Look before you leap?

Look before you leap. I don't have to think before I say it. It's a thought pattern. I don't know where it came from or when it began. It is. In the book Virus of the Mind, it's called a meme. 

It's a sensible meme. I wouldn't want to jump off the sidewalk into a bed of sand spurs or red ants with my bare feet. I use those examples because I did that many times as a child until, painfully, I learned the consequences well enough that they settled into my long term memory. Maybe that's when someone said to me, "Look before you leap." The words made sense, so I bought them "hook, line, and sinker." 

That's my issue with memes. We, I know I'm not alone in this, accept them without question, incorporate them into our lives, and use them indiscriminately "'til death do us part."  We have the capability to be the smartest of animals, but from past studies of the ospreys outside my window at work or the song birds in the back yard, I believe we've been "sold a line of goods" with the "look before you leap" phrase. When I lock into a meme and use it like my favorite blanket, I  sometimes find myself executing Einstein's definition of insanity. 

I'm not, on the yin side of that yang, saying never "look before you leap," but I believe, like anything else, the thought should be held under a microscope of wisdom and courage. I observed ospreys learning to fly from an incredibly high perch. If those bobbing little heads had spent too much time studying the scenery below and less time soaring, fluttering and flapping their wings like church fans in August, they would have stayed in the nest. 

Somewhere in all of this conversation a word has not been mentioned that is applicable:  faith.

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 

Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13

Sunday's Blessing

These are the things that you shall do:  Speak the truth to one another, 

render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. 

Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath...

Therefore, love truth and peace.

Zechariah 8:16-17,18

Peace. Love, Linda

Talking to the wall?

Writing a blog is somewhat like writing a diary that you place out on the sidewalk for anyone to see who wishes to stop and open it. Sometimes, I think I'm talking to a wall, but that's O.K. It still feels right, so I do it. I don't write as often as before because I'm getting home later than I used to, and the evening disappears quickly. When I started this entry this evening, the light was shining beautifully on the trees in the back field, but it's faded to soft, almost colorless hues now. The birds are no longer belting out their daily melodies. Instead, they are tucking themselves into the trees and jarbling. It reminds me of the soft sounds Nikky made when she was a baby singing to herself in the crib. Two sandhill cranes are hogging the bird feeder, but no one seems to mind. Long, soft, warm evenings are heavenly. I knew it would be a  beautiful day from beginning to end because it had such a lovely start.

I don't have my Bible out on the back porch with me, but a verse comes to mind that's fitting. It was on a print that I gave to Mama and Daddy once, that came back to me after they died.

"This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."  

Something in my mind makes me want to put the word exceedingly in front of glad. I can't remember this minute whether it "officially" belongs there, but it belongs.

Peace. Love, Linda

Sunday's Blessing

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication 
with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made know to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all  understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4: 6-7

Peace. Love, Linda

...and babies make four

I was wondering, would you and your brother 

like to go shopping after breakfast?

Stay here, I'm going to get your mother and your brother moving.

Are you my mother?

It takes entirely too long for this family to decide to do anything.

Look at them. They're still eating!

...and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1

Renewal

  

From where I sit this morning, the colors meld into each other. Discerning light is absent and the gray of the sky, screen and rain wash out the contrast. If I choose to, I can look at it and fret about  the plans I had for my day off and sing the Monday blues, 

but why would I choose to do that?

It's fresh. It's replenishing. It's renewal. What a beautiful day...

to wash away the dust.

Clothe yourselves with the new self, 

which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

Colossians 2:10

Peace. Love, Linda

Sunday's Blessing

Be still...

 

and know that I am God. 

Psalms 46:10

Peace. Love, Linda

From the Balcony

Look closely, as if holding a magnifying glass, and see below. It's the same earth I plant my feet on firmly every morning, but perspectives change from afar. If we believe God is high in a heavenly realm looking down upon us with a cast of characters surrounding him somewhat like a tale in Greek mythology, we might appear to Him like the man in this photo. That brings to mind the words, "What is man that you are mindful of him," 

nothing more.

 I prefer flights of fancy and blues that meld into each other and thoughts that soar and a God that is over, around, under and throughout.

Grounded.

What are human beings that you are mindful of them or mortals that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have covered them with glory and honor subjecting all things  under their feet. Hebrews 2:5-8

Peace. Love, Linda

Sunday's Blessing

I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, Solomon in all his glory

was not clothed like one of these.

But if God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more cloth you- you of little faith?...Strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:25-30, 33

Peace. Love, Linda

Blessed Be the Tie that Binds

When I was a young girl, I loved the ending of Sunday evening service because of its simplicity and lack of formality. We had a closing prayer then sang a chorus of "Blessed (blest) be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship, the kindred minds is like to that above." Then we separated into the evening air, leisurely walked to our cars and headed home to watch the Ed Sullivan Show and The Amazing Kreskin (Sp?). I still love that simple chorus, but I don't remember thinking about the depth or meaning of the words back then. After all, they are simple words. Aren't they?

Jesus spoke of binding things very simply, too. He said something like this, "Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven." Today those words cause me to pause and say, hmmm..., I have questions. Is it significant that what is bound on earth comes first? Is that "whatever" as big as I think it is? If we're doing the binding and the loosing here, who's doing it there? Could it be a committee? Which leads me to the proverbial chicken and egg dilemma. See, just because something appears to be simple, doesn't mean it's not worth wrapping  your arms around. Hey, that's a form of binding, isn't it?

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 18:18

Peace. Love, Linda

Sunday's Blessing

I will sing to my God a new song: O Lord, you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible.

 

 Let all your creatures serve you,

for you spoke, and they were made.

You sent forth your spirit,

and if formed them;

there is none that can resist your voice. 

Judith 16:13-14

 Peace. Love, Linda