123 Meme

Kerri, Kerri, Kerri ... I've watched this 'meme' thing in the blogosphere and silently, yet curiously, wondered if I'd ever have a reason to participate in such a thing. A tag from you is not one to easily dismiss!

For those of you who are new 'meme-ers', a 'meme' as defined by 'The Daily Meme' is:

In the context of web logs / 'blogs / blogging and other kinds of personal web sites it's some kind of list of questions that you saw somewhere else and you decided to answer the questions. Then someone else sees them and does them and so on and so on. I generally consider these to be actual questions and not some multiple choice quizzes that determine some result at the end (what color you are most like, what cartoon character are you, what 80s movie are you).

Here are the rules for this one:

• Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more (no cheating!)
• Find page 123
• Find the first five sentences
• Post the next three sentences
• Tag five people

The nearest book within reach, I just so happened to complete last night, The Call by Os Guinness. It sits on my nightstand, smiling, knowing it will be read again and again as I continue to contemplate the complexities of God's 'call' on the lives of His people.

Page 123 ... count down 5 sentences. The next 3 sentences are a quotation from Henry Fairlie's book entitled The Seven Deadly Sins Today, they speak specifically to envy as it relates to the God-calling of another believer and here it goes:

"To pit unequals against unequals as if they were equals is to make a breeding ground for Envy... What we are unable to achieve, we will bring low. What requires talent and training and hard work, we will show can be accomplished without them."

Calling from God is absolutely vulnerable to envy, is it not? Os Guinness goes on to say, "First, envy strikes at the place where our giftedness and our deepest desires are intertwined with our sense of calling.... Second, envy corrupts calling by introducing the element of competition. Like pride, envy by its very nature is comparative and competitive. Or more precisely, pride is competitive and envy is the result of pride wounded in competition... Third, envy attacks calling especially because calling goes back directly to God and envy is essentially profane."

My apologies for much more than 3 sentences. The 3 sentences awoke a particular thread of thought in me and I needed to complete it just in case it awoke something in you, as well.

Now, to tag other people. Who do I even know fairly well that blogs that might want to participate in such a sidebar, other than Clay, whom Kerri has already tagged? OK... Gracie, it is you friend. Maybe Steve and/or Christy? I know you all have interesting nightstand piles! I'll have to add others later, as my mind reboots.

Denise, Staci, Linda, Diana, Wendy, Angi, Lori, Danna, Pam, Collette, Theresa, Valerie, Lisa, Mom, Randy, Alex and those I cannot remember who, perhaps, pass this way on occasion ... this is your official call to blogging. Hop on the blogging bandwagon! I would have tagged you, every one.