Rhon's Inspiration Station: Day 7 and Day 8
LISTENING TO MY LIFE by AUTHOR : SCOTT WALKER, DAY 7 & DAY 8
DAY 7: “LIFE TO THE FULL” I am increasingly aware of how fast the years are passing. Just last week, while sitting with my family around the dinner tale, we celebrated my mother’s ninetieth birthday, and I turned 61. We smiled at each other, eyes moist, grateful for the years shard together. And yet, I was keenly aware we will not live forever. In my current freshman class at Mercer University title “Composing the Self,” my students spend a semester reviewing the first eighteen years of their lives. Yesterday, we read a poem by Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day,” which depicts a young woman resting in a lush green pasture as she encounters a small grasshopper attached to her sweater. Holding the small insect tenderly in her hand, she gazes into it’s “enormous and complicated eyes” and realizes that the insect will live only a few more weeks until summer turns to fall. As the grasshopper snaps her wings and floats away, the girl whispers, “Doesn’t everything die at last and too soon” Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” this is the most important question for us all: my ninety-year old mother, her sixty-one-year old son, my twenty-three-year old daughter, my college freshman students. Sometimes a singer has only one song, a preacher one sermon, a writer one book and a prophet one vision. Life is drawn into narrow and intense focus. Now I know that my one question for each person I meet is “What is your dream for your one precious life” Each answer will shape the course of history. Father, inspire me to know how to live the years that are before me. Amen…Scott walker DAY 8: WORKING FOR FREEDOM & JUSTICE” Yesterday, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and as I walked to meet a recent Mercer University graduate for lunch, I asked God for the gift of encouragement. Alicia is a brillant young woman who attended law schoo for several semesters. However, she increasingly felt that this course of study was not joining her unique talents to the world’s greatest need. Perplexed and discouraged, she read about a new program started by the Institue of Life Purpose called Service First, which connects Mercer’s graduates to international service projects for one year. Alicia applided to Service First and was sent to teach English as a second language to elementary and high school students in Thailand. For nine months, she lived in Bangkok and experienced a world she had not know. She soon realized that her deepest desire was to help political refugees, women abused by sex trafficking, and those who are most marginalized and helpless . As alicia talked about his new clarification of her life-dream, I felt my mood life. My spirit and Alicia’s spirit and God’s Spirif were working together. I saw how the opportunity to spend one year beyond college discovering “the world’s greatest hunger” was empowering a young woman to work for goodness and justice long after my life is a dim memory. This morning, as I wrote a letter of recommendation for Alicia to attend a graduate school specialize in international aid and human rights issues, I smiled. God did grant my prayer for encouragement, and I was the one most uplifted. ….Father, may we believe that all things, work together for good Amen Scott Walker
From Rhon: I hope all that have read this marvelous story of Scott Walker’s, that I have had in my column for the last few weeks…. will pray about what you truly want in life ! Wishing all reading this a peaceful day in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ…Rhon
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