A Quiet Soul ...

Thursday, Feb 25, 2016. Where do we reach a point where things are good? What ambitions do we have with our life? What ambitions do we have today? Working with a lot of different people - both with scientists in my institute, with young people in our church and with refugees in our special groups, I meet people who are very different and have very different ambitions … !

Ambitions …

There are some who just want to do their work. Some scientists are happy to do programming within a useful big system and make progress. And it is good. Others want to invent new ideas, they write papers and program little demonstration systems. They have their ambition in being leading scientist in the sense of having world leading ideas and innovation.

The young people in our youth group also have their ambition. Some finish school and get very good grades. They are also ambitious, but in another framework. There are some who are very talented in arts and music, others can motivate whole groups of younger kids to train and exercise and carry out some performance. Some are very talented in performing plays.

There are other ambitions you can have, for example the ambition to be a good leader, to be a leading journalist, to be a good pastor. Many ambitions are linked to the role we have - and they are targeting appreciation and acceptance, sometimes also love. We want to be loved!

With the Lord …

There is more to say about ambition and peace. We are invited to come to the Lord, the eternal God. And here, with him, ambitions change. He is the center of the universe. When you meet him, you can put aside your ambitions. You reach the goal. Your have more than you could ever achieve: him! Describe a skyscraper to an ant which is busy with building a little heap of fir needles … so are we! But we can find peace and can be taken into something much bigger than our little heaps we try to build. Let us read Psalm 131:

1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 131)

God is not only majestic and of enormous power. He is also a living father and mother. He is a friend. He is a refreshing breath. He is alive, and full of perspective. When we bring our ambition to him, he can change it. He can transform it into something good, something which obtains an eternal perspective. It is in him and through him! (RWEP) ... more texts