Human casualness may cause us to miss the exactness of Biblical language. In a sound byte (shallow and suggestive) society, we may miss the Bible passages that relate to large ideas and actions. Isaiah spoke to the venturesome spirit when he penned the words above. In short idiom he was saying: Go for it. Not only did Isaiah encourage affirmative personal motivation, but he made clear that God is with us in imaginative ventures that are legitimate to our energies, needs and abilities – and honorable in all. Responses change us in meaningful ways.
I admit my disappointment in some parenting qualities I have observed during my lifetime. I refer even to good people, to men and women of adequate value systems who love their children, and are loved by those children. They may believe themselves to be effective parents, and their children may believe they have good parents. The parents are seen as good because they espouse decency, they are congenial to friends and children, they provide for hearth and table, and see the children off to school. They do things together, and spend money on each other. Out of many such homes there are young people who know little about real work; little about value, saving and uses of money; little about self-discipline; little about how to cultivate relationships with others; and, little about projecting oneself into the future. Critiques have emerged in society blaming these failures on distorted emphases of recent decades caused by popular media sources accenting the pride of self in children. I now meet fewer students on the cusp of college who plan the future.
Many persons in my life have loved me, and have been loved by me. But only a few of those persons went beyond common flexible borders to encourage me in my imagination – to get more education, to work on a dream so to create a life that turned out to be more than I believed, in my early years, that it would become. At first there was only my mother. Others seemed doubtful. I cannot thank enough those who emerged later for their encouragement, their support/trust, and their counsel. Among the things they gave me, perhaps unaware, was a measure of maturity. Going for a dream makes for the discovery of reality, of problem solving, of paying the price for worthwhile accomplishment to a sense of reward for the effort and attitude. One needs to believe in prayer, and partnering (networking) with friends and God to answer the prayers. That is biblical persuasion – participating to help meet needs we pray about for ourselves and others.
The first of these persons was my mother. My father died when I was a tyke. My stepfather was as good as most stepfathers, and, from what I learned later, likely better for me than my father would have been – but he was not a mentor. Other persons, including my stepfather, warned my mother of the fate of those who thought and acted like I did. After a few years of that, she put a stop to it by refusing to listen any more, and told them so. She was joined by persons who helped me along, and none more than my wife, now deceased, and our children who invested in me for the goals I designed, under God. I am startled to see so great potential in so many young persons who are not encouraged to go for it – and paying the rightful price of it. Life was meant to be achieved – for fulfillment and the sense of creativity and service. Dreams that serve the good of mankind ought to be cultivated. Fulfillment is in the accomplishment. Lot missed it when he left Uncle Abraham. Timothy made it when he stayed with the Apostle Paul. We are well served by mentors, even if in only one encounter in life. I found gratifying life, partly through those who encouraged me to the future. I want to be an inspiriter to others. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020