At What Price?

Every week we receive notices of new books, new music, new movies, and the like being unleashed on the general public (as well as those intended for niche markets, of which fewer are aware.) This steady outpouring begs a question: Is all creativity, or what we call creativity, a good thing? What are the parameters of acceptability when it comes to this? Have we nurtured a culture of acceptance of quirky being genius, mediocrity disguised as ability? Then, do we rely on the mass marketing machine to inform us what is good, and what should fall by the wayside (although it seems little does)? What has brought this about? Have we become so desperate to fill any perceived emptiness with the trite and unpolished? All I ask is a little discernment when it comes to this stuff.

Truth Be Told

I may have touched on this topic before, but I have been thinking about it for the past couple of days.

How true to life are the stories we tell about ourselves? Do we add minor details in order to "punch them up" and make these stories more interesting? Do we embellish them, honing the vocabulary each time we tell them, working on them to turn them into a polished routine? If we were to return to the original events, would they pale by comparison?
Or do we go in the opposite direction, playing things down, reducing and simplifying to the point of dismissal? Seems to be a fine line somewhere as to how much or how little we should tell.
Our story is our story, and, truth be told, it can have an impact on others. Like so many tales, the effect is in the content, surely, but what really "sells" it is the delivery. Tell your tale, and be true to yourself. Sincerity of heart trumps acting any day of the week.

Random - Part One

- If your only food is anger,
and your only drink is pain
An you're not allowed to sohw it,
how can we expect a change?

- NE Ohio in the dead of winter with snow and cold and more snow, yet people complain about the weather, even though it's NE Ohio in the dead of winter.......

- We follow those who make grand pronouncements, yet have little or no substance.

- The ability to take something small and blow it up into a weapon that can be used to browbeat others does not show cleverness, but a wounded, mean spirit.

- Our time here is so short and fleeting, why do we insist on filling it with petty jealousy and a lust for vengeance that is neither deserved by us or ours

- Just how widespread is our DNA trail? Think about it..... if our skin cells carry our DNA, and we lose skin cells whenever we brush up against something, what does that say about leaving our mark?

- We really think we're something, don't we?

Well Played, God, Well Played

I was in a meeting last night listening to men talk about how God has been working in their lives, the difference it has made to them, and how they have become more aware of His Presence daily. All it takes is focusing and paying attention.
But let me put it to you that there are forces which act on us for our good of which we aren't always aware. I go back once more to last Memorial Day when, unbeknownst to me, an angel in human form put the effort into CPR to keep me from becoming unreachable. I did not ask for this, nor did I know it was happening at the time, but it was for my benefit. So, one more lesson has come out of that experience, an example that shows how God does things, then stands back sometimes and lets us figure out the meaning of the blessing. Well played, God, well played.

Encouragement

In the new year, and the quiet of an almost empty house, there have been plenty of opportunities to reflect, review, and reconfigure the events of 2013. But I feel enough has been said about them, so it is time to move on and look ahead to the coming year with excitement and baited breath. We have twelve months looming large on the distant, and not so distant, horizon, with potential around every corner, and things for which we will try to prepare. Planning is one thing, but there needs to be built in flexibility as a safeguard against disappointments and frustrations. With each new turn and moment, we are smart to take a lesson from our GPS's and recalculate the journey ahead.
So, all that being said, let me suggest you develop a "bucket list" for the year. Make them as diverse as your dreams. Include small things, as well as big ones. Guarantee success, and also grasp at the barely possible. Give something to someone every day, whether it be materialistic or emotional, spiritual guidance, to simple a kind word or gesture. Giving isn't as hard as you may think, and the littlest things can usually produce something huge in the life of another.
Get closer to your family, especially if relationships have been strained in the past. Hurts and slights, and wounds long ago healed over need not be opened every time you meet. Old roles and attitudes should be put aside, and the commonality of family should be shared.
Live love. It's what Jesus would want you to do.

Life is Unpredictable

Life is unpredictable. That is such an understatement, yet we are surprised when it plays out in front of us. Try as we might, there is little or nothing we can do to control what comes our way.
Granted, some of our efforts do seem to bring about the desired results, but who is to say they wouldn't have transpired regardless?
Every day, certainties are removed from our lives, so we scramble to replace them with new ones, in hopes they will last. We yearn for that stability, grasping at our human-made ideas, only to have them trumped on a regular basis. Now, before you accuse me of being defeatist or nihilistic, let me point to the authors of Lamentations and Ecclesiastes. Though these seem to be downers, I tend to look at them as the works of people who have come to realize the futility of depending on humanity, but, instead, recognize the constancy and stability of God in our lives. God, who was, and is, and is to be.
"There is nothing new under the sun" and "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity" speak to the human condition and the repackaging to old, broken ways as new, fresh, and innovative thinking. Talk about old in new wine skins (which can be as disastrous as new wine in old wine skins).
We fall on hard times due to our ignoring and/or rebelling against God's Word. Even the darkness in our midst recognizes its power and potency, so much so that there is great energy exerted in trying to discredit it. But the Truth remains, no matter the attack. As someone once said, "Truth is truth. No can't have opinions about truth."

Sixty Plus

So, my sixtieth birthday came and passed without much hoopla or fanfare, resembling a rather ordinary day. And the subsequent days have fared equally. They have been a series of mundane, ordinary things, with the occasional tetanus shot and shingles vaccination thrown into the mix. But, overall the beginning of my sixty-first year has been quite uneventful. Perhaps that is what retirement can settle into if one does not go out and seek adventure. A stubborn cold had taken up residence, but I've seemed to have shaken all but a minor cough.
So, as I look ahead to the coming year, I will strive to keep life interesting, not as fast-paced as it once was, but a such a speed as to keep me on my toes, or even on the edge of my seat. (And, oh yeah, the heart thing will keep me alert, too.)