Monday, May 30, 2011

The English Patient (or, some thoughts on communication)


     

well my dear ones,


I spent yesterday, Memorial Day,
doing some work around the yard
while giving thanks
that I even have a yard in which to work
thanks to the men and women
who gave their lives for my freedom
to choose to do whatever I choose
whenever I choose to do it...
...God bless them all.


This message I'm about to share
may seem stupid to you
and that's OK,
but here's a bit of practicality for you
on which I have meditated for some time.

Years ago, when it first came out,
I took my wife to see the movie,
The English Patient,
because of the great press it had gotten
as well as the recommendation of friends.

My wife and I were both disappointed,
finding the movie haphazard
and devoid of logic.

(NOTE: No, I had not read the book.)

The next day, when I talked about it
with my friend, Rip, he was like,
"it's a great movie!;
 it's awesome, how could you not like it?"

me: "Rip, I never read the book.  Did you?"

Rip: "Yes."

me: "OK; review the entire movie in your mind
      and think about it in light of
      not having read the book."

Rip: *thinking*
      "Oh, wow; yeah, without the book,
      the background of it,
      the whole movie
      wouldn't make any sense."

Yes, everyone who told me they loved the movie
had also read the book;
hence, their minds could fill in the blanks.

My point isn't to bash the movie,
but I don’t care if it won 9 Academy Awards;
the point is, the movie can't stand on its own.
(Note: if you read the book
 before you saw the movie,
 don’t try and tell me how great it is *lol*)

And the really sad thing is
in real life,
many of us do the same thing
the director of this movie did;
we put forth a movie (our actions)
for other people to see.
Yet unless they get a glimpse
into our "book"
(our intentions, our thoughts,
 what's in our heart)
how will anyone "get" us?

Many of the problems I see
in relationships,
in families,
in the work environment,
are caused by a lack of communication;
and often the person "not gotten"
can't figure out why not.

To put it in simple dave-speak,
"dude/dudette, if you don't give me
 some of your 'book'
 how can I possibly grasp your 'movie'?"

If you're part of the half-percent
of the population who never has
any problem getting your point across,
then this message may not make sense to you.

For the rest of us mere mortals,
the next time someone doesn't "get" you,
consider this:
just how much of your book
did you share with them?

May you never need this message
and may everyone else "get" you always.

Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave


"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
 God will not hold us guiltless.
 Not to speak is to speak.
 Not to act is to act."
      --- Dietrich Bonheoffer

Monday, May 23, 2011

frantic

     

well my dear ones,


I've been thinking about a song called Time,
from the Pink Floyd album,
Dark Side of the Moon.

We're talking some time ago here (1973),
hence, some song facts for those
who may be unfamiliar with it:


Specifically, I was thinking about
one particular line,
"Hanging on in quiet desperation
 is the English way."

At the time he wrote it,
nigh well nearly 40 years ago,
Roger Waters thought it seemed to
sum up the English character.
Actually, it also summed up the character
of many other people as well.

Yet these days,
instead of quiet desperation,
many people I meet
seem to be living lives of
frantic desperation,
running through life
with little sense of direction,
and living on the edge.

Sometimes it's obvious
after a little conversation,
but often it's not;
there's plenty of people
you'll run into every day
who are right on the verge
of losing their last bit of hope
or
of rising up toward being
more than they ever knew
they could be.

A smile,
even though you maybe don’t feel like,
and a kind word of two from you,
could make all the difference.

May God grant you the grace
to have the discernment
to see who the truly frantic people are,
and to give them a word of encouragement.


Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave


"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
 God will not hold us guiltless.
 Not to speak is to speak.
 Not to act is to act."
      --- Dietrich Bonheoffer

Sunday, May 15, 2011

cookies


     

well my dear ones,


I recall that when the Jesus walked the earth
one of his disciples [Peter] asked him
how many times he must forgive someone
who wronged him...seven times?

Jesus told him, "no, seventy times seven."

Dude!
And clearly, from the context,
he did not mean we have to forgive someone
four hundred and ninety times;
he meant an infinite number of times!

Easy to say, not so easy to do,
not for me anyway.

In fact, lacking the grace of God,
I find I can't do it at all,
...not even once.

There was a time
when I thought I could collect up
a big pile of grace,
kind of bank it,
and if I banked enough of it,
maybe I could rise above temptation
and never do anything wrong
for the rest of my life.

Gah!  How stupid of me! *lol*

Fortunately,
grace is like the dawn,
fresh and new each and every day.

Or it's kind of like a loaf of bread,
or a big plate of cookies,
baked fresh by God, for us, each day.

You can eat the cookies, or not,
but you can't store them
(just like the Israelites
 couldn't store the manna);
yet there's no need to
for there will ALWAYS
be a fresh batch tomorrow.

Fortunately for me,
God is the God of 2nd chances;
God is the God of 5832nd chances;
God is the God of infinite chances;
if I but ask it,
God will lift me back up
each and every time I fall
(also always true for everyone,
 regardless of what they've done
 or how many times they've fallen,
 else grace would not be grace)

And that is why,
each and every day,
I take my "cookies" of grace;
and I hope you do likewise
for they are yummy and good for you,
yet also sugar and fat free. =)


Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

“There is a God, and it's not you.
 Objective reality exists,
 and you don't control it.
 Truth exists, and it can be known.
 You are unique in all Creation;
 your life has meaning;
 and there is always hope.”

   --- The Ever Encouraging Word



"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

                              --- Jesus

Sunday, May 08, 2011

addendum to "big gator!" & Happy Mother's Day!


     

well my dear ones,


"big gator!" has already
generated a lot of commentary;
however, as my wife pointed out,
not everyone has a facebook account;
so, for anyone who can't see the pics
you can see them here:


I was telling people that the gator
came within 15 feet of our boat;
however, my wife, who was in
the front of the boat
said it came within 10 feet of her
before it went under.
(btw, for those who are wondering,
 no, I was not putting my wife at risk;
 while she was taking pics
 I was holding a shotgun *lol*
 ...just in case!
 Thank be to God, it wasn't needed. =>)


Happy Mother's Day to all!

Bio mothers, step mothers,
and anyone who helped raise a child
in any way,
Happy Mother's Day to you.

And to anyone who has a mother
Happy Mother's Day to you and your Mom.

Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave



"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

                              --- Jesus

addendum to "big gator!"

for those who don't have a Facebook account, you can see the pics that go with yesterday's story here:
(in the first pic, we see the gator in the "slide"; in the second one, he is sliding into the water; in the third one, he is coming toward our boat; I thought he came within 15 feet of our boat, however, my wife, who was in the front and was closer to him, said he got within 10 feet of her before he submerged!)

Labels:

big gator!

well my dear ones,


Thank you for the encouraging responses;
the blogging/journal/e-mails continue...

My wife's been working so hard that
I just wanted to give her
a nice day on the water,
but things didn't work out quite as planned.

The water pump on our outboard was dying;
it was pumping water through the motor,
but not enough.
We only made it a few miles upriver
before the motor overheated and stalled
at a most unusual time.

Sometimes you get just what you need;
there was just enough juice
in the old water pump
to get us to a known gator slide
(gator slide = a matted down area
 on the side of a river or lake
 where a gator suns
 with a cleared-out path
 to get back into the water
 at a moments notice).

There was a huge gator sitting in it,
(at least a 12-footer*, and really fat;
 our boat is only 12 feet long!
 *by the way,
 the distance from the tip of the nose
 to the eyes on a gator in inches
 is the approximate length
 of the gator in feet)
and just as I turned toward it,
so my wife could get pictures,
the gator slid into the water
and came toward our boat.
THAT's when the motor died.

And my wife's like,
"That gator's huge!
 And it's coming toward us...
 why'd you stop the motor?!?"

me: "uh, I didn't."

Got to hand it to my wife;
she took it all in stride;
she didn't freak out,
stayed pretty calm.

Fortunately, the big gator dove under
and did not try to get in our boat. =)
Yet we did get some cool pics of it.

The really cool thing is
today is my Mom's birthday;
so now I have an extra present for her,
pics of something you don’t see everyday
out in the wild.
(my Mom's not computer literate at all,
 but my sis, Di, can hook her up.
 Thanks, Di! Love you!)

And you can all share in my Mom's gift;
you can see the pics here:


(look for pics uploaded 07 MAY 2011)

Oh yeah,
we were able to limp back to the dock,
by going just a short way at a time,
with plenty of stops
to let the motor cool off.

Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave



"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

                              --- Jesus