Opus 2026-319: I Am One-Upped

I like to vary my response when people ask me how I am doing.  I don’t think I have said, “Fine” in a long time.  I prefer things like “marvelous”.  Last week the pastor asked a guy older than me and on oxygen and his response was, “Rejoicing!”  I had never heard that before.  I like it.  I have already used it.

Rejoice

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Opus 2026-302: Redish Letter Day

My son pointed out that he was going to be gone over Father’s Day and was concerned about doing something before you left.  I’m afraid I just laughed at him.  We go out to dinner every week.  We see each other at regular family activities.  I am in no way neglected nor short of attention from my children.

Father’s Day is  conspiracy by mothers who want to justify Mothers’ Day.  They put it in there so that they would not feel guilty about demanding special attention.  That’s the way they think.  I think men on the hole tend to wish it was always ignored. I know I don’t like particularly celebrating birthdays.

If there is one prayer request that I might have for Father’s Day, it would be directed towards those people whose children are not honoring them.  I know they’re out there.  I see them and hear them speak on a regular basis.  The heartbreak is incredible.  Not only that the children haven’t turned out the way they wanted to on the bigger scale, but also the fact that they are ignored on the smaller scale.

So I hope Father’s Day is a day of celebration for your family and that if it’s not this year that the future will look better.
    
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Opus 2026-102: Where did that Come From?

Every once in a while, I get these connections in my head.  I would call them in inspirations, but that seems a bit arrogant and presumptive, so we’ll just go with connections for today.

I was sitting in my comfortable chair with a cup of coffee and meditating on the glory of God and thinking about the blessings I had.  Nothing new there.  I’m sure you’ve been there.  And one of the thoughts that came from my mind was the previous Friday morning when my grandchildren were spending the night with us, and they both ended up on my lap in my chair, in the dark and for a brief time they were both just cuddled there.  I remember the glorious feeling and the overwhelming sense of joy that were brought by those moments.  I remember thanking God for it and if they hadn’t been quiet, I would’ve felt like shouting.

A time of blessing.

The connection came this morning as I was sitting here thinking about that, and the thought came to me that I wonder if me sitting in this chair, quietly meditating on the glory of God, is a similar experience for God himself as His immature, undeveloped child is sitting in His lap in comfort and security with a sense that His arms were wrapped around me.  I don’t know if that gives you the concept, but I was in a sense seeing my grandchildren, quietly immersed in the security of my arms, sitting on my lap and I was quietly immersed in the security of God’s arms sitting in my chair.

It was a glorious moment.  I plan on reliving that in my memory and re-experiencing it in my daily walk on a regular basis.  I hope you can experience the same kind of joy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-543: Thanksgiving Plus One

On our weekly Zoom call the old geezers got off on organ recitals.  It wasn’t about our organs but the struggles that others were going through.  It started with a young man related to a friend who was only 51 and was already facing a life of vigilance against infection.  It went on from their.  Often I would get bored but today it made me think of the people struggling in my church.  Instead of boredom I found myself being encouraged.

First, I am encouraged by the attitudes expressed by those suffering.  I won’t bore you with all the things shared at church but my awareness of the many things waiting to get me has vastly expanded.  At the same time the joy of the Lord is very apparent.  These people may not be able to “walk it off” but they will continue to walk in joy and the light of His presence.

Second, I was reminded of how blessed I am.  I am thankful on a daily basis.  Every time I go out to walk I thank God for another day of mobility, freedom from pain and the balance to make it safely down the stairs to the street.  This organ recital reminded me of how blessed I really am.  One of the topics that came up was falling.  I compared my recent wrestling match with the trash can on the way to the street to what they shared about people they knew.  I lost my match.  I went sprawling.  I hit the grass instead of the concrete and managed to miss all the rocks sticking up in our yard.  It still took me a month to get over the shake up.  That was a month of thanking my guardian angel.  I sometimes make him earn his paycheck.

Yesterday the nation stopped to be thankful.  We are only aware of the tip of the iceberg that represents our blessings.  Start to think about it.  Start to be thankful.  I hope you know the One that we are to be thanking.

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Opus 2025-536: Blowing in the Wind

As I was sitting this morning in the dark on my porch, rejoicing in the presence of God in his magnificent creation, I noticed something I hadn’t heard in a long time, the approach of the wind.  If you live in the city you may have never actually heard this.  It’s often covered up even by such a quiet sound as a well muffled car driving on a road half a mile away.  It’s the rustling of leaves over a wide front as the air moves majestically through a forest covering.  It is a distinctive sound.  It’s a benevolent sound that embraces us in a sense of rightness in the world.

The place that stands out in my mind before this was a camp site we had in the high Sierras of California.  We had a small half acre lot in the middle of an old homestead that had been developed into half acre lots. We could be up there surrounded by the national forest on 160 acres with only a handful of people sharing that spot with us at the time.  I would take my guitar and a chair and go up where I could look out over the meadow and just sit sometimes and listen.  You could hear the wind approaching through the forest from mountains away.  I could just sit and listen to that for a long time.

The only other place that I can remember experiencing this was on the beach in Hawaii.  We used to own a condo there and in our best year we spent six weeks.  Usually it was only two weeks, but I had a habit of getting up, without an alarm, around 4 o’clock in the morning, making a big jug of coffee and waddling down to the shore where I sat in my folding chair with my guitar, my coffee and my Bible until the sun came up and the flies started biting.  It was also quiet.  There, I could hear the waves gently breaking on the shore and the wind blowing through the palm trees.

It’s good to have a moment in Texas that takes me back and reminds me of the history of blessings that I’ve had in my life. I hope the creator is reaching out to you today.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-506: I Love Being an Old Man

Recently I had the experience of a wheel collapsing under the front of my car as I was driving down the street.  God had His hand on me because it happened on a four lane road with enough room for me to get off on the side.  It was inconvenient.  It’s going to cost a bit of money.  But all in all, I am grateful that my guardian angel was able to hold the wheel in place until I got in a safe spot for it to fall off.  It could have happened when I was driving 60 miles an hour on curvy country roads going to church.  It could have collapsed at 70 miles an hour driving on the interstate to go to the local outlet mall.  Both of those took place within a few days.  But instead, the guardian angel decided that here, in the middle of town, was the place where it should happen.

Here’s where it gets interesting and the benefits of age start kicking in.  Remember the days when you would have a flat tire and you would call your dad?  Remember the days when you had your car engine blow up and you had to borrow money from your parents to get it fixed?  I trust you paid them back.  Remember the time where you had to borrow a car from your parents because you had to get someplace and yours wasn’t working.  Well, it all comes back to you later on.  You see my son came to pick me up as the tow truck left and handed me the keys to his car, had me drop him off at his house, and I now have the use of his car.  It is a second car that he hasn’t sold yet, but it certainly comes in handy.

So instead of me loaning him my car because he was in trouble, he loaned me his car.  It’s a great place to be in life.  The blessings just keep coming

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Opus 2025-472: The Original Fanny J Pack

As I was gazing at the perfect world I’m in the center of, a phrase came to mind, “Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.”  It only took me a moment to recognize it as a quote from a hymn by Fanny J Crosby called “Blessed Assurance”.  You may have sung it this week or hummed the tune or even sang it out in your car as you drove across your world.

Life can be good.  We can be in the midst of a bubble of Providence.  That’s good.  What is even better is an awareness that this is just a foretaste of glory divine.  This is just the first chapter of an endless book of riveting excellence.  It’s just the first chorus in the eternal version of Handel’s Messiah.  It’s just a note that begins the lost cord.

One of the gimmicks of pop literature, and popular entertainment is the serial.  You come to what you think is going to be the end of the book.  You don’t see how the author is going to get the hero out of his conflict.  And then he doesn’t.  He finishes with some version of “to be continued”.  Some people relish that; some hate it.  Picture the author that is able to bring the episode to a glorious conclusion, and yet still be able to point out that there are more adventures to come, or if you’re into Jane Austin more romance to come.

I’m not big on poetry unless it’s been set to music that stirs my soul.  Then I can take phrases like the one given to us by Crosby and let them saturate my being and cause joy to bubble up in my soul.

And it’s just a foretaste.

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Opus 2025-458: Blessing Guilt

I think there is an emotional/psychological condition called “survivor’s guilt”.  If my memory serves me well it is the feeling someone has when they survive a situation, say a car crash, that killed everyone else and they feel guilty about it.

With that in mind I sometimes suffer from ‘blessing guilt”.  It is a mental attitude that looks around and sees so many people going through hard times and I am still in calm waters.  This morning I caught myself wondering if I would be so willing to praise God if I still lived in California, was recovering from a painful surgery, had complications from that surgery, was behind on my rent and living next door to someone who liked heaven metal.  Would I be filled with praise?

Isn’t it amazing the things we can find to worry about?  God blesses us and we wonder, “What if…?”  I imagine we are a real trial for His patience.  I am quite capable of finding the wrinkles in my freshly ironed underwear.  This must be an exercise in imagination because I have never seen ironed underwear, but I imagine I could find the flaws.  Two things about this:  Why would anyone iron underwear and what difference would it make if they exposed a wrinkle?

So I am resolved to not play the “What if…” game.  I am blessed.  I need to accept that and give God the glory.  If He chooses to bless me out of my sox then who am I to question that decision?  When God gives you chocolate chip cookies don’t complain because he used pecans instead of walnuts.

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Opus 2025-263: Dark Thoughts: Parallels

As I was being thankful this morning, I stop to think about how my old car made it from Central Texas, to Central Michigan and routed back through Western Illinois and into Kansas City without a hiccup, a burp or even a momentary bad attitude.  The car is 23 years old and it ran like an Olympic athlete.  I was impressed.  Although I am aware that it’s a machine I still at times personify things and I thanked it several times.  I gave it a few pats on the dash.  I had the oil changed to celebrate, and wonder of wonders, I drove through a car wash.  Now you know I was impressed.  I’ve had the car for about two years and hadn’t washed it yet.  I may make it a the regular event just to encourage its pistons.

Since I’m still in thankful mode, I began to thank God for my health.  I have a lot of similarities to that old car.  In the car the fan for the AC will only run on high.  That’s OK because that’s the only way I want to run it.  There are a few other things that are not quite up to factory original, but none of them affect the quality of the ride or the dependability.  I can say the same thing about me.  I am getting old.  I wonder how old I am in car years?  I have my aches and pains.  I have ears that are on a downward spiral.  There are times when even I am aware that my mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be.  Even then it seems to be sharper than most of the people I run into on the street.

I had a great trip.  I renewed connections with family.  I saw friends.  I had a lot of time for silent meditation driving through the farms and fields of America.  I found my way home.  I’m sure my wife had questions about the possibilities of that but my son has a tracking device on my phone so they could find me if I started wondering into New York City or some such nonsense.

Life is full of blessings.

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Opus 2025-230: Wants, Needs, Haves

As I sat contemplating the blessings that God has bestowed on me I wondered how I would explain that to someone.  What is it that I attribute all these blessings to?  One of the points that came to mind was that I certainly can’t credit my glorious self discipline, hard work and great intelligence.

Yet I am truly blessed.

I can’t think of anything that I really want that I can’t have if I set my mind to it.  All of my needs are abundantly met, and I have a hard time seeing how those basics would be dissolved or disappeared, except for extreme action by the government working overtime to destroying the economy or incredibly stupid decisions by my wife or myself.  I rejoice in the haves that God has given me.

Since I was in the mood, I ask myself what would my life be like if I got what I deserved?  First of all, I would be a physical basket case.  I deserve to be confined to a wheelchair, but not being able to afford a wheelchair.  I deserve to be locked away in the cheapest nursing home in the country.  Based on my personal discipline I deserve to be blinded, missing limbs, and in constant pain because of my diabetes and lack of care for it.  I deserve to be toothless and hardly able to stand up and walk straight because of my lack of discipline.  I deserve to be alone in the world because I don’t know the basics about friendship.

Yes, I am blessed.  Why?  Only by the grace of God and by his providential care can I claim any of this.  So, I do so.  God’s grace is how, and the power of providential care are the source of the blessings that we can’t explain but we can be grateful for.

I also think that attitude can make us more aware of the blessings we have.  There have been times in my attitude really stinks.  I trust I’m over that.

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Opus 2025-214: Keeping up Appearances

It’s really hard to be an insightful, brilliant intellectual when the grandchildren are over.  It’s hard to follow a complex train of thought when someone wants you to read book about Bob the Dinosaur or you are the only person who can find just the right Lego to complete the dream of your grandchild.

It’s not even a trade-off.  The great thoughts can wait.  Long ago I came to the understanding that I was not going to be God’s golden boy.  I understand that I am not going to reform American society based on my wisdom and clever writing.  I can, however, keep adding to the foundation that builds my grandchildren into godly adults.

Trade-offs are between things of close value.  Being a grandparent is a major investment in the future.  There is no comparison.  Being a parent is the same.  It is possible that being an uncle or God-parent also qualifies.  There is a lot of sacrifice involved, at least it seems like sacrifice at times.  In reality being proud of your children when they grow up is a much greater return I need on my investment than a great stock portfolio.

Take some time to examine your priorities.  Do you feel frustrated?  It could be because you are looking at things today with a long-term view in mind.  Of course, it’s easy for me to make those decisions for you.  I understand that.  I use most of my energy making those decisions for myself.

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Opus 2024-257: Blessing the Hands

As I sat worshiping this morning, it came to me to put on a certain CD that had been made by the pianist at our church.  She made it maybe 20 years ago when she was at the height of her talent and expressing her gift.  It’s all piano music.  I’m told that she went through the entire disk of 20 some songs, and only had to redo one of them.  That was because the motorcycle went by and broke through the soundproofing.  It is a glorious worship experience.

That made me think of all the different people, known and unknown who contribute to my worship experience.  I think of the unknown hands that went into making my Bible, assembling, my iPod, picking and packing my coffee beans.  What about the chair that I sit in?  Those are the unknown hands.  Then there are the people who have gone into making the room I sit in.  I am sure I have said this before but it keeps coming back to me.  You can go on and on, and they will never know how grateful you are.

Above all there is the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit as He continues to remind me of the glory of God.  He reminds me of what it cost Jesus to become a man, walk the path, die on the cross, and come back to life.  What a glorious heritage we have.  What a solid foundation for coming into the presence of God.

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Opus 2024-253: Texas Vocabulary

I really don’t know if they say this anywhere else in the country, but I get this phrase from people when I go shopping.  Instead of saying “Have a nice day”, they say “Have a blessed day.”  I am determined to adopt that greeting.

As I sit here, thinking of my blessings and thanking God for all of the wonderful surroundings he has given me I sometimes get touched by a little bit of guilt.  You may have experienced this.  You look at how good you have it, and realize that it is so much better than most of the world, or most of history for that matter.  You feel guilty.

What have I done to deserve living in an air-conditioned house in Texas with a view across the valley and plenty of food in the refrigerator?  What have I done?  I will admit my wife and I made some good choices but so did many others.  How am I better or more deserving than someone living hand mouth in a Third World country?

The simple answer is nothing and I’m not.  I have not earned it.  I do not deserve it.  And that’s the glory of the blessing.  All of this wonder is because of the gifts of God.  I don’t need to second-guess Him.  I don’t need to be overcome with inadequacies.  What I need to do is thank Him and know that tomorrow is as much in His hand as today is.

I honestly believe in my heart that if things go south in our country, if the economy crashes, if the communist overlords take over and force us into camps, I will still be able to praise my God.  I honestly believe that even in that situation, I will be able to reach out to Him and He will meet me at the point that my reach stops.  It won’t be as comfortable as it is now.  I would not enjoy it as much as I do now.  But I will still bask in the presence of Almighty God.  The Holy Spirit will still be the Comforter.  I can still recite. “the Lord is my Shepherd.”

I hope it never happens.  I hope I never have to test it.  But I have the hope if it does.

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Opus 2024-234: Sunrise Slathering

I went to dinner with my fellow old folks from the church and we had a good time of fellowship.  I’m usually one of the last ones to get there.  They originally told me 5:30 and I have kept that schedule even when I realized that they arrived earlier.  A habit was establish the first time.

When I came in and we went through the traditional raucous, greeting time, I noticed that there was an aluminum wrapped object on the end of the table where the empty seats were.  I sat down and moved it out of the way, and they informed me that it was for me.  With this group, you can never tell if they’re serious or pulling your leg so we went back-and-forth a few times until I realized that, yes, it was a loaf of sourdough bread that had been prepared by one of the members of the group, and she had given it to me.

The gift in itself was a blessing because it speaks of being accepted as part of the group and being important to them.  That is always a good thing.

It got better the next morning.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced fresh baked bread, hand sliced to your preferred thickness, early in the morning, with butter that has had a chance to soften up to room temperature, slathered on with wild abandon.  Add to that the early morning hour  and being able to look at the kitchen window and see the rose of sunrise on the horizon.

This is a good definition of what blessings are.  We are surrounded by so many modern miracles like air-conditioning, hot and cold running water, dermatologists, and grocery stores full of everything you can imagine, that we tend to forget what a miracle all of these things are historically.  Then you add fresh baked bread and butter that spreads easily, and did I say a toaster?

That is a blessing.  Count them, but don’t bother keeping track because they get very numerous.

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