I was a tad under the weather yesterday and came home early. Drained of any real energy I just lay in bed and zoned out in front of my television set. My favorite channel to watch is the History channel. I caught bits and pieces of some historic culture called the Mayans who left behind unique and accurate calendars which are literally built into the very buildings and carved in the walls.
One of the more interesting aspects of their calendar is the claim it’s even more accurate than what we are using today and it goes back over 3000 years B.C. More fascinating however was their calendar prediction of an ending to earth as we know it. According to their count we should be looking at something to happen in 2012.
Now I am not a doomsayer but I understand who Jesus is. Both an ancient culture and the bible agree on something and that is we are in for something huge to happen to our world. I have no idea of the date or time this is to come about but I choose to live my life in a state of readiness so I enjoy everyday given to me right here and now.
When you think about it your life can turn upside down on any calendar day. Just get in your car and see if you don’t feel that roll of the dice when you are on the road.
Have you ever met someone new who seemed so interesting in outward appearance? I have to say I have met many in my life already. Men or women of incredible stature; at least from what I could see with my natural eyes. In my enthusiasm of expectation I have reached for these many hands to shake and with their touch…reality is put into my own hands. The limp noodle of a grip!
Now this doesn’t define a person by any means but it certainly gets my attention in a hurry. I wonder why they are lacking in their strength? Is this a reflection of what’s going on with the inner man?
I look around and see lack.
I look around and see pain.
I look around and see anger.
I look around and see hurt.
It’s time to fan the flames of hope!
The winds of change are blowing in all areas of my life and instead of running to stay ahead of it or even keep myself anchored in the familiar, I have let go of my need for control. I now rest in the place of anticipation and hope. Imagine a feather floating in an unseen breeze, like the opening scene from that movie Forrest Gump. I go where I am meant to go in the breeze being blown from the very heavens. A sweeter ride I have never known.
Ex 34:21b ….even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest
“Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.” Quoted by Madame Necker
I would agree with this statement having seen the world around me and how it affects people. To be released from all financial worries brings an open door of opportunity to use your time and money for something of worth. Most of what I have observed so far is people turn away from this door and open one to selfish endeavors.
“True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. ”
C.K. Chesterton
My email box can be an interesting mix of nothing and everything coming in at once. One article received this morning was talking about the media coverage for natural disasters happening in the Midwest and how different this is being treated than that which happened a few years back in New Orleans. It was an interesting and pointed article prodding us to look at these two areas and how different they are. One of the sharper points made was when the people in Iowa were asked to evacuate, they did, and no one is now looting goods and shouting where is FEMA?
Did the mistakes of New Orleans help teach us to toughen up and help ourselves or did we become so bloated on this disaster news we can now handle only a small dose before we yawn and change the channel? Personally I despise our news habits especially here in America where we are actually free to report what’s really happening and yet we choose not to. If it doesn’t scare us into a rabbit hole or make us want to rush out and buy something we don’t need right this minute than our corporate powers that be push it off the air as not being worth reporting. I don’t think they have a single clue about what’s really happening with all these natural disasters and by the time they figure it out our ticking clock will have run down too far.
Do you ever have those days in life where you must make a choice? Right or wrong, speaking out or being quiet and just going along? I made a vow to live my life honestly but sometimes in doing that, you aren’t always going to be popular. Today was one of those days and although it was rough I know I will sleep well having taken the “road less traveled”.
Flowers are so intriguing aren’t they, an endless array of variety and color? I have to admit I never used to pay too much attention to these beautiful gifts of color and aromatic pleasures unless they came repackaged by man, stripped of all their natural wonder.
I am changed.
I often look at these flowers with renewed eyes. I don’t want them repackaged or wrapped up in someone else’s opinion of how they should be viewed. I want to see them for what they really are, in raw form.
They are not always perfect but I can appreciate their many hues of color even when seemingly singular in nature.
Today’s topic is clarity. Let’s talk about its importance from a point of view most can understand. Diamonds! Diamonds are rated by their clarity. The less cloudy their countenance the more valuable they are for market. Need I say more for our own value?
I know I long to say what I mean all the time and yet I tend to filter my conversations through an imperfect cloud of “I don’t want to hurt their feelings” and this can sometimes look ambiguous. I long to be the clear diamond, shining brightly in a pile of murky diamonds so it’s time to polish up my actions and stop trying to please and appease the people of this world. If loving Jesus seems crazy to others than as the song goes, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond!”
