A Passion to Follow
Yesterday a dear friend of mine called to see if I wanted to come to her backyard observatory to look at sunspots through her telescope. I did, and drove the mile and a half to her place and saw them for the first time in my life.
I also saw her notebook where she had faithfully been charting the changing view of those sunspots, carefully drawing the sun circles and the spots in the right location. They are to be shared with a group working together as amateur astronomers.
Last summer, as long as we could tolerate the voracious mosquitoes, a group of us gathered in the alfalfa field near their house where she had set up the telescope for us to look at some of the most dramatic features of the night sky during that season.
Every month, she faithfully distributes copies of the "Heavenly Minder," a newsletter she writes, with information on what to watch for in the night sky.
On the day I went over to see the sunspots, she had been in her observatory at 3:00 in the morning. As she told me happily when she still had three teenagers at home, "At that time of the night, no one needs me." While she does what is necessary as a homemaker, grandmother, and farmer's wife, she is passionate about her hobby, and sacrifices sleep to pursue it.
I admire anyone who commits passionately to something, especially when one is tuned as Suzy is to seeing how the created world reveals the Creator's glory and power.
Today during church I caught a glimpse of another kind of passion. We had a missions emphasis service and a commissioning for a young family from our church that is going to a Muslim country as "tentmakers." It turns out that since their teens, both parents have felt called and drawn to live among these people. They have worked hard to prepare for this task, not the least of which has been acquiring the skills to train computer software developers in their destination country.
When this 28-year-old man inquired of his (now) wife's father whether he had permission to begin a courtship with her, he told her father that he foresaw a future in a Muslim country for his family. In a testimony at church this father affirmed again the permission he granted that long-ago day for his daughter to share in the young man's commitment to the Muslim world.
What an admirable passion!
In contrast, some of my passions seem less noble.
I do know something about how to live ordinary life passionately, and I try not to take anything for granted. Perhaps this is the reward for having endured times of suffering in the past.
I rejoice when I see the open friendliness and peace on the face on a student who used to have a closed and cloudy countenance. I enjoy conversation with my colleagues in school and in the farmer's marketing world I'm part of. My Sunday School class members are precious to me, and I desire a good life for them.
I'm grateful for emotional and physical health and the vigor to embrace the tasks of each day. I've learned to identify every bird I see as I drive along the road, and I love to greet each season's wildflowers like the old friends they are by now. I admire the healthy body of every farm animal, and I can't stay out of the livestock barns at the state fair. I can't see pictures of any landscape or flower bed without naming to myself the common and botanical name of the plant material, or perhaps noting the unfamiliar ones for future research. Every meal I cook has me totting up the nutrients contained in it, and the laundry I do is a review of fabrics and what I know about their manufacture, characteristics, and care. I exult in reading or listening to a well-turned phrase or a well-organized essay,sermon, or speech. A nicely decorated room or a well-thought out landscape give me great pleasure. A carefully crafted position statement on the subject of education is a particular delight. I know what hard work these accomplishments involve.
All these bits of information that are now part of who I am were acquired during a time in my life when I was passionate about learning about them.
Our oldest son's hard work and demanding schedule has finally put a bachelor's degree within the next year's grasp--at age 24, with fulltime employment since age 16, and I'm happy in his pleasure.
Our middle son's passion is singing, and a friend who got an invitation from a friend on Broadway invited him to sing there with her this summer at the Lincoln Center at the Werner Brothers talent scouting event. He has no illusions about instant fame, but he likes the idea of being around singing people, and for now he sings at weddings, coffee shops, county choral society productions, and informally with friends. I love to see him cultivate his passion.
Our youngest son, Grant, has a current passion I sometimes have a hard time feeling peace about: radio-controlled airplanes. He spends hours in his friend's plane shop at the same place where he helps regularly with doing the evening milking. He's become very good at building airplanes, but I'd like to have him home during some of the hours he spends in the shop, forgetting too often about banalities like supper and sleep. But I rejoice too that he has a good trustworthy friend and is in a good environment when they are together. And Grant has learned about things that God may use in his future, perhaps as an MAF pilot, so I rejoice in this passion also.
My husband, Hiromi, is passionate about things like learning to understand the relationship of ancient Phoenician Bible texts to Aramaic ones. My eyes glaze over pretty quickly when things get detailed in our conversation about these things, but when his research and collation is finished and the time comes, I will help him to put what he finds into words that others can understand. And I admire his passion for sticking to a job that has taken years, and will take more years of hard work.
I can't imagine living a passionless life, and I thank God for the environment of peace and plenty we live in that allows us to indulge these passions, if not to our heart's content, at least enough to add tremendous richness to our lives.
I also saw her notebook where she had faithfully been charting the changing view of those sunspots, carefully drawing the sun circles and the spots in the right location. They are to be shared with a group working together as amateur astronomers.
Last summer, as long as we could tolerate the voracious mosquitoes, a group of us gathered in the alfalfa field near their house where she had set up the telescope for us to look at some of the most dramatic features of the night sky during that season.
Every month, she faithfully distributes copies of the "Heavenly Minder," a newsletter she writes, with information on what to watch for in the night sky.
On the day I went over to see the sunspots, she had been in her observatory at 3:00 in the morning. As she told me happily when she still had three teenagers at home, "At that time of the night, no one needs me." While she does what is necessary as a homemaker, grandmother, and farmer's wife, she is passionate about her hobby, and sacrifices sleep to pursue it.
I admire anyone who commits passionately to something, especially when one is tuned as Suzy is to seeing how the created world reveals the Creator's glory and power.
Today during church I caught a glimpse of another kind of passion. We had a missions emphasis service and a commissioning for a young family from our church that is going to a Muslim country as "tentmakers." It turns out that since their teens, both parents have felt called and drawn to live among these people. They have worked hard to prepare for this task, not the least of which has been acquiring the skills to train computer software developers in their destination country.
When this 28-year-old man inquired of his (now) wife's father whether he had permission to begin a courtship with her, he told her father that he foresaw a future in a Muslim country for his family. In a testimony at church this father affirmed again the permission he granted that long-ago day for his daughter to share in the young man's commitment to the Muslim world.
What an admirable passion!
In contrast, some of my passions seem less noble.
I do know something about how to live ordinary life passionately, and I try not to take anything for granted. Perhaps this is the reward for having endured times of suffering in the past.
I rejoice when I see the open friendliness and peace on the face on a student who used to have a closed and cloudy countenance. I enjoy conversation with my colleagues in school and in the farmer's marketing world I'm part of. My Sunday School class members are precious to me, and I desire a good life for them.
I'm grateful for emotional and physical health and the vigor to embrace the tasks of each day. I've learned to identify every bird I see as I drive along the road, and I love to greet each season's wildflowers like the old friends they are by now. I admire the healthy body of every farm animal, and I can't stay out of the livestock barns at the state fair. I can't see pictures of any landscape or flower bed without naming to myself the common and botanical name of the plant material, or perhaps noting the unfamiliar ones for future research. Every meal I cook has me totting up the nutrients contained in it, and the laundry I do is a review of fabrics and what I know about their manufacture, characteristics, and care. I exult in reading or listening to a well-turned phrase or a well-organized essay,sermon, or speech. A nicely decorated room or a well-thought out landscape give me great pleasure. A carefully crafted position statement on the subject of education is a particular delight. I know what hard work these accomplishments involve.
All these bits of information that are now part of who I am were acquired during a time in my life when I was passionate about learning about them.
Our oldest son's hard work and demanding schedule has finally put a bachelor's degree within the next year's grasp--at age 24, with fulltime employment since age 16, and I'm happy in his pleasure.
Our middle son's passion is singing, and a friend who got an invitation from a friend on Broadway invited him to sing there with her this summer at the Lincoln Center at the Werner Brothers talent scouting event. He has no illusions about instant fame, but he likes the idea of being around singing people, and for now he sings at weddings, coffee shops, county choral society productions, and informally with friends. I love to see him cultivate his passion.
Our youngest son, Grant, has a current passion I sometimes have a hard time feeling peace about: radio-controlled airplanes. He spends hours in his friend's plane shop at the same place where he helps regularly with doing the evening milking. He's become very good at building airplanes, but I'd like to have him home during some of the hours he spends in the shop, forgetting too often about banalities like supper and sleep. But I rejoice too that he has a good trustworthy friend and is in a good environment when they are together. And Grant has learned about things that God may use in his future, perhaps as an MAF pilot, so I rejoice in this passion also.
My husband, Hiromi, is passionate about things like learning to understand the relationship of ancient Phoenician Bible texts to Aramaic ones. My eyes glaze over pretty quickly when things get detailed in our conversation about these things, but when his research and collation is finished and the time comes, I will help him to put what he finds into words that others can understand. And I admire his passion for sticking to a job that has taken years, and will take more years of hard work.
I can't imagine living a passionless life, and I thank God for the environment of peace and plenty we live in that allows us to indulge these passions, if not to our heart's content, at least enough to add tremendous richness to our lives.
posted by Mrs. I at
8:39 PM
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