DebraBee

A close friend shared a story with me recently and felt it important enough in subject to actually hand write a copy for me. This in itself was a treasure had I never read one word. It made me think of ancient days when the written word was not available and then it reminded me we live in a world where some written words are still not available in other countries.

There are martyrs in today’s world that our nightly news channels passes on talking about. This is a curious syndrome since these same news sources are more than willing to share all sorts of careless gossip about some Hollywood type who stepped out for an evening of entertainment. Could we be any less interested in the rich and famous? Let’s open the door of the world’s closet and see into the darkness of oppression.

What would the comfortable person who sits in their warm house, wondering what to order in for dinner, think about the people who go for days without food on a regular basis? Can we actually fathom the thought that we can walk into any building in America to find our Savior and yet others are literally beaten and tortured for this same freedom? We are free to open a book that gives us hope and still others are imprisoned for even looking at pages from a bible.

Even if you had no belief in Christ, would your sense of justice not be moved even a little? Should we carry on looking to the inane for nightly news stories or can we challenge those who hold these jobs to seek out truth and report it? Truth in the fact much of the world’s population has no freedom to surf the internet. Truth in the fact there are populations in huge countries that have no freedom to open the book of their choice. I know I am only scratching the surface of a lingering sore.

I get incensed about such things and then I come to a place of gratitude. My gratitude stems from the fact my freedom was bought for me by my ancestors. This is something so many in America have forgotten. Our hard won freedom came at a price, it was fought for! The truth in history that gets lost in the current education system is that our founding fathers were great men and women of vision but that vision came from having a heart for God. “One Nation Under God” was not a slogan, rather it was a declaration.

I am free to be incensed, but I am also free to be a woman called to act upon my senses. I can vote for my leadership or I can do nothing. I can send help to other nations and organizations where there is need or I can order another pizza. I can read a book of worth or I can read a magazine about Stars. I can watch something of substance or I can change the channel. The point is, I have the freedom to do any of these and I thank others today who are serving our country to spread this same freedom.

Today I think I will send out a care package to “thank” one of the men or women who are making sure I keep this freedom. I will also thank them for giving someone, somewhere, a book of hope.

Erma Bombeck was a humorist writer who has since passed on and although I never read much of her stuff something she wrote stuck in my head. The title of her book, “The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank”. I can’t tell you what it was about but I have often given deeper thought to that one line.

How lush green grass can be. Soft like carpet, with lovely blades of freshness to tickle your bare toes when you walk on it. Some of the best days of spring are spent lying on your back in a plush bed of grass to stare at the moving clouds in a blue sky. Yes, those moments are wonderful to contemplate and thrilling when you get a chance to actually do them.

I wondered about the power of knowledge? If one actually knew they were lying on top of a septic tank and it was leeching its contents into the ground, and this was the reason your plush bed was so green….would we be so keen to lie on it?

Life can be a lot like that green grass bed. Something that looks so good to our eyes can often hide truth beneath. The flip side to that thought is how something that looks undesirable can hide treasures unknown. I long to see with eyes that are not distracted by the superfluous. I long to see the wolf in the sheep’s clothing. I long to see the prince who wears the rags of a pauper. I long to see the truth in myself. Laying in the soft green grass I long to close my eyes and see what is real.

Proverbs 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight

Changes to our environments can come at us unexpectedly. How we react to these changes becomes a study in human psychology. I like to think I am flexible and have a teachable spirit but I do confess there are times when change is scary rather than exciting. In the grand scheme of things it’s quite apparent we are to expect changes always and embrace them.

I have found that my reaction to change affects others around me and I can either be positive or negative. Guess which one I will choose? I love how children react to change. More often than not they get curious and start seeking new things. 

Matthew 18:3   And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

“As every parent and every lover knows, love can be rendered powerless if the beloved chooses to spurn it.” Phillip Yancey

I underlined this in a book I had read because it seemed so topical for me at the time. When the silence becomes too much to bear from a loved one, the mind can play games. The hardest thing I have ever chosen to do in my life was to keep on loving someone who didn’t seem to be sharing it back. My immature soul always screams to protect itself and walk away, but as I grow and learn, I am understanding the nature of love is not one of “only love those who love you back”. It’s to love regardless. It’s loving people in the places they are at. It’s loving someone even when it hurts.

The fruit of the Spirit always starts with love.

Does anyone remember that 70’s song that went, “Tell me something good, tell me that you love me, yeah!” I am having the kind of day that I really want an audible voice to follow me around and confirm that I have awesome love over me and my life! Of course we have to be careful what we ask for don’t we? What if that voice was really there but no one could hear it but me? Would I feel joy to the exclusion that everyone else think me insane? What if they tried to have me committed or have me medicated? Just something to think about in the middle of any given week.

In lieu of my audible voice, how about the Man in the flesh to walk and talk with me? I feel magnanimous, how about sharing Him with everyone? Well I may not have heard the audible voice nor have I seen the Man in flesh but I can rely on the promise and be assured I am loved.

John 20:29 “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The winds of change are blowing hard. I try not to watch too much news but neither can you bury your head in the sand. I am so tired of political rhetoric and the media trying to convince me of how bad our economy is. The economy is for sure in a state of fluctuating changes but there is no need to create a panic.

We have to pay higher gas costs and this translates into higher food costs and the trend continues. Yes we can worry and stress but will it really change anything except perhaps to be exactly where the media wants you to be? Anxious!

I plan on voting and I plan on paying attention to those put into leadership positions all around us. It’s not easy to get involved in this stuff but the alternative seems grim. If we don’t stand up and take up our own positions of influence regarding the economy, who is going to stop it from going wherever greed and injustice takes us.

Image is everything! Yeah baby, we are all putting on the ritz to some degree or another aren’t we? If you’re not, then “congratulations”, perfection has been attained and you need not read on another second. For the rest of us, let’s have a private pow wow about the topic of image. Who do you see in your mirror?

This is a “hot topic” for sure and not many can (or will) be honest about it. I have gorgeous friends who see flaws in themselves that I don’t see when looking at them. Women typically have issues with body image but this is no surprise considering the bombardment that is put up against them to look like others. Men? Well, I can’t even swim in those deep (and in some cases shallow) waters.

I get aggravated to the degree my passion becomes fired when I see the young girls in our culture turned into miniature drones of the latest pop star or movie artist whose life is “least likely to succeed” in the long run of healthy living.

Let me pose a beautiful question for all to ponder. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see a little girl again? Do you remember them? They used to be fine with snapping their gum while giggling and trying to blow the biggest bubble. Ponytails were “in style” and cheap tennis shoes got them where they needed to go. What a lovely thing to see them just dance with joy and not mimic some “stripper’s act” from the latest MTV video.

I am looking to see a new image. I long to see young girls be original and comfortable in their own skin. Would it hurt to turn off MTV or would it heal?