End of term is almost here, delighted to tell you that I'm spending part of the summer break in Uganda visiting the Kampala Christian Orphanage, really looking forward to this as you might imagine! So lots more about this visit here on Facebook shortly. Meanwhile, on Friday I was very pleased to speak at full school assembly under
the heading of 'making good choices', please see below pretty well what I
said, as always, any comments very welcome! Desires, I suggest, come in two broad categories. There is the immediate desire for things I
want right now. I feel thirsty so I want
to drink. I feel hungry so I want to
eat. I feel tired so I want to rest or
sleep. I’m bored so I want to be
entertained. A thought comes into my
mind so I want to say it straightaway. Alongside these immediate desires are long term desires,
aspirations, ambitions, goals. These
would include passing GCSEs, A levels, degrees, getting onto the desired
training course, having a successful career, playing the piano, being a
sportsperson at a high level. These are
all examples of desires which can only be achieved over a long period of time
with sustained effort. Making good choices, resulting in a flourishing, fulfilling
life is a matter of working out what your long term goals are and then managing
– even overriding – your immediate desires in order to achieve those long term
goals. To take an example, if you have a
long term desire to play the piano to a high standard, then you have to put in
a large number hours in practising, maybe ½ hour a day 5 or 6 days a week going
over many years. In that practice it is
essential to play scales and arpeggios over and over again so that important
aspects of piano playing technique, initially really cumbersome, eventually
become automatic. Let’s be realistic
here. You cannot reasonably expect,
every time you sit at the piano stool, actively to want to practise and you may
well much prefer, at that particular point in time, to watch TV or play video
games. So, to achieve the long term goal
of playing the piano you have to find ways of managing your immediate desires. How do we do this? No magical answers, but let me suggest a
few. Parents, carers and teachers can
help in creating a regular routine, including a system of rewards – and maybe
sanctions also – around the practice. I
can tell myself that, if I practise for ½ hour, then at the end of that time I
can do something which I more immediately want to do. I can visualise the future in which hundreds
of people applaud me when I play the piano at virtuoso level, and that can
inspire me to keep on practising.
However we do it, we need to find ways of prioritising the end goal and
then manage more immediate desires. Now, I was your age about 40 years ago, and in those 40
years one of the key changes which has taken place is that, to a much greater
extent now than then, we are able to have what we want when we want to have it. So, when I was your age, watching a
particular TV programme meant being in front of a TV set at a particular time,
video recorders, DVDs, multi-channel TV and streaming services were all in an
unimagined future. Similarly, receiving
a phone call meant being within reach of a handset plugged into the wall, no
answer machines, caller id, cordless or mobile phones then! The idea that, if I want to read a book, we
can press a few buttons on an electronic device rather than go to the library or
bookshop was completely unimaginable. No
Internet enabling a vast amount of information – good, bad and indifferent – to
come directly to us as we remain seated behind a screen, or to buy things which
are then delivered to the door. No
instant communications anywhere in the world – so, when I went to Indonesia for
short term missionary service at the age of 18, it took a minimum of 2 weeks to
exchange letters. No background tracks
on keyboards which, in the early days of playing the piano, give an illusion of
a much higher level of achievement than has actually taken place. So in some respects things have changed considerably, it is
much easier to satisfy immediate desires straightaway than it used to be. But in other respects things have not changed
at all. It remains the case, and always
will remain the case, that, if you want to achieve at high levels in any field
– academic, career, music, sports, drama, dance, anything – you need to put in
sustained effort over a considerable period of time, devoting hours to your
goal when there are many, more immediately enjoyable things you could be doing. Being a top rate swimmer means putting in a
large number of hours in the pool first thing in the morning when you would
probably much prefer still to be in bed.
Doing well academically means spending hours studying into the evening
rather than playing Fortnite. There are
no short cuts here – but you, to a much greater extent than me when I was your
age, you are fed the lie that there are shortcuts in having what you want when
I want to suggest that there are not. In Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 we read the following: “Since
we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So the long term goal for Jesus was being restored to His
rightful place at God the Father’s right hand in heaven, achieving that long
term goal involved huge suffering, including being tortured to death. For us the long term goal is living out a
Christian life, which is compared here to a long distance race. If we are to achieve that long term goal, we
need to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles’. Or put another way, we need
to manage, even override our immediate desires in order to achieve our long
term goal of following Jesus Christ. Here we are three working days before a 6 week break. For many of you, I suspect, this offers the
opportunity to give in to immediate desires, spending all your time lying in
bed, watching TV, playing video games and other such activities, so that you
will return in September with nothing to show for the time off. Let me challenge you, therefore, to set
yourself a goal over the summer, whether it be in sport, music, art, reading
and writing, or whatever it might be, and then arrange your immediate desires
around this goal in order to accomplish something this holiday. This is the path to making good choices over
this period of time. And beyond this, looking forward to adult life, can I
challenge you to make good choices by setting yourselves ambitious long term
goals, working out what you want to achieve in life. You then need to work out how to manage your
immediate desires in order to achieve these goals. And my hope and prayer for
all of you is that your long term goals include being a disciple of our Lord
Jesus Christ. In a moment I will conclude with a prayer. Before I do so, I will pause briefly to ask
you to consider – what goals can you set for yourself over the coming summer
holiday? And how will you manage your
immediate desires in order to accomplish those goals? Father, we thank You for making us the people we are, with
our talents, gifts, enthusiasms and desires.
We pray for your help, over the coming summer period, that we would have
the discipline to set ourselves a goal and then manage our immediate desires in
order to achieve that goal. In the Name
of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen. |