Life's Little Things

 I just finished a small chore, you know, one of those everyday things like emptying the dishwasher or folding undershirts. It took just a few minutes, gave me a small dose of satisfaction, and no one but me thought about the fact that it needed to be done and was done. It was not important. At least it was not important to anyone but me. Or was it?

If all of us stopped doing all those hidden chores, we would soon discover the order, peace, and loveliness that we take for granted would begin to unravel before our eyes. Our homes would fill with disorder, trash, and discomfort. Those little things might not be so little after all.

Going deeper, I noticed that I didn't mind doing that little chore. I owned that chore. It gave me a certain pleasure. I looked forward to doing it, but I also looked forward to the day when I might not be able to do it any longer. When sickness or old age or unexpected poverty or loss would take that small pleasure from me forever. I would miss it.

We take in blessings like we breathe air. Do we think often enough not about our aches and pains, but about our comforts and pleasures? I can still see. There was a time when I couldn't hear. Surgery has restored much of it to me, so of that blessing I am acutely conscious. I strained by foot last spring. It took four months to get back to normal. How quickly I forgot that my foot didn't always feel as good as it does now.

I am trying to make a practice of expressing gratitude, not just for obvious things, but for the things that are just there all the time. It took a mission trip to serve Mexico's City's garbage dump people to become grateful that every time I turn on the faucet water flows out--water that is abundant, clean, and any temperature I desire. Take any one of those three things away and taking a shower becomes not a routine, but a hurdle.

Spending time reviewing my blessings has made me more peaceful and content. It has humbled me to admit I expect undeserved things. It has also made me more aware of the good in people around me. It makes me smile more. It draws me closer to the Giver. Because the One who cares about me, also cares about life's little things too.

Night Light

Sitting in the darkness

Of my living room at night

With the curtains open

Blackness outside in sight--

I could make out the shapes

Of landscape known to me,

But when I flicked the light on

Naught but blackness could I see.

It was as if the darkness

Pressed itself against the glass--

And tried to overpower

The light which through it passed.

A mirror it became to me

And seemed to make me feel

The world had gotten smaller--

My room was all that's real.

If I had only stepped outside

And looked back to my home,

I would see that room aglow,

A beacon to all who roam.

My Cheesy Dream

 

I had a crazy dream last night.

It truly was a frightful plight.

I brushed my hair and found I had

A case of dandruff really bad.

But soon it turned into disaster—

Flakes became like lumps of plaster.

I touched a lump and gave a squeeze…

Whoa! They were lumps of feta cheese!

Every minute or maybe two

Another lump appeared or quite a few.

Now this dream seems so very dumb.

I wonder where this stuff comes from?

Oh! By the way, please come for lunch.

I’d like to talk with you a bunch.

I’ll make the food, so come, do, please!

For salad, olives, and feta cheese.

Closeness

 A rubber band is made to stretch,

But its power is to contract.

It is a close binder of goods--

It unites what it keeps intact.

Love is a binder of people--

It surrounds as a loving net.

It stretches around to include,

It contracts to make intimate.

We can resist it till it snaps

Or wear out its pulling matter--

One is painful, one exhausting,

And in the end we all scatter.

Interruptions

 A small and languid river eddy

Swirls foamy bubbles round and round.

So slow, so weak, yet still it moves

The bubbles that to it are bound.

Some that break free and move along

Are snagged in yet another stall,

More slowly moving than the first

Where change comes hard or not at all.

Unhindered by the cloying banks

All this while the center flows--

A downhill slide in rippling chatter

As toward the sea it onward goes.

Road Trip

 Attired in myriad shades

Of green and asphalt

And sequined with bright splashes

Of reddish clover

And silvery maned grasses,

The countryside flashes by

As images of Magied camels

Compete with jaw-stretching yawns.

Time to change drivers.

Did He Really Say That?

There are lots of scripture passages that could be argued are the most important in the Bible. Any of the words of Jesus, the Ten Commandments, prophecies from the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah, might be among the contenders for most important passages in the Bible. And I would argue for many of those myself, but in this post, I am going to put forward Genesis 3:1, not as the most important, but very high in considering what your worldview is.

Now the snake was the most cunning* of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?”

This question was the turning point in all of human history. Whatever you believe about the Garden of Eden, or even about God, the devil, and Christianity, there is an important to point to notice. A choice was given: someone else's way or my way.

An important person in my life said to me about ten years ago, "When is somebody going to update the Bible?" It should be no wonder that this person has lost his way in terms of faith. His question really boils down to, "Did God really say that?" His suggestion is really saying, "God, get with the times! You are so outdated. You need to do it our way." 

If you are going to be a Christian, you need to know what Christianity is about. And once you have found out what it is about, if you aren't uncomfortable, then perhaps you still don't know what it's about. God said a lot of really uncomfortable things. He really said them. If you don't believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, that it is a work of men, then revision seems a no-brainer. You can rewrite the Bible, but the end result will be a new religion. It will not be Christianity. But given that God really did say everything in the Bible, we should be very much not at ease.

Jesus did not say that the road to heaven was wide. He did not say that there was no hell, and if there is, it is empty. Jesus did not say if you are just a good person that is enough. He did not say that any religion or pathway can get you to heaven. It would be so much more comfortable if he had said those things. We would not have to be troubled by any inconveniences of religious practices. Our life would be unrestricted.

And that is where our culture has arrived: the removal of all restrictions.

In Exodus God outlines what the blessings will be if we live his way. He then outlines all the curses that will fall on us if we don't do things his way. He is a good parent. He gives the rules and tells what the consequences are if we don't follow them. Rules teach restraint, self-control. They teach us that we are not helpless victims of passions which rule us; rules give us control of ourselves. 

When you find out what happens if you don't obey God's rules, you should be afraid. Very afraid. And that's not bad. Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." A reverent, healthy fear of God is a good starting place. Our culture needs to get that back. Many of us have been cruising along doing things our own way, knowing that God, who we see as a sort of chump, will forgive us and let us into heaven anyway.

Jesus said many times, "Repent!" which basically means, "Change your life!" Change is hard, but he really said that, and we really need to listen.