Voo Doo Prayers; I hate them. I refuse them. They release way too much negative energy into the world through thoughtless, selfish, controlling words. You know what I mean. Voo Doo prayers go something like this:
Dear God, please make Jane trip and skin her knee right here so I can help her up and be her hero.
Dear God, please help Joe’s plane to have mechanical problems so it never leaves the ground because he shouldn’t be going on that trip anyway. Dear God, do something bad or scary in John Doe’s life so he will have to call on God for help and know that I have been right about God all along…….
How much better it is to pray a recovery style prayer, “Dear God, please give Jane, or Joe, or John, knowledge of your will for their lives today and give them the power to carry it out.” Oops, I forgot to ask God to keep me in the loop and tell me what his will is for Jane’s life – how will I ever know to pray heartily for that will and what I can do to make sure Jane does that will (are you smiling?).
Voo Doo prayers; I hate them, I reject them. Someone has been meddling with my car and my computer with voodoo prayers. I reject them. Onward, straight into the wave of what positive and good (tho sometimes hard) things God has for me.
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Rules are the answer, or, Rule number 2
If the thought of trying to persuade or influence others fills you with anxiety; I have a solution for you: Learn what the rules are. Memorize them. Once you have them memorized and you commit to doing them religiously; all you have to do to persuade or influence (or control) others is to remind them what the rules are.
Then, instead of conversing and convincing, weighing information, sharing ideas, engaging in deep thought, you just decide everything by the rules. You say, “You can’t do that!” The other person says, “Why?” You say, “Because it is against the rules.” If you find yourself in a situation where you really want someone to do something for you or you want someone to do something your way, don’t bother to ask them (they might feel the freedom to say no) just make a new rule- a new application of one of the older rules. This saves an incredible amount of discussion. You will no longer have to waste time thinking things through. You will never have to weigh decisions; just consult the rules.
Example: Everyone knows that murder, stealing, adultery and the like are sins. But, what if you see me (or I see you) doing or about to do something you don’t want me to do? Well, instead of telling me directly, “I don’t want you to do that,” it is easier to say, “The Bible says to flee the very appearance of evil; and THAT appears (appearances are terribly important here) to be bad to me, you don’t want to go against God’s rules, do you?”
Don’t talk about it. Don’t engage in discussion. Of what use is discussion and talk? Discussion might lead to compromise; and compromise, of course, is wrong, evil, a sin to be avoided. Decide what you think is right and then…Make another rule.
Hey, if everyone just lives by the rules; you might not even have to engage in relationships. Your character will be set for life. You won’t have to grow or learn anything new –as long as you know the rules and simply live by them.
Well, its like this….
Well, its like this; my readers are so busy on facebook, they never read my blog and comment anymore. But, the real reason I haven’t posted in awhile is that my computer is gasping and needs a bit of maintenance…so, I have to surf and write on borrowed computers. Will I fix my computer? Oh, yes! All it needs is a good cleaning and a couple of fans and maybe a new router. Right now I am recovering from a new clutch and a couple of seals for the car. OBTW – Yay for me. My savings account lasted a record four months before being decimated to pay the mechanic.
The Love of Riches
Some people will do anything for money.
Others will do nothing for money.
A third group will do anything to get something for free.
The first embody the scripture wherein Jesus said, “The Love of money is the root of all evil.”
The second, in their extreme response (or excuse) to avoid evil, would not think of committing any motion resulting in the evil of money. These two seem to be extreme poles of response to the making of money. The need and greed that comes from not having any money may result in a third, more insidious and extreme response:
Some people will do anything for free; free money, free belongings, free food, free ownership.
“Give me neither poverty nor riches…Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you…or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor [you].” Proverbs 30:8.
“People who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction (I Tim 5: 9)”
So, too, all that wait dependently for others to give everything to them for free.
Immersed in Music
Immersed in Music. One thing I dearly love is the ambiance of the music world whether it is sitting in the lobby of the music building at a college, or attending a music seminar at Estes Park. I love walking through a fine arts building and seeing a couple of students practicing for a conducting final; someone writing a sonata in his or her head and making notes on notebook paper; five or six others singing clips of various show tunes or classical pieces; instrumental music floating down the hall from the practice rooms. Today I went on a family outing to the mountains and a hot springs and was pleasantly treated to just such a musical indulgence. Everyone in the nine passenger Suburban, was related to me: 3 children, 3 grandchildren, one DIL. While sitting properly stuffed in the very center of the vehicle, I heard and enjoyed intelligent music and movie commentary and critique from the the couple in the front seat, music trivia and questions from all those over 18 and random bars of music hummed, sung, or belted along with the IPod selections playing on the speakers, by all passengers – not to mention excellent rhythm keeping and input from the 3 youngsters aboard. It was a perfectly lovely day: steeped in music and stewed in the hot springs enjoyed by all while falling snow frosted our hair.
Indispensable
The trouble with “making it happen” for someone you love (particularly if you are doing it for them to draw their attention or love to yourself) is that they fall in love with the thing you made possible in their life-and they ride off into the sunset with IT.
When one makes it happen for another, a thank you is all that is required. It is not a guarantee of lifetime allegiance and service out of gratitude.
With growing kids, this is a natural and right practice. We provide them with education, upbringing, tools for careers and relationship and they ride off into the sunset toward lifetime success.
With others, peers, adults, employers, corporations; making someone’s life or vision or business happen for them (often through heroic measures) is disastrous.
This has happened to me at least twice in major arrangements and numerous times in small, day to day working relationships.
Am I hard-hearted to say, “Never again”?
Walking for mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health
So, why don’t I just dispense with the stress and walk first? Given that my walk time is my quiet time, my chew on things time, my talk to God time; why don’t I go walk first instead of worrying first, reacting first, throwing my hands up in despair and then, when all else fails; finally taking the remedy?
Every Stray Puppy; or, why’d I do that?
Why I did it, I’ll never know, but there was this dog-running down the busy four lane road adjacent to our neighborhood. Well, I WAS looking for adventure of sorts; or maybe just a calm, peaceful sightseeing tour to finish off the night. I arrived home from the Sweet Adelines Christmas party a whole 30 minutes earlier than usual and decided to give Phil a call on his phone to see if he wanted to go check out Christmas lights in an expansive neighborhood next door. The car was nice and warm, the temperature outside well below freezing and I really didn’t want the chill of running up to the house- why should I discomfort myself in this age of technology? Phil answered his phone, but he wasn’t home. He was with Kev, moving gear into the new recording studio set to open any day now. “Come on down, Mom,” they invited. Right. I was just down there. Once for the party and once earlier to fetch Philip from work. So, I declined and proceeded to take myself on what I thought would be a relaxing 7 minute ride around the block and then home to bed. But, as I said, there was this dog running down the busy road. This dog that looked a little bit like the dog of my best friend’s boyfriend, and a little bit like the dog of my youngest son’s girlfriend, and a bit like a dog who comes through the carpool line at school each evening. Well, I did the only logical thing: I pulled the car over, opened the door and invited the dog in. It smelled like wet dog. I picked her up in my faux suede, dry clean only, coat and deposited her on the passenger seat. She was quite happy to go for a ride – into the nearest parking lot, where I checked her dog tag. Tried to check her dog tag would be more accurate. First I had to turn on the overhead light, then I had to coax her back to the front seat (she had gone exploring in the rear of the car) then I had to fish in my purse for my reading glasses and then the dog kept turning her head while I tried to read the phone number on the tag. Good heavens! What had I got myself into? The address was a little town about 15 miles away. I dialed the number and got a live body who told me the dog was staying at a house——-right across the street – in my subdivision. I delivered the dog within 3 minutes. Now why did I even stop? Every stray puppy, I guess. I could not stand to see a little dog crossing and re-crossing the street; when maybe, you know, I might be helpful and rescue it. I just couldn’t bear it if the little thing got hit.
Responsibility
RESPONSIBILITY OR, He that is faithful in small things will be faithful in much
My children are growing up. Yes, my youngest is a senior and will graduate next May. I love watching children grow. I love the rites of passage; the times when a mother can distinctly see the fine character developing in a child as that one moves first into taking responsibility for him (or her) self and later begins to take leadership or servant responsibility for others.
Last Thursday I forgot to replenish my gum pack in my purse. I realized this about a mile from the school. Too late to turn back home and too late to make a quick stop at a convenience store, I was about to drop Philip off for his early morning college class when I bemoaned the oversight audibly. “Oh, I think I have one,” replied Philip, fully aware of my plight and how I hate the thought of breathing dragon breath at my students. “Just one left,” He commented, fishing the stick out of the package and laying it on the dashboard. I thanked him heartily and then, as he was about to throw the empty package into the trash, “Wait a minute, here’s one more. This one’s for me!” he said, smiling and popping it into his pocket.
Friday night I worked BINGO for Sweet Adelines. It was busy; a full house and a late session. At quarter to midnight I started to check in with Philip, but thought better of it as he might be sleeping. Five minutes later my cell phone rang. “Hi Mom, it’s a bit later than usual, where are you?”
I like to see that my kids are concerned for others. I do not want to be smothered any more than they do. I do not want them to have to build their lives around taking care of me or mutual enabling. But Kindness, Concern, Empathy, healthy Responsibility toward others; those are great character traits. The boy of whom his sister in law once said, “You’re way too nice to be a teenager,” is turning out to be a fine young man.
The Hundred Acre Park
There is a hundred acre park near the place I live, where I love to walk. It is hallowed ground. I know it is hallowed because God speaks to me there; plays on my heartstrings with his presence, renews my mind with grand views of magnificent desert canyons; fires my brain to remember lessons long forgot; knowledge embedded in my DNA; senses long dormant. There my logic becomes untangled; hunches long denied are acknowledged, and I become ME again, the ME I am created to be.
I become balanced, centered again in the me that would rather be well than right. The me that has learned to live one day at a time in courage and trust, rather than the me that runs around unsuccessfully trying to control others in order to order my future.
I have walked many places. God is not absent from any of them. A walk is always restorative. But this, this is a place I keenly sense his presence. I like to think of the early valley farmers and ranchers – over 100 years ago, who first settled this land and farmed and later deeded, gave, or sold the land to the city.
What must they have done to this land to make it undulate so with vibes of the sacred? I picture them standing in a field, faces uplifted toward the sun, crying out, “God, thank you for this land! We hallow and dedicate this field-forever as a blessing to others-that they might feel you presence here and seek your wisdom and health through enjoyment of this great outdoors!