Tuesday, January 5, 2021

day no. 15,415: systems and sentiments

"'271 West 52nd Street' is the easiest of all addresses to find, but the hardest of all addresses to remember. He who is, like myself, so constituted as necessarily to lose any piece of paper he has particular reason to preserve, will find himself wishing the place were called 'Pine Crest' or 'Heather Crag'" -- G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

There is a way of labeling things which makes them easier to locate and a way which makes them easier to remember. Certain things leave a lasting, while hard to define, impression while others are readily identified, but hard to remember.

For example, many people remember a particular Biblical sentiment, but cannot remember its address. So one may recall that God says somewhere that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him, but may have a difficult time remembering that sentiment is found in Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 8 and verse 28.  Working the other way, if I ask someone to look up Romans 8:28, they can easily locate the verse because of the way the location is labeled. Yet, when the person arrives, they may have no idea about what sentiments dwell there. The address has not left an impression, but the sentiment does and after reading, they remember the impression of the words and often forget their location in Scripture.

The same is true in creating culture and making memories. We have put into place certain systems which are easily identifiable and keep us on track. These systems are less memorable than the memories they are utilized to create. Quality time is a product of quantity time and these systems and schedules are in place to help us create long-lasting, loving impressions of what it was like growing up in our Christian home. The systems are important, but less memorable. The impressions are memorable, but hard to pin down. A healthy, godly home needs addresses and experiences, attentions and affections, systems and sentiments, quantity time and quality time.

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