Viaduct from the original Old Main Line, a half mile or so behind the house in which I grew up.
Two books, of late, have me asking many questions. These are Steven Garber's Visions of Vocation and Wendell Berry's The Art of the Commonplace.
The first is a discussion of our life's work and purpose - knowing what I know about this world, how do I love it? Knowing what I know, am I responsible? How do I live out that responsibility?
The second is a collection of essays in which Berry probes the meaning of community, of place, of relationship.
I look at the prevailing culture here in my part of Maryland - where it seems we are busy with a great many things, many of which do a great deal of good. Work, volunteering, community groups, gym memberships, churches, and on. However, I grow more and more interested in the idea of focused integration. How can I live, work, and worship in one place, in one greater community - so that I, knowing the hurts and hopes of this place and the people I have chosen to love, may maximize my contribution to its healing and redemption?
What if I exchange breadth for depth? What parts of my lifestyle will need to shift or change? I have the ability - the opportunity - to do a great many things with little focus on any of them. Is it possible to do a few things with great focus?
Answers come as life streams forward, always changing. The questions will remain, often requiring re-answering. I suppose it boils down to this: Seek first the Kingdom of God. (From the Bible, Matthew 6:33)