Information

It seems, as I have wandered the wide world of blogging, that there is an abundance of material and a dearth in meaningful material.  It brings to mind the history of publication and written information.  That point at which a person’s writings could be instantly read by millions of people across the globe should have been a dramatic event historically.  Yet we view such activities as normal and ordinary in this day and age of abundant information.
It once was a special talent to be able to inscribe such information as you saw fit.  Thus, only those writings so deemed important were written down for history to have.  However, there was a breakthrough with the advent of type set printing. Though this was tedious in many aspects, it allowed for multiple copies of a work without much additional labor.
Since then, printing became more advanced.  We saw typewriters and then computers which could hold and manage large amounts of written work.  Yet still, publication of writing was a prize worth seeking and only those works deemed competent were published.
Yet today, the internet and the web log (blog) have transformed that which was once sacred.  The mere fact that my writing is here and you are partaking of said inscription is a testament of historical significance.  Yet no amount of energy will proceed to celebrate such a feat.
Now the world is replete with an abundance of information which has little or no value (though value is but the worth which we place upon an object or piece of information).  So many today are able to enumerate immense amounts of material which says very little of significance.  I also have now spent some bit of time pronouncing nothing of worth.
While all this may be true, the important idea to remember is this.  Our time and our energy are numbered.  We must seek therefore to espouse those causes, and research those ideas which are pertinent, powerful, or prolific for that which is profitable.  In so doing, we will ensure that though we may not accomplish everything, we may offer our sincerest efforts to accomplish what is possible.
That being said, I must confess that I will strive, as I blog, to provide such writings as may be found helpful, encouraging, or pointed.
Always remember, not all that is eloquent is of any value and not all that is helpful is eloquent.  Search and strive at all times to focus on what is true and what is good (Galatians 6). 

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Good Foundations?

I have noticed recently an alarming reality in my life.  It is a pattern that may well spread to other people, though I haven't spent time doing any searching.  The fact is that all of my bad personality traits are built upon a foundation of my good traits.  Confused?  Well this is what I have noticed.  My personality and skill set would tend towards the following characteristics.
  1. Methodical
  2. Even tempered
  3. Unaffected by negativity around me or towards me
  4. Detail focused and driven
  5. Somewhat intelligent
  6. Confident
  7. Cautious
  8. Etc.
Most of those things are beneficial and helpful for my life and I have structured the shape of my future plans around using those skills to glorify God.  However, the struggles with sin and my bad traits come from an extension of all of those good traits.  I could be termed insensitive, arrogant, condescending, unfriendly, not interested in other people, unloving, etc.  I find that I have to work every day to temper and overcome the sinful desires to "be myself."  I seek my own pleasure and that usually means fulfilling my own personality towards my own comfort.  I have just now realized (far too late) that I must be conscious of who I am, so I can consciously act properly in a tempered way.  Why can I not naturally be in perfect balance?  Why can't my good traits end where they turn bad without my daily focus?  Maybe in another 30 years or more, I will get it all worked out.