Scapegoat

In the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus, the word "scapegoat" was originated. By God's instructions, Moses and Aaron were to sacrifice two goats each year. One was to be killed and the blood sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant. It sounds bizarre, but much of the behavior in the OT is bizarre when put under a modern day LED. I am sure the future generations will say that about us. Oh yeah, they already do and rightfully so. Back to the goats, the second goat was supposedly the "lucky" goat because it was not killed. Instead, the High Priest layed hands upon the goats head, confessed the sins of the people, and released it into the wilderness, free to wander carrying its burden of sin. So, which goat got the best deal?

Today, psychologists use the term "scapegoat" to refer to the tendency to blame someone else for one's own problems. It may be a person, a group, or an object. It offers an opportunity to explain failure or misdeeds, while maintaing a positive image. I can see why it is such a hit. I find that it answers a multitude of questions about what is happening in my personal life as well as in our country and the world. As M. Scott Peck surmised in "The Road Less Traveled", people do not want to do the hard work of self evaluation. The scapegoat is the perfect answer offering a substitute for one's own failures and a broken mirror to one's own weaknesses. My thoughts today are not for the dead goat. We know what happened to it. My thoughts today are concerning the one set free in the wilderness. Lets just suppose the place they are set free from is home and family and "the wilderness" is life. Modern day Christians should understand this story completely. We worship a man who took on the roles of scapegoat one and scapegoat two. It's a tough "row to hoe" to say the least. However, sadly enough, big proponents of scapegoating are modern day Christians.

Something to think about. Peace. Love, Linda

Shadows in the Sunshine State

I live in "the sunshine state", a haven in the winter, a land of beautiful beaches and summer fun, the home of Mickey Mouse. I love this state. It is my home, but it has its own dark and ugly shadows. In the ninth district court system covering cases for family law, there is a scheme to defraud families of their money and their rights, and it is totally sanctioned. Every facet in elder care is involved either by complicity or by deliberate head turning, advocates, long term care facilities, guardians, lawyers and at the top, judges. What keeps this dysfunctional system alive? Dysfunctional families, resentment, jealously, the love of money, and in our case add to that mix, a mother who has lived two lives, one for her absent daughters, and one for her ever present, hard working son. Her divided family believes two different stories. Each story is forever frozen in time since her legal rights have been stripped due to a forced incompetency test and subsequent guardianship by the state of Florida. No one hears her any more, except her son whose hands are bound behind his back. They were perfect targets for this Florida justice system that is allowed to do all of its deeds in secret.

Even with signed documentation by his mom for everything he has done and a Trust document that states his parents are never to become the ward of any guardian, the state of Florida, with unfounded charges of abuse and cries of"undue influence", snatched away all assets and control from my mother-in- law and my husband. With the help and lies of an elder care "advocate" and sisters pushing for seven and a half years a case against a brother they have storied into a monster, for reasons they believe to be true, our lives are in a troubling limbo, and my husband is treated by the state as if he were a thief and a villain. My sister-in-laws readily jumped into a sanctioned bilking system thinking they have finally rescued their mom from their "wicked" brother, when, in fact, the state of Florida is gleefully spending their inheritance, and their brother's years of hard work and dedication is being obliterated. 

My husband and I need your prayers and positive thoughts as we traverse this temporary obstacle in our lives. Pray not just that we survive the ordeal, but that we will thrive and overcome. My husband has always been a good and dutiful son. My Mother-in-law needs your prayers for peace and comfort in her physical and mental decline. Her games are over, and she is just a sad, old dying woman who needs love. My sister-in-laws need prayers, too. They, too, are victims of this state and a dysfunctional family, living a life on the stage of comparisons. Unknowingly, they believe their stories whole heartily and the stories their mom shared with them. I am not sure the relationship between brother and sisters will be salvageable, but I am sure that God's grace will guide us through, and we will come out on higher ground, and as a warning to families far and wide, come to terms with your disagreements, and don't ever think that the courts are the answer.

Peace. Love, Linda 

In These United States- an Observation

In these United States,
a lower income child
who rises to middle class by a puritan work
ethic in parents who moved forward,
in spite of
hardships, health traumas, financial trials and fatigue,
sometimes develops, as an adult, a sense of wonder
at how it ALL works
and a high regard for the process
that when incorporated into this American life
propels many to that place we call
"BETTER".

In these United States
that can happen.

That is a good of this land.

But beneath that
good lies factions of self promoting "justice" systems
that have corrupted and broken into indiscernable pieces
so small they are not recognized as broken,
until the particulates of their fragmented glass
take a life on of their own,
rising up out of darkness to ambush
and cut their  targets visciously
without true cause or merit.

In these United States
that, too, can happen.

That is a bad of this land.