THINGS HAVEN'T (REALLY) CHANGED

 

(Answer Below)

Maybe I do this on purpose yet unawares.  Again I find myself feeling like an odd man out.  A very odd man.

I’m in this Covid-19 disaster, but, I’m not jostled, even though I’ve seen and heard lots of people tell me about the sky falling.  That may be too harsh.  I realize this is not make-believe.  It’s not hype.  It’s happening. 

However, if I may express my personal experience in this, things haven't really changed much.  

I feel like a misfit.  But, I believe we, as a collective, include an occasional misfit.  So, I’m ok with it.     

-

Someone:  “What am/are I/we going to do?” 

Me:  “No one knows.”

Someone:  “How can I stay safe?”

Me:  “Do your very best to follow people who know more than you and seem to want to help.  But, don’t forget, no one is really ever “safe” in the ways you’re hoping to find safety.

Someone:  “What if______________”

Me:  “No one knows.”

Someone:  “Will things ever be normal again?”

Me:  I read a saying I’ve grown to love that would fit nicely here:  “Normal is just a setting on the washing machine.”  (Reader’s Digest)

One person’s normal is another person’s abnormal.

-

I’m not thrilled to realize every change will not seem wonderful, but my course is set to forge ahead expectantly.

Things will never be exactly the same.  Things change continuously.  

They always have.  They always will.   

(Answer to Odd One Out challenge:  The man on the right is slightly larger.)

SEVENTEEN SISTERS (I counted)

This is a story about Seventeen women, (widows and singles).

Some knew each other.

Some didn’t. 

Their intent was to study through 31 Days of Praise by Ruth Myers (died 2007) and her husband, Warren Myers who is also gone from the earth (Died 2001).

Surprise! Surprise!  God was there!

Some women spoke.  Many really.

Their love and believable relationships with our Lord was made obvious. 

I liked it!

Still, I had my doubts.

Having read the “assigned” (strike 1) reading in the book ($5) I had mixed feelings.  I had been reading Pursuit of Holiness and that author had been a “Navigator” (so was Mr. Myers). I wasn’t familiar with that group, but my dear friend, Sharon said her Dad, and I think her Mom too, was connected to something the Navigators were a part of.  So, that was enough for me to maintain a glimmer of hope I might learn something worthwhile.

Anyway, The Holiness book wasn’t looking too promising after 4 chapters.  There were inconsistencies and lots of “you must’s.” The biggest faux-pas was, “If you (fill in the blank) __________, you might not be saved.”  Yikes!

So, I’m saying strike 2 going in.

However, as my gentle, and wise Savior does so often, He toned me down enough to see through the troubling wording of “the book”, and He touched two dear sister’s hearts (who led the group) to reach through the offensive wording and pull out the essence of what the material said, which was divine. 

It said, (in essence), “You can be closer to God, and more like what He planned for you.  This book may help.”

I committed to the entire 6 weeks! 

Thanking, once again, our Heavenly Father, and fully expecting much from these sisters I’ve just been acquainted with, and of course, the precious one I already knew. 

a few months later…

The study group didn’t disappoint, which for me was a miracle.  I seem to hold people and groups who claim to know our Savior to such very high standards, I’m almost always disappointed.  But, not this time!

Lovingly, Linda

 

SAY, WHA?

SAY, WHA?

Here’s a good one to ponder.

“Disinterested benevolence.” 

Completely foreign in concept, right?  That’s because it’s heavenly. 

Just to make sure we’re on the same page, I’m talking about doing something benevolent (generous, kind, thoughtful+.) and then forgetting all about it. 

It sounded super weird to me at first, but on further consideration, I could see something admirable in it.  So, of course, I determined to give it a go. 

I found I was right.  It is super weird.  Know what was inconspicuously missing?  I was.  I mean I wasn’t taking into account how I might benefit, or how I might lose something if I (fill in the blank) ed.

So, I managed to send myself on an imaginary hike somewhere, and was more or less benevolent.  I admit it was in a small way.   I sleuthed about so successfully, not even I could have recounted the impact of my mini-benevolence.  Truth be told, I do remember it.  But, forgetting has happened here and there as I continue to sleuth about looking for times I might commit these “disinterested benevolent” acts, I think I’m getting better at forgetting.  It has happened. 

I LIKED IT! 

As with most new behaviors, I am finding new ways to be disinterestedly benevolent, and new blessings from perfecting this “super weird” behavior.  It’s an ongoing adventure, one of my favorite things!

I’m having trouble coming up with examples to tell you, as to aid in your own adventures, because (of course) I’ve forgotten most of them.  But, I do remember one I re-use from time to time.  

This wasn’t really my own idea, except maybe for the last part, but you may have heard occasionally someone in line (usually at a fast-food restaurant drive-through) pays for the order of the car behind them. 

Well, that’s an example, only in this case, you don’t check their reaction in your rear-view mirror, and you tell the ole’ memory to forget what just happened.  Isn’t that a blast?