Underestimation

I have underestimated things before. I hate it when that happens. Just today I underestimated again. This time it was more deliberate, but I still hate to do it. It' s a little like sabotage to ourselves. In a way it shows that life is bigger than we are and that we can't predict it no matter how old we get. It's just a reminder that we still have to have someone in charge of our bigger picture who does know about life. He made it, so predicting it is a backwards exercise for Him.

Oasis

It's weird that I should be thinking of paradise today. The sky has been gray all day. The temperature is cold. There is an 80% chance of rain tonight. I certainly have no extrinsic motivation to be thinking of paradise. However, I have mentioned my son twice today—my son who now resides with the Giver of Life on the other side of the time warp. I can't fathom his level of happiness. But, I think paradise comes as close as possible to describing that level of happiness.

Measuring stick

The word odometer comes from two Greek words. "Odos" meant road, path or way. "Metreo" meant measure or apportion. Literally odometer means to measure the road. Wouldn't it be a fabulous measure if a person could find a method for measuring his or her spiritual road. My good friend told me about journaling one time as a way to see the road behind. Of course, blogging is an offshoot of journaling. I go back and read old blogs from time to time and it is effective to see the footprints in the sand. As good as that is, I'm still trying to think of a way to measure rather than just reminisce or see particular moments. A spiritual odometer would be good for a number of reasons.

Night message

I am thinking on whether or not to tell a woman, for whom I had been in intercessory prayer for her son, about a scene that had been given to me about her son. Her son had been found to have cancer for the second time. On the evening before he was due to have surgery that would remove his cancer of find how widespread his cancer was, I was in prayer for the young man of age 23. A scene came to mind from a famous poem, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." I have not read the poem in a number of years and there was no reason for me to associate this poem with the events of the young man for whom I was praying. Yet clearly and distinctly I could see two skeletons gambling for a person's life.

The scene is straight out of the poem because Death gambles with a woman on a ghost ship for the life of the mariner. In the poem, Death loses the roll of the dice. However, the night I was praying, the vision did not have an end. It merely had the representation of gambling for a person's life. I knew that if the roll went against the young man that I needed to pray for the stamina of the parents. If the roll went in favor of the young man, I needed to utter many phrases of thanksgiving.

3 days later I found that the die had been cast in favor of life because the doctor was able to remove all the cancer. My prayers after finding out have been for the young man to realize the gift that was given to him and for him to use his life wisely for the Creator. I am thinking that the young man needs to know about the scene from the poem in order to more fully appreciate what was done for him. Then again, we have never met. So, I'm thinking that if I tell the boy's mother, she can decide whether her son needs the information or not. She would more fully understand and appreciate what the Creator has done for her son. I have a window of time in which to tell the mother because our paths are not going to cross much at all after another week and a half. So, I am thinking that in a week I will tell her of this night scene that stuck in my mind, that the Creator made a deliberate decision for her son to live.

I am wondering why I haven't told her already. But, then, I think it may be tied to the fact that the Creator decided differently for me on one occasion. Banish that thought since my own son lived a year and 3 weeks longer than his original departure date. I better just deliver the message.

Spiritual image

I have truly believed since the year 2000 that reading and writing would disappear by the year 2025. I predicted a major shift from printed stimuli to video and audio stimuli by the year 2017 after a 10 year struggle within education starting in 2007. We're still on target. That means then, that people will have to be really good with words in the future. If writing disappears, we will more or less be making the image of ourselves through our spoken words. Image is everything. That is already true, but it will take on grandiose proportions in 10 more years. I am wondering what the spiritual image will look like then, too. Special effects will be big business perhaps.

One guarantee

It's strange to me that, in a world of no guarantees, people still want assurances about living. If you ask the people of Indonesia, they might surely side with those who say there are no guarantees. If you ask the ancient people of the town of Pompeii, they would side with those who say there are no guarantees. If you ask people who have lost their children for one reason or another, they would side with those who say there are no guarantees. People's position and status in society would seem to argue that there are no guarantees. Al Gore knows this. Mikhail Gorbachev knows this. The Taliban know this. "Here today, gone tomorrow" is an idea that shows up all over the ancient and modern worlds. So, when I read a book that claims a guarantee in life, I take notice. But, really the last book of the sacred writings is about a claim of assurance of life after this life. That's a little different, except that how this life is lived is affected—tremendously.

Wait staff

Restaurants are good images sometimes for teaching me about what work and expertise can produce. I sit down, am served by someone who serves for a living and knows how to take care of a customer. I receive food from someone who has cooked every item I have ordered 1000 times before. I leave saying, "That was the best meal," and I want to return in the near future.

I have a couple or 3 talents that I share with people from time to time. My aim is for them to feel like I do when I leave a restaurant. They benefit from what I have done and want to return to the source for more when they can. I take from more people than I give to so it's hard to see sometimes if what I do is really serving anyone at all. I recall an old image from an old letter 2 millenia ago telling a group of people that they needed to serve others like a waiter of tables (table waiters were slaves back then). That way, everyone in the group would be strengthened and decent living would occur. I do see much decency around me because there are so many people waiting tables around me.

Such occasions

I was in a group of young people and they were discussing events in their lives that had shaped their character and made them courageous. All kinds of stories surfaced. One person mentioned that the father of a girl he was dating had told him not to come again because of a racial difference between them. Another person spoke of having to stand up to a bully. Other storied ensued. Finally, one girl said that her defining moment came when her dad had walked out on the family and left them penniless and they had to go without food some days and skimp by on other days. Another person spoke after that telling how his father had committed suicide on New Year's Day this year. I see that every person is etched by life with at least one defining moment, which means that I see a lot of people of great character in the world at a young age. I don't worry so much about the future after such occasions as these.

Warmth

I am fairly sure that reconciliation is one of the most therapeutic events a person can have. I think the Creator has been in that business for a very long time. If it warms his heart as much as it does our human hearts, then the addendum to the prodigal son story is more literal than figurative. All I know is that I saw a glimpse of the first stages of reconciliation a couple of nights ago between two people that should have every reason to have affection for each other but didn't. My heart was warmed and I wasn't even one of the parties being reconciled. It was like taking a nice warm shower for a long period of time or like coming in from the warm sun and still feeling its warmth on the skin.

Timing

My syncronization was off from the beginning of this day. I missed a scheduled meeting this morning. This evening I attended a meeting that had been canceled. The timing was off between these two events as well. Oh well, some days are like that. Out of sync is an idea that does come true from time to time. Is there any significance to it? Does it mark a transitional time between important events in life? Is it an indicator of change to come? Is it some event from another dimensional world that has bled through enough into my existence touching my routines in this dimension? I have no idea. I just take the whole day under advisement and try to have a better (more in sync) tomorrow. Now if syncronization is also off tomorrow... now I'm thinking bleed through from another dimension or possibly a message to me of something bigger than I am. 3 days in a row and I'm completely quiet and listening to another voice in the universe louder than mine who wants my undivided attention. Tomorrow (Thursday) is day 2. Friday I can let you know about the other voice in the universe.

Choosing

"Choose" is a word that I don't particularly like. I have seen lousy choices in my lifetime. But it is a word that shows maturity. Small kids have choices made for them for the most part. But adults get to make their choices in their own worlds for the most part. Even poor choices allow life to mature us so that the next choice made won't be so lousy. Years lived should make one's decision-making process pretty natural after a while. If so, year 70 will be a piece of cake to live. Something tells me that that won't happen. A decision made last week tells me that I still have much work to do before I can be on automatic. But, maybe I can work this out by age 70.

More bones

Some bones were found last week of a species of humans that do not seem to fit the bone patterns of the 3 known species of humans. These bones predated the known 3. I look forward to hearing more about these bones, but in the meantime, I think what that means is that a creator has been at work a very long time in this world whether we understand his workings or not. There's a comfort to that.

Liftwords

Words are mere words. There is no magic in them. This, at least is what the teacher in a classroom was saying. A young woman raised her hand in the class to comment that people can feel encouraged or inspired by mere words, so there might be some magical power in them. Touche. Teacher was wrong. And the maker of language knew this I am sure. In such a negative world where all kinds of words motivate us to act derogatorily toward others or to generate negative thoughts about almost everything, it is refreshing, rejuvenating to hear words that are lifting in nature. Even more rewarding is to generate positive thoughts by speaking in words that do lift others' thoughts and spirits. Liftwords. The maker of language made them to help people make it home to see Him. Liftwords have certainly helped me along my way. I certainly want to make it my business to lift others' spirits through language to make their ways smoother.

Noticing tempos

Days have tempos to them. Mondays are long. Wednesdays last forever, but hope of the week being shorter after Wednesday is over makes the day endurable. Fridays are jubilant. The weekend starts shortly after the day goes past noon. Seasons also have tempos to them. Decades and centuries have tempos to them. If I ever investigated my spiritual life, I would not be surprised to find that it also included various tempos. Maybe I'll take that endeavor up one of these days.

Illusionary flying

Sometimes, in moments suspended in time and disconnected from reality, I think of a more ideal world. I think during those moments that some activities or institutions really shouldn't exist. I think of the great wisdom words of the one who changed the world and superimpose them on the realities of the world in which I live. "Don't look here or over there for the Creator's presence," he said, "because His presence is inside you." So I question some of my activities and some of the institutions that exist and say, "Why?" I realize that perhaps I have been a lot like Dumbo the flying elephant who had to have a feather in his trunk before he thought he could fly. It wasn't true. The Creator's rejuvenating power is within, yet I seek it from outside—in activities and institutions. In those suspended moments disconnected from reality, I see myself throwing away the feather and flying without it just like Dumbo. But, I wake up everyday in a time frame very much connected to reality. Elephants don't fly at all in this world.

The MTV effect

I don't know what days used to be like in ancient times. They had no CDs, no satellite radio, no cell phones, no electricity, no cars with navigational systems, no heating or air conditioning, no space stations, no digital pictures of Saturn's moon titan... ad infinitum. When nightfall arrived they stared at the stars, slept 9 hours and rose to put in an honest day's work in the field or in the woods hunting for food. If one can picture a modern video produced for MTV where scenes change about every 2 seconds during a 3 minute song, then I guess one has a snapshot of how our entire day would seem to an ancient person if he were to glimpse it. I'm not sure myself what to think of a day in the life of a modern person. It's convoluted at best and totally spiraled out of control at worst. Somehow our species survives and propogates still. To what end? I don't know, but there's a beauty in living the moment fully with the intent of filling it with decent living. Living the moment fully seems to block out the MTV effect, the convoluted life.

Sacred ground

I have noticed that the term sacred ground has been applied to more than the Native Americans' burial grounds. Everyone has a space mentally or physically that they don't want others intruding into. I certainly have this area. I walked into a room in my house yesterday and found that 3 teenagers were in this room. They weren't planning to mess up the room, but the room is special in my house. I can't even begin to explain how special this room is. But, so the girls could also appreciate the special nature of this room, I told them they were on sacred ground. They knew it was and respected the room's hallowed status. Spirituality, perhaps, occupies this same special status. What we value is what we would like others to treat as special. Our connections to the Creator should receive respect, certainly from us, but from others. And when that happens we feel that we have trod on sacred ground.

A metaphor for living

Bowing is something that people used to do. The ancients used to bow before authorities and deities. The custom is gone now, but the metaphor remains. I hear some say that the physical act is meaningful because the mind will follow. I don't know. I also hear that going underwater and holding your breath is something that allows a person's mind to suspend itself and rejuvenate one's thoughts. I've actually tried that. I didn't get that effect. Bowing might just yield the same result. Actually, I have tried bowing. Forms seem empty. But I will say this. When a life event of magnitude hits one, the person feels it with every fiber of physical pain and with every thought of mental anguish. The metaphor doesn't need to be followed or preceded by some physical act to get one in the mood or get one psychologically ready. The life event flattens one's reality, and when flattening has occurred, bowing has taken place.

I humbly BOW these days when death squares off in front of me.

Tendencies

As I type this morning, the air temperature outside is 20 degrees. The inside temperature is 72 degrees. I am not bothered by the fact that outside the air is 52 degrees colder. In fact, I am pretty oblivious to this difference. I completely take it for granted that I am warm when I shouldn't be. Modern society has advanced so far that there's no telling how long the list would be if I were to enumerate all that I take for granted. However, I think this blindness is also used to cull out what has been done so that I will be able to see what is left to be done. Some people are good at looking back and reminding me how far society has come. Others are good at looking ahead and pointing to all that is left to be done. As in most areas of life, a balance is needed. I tend to look ahead instead of back, but I see the value in looking back. I think when differentials are great like the temperatures this morning, I am reminded to take stock of my tendencies and take a more balanced approach. It might make me more grateful, less driven, as well as more balanced.

Nuggets of hope

Once in a while events in life come together that are much like nuggets of gold in a mine. In the mine a person is filthy and sweaty. Work is hard and long. And sometimes one forgets what the mining is all about. That is, until one looks up at the end of such a long day and sees a faint hint of what the work was all about—gold nuggets. Then, he smiles, wipes his forehead with a very dirty paw of a hand and thinks, "That is so beautiful. It's the view of precious metal that makes this job worth it. I think I'll show up tomorrow and keep working to unveil more nuggets." Of course, that's the long version. Sometimes, it's just a shriek of sheer, excited happiness. Sometimes a word like "Eureka!" forms and rolls off the tongue. The Creator knows us intimately and gives a person going through the nitty gritty in life those views of nuggets that make him show up the next day to work with a tune in his heart, a bounce in his step. The Creator is really seen best creating hope in our worlds. It is what leads us home one step at a time.