Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. I John 3:7
It is a happy thing to see someone practice doing well. That old Giovanni bought a guitar after he had been here a few weeks noodling around on one of Alan’s. And he pulls up songs on YouTube, and listens to them over and over, and tries to get his fingers just right. And he sings loudly and with confidence. And to my famously untrained ear, his singing sounds way off-key, but it is so full of joy that you just want him around, even in your living room, because it’s a happy thing. And it’s just fine to have him plug the guitar into the amp and screech away, because it’s a happy thing.
One of my old Wildcat students was facebooking last night and I could not, or did not stop myself and I must stop it because it is really annoying, and I corrected his spelling of its, and he was just fine with it. And then we started talking about school and grades and how it has been his dream to go to the University of Arizona and would he be able to hack it academically. And he can do, with practice, is what I said. You have to practice being a great student and doing great student things like going to bed early, getting your homework done first, if you don’t understand something, get help, those sorts of things. It’s not a push-button instant brilliance, but rather it is a long series of small and doable steps. And he is coming over Sunday afternoon and we are going to work on his college essays that he has started but has no one to help because he doesn’t know anyone who has gone to college. And I am sure he will call me “Miss” all day long, and I will be happy.
And righteousness is not a push-button instant brilliance. And we get to choose those small and doable steps. Practicing walking a son or daughter of light. And then maybe we will find ourselves running, running with patience the race that is set before us. Or biking. Nicole is packing up her little bag to bike up Mt. Lemmon right now. And when she or Dustin pull that off, it is not a matter of hopping on one’s bike and peddling off into the rising sun. But because lots and lots of days they wake up, shake the sleep out of their brain, and head out the door.
So step by step, stride by stride, I make those choices. Over and over, until I become like Him. Or him, the one who is the Father of Lies.
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Ah, yes, love. That too.
And righteous comes from Old English, and doesn’t mean full of right, which I guessed, but is a mixture from Old English rihtwīs, from riht,noun, right + wīs wise. Happy are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
A lovely promise for a new day.
It is a happy thing to see someone practice doing well. That old Giovanni bought a guitar after he had been here a few weeks noodling around on one of Alan’s. And he pulls up songs on YouTube, and listens to them over and over, and tries to get his fingers just right. And he sings loudly and with confidence. And to my famously untrained ear, his singing sounds way off-key, but it is so full of joy that you just want him around, even in your living room, because it’s a happy thing. And it’s just fine to have him plug the guitar into the amp and screech away, because it’s a happy thing.
One of my old Wildcat students was facebooking last night and I could not, or did not stop myself and I must stop it because it is really annoying, and I corrected his spelling of its, and he was just fine with it. And then we started talking about school and grades and how it has been his dream to go to the University of Arizona and would he be able to hack it academically. And he can do, with practice, is what I said. You have to practice being a great student and doing great student things like going to bed early, getting your homework done first, if you don’t understand something, get help, those sorts of things. It’s not a push-button instant brilliance, but rather it is a long series of small and doable steps. And he is coming over Sunday afternoon and we are going to work on his college essays that he has started but has no one to help because he doesn’t know anyone who has gone to college. And I am sure he will call me “Miss” all day long, and I will be happy.
And righteousness is not a push-button instant brilliance. And we get to choose those small and doable steps. Practicing walking a son or daughter of light. And then maybe we will find ourselves running, running with patience the race that is set before us. Or biking. Nicole is packing up her little bag to bike up Mt. Lemmon right now. And when she or Dustin pull that off, it is not a matter of hopping on one’s bike and peddling off into the rising sun. But because lots and lots of days they wake up, shake the sleep out of their brain, and head out the door.
So step by step, stride by stride, I make those choices. Over and over, until I become like Him. Or him, the one who is the Father of Lies.
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Ah, yes, love. That too.
And righteous comes from Old English, and doesn’t mean full of right, which I guessed, but is a mixture from Old English rihtwīs, from riht,noun, right + wīs wise. Happy are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
A lovely promise for a new day.
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