blunder: n. A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
grace: n. Elegant movement; balance or poise.
Some of you have it all together. I am not one of those. I am more of a blunderer. Over the years I have learned that does not mean I am a failure. It simply means that "grace" will never be a description applied to me.
A friend and I decided to try out the food of a local restaurant using the current method of take-out. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, groups of people are not allowed to gather together but many restaurateurs make their fare available by means of pick-up and delivery.
We perused the online menu, made our choices and ordered. The food was to be ready by 5:30, so we headed on over. The restaurant was in a different location than I thought, but GPS easily delivered us.
We had arrived early, and the parking lot was empty--duh--so we sat, waiting for the text message telling us our order was ready at the pick-up window.
While waiting, we were discussing the best way to get back to the house upon leaving. I have been in the area plenty of times before, but with traffic and three lane choices it can be confusing as to the correct lane one needs to be in coming up to the stop light--left, center, or right. One lane heads downtown, another to the freeway, and then there's the correct one. I decided to walk out to the street and check so there wouldn't be a mix-up when we exited the lot.
Confirmation was made--We should be in the middle lane in order to be heading the direction we needed to go.
It has been almost a year and a half since I fell and broke my jaw while walking across a street. My boot caught the top of a raised surface in the crosswalk, and down I went. Ever since then, I pay very close attention to the surface I am walking on. Head down, I started back to the car. I came around the right rear bumper to get in the passenger side and, as I reached for the door handle, the door opened. It was a young woman, laughing heartily. Another car had pulled in beside us, and I was getting ready to open the door on the wrong car! "You've just made my day," she said. I was laughing as well, though maybe a bit hysterically. My unspoken thought was, I'm glad to hear that, but it was sincere. Laughter does bring joy.
I have always admired women who are what I view as classics. In my mind, I would like to be one who has poise and grace, is soft-spoken and just plain lovely. Nothing about me falls in those categories, and yet...I have been made in the image of God, and He is well-pleased.
Self-acceptance is a gift from Him, and I am grateful for that. He has taught me to accept myself and to laugh at myself as well. I have no doubt He is entertained and chuckles as well.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Sunday, May 3, 2020
"On Losing It"
discombobulating: v. To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex.
I paid for my groceries and headed out to the truck. It was at the end of a long day--a very long one where I had spent seven hours doing hands-and-knees gardening for clients. I needed some food staples so had stopped by the store before heading home. Arriving at my truck, I glanced down at the cart and realized it was empty. Discombobulated to say the least, I realized I had walked off after paying without bagging the food. I headed back in and retrieved the items from the clerk who had set them aside, knowing I would return. "It's been a long day," I told him.
My mind was spinning as I headed home. A couple of weeks earlier, I had some grocery items taken from my cart as I was digging in my purse for the keys to unlock the door--At least, that is what I thought had happened. Did I do the same thing then? Did I pay for my groceries and just walk away? The memory of that scenario added to the confusion of the current one.
"I'm losing it," I told a friend. "I'm just plumb losing it." In an effort and attempt to encourage and support me, I was told that he, too, has forgotten to do something or misplaced items."Don't give me that," I said. "Those are the same things I said to my mother when she was in the beginning stage of Alzheimer's.--They happen to everyone, Mom."
The experiences sat on my mind as I wrestled with them--and with God.
Mom lived with Alzheimer's for ten years, passing away when she was around my age, and I'm 75. Some suggest it is inherited, asking if I am afraid of a similar fate. I have lived with the belief that it was a path my Mother had to walk, but that does not mean it is mine. I still believe that but the incident was unsettling.
My mind was eased as I recollected I had paid for the earlier items in the self-check. If I had left them sitting, the clerk on hand--or the next customer--would have told me. I've had people track me down when I've left cash in the machine. Yes, that's happened to me as well. And I do remember looking down at the deli chicken in the cart as its delectable odor wafted up as I headed to the truck.
In my life as I walk with God, there are several basic things that will never change.
#1: My life is not my own.
#2: I can control nothing.
#3: God is love.
#4: I either trust Him...or I don't.
And so I begin another day, full of surprises and adventures. My God is a good traveling companion.
I paid for my groceries and headed out to the truck. It was at the end of a long day--a very long one where I had spent seven hours doing hands-and-knees gardening for clients. I needed some food staples so had stopped by the store before heading home. Arriving at my truck, I glanced down at the cart and realized it was empty. Discombobulated to say the least, I realized I had walked off after paying without bagging the food. I headed back in and retrieved the items from the clerk who had set them aside, knowing I would return. "It's been a long day," I told him.
My mind was spinning as I headed home. A couple of weeks earlier, I had some grocery items taken from my cart as I was digging in my purse for the keys to unlock the door--At least, that is what I thought had happened. Did I do the same thing then? Did I pay for my groceries and just walk away? The memory of that scenario added to the confusion of the current one.
"I'm losing it," I told a friend. "I'm just plumb losing it." In an effort and attempt to encourage and support me, I was told that he, too, has forgotten to do something or misplaced items."Don't give me that," I said. "Those are the same things I said to my mother when she was in the beginning stage of Alzheimer's.--They happen to everyone, Mom."
The experiences sat on my mind as I wrestled with them--and with God.
Mom lived with Alzheimer's for ten years, passing away when she was around my age, and I'm 75. Some suggest it is inherited, asking if I am afraid of a similar fate. I have lived with the belief that it was a path my Mother had to walk, but that does not mean it is mine. I still believe that but the incident was unsettling.
My mind was eased as I recollected I had paid for the earlier items in the self-check. If I had left them sitting, the clerk on hand--or the next customer--would have told me. I've had people track me down when I've left cash in the machine. Yes, that's happened to me as well. And I do remember looking down at the deli chicken in the cart as its delectable odor wafted up as I headed to the truck.
In my life as I walk with God, there are several basic things that will never change.
#1: My life is not my own.
#2: I can control nothing.
#3: God is love.
#4: I either trust Him...or I don't.
And so I begin another day, full of surprises and adventures. My God is a good traveling companion.
He said to his disciples,"Therefore I tell you,
do not worry about your life, what you will eat,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Luke 12:22
Saturday, May 2, 2020
"On Being Held Hostage"
hostage: n. One who is not free to choose their own course of action.
hostage situation: n. Events whereby the actor(s) (i.e., the hostage takers) are holding one or more persons against their will.
On December 31, 2019, while those countries in our world who use the Gregorian calendar were celebrating the beginning of a New Year, China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in people associated with a seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Less than three weeks later, on January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man with a 4-day history of cough and a fever went to an urgent care clinic in Washington State. He disclosed he had returned to Washington on January 15 after traveling to visit family in Wuhan, China. On January 21, 2020, the first diagnosis of novel coronavirus in America was confirmed.
The Wuhan Virus, the initial description given due to its origin, is a deadly virus which has expanded to touch every corner of the globe. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been sickened and thousands of others have died. The virus knows no discrimination when it comes to income, background, education, or occupation. Those in high places are as susceptible as the lowliest of low. No particular country in the world, including the United States, is favored as it has brought the governments of the world and its inhabitants to their knees, begging for mercy.
Here in America a variety of measures have been put in place in order to try to limit the amount of exposure which may take place during daily life and its subsequent spread. The governor of each individual state has issued a variety of mandates, many of which are causing a grave and serious impact on the nation's economic health and the lifestyle of its citizens. Schools--from daycare up through universities--are shut down. The number of people allowed to meet together have caused physical social interaction to fade into non-existence. Church meetings, going to the gym, eating out at a local restaurant, enjoying sporting events--whether as a spectator or participant--none are allowed.
"Social distancing" is the term--I am to keep at least a 6' distance between me and the person nearest me. The initial suggestion to wear a mask for protection has now become a requirement when out in public. "Sheltered in" or "lockdown" is the wording used to reinforce the stand of the government to minimize becoming infected by the insidious, silent virus through self-imposed restrictions. "Stay home. Save lives" is the theme song of this New Year, 2020.
Our borders are closed, preventing any from out of the country to enter; air travel is rare; small businesses across the country are shuttered. The orders were issued, and millions of us have obediently complied. Life as we knew it is completely altered.
Why? Why would an entire nation of people respond so quickly--and so submissively? One could say this invisible monster has taken us hostage. I am going to suggest the virus is not the one holding the people of America hostage, but fear. The willingness to obey came about readily; fear was--and is--the culprit instigating and feeding the beast.
The initial response to COVID-19 was for the population across this land to storm stores, clearing the shelves of toilet paper and paper towels. Hand sanitizers and the ingredients to make them quickly followed as panic ensued. Grocery stores were unable to keep up with the demand for basic food items such as flour, rice, and beans as the fear surged. Fear of what? With restaurants closed, the stocking up of food makes sense. Keeping one's hands sanitized as a preventive measure doesn't seem unreasonable, but no one has come up with an explanation as to why there is a need to hoard large quantities of paper products.
Fear is like that, though. It has no rationale or common sense and no voice of reason.
Fear is the stuff that anxiety and panic attacks are made of. It causes total and complete debilitation, and that debilitation has permeated my country. Fear is the antithesis of peace. It is impossible for the two to share the same space and does not create an environment for health, either physical or spiritual.
In this electronic age where information is immediately transmitted around the world, some folk have found themselves glued to the television or the Internet, awaiting word of where and when the pervasive, insidious virus is expected to strike next. Images of horror are broadcast along with personal stories of life-and-death situations as many succumb to the disease and others recover. For many viewers, these reports only cause the fear to grow.
This encounter with COVID-19 has a war-like feel--against an enemy with the capability of sneaking in the back door and the potential of wiping humankind out. While the virus is very contagious, it appears to be less destructive in our nation than initially predicted. Fear embellishes, amplifies, and colors the most basic of things. It has had a field day with this one.
COVID-19 set in motion a common, shared experience world-wide, and it has been exacerbated and propelled by fear. We were created as humans to touch, to share time and space. The mandates to wear a mask, hiding facial expressions; the 6' distancing rule, which does indeed create isolation; the perspective that each person we meet may be a carrier of the virus and, therefore, needs to be treated as a potential hazard, not a person--These contradict the very nature of our creation as human beings.
Hostage situations are combative ones with the police or military coming out in force with SWAT gear--their heavy body armor, armored vehicles, and heavy duty ballistics. The goal is always to bring about freedom for the one(s) being held hostage with no loss of life.
As humans we have two parts--the outer and the inner. The outer is the physical part, and the inner the spiritual, including the mind. This hostage situation, with the goal of setting the mind free from fear can never be accomplished by a SWAT team with its formidable equipment. It can happen only at the hand of God.
How does one deal with fear? And what, really, are we afraid of? Those are very personal, individual questions, ones which can only be answered in a searching of the soul before God.
Personally, I have no fear of death. I don't even have a fear of the virus. As a person of faith, I know my life is not my own. Control of life--and death--is a fallacy. That control is not in my hands.
Our country--and the world--is going to come out of this chaotic episode known as COVID-19. How are we going to deal with life as that takes place? And after? In fear or in freedom from fear?
May you find peace of mind in His presence.
hostage situation: n. Events whereby the actor(s) (i.e., the hostage takers) are holding one or more persons against their will.
On December 31, 2019, while those countries in our world who use the Gregorian calendar were celebrating the beginning of a New Year, China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in people associated with a seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Less than three weeks later, on January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man with a 4-day history of cough and a fever went to an urgent care clinic in Washington State. He disclosed he had returned to Washington on January 15 after traveling to visit family in Wuhan, China. On January 21, 2020, the first diagnosis of novel coronavirus in America was confirmed.
The Wuhan Virus, the initial description given due to its origin, is a deadly virus which has expanded to touch every corner of the globe. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been sickened and thousands of others have died. The virus knows no discrimination when it comes to income, background, education, or occupation. Those in high places are as susceptible as the lowliest of low. No particular country in the world, including the United States, is favored as it has brought the governments of the world and its inhabitants to their knees, begging for mercy.
Here in America a variety of measures have been put in place in order to try to limit the amount of exposure which may take place during daily life and its subsequent spread. The governor of each individual state has issued a variety of mandates, many of which are causing a grave and serious impact on the nation's economic health and the lifestyle of its citizens. Schools--from daycare up through universities--are shut down. The number of people allowed to meet together have caused physical social interaction to fade into non-existence. Church meetings, going to the gym, eating out at a local restaurant, enjoying sporting events--whether as a spectator or participant--none are allowed.
"Social distancing" is the term--I am to keep at least a 6' distance between me and the person nearest me. The initial suggestion to wear a mask for protection has now become a requirement when out in public. "Sheltered in" or "lockdown" is the wording used to reinforce the stand of the government to minimize becoming infected by the insidious, silent virus through self-imposed restrictions. "Stay home. Save lives" is the theme song of this New Year, 2020.
Our borders are closed, preventing any from out of the country to enter; air travel is rare; small businesses across the country are shuttered. The orders were issued, and millions of us have obediently complied. Life as we knew it is completely altered.
Why? Why would an entire nation of people respond so quickly--and so submissively? One could say this invisible monster has taken us hostage. I am going to suggest the virus is not the one holding the people of America hostage, but fear. The willingness to obey came about readily; fear was--and is--the culprit instigating and feeding the beast.
The initial response to COVID-19 was for the population across this land to storm stores, clearing the shelves of toilet paper and paper towels. Hand sanitizers and the ingredients to make them quickly followed as panic ensued. Grocery stores were unable to keep up with the demand for basic food items such as flour, rice, and beans as the fear surged. Fear of what? With restaurants closed, the stocking up of food makes sense. Keeping one's hands sanitized as a preventive measure doesn't seem unreasonable, but no one has come up with an explanation as to why there is a need to hoard large quantities of paper products.
Fear is like that, though. It has no rationale or common sense and no voice of reason.
Fear is the stuff that anxiety and panic attacks are made of. It causes total and complete debilitation, and that debilitation has permeated my country. Fear is the antithesis of peace. It is impossible for the two to share the same space and does not create an environment for health, either physical or spiritual.
This encounter with COVID-19 has a war-like feel--against an enemy with the capability of sneaking in the back door and the potential of wiping humankind out. While the virus is very contagious, it appears to be less destructive in our nation than initially predicted. Fear embellishes, amplifies, and colors the most basic of things. It has had a field day with this one.
COVID-19 set in motion a common, shared experience world-wide, and it has been exacerbated and propelled by fear. We were created as humans to touch, to share time and space. The mandates to wear a mask, hiding facial expressions; the 6' distancing rule, which does indeed create isolation; the perspective that each person we meet may be a carrier of the virus and, therefore, needs to be treated as a potential hazard, not a person--These contradict the very nature of our creation as human beings.
Hostage situations are combative ones with the police or military coming out in force with SWAT gear--their heavy body armor, armored vehicles, and heavy duty ballistics. The goal is always to bring about freedom for the one(s) being held hostage with no loss of life.
As humans we have two parts--the outer and the inner. The outer is the physical part, and the inner the spiritual, including the mind. This hostage situation, with the goal of setting the mind free from fear can never be accomplished by a SWAT team with its formidable equipment. It can happen only at the hand of God.
Personally, I have no fear of death. I don't even have a fear of the virus. As a person of faith, I know my life is not my own. Control of life--and death--is a fallacy. That control is not in my hands.
Our country--and the world--is going to come out of this chaotic episode known as COVID-19. How are we going to deal with life as that takes place? And after? In fear or in freedom from fear?
May you find peace of mind in His presence.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;
for fear has to do with punishment...
1 John 4:18
for fear has to do with punishment...
1 John 4:18
For God has not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
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