The Weekly Review: Vol VI Issue 19
Hello folks!
The dark night of my soul has descended with the approach of winter and the end of daylight savings time. I appreciate viewing the sun a little earlier each day, but it does get a little depressing in the gloom of 3:30 pm up here in the north.
So I have to work a little harder to remind myself of the many blessings I enjoy every day. How about you? Do you battle the seasons at all and if so, what works for you? I’d love to hear how other people handle this.
Onward…
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“Pray without ceasing”
I’ve long had a love–hate relationship with some of Paul’s directions to the various churches he wrote to in the NT. The love is for the blessing of the words God inspired him to write, for the feeling that comes when I really dig in. But the hate comes from my inability to follow the instructions.
Where I continually fail is Paul’s directions to pray all the time. Here’s a few examples:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
And from his own practice:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…
And the passage that I’ve wanted to improve on in my own life is from Philippians:
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
What does it mean to pray without ceasing? To bring everything to God in prayer and supplication? Did Paul and other disciples we read about sit most of the day, kneeling before God and praying about all the people they knew? I don’t think that’s the picture we’re supposed to walk away with from passages like this.
After years of wrestling with these passages, I’ve come away with a general sense of how our lives should look. First, it’s a matter of heart. When issues do arise, when questions come, where do you turn first? These passages suggest our response should be to bring these cares to God.
Second, it’s a rhythm. Do your hours, days, and weeks reflect habitual patterns of seeking your Father? To pray without ceasing is akin to eating: I don’t eat all day long, day in and day out. But I do eat every day without a break (fasting aside). I eat without ceasing.
John Piper addresses this very verse when someone asked him what “praying without ceasing” meant. He used the example of Paul using this Greek word (adialeiptōs) in another verse (For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing adialeiptōs I mention you. Romans 1:9). He explains:
It doesn’t mean that Paul was verbally and mentally always, every second, mentioning them. It means that over and over, always, repeatedly, without fail, when I get on my knees, you are in my prayer. That is basically what I think he means by “pray without ceasing” — repeatedly and often.
This encourages me, for I do repeatedly come to God in prayer. And while I often feel like it could and should be more often, I’m already in the habit of doing so. For the rest of my life, I simply want that regularity and intensity to increase more and more.
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Items of note
Apple TV, Apple TV, Apple TV, and Apple TV+
If you’ve wondered what exactly is up with Apple TV, know that you’re not alone. I didn’t realize quite how bad the situation was until reading this post from Dustin Curtis.
Apple TV is a hardware device. Apple TV is an app on Apple TV that curates content you can buy from Apple and also content you can stream through other installed apps (but not all apps, and there is no way to tell which ones).
Apple TV is an app on iOS/iPadOS devices that operates similarly to Apple TV on Apple TV. Apple TV on iOS/iPadOS syncs playback and watch history with Apple TV on Apple TV, but only if the iOS/iPadOS device has the same apps installed as the Apple TV – and not all apps are available on all platforms. Apple TV is also an app on macOS, but it does not show content that can only be streamed from external apps on an Apple TV or iOS/iPadOS device.
Sadly, the list continues — it’s like watching Inception for the first time (a dream within a dream within a dream, but instead a service within an app within a device).
The Price We Pay for Multitasking at Work
David Staab does a nice job of articulating the cost of multitasking. But what stands out about this piece is that a) he recognizes most people have to do it in some scenarios and b) we should do everything we can to ensure we only juggle multiple things at once when people are not involved.
If a piece of work is in anyway relational, it, or rather the other person involved, deserves our full attention.
Staab shares a story where a coworker he managed chose not to involve him. When asked about it, he gave a reply that cause us all to pause:
I never feel like you’re really listening when I talk about my work with you. With all the little things you’re always taking care of, you hardly have the attention span to hold a morning check-in meeting. This needed deep focus and lots of conversation to figure out, so I decided to handle it on my own.
Deep work is crucial to doing good work. But it’s also vital to helping us give others the attention they deserve (and it’s how we want other to treat us).
What’s the Perfect Amount of Running for Good Health?
Since I often mention articles that eschew the benefits of running, maybe it’ll be a nice change to share one that is kind of, “Meh, it’s ok…” In this one, Markham Heid gets into whether or not running longer or faster is actually better for us.
But as running has become more popular, so too has running longer distances. More people than ever are participating in marathons (and even ultramarathons), leading experts to question whether more is really better.
And:
O’Keefe was once an avid runner. But he switched to other activities (including walking) after his research linked heavy running to health problems. One of O’Keefe’s studies found that while modest amounts of running are a bulwark against disease and death, too much actually erases those benefits. “Strenuous” runners — defined as people who ran faster than seven miles per hour and more than four hours per week — had similar mortality rates to sedentary adults, his study concluded.
All right, by the end of the article, you get the picture that this is a debated topic and your opinion may depend entirely on research that conflicts with other research. The author finishes with this recommendation as the ideal volume:
O’Keefe offers more concrete figures: “Not more than 4.5 hours per week or 30 miles per week.”
Works for me (my goal for the year was 2,019 km, which is 24 miles per week)!
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Quote of the week
The oblong gray bubble that pops up when your conversation partner is typing (officially called the “typing awareness indicator”) is no doubt intended to be helpful, the virtual version of watching someone inhale and then part their lips to speak. But it becomes panic-inducing if it appears and then disappears — an indication that someone wrote something, then, for any number of reasons, deleted it.
Jenna Wortham, How I Learned to Love Snapchat
A piece I need to return to occasionally to try and understand my children.
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Currently
Eating: A lot of Thai food! I’ve been experimenting and expanding my repertoire, but my word are most Thai recipes long and complicated. Most involve making your own pastes (yes, you can buy pre-made stuff, but it’s almost never quite what the recipe calls for and this is my only chance to use my mortar and pestle) along with preparing and cooking the meat and vegetables. And I never have all the ingredients listed, so I’m learning what to use in place of tamarind paste, galangal, and pork blood (full confession: I just leave that one out).
I’m always open to recipes that give me a chance to eat more cilantro!
Listening: I’ve been a little tired of the usual listens. Have any recommendations? I’m all ears.
Writing: Various scenes for a book idea that will likely never see the light of day. Well, at least not the words that I’ve been writing. Fiction is hard. I’ve struggled to get in the 1,600 words each day for NaNoWriMo, every paragraph a strain as I struggle with flow, narrative, setting a scene — and just coming up with ideas, period.
When I first started putting together an outline over the summer, I had a barebones sketch. Trying to write without a clear plot, history, geography, or even characters is one tough exercise. But I’m plugging on. And with a much higher level of respect for fantasy authors. How in the world does Brandon Sanderson put out at least one book every year?
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That’s it for this week, friends. I’m off to look for a SAD light 👋