One Thing or Another
“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27
Question, is it better to have something to say, but not to be able to say it; or have nothing to say and say it often, loud and proud?
My son was recounting to me the other week that he’d been listening to a speaker who happened to be of Italian heritage. The man was relating how Italian mothers /grandmothers would tell their offspring, “You never come to visit me. You don’t listen to me. You don’t…” Well, you get the point, we’ve seen those Italian mothers before.
As my son is telling me of the Italian speaker who was sharing his story about his Italian mother, my son said he stopped the video and asked his brother sitting in the room, “When did mom become an Italian mother?”
Young Fuzzy and I both laughed because as he came to the punchline, I was already hitting the words “When did I become…” And the part of ‘you never listen to me’ line is painfully true.
I’ve told Young Fuzzy, “I think my name should have been Cassandra.” We both know that sad story.
So, where are we today? I spent a whole bunch of time on my last post. For those who don’t write, writing is a Spector. Depending on who is writing, it could be a demon, I suppose. But writing has a voice and sometimes the author might be trying to say something but it isn’t coming out right.
And there was my difficulty because, and I don’t know what the because was but it doesn’t need a because, it just would not behave until it did. Much prayer goes into saying a thing for me. Today is better. The sun is shining, and spring is waving at me through my big sliding door/window. I have garden plants growing, and sadly, dirt in my house. Or maybe just rebelliously I have dirt in my house—sigh.
I do have things to say and should say them late today, or early tomorrow, and more plants to start. I have gleaned a few ideas from an article I began reading last week by Donna Ashworth (From To The Women: words to Live by). She had ten points but I’m just partly sharing some of her points in bold print with my comments thereafter.
10 THINGS TIME HAS TAUGHT ME.
1. Most of our life is spent chasing false goals and worshipping false ideals.
And we don’t usually catch on. Many people never understand this, they just spend their lives chasing these things, these other gods as it were. The first commandment of the ten commandments is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
2. You really, truly cannot please all of the people all of the time…
If we have put God first and we are truly pleasing him first—not ourselves and not others, we will have a greater chance of finding happiness. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10)
3. Fighting the aging process is like trying to catch the wind.
4. Nobody is perfect and nobody is truly happy with their lot.
I put those together because I think they have much in common. When we are young our bodies are changing and growing. When we reach a certain age the same body is still changing but it is growing older and we notice that not usually in a good way. If we’ve been wise in our youth and taken anywhere close to good choices the aging process should be more kind. Even so, we often have reality checks and our “check engine” lights come on. Perhaps we need to slow down, eat a bit more healthy, and choose our path more carefully. Realizing and receiving our blessings with grateful hearts makes us healthier. “A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)
5. No one really sees what you do right, everyone sees what you do wrong. When that becomes clear to you, you will start doing things for the right reason and you will start having so much more fun.
I copied all of point number five not because I agree with it as written, but… That first part isn’t always correct—the challenge should be to surround ourselves with better friends who will encourage us to do the right things. However, the focus should be on the last part of that statement. “Start doing things for the right reason.” When we start doing things for the right reason most everything else falls into the right place. When we stop trying to impress others, or please others before doing the right thing we are no longer trying to force a square peg into a round hole. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you.” (James 4:10)
6. You will regret the years you spent berating your looks, the sooner you can make peace with the vessel your soul lives in, the better. Your body is amazing and important but it does not define you.
Again, beginning with the last sentence in the point, the body God has created is one of amazing capabilities. The first part of the point is also true. I know of very few people who have the “perfect vessel”, and of those few, I know of no one who was ever completely satisfied with that vessel.
Cosmetic doctors make fabulous money working with people striving after the god of perfection. That person should not be us. Much of our lives is cosmetic. The world in which we live is very visual and we base much of our lives on what we see and feel.
It is just the way it is—we begin a year and almost immediately find ourselves at the end of the year. Although I don’t feel like we are doing anything, I look up and no matter what I’m doing it is almost done.
The feed on my social media is a conglomeration of log homes, vintage cars, scriptural memes, and historical happenings. The share section on my social media is a hodge podge of facts and information that at some point I want to read, and possibly share… but maybe not, but I don’t want to lose it in case it’s important.
Being caught, and suspended in time until I can peruse information, at that time it becomes part of my information that FaceBook will judge me as a person on. Sigh.
“And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:25-30)
