That Good Part

Every now and then, for the last several years, I will have a moment of deep quietness.  It is in those times that I remember how much I like to write.  It's similar to the feeling I get when I remember how much I like a food I haven't eaten for a while, or a favorite book I haven't read for years.  Familiar pleasure.  And it makes me yearn. Cultivating pleasure doesn't come easily to me. It's not that I don't enjoy things, it's more that because I have such a warped sense of responsibility,  I default to the priority of making the world right before it occurs to me that I should do something for the sheer joy of doing.  Now, I am realistic enough to know I can't make the world right, and I have plenty of biblical knowledge to explain who can.  But I have lived a long time with the need to do one more thing before I indulge in the things that except for pleasure, don't really accomplish much.  The greatest One who ever mused, dreamed and c...

Normally, when it is September and I write that something is coming, it is with dread and refers to the end of Daylight Savings Time.  This year, something is coming and it's new and it's fun.  For me anyway. I hope.  With the biblical hope that is defined as the expectation of coming good.  So not only will it be new and fun, but it will also be good.  For me.  Maybe for you too.  It might inspire you to something new, fun and good. You should keep an eye out. Something is coming...

If you're a chick and a Christian, you know about Mary and Martha.  They are often portrayed as opposites in fundamental ways-the spiritual one vs the fleshly one.  The gentle one vs the driven one.  I pretty sure that, like most of us, they were more than their brief story in the gospels revealed, Mary probably gossiped at the well and Martha probably mentored young Hebrew girls. No one is every all one way or the other.  That, however, isn't what this post is about. We have read about Mary, Martha and Lazarus in the gospels, siblings whom Jesus loved.  The focus for me has always been on the individuals, these two sisters with their very different personalities, their brother who we don't know much about except after his illness and subsequent death, Jesus raised him from the dead.  For some reason though, this little family seemed to hold a special place in the heart of Jesus.  I learned something lately that shed new ligh...

As the glow of the Super Bowl fades, and the post season withdrawls begin, there is light beckoning from New York City-the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show!!!  Known as the Super Bowl of the dog show world, it is two days filled with nearly 3,000 dogs at Madison Square Garden.  Now days, you can go on line and watch all 3000 dogs in their individual breed classes.  Back in the olden days, (like 5 years ago) you could only watch the groups compete for best of show on t.v. but oh, the joy for me.  Even though I'm sure I'll spend plenty of time in front of my computer watching a seemingly endless parade of dogs, I still stayed up and watched the groups last night.  I have two purebred dogs, both Cavalier King Charles Spaniels which is the pretentious name for lazy but sweet lap dogs.  One I named after a literary hero and he does not live up to his name.  He is actually a bit of a rogue.  The other I name after a t.v. character who is a bit of a ro...

I don't know about you, but I hate throwing food away. Not scrapping the plate into the trash when I can't possibly take another bite, I mean taking out a bottle of salad dressing, or leftovers, or box of baking soda and not having any idea if it's still good.  More often than not I throw it away, because here's a fun fact about me-I have essentially no sense of smell.  While you may simply sniff the dressing, I just stare at it.  Here is a new question I've been pondering lately-if tomatoes are in an unrefrigerated bin at the store, why do I put them in the fridge when I get home? My mom puts every vegetable but potatoes in the fridge, as well as the peanut butter, but that's a different blog post.  As the fourth child, my mom didn't explain a lot of kitchen mysteries to me, when I was underfoot in the kitchen she just told me to go read a book instead. That explains a lot of things. So here I am, a late blooming kitchenista, wanting to unlock the hidde...

I'm reading a lot of material these days.  New product for our church book kiosk, studying for our Journey With Jesus through the gospel of Mark, three books on the history of the middle east (how did that happen?) and then the usual time in the Word.  Today I was looking at the various stacks of books I'm plowing through and I thought to myself, "You know, one would think that you'd have a profound thought or great quote in your head from all that stuff!"  So I waited a while to see if one floated to the surface. Waited some more. Flipped through a book. Two books. Four books. Sigh. A thought did float into my head and it had nothing to do with the stack. It was something Pastor Rob said at the beginning of our Sunday morning study in the book of Acts.  He said we have the tendency to read Acts and think every day was action packed when in reality, the book covers a thirty year span. THIRTY YEARS.  Well now, that certainly puts a different spin on things....

Today I helped someone set up their first blog.  We went through every field, looked at all the gadgets, and along the way, I gave her the basic instructions for each function. When I could remember, that is.  On the gadget for links, and she asked me to make a link to this blog. When I did, the link has shows not only the title of the blog but the title of the last post, and the date of that post. No wonder I couldn't remember how to use anything! Six months has gone by since I last visited my own blog.  I didn't want anyone visiting her blog to see how inactive my blog was, so I decided I better write something.  Not that I care what anyone thinks. Well, maybe a little. ;) The morning sort of refreshed my creative juices for the whole blogging thing. If I was to come up with some spiritual application for this post, it would be this: it's a good thing to go back to the basics, look at the framework of what you know and believe, evaluate...