Panties, a Bra, and Thigh-High Stockings

So, had maintenance done on my right eye a week ago Monday and to the left eye this past Monday . . . lasering away the film that had grown over the back of my eyes after cataract surgery a year and half ago. I can see clearly now [again]. However, now my right leg is rebellious---hurting continually, no matter what position it is in---knee and ankle and foot and all the muscles in between. I keep pressing onward, putting off another Dr's visit thinking life will get better. Finished the mowing and almost all of the weed-eating yesterday and today. I refuse to get too discouraged because I know from whence my peace: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"   ---Phil 4:6-7.

I learned---endlessly---last night and this morning that Prince had passed away, probably the result of overdosing. I know almost nothing about this celebrity and wonder how his passing will really affect the human condition. Not much I suspect [don't mean to be too harsh]. And how about me, too? I'm hearing moderns question more and more again the crisis between the individual good and the common good. Our country is so confused about the conflicting need for individual freedom and need for common decency and common sense and the community of humans. Not sure where it all ends. All I really know is and all I'm going to try to do in my last years is delineated in this verse: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" ---Micah 6:8. I'm too old to do much else, and the drama of everyday events is seen through a much less intense lens when one is older in one's faith.

Sorry, I needed for myself to get a couple of points in here first. All of that was said as I was trying to get to this. When I was little, my Mother (and Dad mostly in silent agreement) imprinted on my little brain that common decency was absolutely necessary. Now, looking back, I don't believe an actual definition was ever provided me, but inevitably I created my own. It involved all of the following: using phoniness to advance oneself was totally inappropriate, as was lying which was not only devious but also showed disrespect to others. Not respecting others' property, not having compassion for the unfortunate for whatever reason, being dramatic to try to gain attention to yourself were all unacceptable. Talent was to be seen as a responsibility. Perceiving the wonders of God's universe and recognizing human artistic efforts were important to understand one's purpose in life. Running oneself down in order to gain some emotional control of others was a definite no-no. Tolerance, gentility, courtesy, and friendliness were absolute "musts" for a decent human being. This list goes much further, but I'll let it rest here---with the point made, I think. Decency involves our relations with others and, therein, lies its importance.

Now, I don't know, but many moderns simply don't care about decency. So, why does it matter? I read that a man boarded a plane bound for Phoenix wearing only a pair of women's panties, a bra, and thigh-high stockings. No one at the airport or on the airplane said one word to him; a flight attendant said U.S. Airways has no dress code for passengers as long their privates are not showing. Hmm, whoa . . . common decency? Tolerance? C'mon, Americans, the decline in our civilization surely is indicated in this story (won't swear that it's true), and I can just hear my Mom and Dad discussing it. I would love to sit in on that conversation. They weren't old-fashioned; they were decent! 

I believe that decency is crucial. That civilization suffers when we belittle it. That we could let indecency go so far that our civilization joins that of the ancient Romans. (So, someone sasses, "But what a great time we'll have on the way down!") I guess the enticing qualities of depravity is a topic for another day. God bless, y'all . . . and try to be decent, okay.

  

Conditional Gift---Active Intent

I'm overwhelmed by the frustration, the stress, the anger I see all about me. People are so difficult to cope with. Peace is something, I believe, we all at times dream about and yearn for. But, our ideas about where it originates and how we find it are different. The Bible has several important things to say to us about peace. For example, it establishes that it is a gift, a bonus, for us from God: "The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace"---Psalm 29:11. Thank you, dear God. However, it would seem, to really possess peace, we must first be a part of God's people, his family, and that requires that we must accept his son Jesus as our Lord, recognize our fallen nature, and confess him before other people.

Certain expectations---"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it"---Psalm 34:14---are required for our proprietary right to peace. We must repent and turn away from evil to the degree we are able, and we must choose to do good to those around us. We must actively hunt peace and then pursue it in our daily living. It is a conditional gift hinging upon an active intent on our part. Peace, also, requires that we know God's Word [the Bible] and listen to his voice, that we attempt in every way to be conscientious in our service to and for Him. "I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants"---Psalm 85:8.

Those who thirst after peace, who live in harmony, are promised a future---if they are faultless and moral. "Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace"---Psalm 37:37. We have something to look forward to, heavenly prospects, not necessarily constant in this life, but ever-present in an after-life of Always Good with the "Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"---Isaiah 9:6. Scoffers have nothing to say to me that would deter from my peace as I know that treasuring this serenity may even claim my earthly existence. I also know the promises of my Jesus are sure: "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world"---John 16:33.

So, there you have it. Peace. No reason to fear at all for our eternity is secure, as promised. Yes, this life has misery, heartaches, grief, and oppressions---horrors---we cannot understand. Yes, it does require faith. Yes, many just don't and won't get it.

Depravity Slops All Over Everything

[Sorry this is so pessimistic, but we're in this together . . .]

The 2016 Pig Book has come out. Government waste in its most extreme and idiotic episodes. Misuse is among us and emphasizes the need for more timely and detailed media coverage of these abuses and much better and more judicial ways to oversee the administration of the spending of funds. All of the frittering of wealth in this country proves money's ability to corrupt, to debauch, an entire culture. Piggie-ness is utterly ugly when you stare into its gluttonous eyes.

Our muddy panorama, this pig sty, contains many other problems: "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these" Galatians 5:19. We may not like it---we apparently wanted to divorce ourselves from it---but the Bible hit it right on the snout. When we ignore moral values and let our egos rule the pigpen, depravity slops all over everything. Let's face it: We are pigs.

We desperately need better stewardship. "The Sunday School teacher was finishing up her lesson. 'Do you know where little boys go if they don't put their money in the collection plate?' she asked. 'Yes, ma'am,' a boy blurted out. 'They go to the movies!' " Much of our humor is anchored in our weaknesses and piggie-ness. The battle between what we should do with our blessings and what we actually do with them continues forever unto every generation and each individual.

The depth of our financial debt is frightening and affects almost every aspect of our lives. It is now a massive shadow over our national pigpen that makes it difficult for us to see matters clearly and stifles our efforts to overcome it. Greed (and its sinful comrades) has destroyed our financial well-being, has made life itself in this environment much more precarious. It has placed dream after dream in jeopardy. But, all the other immoral slime is, perhaps, even more ruinous. We truly are on the edge of destruction as a nation if we can't turn it around.

Hope, I believe, is only available in a return to Biblical values. Some folks, obviously, reject this evan-GEL-ical nonsense immediately and completely . . . oh, well. Such is their choice and their freedom. But, for those who hear the truth in that remark, I challenge you to man up, to stand openly in support of God's truth. To live lives worthy of the Lordship of Jesus. To know that many hardships are coming as our world turns determinedly to slop. Clean it up wherever you can . . . keep your piece of land, your portion, as solid and tolerably clean as possible. And look to the Eastern sky!

Humanly Crafted Safe Spaces

Several times lately I've heard references to mysterious "safe spaces." The idea captivates me. College students nowadays are catching a lot of grief over their vision of this concept, seemingly spineless and retiring, and I'm not sure I fully grasp all its connotations. I do know that never in my life have I occupied one---a truly safe space, that is. (After all, I'm a child of the Cold War.) 

As a child, my mother's work-worn hands were mostly too busy for me to often or for very long be wrapped in comforting and loving arms, and my father was far too emotionally disciplined to spend much time demonstrating such love. My siblings were at best vacillating, though somewhat willing, chaperons. At school, teachers and fellow students were, often as not, minimal threats or antagonists, as opposed to safety nets.

Through the following years of my life, of my rather blessed existence, danger of some kind has always lurked somewhere just beyond the spotlight---just at the edge of my awareness. This absence of safety has stalked me continually, though mainly passively, to this very day. I can't help but wonder if the current search for safe spaces actually helps explain the unwillingness to confront that is now observable within our hollow political correctness, multiculturalism, and globalism.

Life values that focus on what makes me happy and that laud difference over likeness  seem to lead to raucous insecurity rather than safety---to increasing lawlessness. A world view that lusts after the "rights" of the individual at the expense of the common good seems to me to bulldoze common sense and common decency---not, however, to somehow sidestep the effects of the always and ever rampant sins of greed and lust and selfishness. Similarly, overemphasis on the common has its own perils. At this point, I will simply stop, leaving much unsaid I know. I believe honest communication, though unable to solve most of our problems, can certainly help.

"Safe space" is a terribly attractive idea, and almost all people can appreciate its appeal. However, the concept is certainly not somehow new. If physical safety is nowhere to be found and has never been so, spiritual peace and security is assuredly available:

       You are my hiding place;

      you will protect me from trouble

      and surround me with songs of deliverance.

                                                ---Psalm 32:7

Our Christian acceptance of Jesus provides us with a deep-seated confidence and peace and sense of security. As we baby-boomers began to get caught up with our myriad and fascinating distractions, we began to consider Biblical truths of little value. And, as a result?  . . . what can we now really expect---our offspring look futilely for humanly crafted safe spaces. 

My Goal Is Just to Get Even

My retirement days present the possibility of small task after task after task . . . and that scenario goes on and on, day after day. There's no obvious, living end to it---but, definitely, an end to my stamina to accomplish it. Fatigue, plus unfocused motivation and poorly debated priorities, along with the inability to zero in on a single task---all of these with other accompanying distractions frustrate me endlessly. I know that none of you experience this. And, I'm sure we "need" to map out our activities. 

But I'm deciding it may be okay if you can't get to everything or do everything. That wiseacre Mark Twain said, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." However, since my goal is just to get even, not to "get ahead," his pithy observation surely does not apply to me . . . one more excuse on my part? Maybe. I'm beginning to wonder if this may be one of the great dangers of retirement living. After all, the significance level of almost all of my tasks is very low. Andy Stanley says, "We don't drift in good directions. We discipline and prioritize ourselves there." 

No flashing cameras and bright lights pursue me---no pressing crowds of people follow my every movement, no microphones are thrust into my every word. My "good direction" is entirely in my own hands and demands that I make all my own decisions with hardly anyone much interested in what I decide. (I wish all the drama people out there would realize this about themselves.) Each moral choice, each practical determination I make, rests entirely within my own reign. Which means, I'm afraid, that in an ultimate sense, responsibility finally rests entirely with me.

It's good I think periodically to stop and reflect---to refocus and to simplify our lives. One of the proverbs says a lot: "Commit your work (all that you're doing) to the Lord, and your plans will be established"  ---Prov 16:3." All that is suggested by "established" I'm uncertain. Clearly, and generally, it means put into place and proven. But, the larger, abstract suggestions are blurry around the edges. Once I accepted Christ, I believe that establishing began to happen, slowly to take shape and definition. But, beyond that, I can't really say much other than the committing may be much more than the establishing.

So, my rambling has brought me to a conclusion. Concerning oneself with the "tasks" of daily living has significance, but one that pales in relation to any number of larger issues , such as relationships. So, take care of the tasks, don't let them drift too much, but never allow them to interfere with more important matters. Be very careful in discerning the significance of the daily events of your life (your time). A task is just a task---and so its name.