Sunday Journal, 507 words
Interrupted Plans
By Dalton Roberts
IPS Features
On
this Sunday morning in 1923, my Dad's picture was in the Birmingham Herald in a
story headlined "Boy Preacher." The story said, "Young Roberts is
only 16 years old but he was granted the privilege of preaching by the Decatur
District Conference recently. He plans to finish high school and then go to
Birmingham Southern College."
He
did finish high school but never made it to college. His plans were interrupted
by love and the Great Depression. He married and then had to hobo all over the
country to find a job to take care of his family.
While
he only held one brief full-salaried pastorate, his dedication to the craft of
preaching never flagged. He had sets of commentaries and all the basic books
preachers must have to find and interpret texts. He taught himself to read
German and his favorite book was a German Bible.
The
great lesson he taught me in this situation was to be faithful to your calling
whether or not the world supports you in it. I recall his faithfulness to a
small church he pastored at Pelham, Tennessee for 14 years. When we didn't want
to go with him, he'd leave the old Willis car for us and ride a Greyhound to
tend his little flock.
His
example has helped me to remain true to my calling as a songwriter. Frankly, I
doubt I have made more money on royalties than I have invested in demo sessions.
But there is a deep joy to me in following in my father's footsteps and honoring
his example.
When
you think of giving up on one of your dreams remember the boy preacher who
probably invested more in books and bus fare than he ever made. Don't look at
the money. Look at his soul shining with the glory of an inner knowledge that he
had "fought the good fight and kept the faith." Money can't buy
diamonds like that.
ANY
GOOD DREAMS PLAYING TONIGHT?
Carl
Jung taught that we could track messages from our authentic self by keeping a
record of our dreams. It has been my experience that he is right.
The
best seventeen bucks I ever spent was buying Wilma Tanner's "Mystical,
Magical, Marvelous World of Dreams." It is THE masterpiece of dream books.
If
you are interested in learning more about yourself from your dreams, get in the
habit of writing them down. Don't think you will remember them because that is
unlikely. And if you wait too long to write them down, your workaday mind will
screen out the best parts.
After
you write them out, circle the nouns. Then write down all the words those nouns
bring to mind. In other words, what those words mean to you. You can also look
up those nouns in Tanner's book and get all kinds of insights.
It
really is a marvelous, magical world and since you spend a large part of your
life there, why not study it?
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