{"id":392,"date":"2014-07-31T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T05:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=392"},"modified":"2014-07-30T19:24:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T00:24:01","slug":"altars-and-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=392","title":{"rendered":"Altars and Ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs for man, his days are like grass; as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children\u2019s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.\u201d Psalm 103:15-18<\/em><\/p>\n

My first novel, A Lifetime Ago, contains passages that resonated with me at the time I wrote them, and they continue to resonate. One such scene occurs after the character Cami Taylor, a novelist, has unplugged from her life for reasons I won\u2019t go into because they would be spoilers if you read the book. Cami is lazing in a friend\u2019s backyard pool, and she thinks, \u201c…I\u2019ve grown addicted to this lazy routine of rising late and doing nothing. There is no passion in me to write, no sense of urgency to make the day productive. I realize, on this morning, I\u2019ve come to believe no effort is in every way as good as my best effort. I have never known such freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was in my early forties when I typed those words for the first time. I earnestly wanted to write a novel that achieved recognition and distinction, not to mention big sales. I poured my soul into the work. Unlike my character\u2019s, my own ambition was vibrant and healthy.<\/p>\n

One of the wonderful things about racking up decades is each one brings a new point of view. My fifth decade brought the dissipation of the ambitions that dominated my earlier years. I began to feel satisfied to the point that I thought if I don\u2019t get to do much of anything else, what has gone before will be enough. My life has exceeded my expectations. Maybe I\u2019m kidding myself, but the thought has a profoundly relaxing effect. The last time I got a deep tissue massage I asked the therapist if she noticed any tension. \u201cNo honey,\u201d she said, \u201cYou\u2019re not tense. At all.\u201d That was a first.<\/p>\n

Not too long ago I remembered how I felt when I was in my twenties. I didn\u2019t have a degree or any skills to speak of, but I really, really wanted a career. Well, God provided one that fit me to a T, and it\u2019s pure satisfaction to have successfully completed it. Sometimes I glance at the retirement plaque I keep on the desk at my day job, and I think, \u201cWow. That\u2019s done.\u201d As I look to the future, I\u2019m more like Cami – I\u2019m free from the need to prove anything. It\u2019s as if the Holy Spirit is whispering, \u201cWe got that out of the way, now let\u2019s get on with what comes next.\u201d If sixty is the new forty and life begins at forty, here we go. Rock and roll. Rather than driving ambition, I now enjoy a sense of expectation. A looking forward to something – I\u2019m not sure what. Everything so far has been a gift. I can see that now. If the path of the righteous (Romans 3:22) is as the breaking dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day (Proverbs 4:18), what wonderfulness could lie ahead? If I\u2019m willing, that is.<\/p>\n

Willing to do what? You ask. Willing to change again at least as much as I have been changed before. After all, we\u2019re just getting started. We\u2019re just beginning to get down to business. Pastor Jack Hayford published a wonderful teaching<\/a> about the altar Abraham built in the place the Lord visited him and made The Big Promise (Genesis 12:6-9). My current state of mind isn\u2019t a bad place for an altar. Rather than rocks, I\u2019ll use wineskins, old and new (Mark 2:22).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have to build an altar, and I don\u2019t have to allow myself to be altered. I\u2019ll still go to heaven. I\u2019m sure the years will still bring many blessings. After that eternity will bring even more. But wouldn\u2019t I regret staying on the kiddie rides when I\u2019m holding an E Ticket? Yes, I might regret that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.\u201d Paul the Apostle to the Church at Philippi (Philippians 3:7-14 NIV<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Melissa Kay Simonds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs for man, his days are like grass; as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-6k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":262,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=262","url_meta":{"origin":392,"position":0},"title":"Center of the Universe","author":"lsimonds","date":"January 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cHe has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.\u201d Ecclesiastes 3:11 One summer night, sometime during the 1960s, my cousins and I lay stargazing on the front\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1125,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1125","url_meta":{"origin":392,"position":1},"title":"Christmas Feast","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.\" Psalm 34:8 Taste is our most intimate sense. We kiss to taste another whom we desire. Less intimately, we share the taste of food with people we like. Eating a good meal and talking about the flavors is an experience we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2018"","block_context":{"text":"2018","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":253,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=253","url_meta":{"origin":392,"position":2},"title":"When Push Comes To Shove","author":"lsimonds","date":"November 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYou watched while a stone was cut without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=388","url_meta":{"origin":392,"position":3},"title":"Happily Ever After","author":"lsimonds","date":"June 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cTherefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.\u201d Isaiah 51:11 KJV I have a day job: I work for a company that supplies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1578,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1578","url_meta":{"origin":392,"position":4},"title":"Nativity with a Capital N","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,And deep darkness the people;But the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will arise over you,And His glory will be seen upon you.The\u00a0Gentiles shall come to your light,And kings to the brightness of your rising.Isaiah 60:2-3 About a year ago, I was having my hair done, watching the young people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2020"","block_context":{"text":"2020","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions\/397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}