Category Archives: Just a thought . . .

Gem: Optional

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Precious gems are found through diligent search and hard work. Diamonds don’t grow on trees. Gold doesn’t come knocking at your door.en.wikipedia.org

A person’s character is precious, more precious than a gem. That inner rock, that beautiful soul isn’t standard, like power steering is in a car these days. It’s an option.

It’s an option gained by paying attention to our thoughts and steering unworthy ones back to a better path. It’s learning how each behavior affects those around us and how to temper it. Ditto speech. It comes from linking effect with cause, from patiently seeking to understand ourselves and then molding our daily habits to conform with what will breed wisdom and understanding.

What fine habit will you nurture this week?

Photo: en.wikipedia.org_.png

The Quiet After Christmas

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I sit here, listening to a simple, pretty song being played on the piano
and think life is good.

 

 

 

060We’ve just finished celebrating one of the biggest holidays of the year in all of its color and sound and glory, in all of its sweetness and generosity and goodness, in all of its festivity and flavor.

 

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And after the wrapping paper is thrown away and the fudge is gone, we’re left with what we love best.

 

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It’s not the presents nor the surprises. It’s the togetherness. It’s the memories. And underneath it all is an unyielding certainty that our Creator loves His creation so much that whether they celebrate with His light in their eyes or celebrate for reasons far from heaven’s light, He is glad for this lavish time of year.

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Enjoy the quiet after Christmas when the noise gives way to some moments of sweet silence. Know you are loved with a love beyond what any of us can grasp.

Celebrate this, too.

 

Gird Your Loins

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With a new year, a fresh start, a blank slate we can’t help thinking of things that we’d like the days before us to hold. I propose one more thing to add to your list. I think this old world needs truth and courage, so I propose we gird our loins. There is an unseen, unscripted, guerrilla warfare type struggle around us, but it’s a struggle for minds and hearts. And souls. So here’s a reminder.

If we hear a lie, I propose we tell the truth. You can call it a counter attack if you like, or you can call it speaking the truth, clarifying the issue, or shining a light in the tin lantern, pinterestdarkness. If we find something disquieting, I propose we stand firm in what we know is right. We need to stop being pushed around by someone else’s immoral ideas, and respond to what is evil, what is foolish, and what is incongruous not in an obnoxious way, but in a level-headed way that clarifies truth from fiction. And throughout our days we can smile. It makes the world a better place. We are not saviors, but we can do one small thing many times over the next 365 days.

My next post will begin a story that is longer than typical for a blog, but I’m posting it anyway. It will take a little under 20 installments. That, in itself, might require occasional readers to gird their loins in order to persevere. It is a story about doing a small thing. If you can’t last that long, check back here in the spring, but I hope you will follow it. You’ll be glad you did.

Photo: tin-lantern-pinterest.jpg

Beware the Pumpkin Pie

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Thanksgiving dinners provide a backdrop for all that is gracious and good and homey and, in most homes, familiar. Let’s take, for instance, pumpkin pie.

Or in the words of comedians everywhere, please, take mine. I have never loved pumpkin pie. I have never even liked pumpkin pie, though I discovered during a visit to Indiana that I liked the pumpkin pie a childhood friend made that included cream cheese. Cream cheese is my idea of a great addition to nearly any recipe, and so, in an effort to join the ranks of those who love this Thanksgiving staple, I volunteered to make it one year.

That was a mistake. I used the recipe from my friend for what I recall was a chiffon pumpkin pie. It tasted great! The uproar it caused among one or two at the Thanksgiving table (the good humored ribbing only slightly covered what I discerned was a personal horror at the perversion of the beloved pie), however, convinced me that for the satisfaction of all that is traditional, some things are better left unaltered.

So if you love pumpkin pie, you can have my slice. I’ll bring a cheesecake.

Now, about the stuffing . . .

Thanks, again.

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It’s happening. The Sunday paper is heavier with every week closer to Christmas. If you’re not careful, those flyers and advertisements will spill onto the floor before you can even reach your reading chair. And so, to give us a little break from what surely are lovely and alluring advertising spreads, I offer a quote from Robinson Crusoe:

“All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”

Oh, Daniel Defoe, thank you for the wisdom of that one sentence.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. (originally published in 1719), New York: Bantam Books, 1981.