Addiction to the One-Eyed Monster

I have noticed in many homes (certainly my own--see below) the chair and sofa grouping is quite often centered around the TV. Does that appear shrine-like or what?

It seems especially during these retirement years, my TV viewing has increased to the point that I have become aware of poor stewardship of time. Since we are hooked up with a company that is located in another time zone, we get our TV programs an hour earlier than “normal.” This means that we can start watching the evening shows at 6 PM.  Unfortunately, that also means that people like me with little willpower, can sit in front of the “tube” for four hours and never stir from their initial position on the couch. (I have, however, discovered I can accomplish a surprising amount of housework  during a commercial. Amazing!)   

I have heard of families turning off their TV for a week or even a month and I salute them. My husband would never make it, he loves to listen to the confrontational reporting on Fox too much. However, I decided to take a week off from TV and I like the results. I’ve discovered extra time to pray, study my Bible, read good books and even get started on a classic my son downloaded on the Kindle I got for Christmas.

 Actually, I’m not out to change anyone’s viewing habits, I’m just musing on my own. Next week, I will get back to my favorite shows, but I do not intend to check the Directory from Channel 2 through 257 to see if there’s a show I could stand to watch--just because I'm sitting there. So after “NCIS” next Tuesday night, I’m off to enrich my mind with a good book or THE Good Book.

“And God Cried”?????

Actually, that is the title of a beautiful choral composition by Robert Sterling. I don’t know of any scripture that states God cried, but it makes sense that He felt great sorrow that day Jesus died on the cross, loaded down with our sins.

The scriptures DO tell us that Jesus cried when His good friend, Lazarus, died. Verse 26 of Genesis, chapter 1, states God made man in His own image and a large part of that make-up would be emotions as well as actions.

Some time ago my accountability partner and I were memorizing Zephaniah 3:17. At the end of the verse (NKJV), it says, “He (the Lord) will rejoice over you with singing.” Because of my musical background, that really struck a chord with me (no pun intended). The idea that God would rejoice over me with singing was so captivating, I decided I wanted to re-read the Old Testament from the last chapters of Job to the end of Malachi.  My assignment would be to look for other emotions or attributes God was recorded as having.

I’ve progressed as far as Psalm 20 but was totally fascinated with what I discovered in Psalm 18.  For instance, God is:  my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, my stronghold.  I really need all these things and these phrases are all contained in just the first five verses—how cool is that!

The psalmist goes on to state God is worthy to be praised, trustworthy, and hears my cry.

Then we get to descriptive words of emotion. For example, God’s anger, which David poetically writes of as manifestations of nature—thunder, earthquakes, volcanoes, unearthly darkness, hailstones, lightning, sleet, and tsunamis.

The opposite of God’s anger is His delight in us and His mercy. He is blameless, pure, holy, and get this—shrewd. Well, of course He is. Nobody can outsmart God.

It is so awesome to realize that God is active in my life, just as He is for all His children.  I can hardly wait to discover something new about Him tomorrow.

Staging Scenarios

From the time I was a child, I can remember imagining scenes in my head of what I might say or do or what someone else might say or do in a particular circum-stance. Sometimes it was just for fun. At other times, I was working through a problem with a relationship or situation.  When I moved to a different locale in rural MO we girls wrote plays at school (5^th or 6^th grade) and acted them out at recess time (I think). That mental scene writing continued sporadically into adulthood.

At this stage of my life, my advice regarding staging scenarios is: Don’t do it—unless you are writing a book, a play, or possibly a song.

What if. What might have been. What was. What is.

Obviously, we can’t do anything about what is past and we can’t predict the future. Planning for the future is fine, but a flexible mindset is necessary because life just might not happen the way you had hoped.

Here is a rundown on our “what’s. What might have been: We had our retirement planned out so perfectly. I would continue teaching music in my home studio and write books. Dean would renovate  our home and we would take trips with Builders for Christ and Habitat for Humanity.

What was:  Decent health

What is: My vision has decreased to 20/80 in one eye and 20/200 or worse in the other. Dean has GERD, COPD, arthritis, and lung cancer

What if: That’s a Pandora’s box I’ve learned not to open. “What if” scenarios are totally futile and in my case, wholly negative.

Returning to what is. I can still see to read and write with magnifiers and even drive familiar routes around town (no more interstate trips, however, with me as the driver). Dean can still function as a deacon at church and a Gideon. We can both be prayer warriors for others in need of that precious gift from God.

So when your “what might have been” doesn’t line up with your “what is,” don’t be discouraged. Embrace the “what is.” As long as you are breathing, God hasn’t finished with the work He has ordained for you. Just remember to stay away from the “what ifs.”

New Year – Fresh Start

  Lose weight. Quit smoking. Manage my anger. Clean up my potty mouth. Stop yelling at my kids. No more kicking the dog.

New Year’s resolutions tend to be hackneyed repeats of past years for me, so I didn’t make any resolutions this year. From what I’ve heard of friends and relatives resolutions, they have seen the same thing surface in their New Year’s resolutions year after year.  That's not necessarily bad, but it could get really depressing.

Now regarding resolutions, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some goals that I would like to accomplish in 2013. And of course, one of them is to lose weight—LOL.

Without some dreams or goals in our lives, we stagnate and dry rot sets in--a most unattractive prospect.

I wrote a poem many years ago as a New Year’s resolution. I haven’t accomplished the goal in that poem yet, but it’s a worthy one so I’ll keep it (and not call it a resolution).

Illumination

                        Make mine a transparent life

Through which Your loving spirit shines.

                        Refine the impurities

                        So sin’s scar tissue

                        Will not obscure Your light;

                        All selfish desires

(even those appearing “good”)

Burned away,

Allowing only You to be visible.

It appears I have merely renamed my resolutions as goals. That’s OK. Whatever I call them, they will keep me moving—and thinking.  (And I have NEVER kicked my dog.)