Trust Me. I know What I Am Doing

 

My friend, Margaret Ezzet, in her own thoughtful way,

Gave me two lovely presents this past Christmas Day.

The first was the pencils—I’ve shown you a picture—

That give me permission your grammar to censure.

(I stand by my mix of the past and the present.

It works in this case, even if it seems like it doesn’t.)

 

That gift also stumped me a bit, by the way,

with a problem that’s stumped us grammarians to this day:

that’s how to decide whether “pencils” is single,

when they come in one box in which they all mingle,

 

(not to mention us poets who now and then struggle

to make their poems rhyme without making up new words)

 

The second gift she gave me is a book obviously intentioned

 

(by an author with no struggle like the one I just mentioned)

 

To give us a chuckle every day of the year—

 

(not just one chuckle, I need to make clear,

But 366 chuckles—one poem for EACH DAY of the year!)

Whew! This is sure a hard way to use words

To try to convince you that I’m not being absurd

when I claim to be qualified to edit your grammar.

 

(I can’t believe I had to look up the spelling of that word. Is it 'ub' or 'ob'? Oh, never mind. Even spell check had a problem. I guess you have to at least get the first letter right.)

 

 

I admit that my poetry is not too compelling.

And I do get forgetful when it comes to right spelling.

Yes, I sometimes use words I don’t know what they mean

(and I’m pretty sure the word, ‘they’ in that sentence has a problem I've not seen). 

But when I cross out words in your writing I promise it will come out more clean.

(Oh, all right. ”Cleaner,” if you insist.)

 

 

So that is my story and I’m sticking to it.

Even though it might seem like I’m muddling through it.

I stand by my credentials—I’ve got the credits to prove it.

It’s just not always easy to make the words do it.

 

by Ginny Jaques

writer and technical editor extraordinaire

My Truth, Spoken in Love

As I’m sure all of you know, I have a policy of not sharing opinions about politics on Facebook. I don’t believe Facebook is a great platform for discussing things that we all tend to feel passionate about, unless those passions are strongly loving and able to be expressed positively. But I am challenged by my friend, Gina Bell’s post, to break with my tradition about that policy this once. At least the politics part of it—not the loving and positive one.

I hope I can express my beliefs lovingly and positively here. I never want to offend anyone, not because I’m afraid of their reaction, but because I don’t want to hurt anyone, or add more heat than light to whatever issue we’re talking about. I want everything I share here to be not only truthful and loving but uplifting and profitable for making the world a better place. So here goes: my break with tradition—my thoughts on the current political climate in the U.S.

Like many of my Facebook friends, I am worried about the results of the U.S. election. I’m not worried about what the upcoming government is going to do to the country. I believe that will all work out in the end. But I am worried about what we are all going to do to each other.

I watched a recent video post on Facebook that described, in great detail, one person’s honest despair about the new government that will come to power in the U.S. in January, and his negative feelings about the people who voted that government into power. It was crushingly judgmental. This person feels that no one who voted Republican could possibly be “kind, generous, loving to their neighbour, empathetic, understanding, sensible, truthful or level-headed” etc.

The thing that really frightened me about this post was realizing that it could have been written by someone of the opposite political persuasion just by replacing the name of the political leader mentioned in that post with the name of the leader of the other party. It seems like half of us Americans are convinced that the other half is evil. That’s what I find very frightening.

Both political candidates have spoken, truly I believe, about the need for unity in our government and in our country as we go forward from here. Unity is essential to our survival as the United States of America. It’s the way we have survived through many disagreements in the past. Unfortunately, both political candidates have also indulged in rhetoric that has worked exactly against promoting unity among us.

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spoken of each other in the most disrespectful terms; both have undoubtedly been speaking hyperbolically, but both have only piled flammable material on the fire of the political passions of the people they each have claimed they wanted to represent and work for the benefit of in the next four years. They have set us a very bad example.

They have both convinced us that we cannot trust either of them or each other. They have planted an unhealthy fear in us. I am disappointed in both of them in that regard. And the biggest fear in my heart right now is that we citizens will not be wise enough to rise above those unhealthy fears—to recognize that this is not the end of the world, to be able to forgive and forget, and to move forward, together, to make the best of our local situations.

I am going to take a great risk here and borrow a quote from Donald Trump that sums up what I am trying to get across in this post. I am going to say that, regarding the political situation right now, “There are good people on both sides of this issue.” 

Donald Trump said this months ago about a political disagreement between good Americans who felt that statues of colonial patriots should be torn down because they unjustly honored those men, and other good Americans who felt that the statues should be left standing to preserve an accurate historical record. Unfortunately, his quote was misrepresented as being about the neo-Nazi riots that were going on nearby at the same time. This misunderstanding naturally ramped up the rhetoric supporting the idea that Donald Trump was an evil fascist and thus a danger to society.

As I have said, I am unhappy with both of the political candidates and others in their parties who have abandoned the long-standing American tradition of speaking honestly but respectfully of their political opponents, no matter how strong their disagreements. I am old enough to remember federal elections in the U.S. that ended peacefully, partly because the rhetoric had been restrained and respectful. I long for that tradition to be re-established.

But in the meantime, I can only hope that we, as lowly citizens of this great country, can overcome the damage done during this campaign and, in turn, set an example for our leaders in how to participate in a healthy democracy, with reason and compassion, with acceptance of different perspectives on how government should be run, but with respect for the rule of democracy and the right, however unfair it sometimes seems, of the majority to rule.

There is a reason our courses in government when I was in high school in the States were called “civics” classes. I would love to see that terminology and all the words that went with it being reintroduced into our present culture.

Thank you for listening, if you have read this far. I welcome any comments that are civil and constructive. And thank you for those of you who still are willing to consider me a friend here on Facebook. 

I love you all, and will whatever.

A Risky Business

 

My life seems to be a constant growth cycle. 

 

I go from an initial place of trusting in God, to an insurmountable problem, to worry and anxiety, to remembering His faithfulness in the past, to choosing to believe once again, to one small encouraging sign of His love—a sign that grows the faith even before I see the answer, to praise for Who He is and what He is going to do, and then, finally, to the miracle. Then we begin again, with a slightly more insurmountable problem.

 

This faith walk is like following stepping stones across a raging river. I step out, jump onto the next three stones that are nearby, then look around for another foothold. I see none at first, then one that is close but requires a bit of a stretch, then another that is no bigger than the size of my foot. This one seems too far to hazard a leap but there is no other option. I cannot go back. So I leap, and then keep on going as far as I can, taking chances, and all the time wondering if I will run out of rocks in the middle of the torrent. 

 

I go one step at a time, trusting, because I have to. No one is going to helicopter me out of the middle of this process, even though it’s a risk each time I lift my foot that I am going to slip and fall. Or else end up stranded halfway there with no way out.

 

But it’s a risk that excites me. It challenges me to keep trying. Because by now the journey is actually a risk-free adventure. My faith experience over the past 70 years has taught me that when I reach a place of desperation, at the end of my own strength and wisdom, I can turn to the One Who created the universe. This same One has held my hand all along the journey so far. I can turn to Him for wisdom and strength and courage and know He will provide all I need to get to the other side.

 

Knowing that He is there and that He is trustworthy has turned my life journey from an anxiety-ridden existence into an exciting adventure.

 

 

 

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.   

 

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

 

 

Holiness Lost

 

The Bible tells stories about people who “experience” the actual presence of God, and in all cases, they fall down. They can’t help it. It’s not that God knocks them down. He doesn’t do that to innocent people. They fall down because He is holy.

 

The Bible says that one day everyone who has ever lived will fall down before Jesus Christ. For some, it will come as a real shock. As Dallas Willard puts it, “Reality is what hits you when you’re wrong.” None of us is completely right in our view of God, and we are perhaps most wrong in our mis-understanding of his holiness.

 

We human beings lost our view of what holiness is in the beginning when our first parents decided to turn away from Him and take His place of authority in their lives. And we, as their individual offspring, have affirmed their decision, making ourselves our own gods, bowing to our own self-interest in place of the One who deserves worship—the one Who is the source of life.

In a comment on an internet site in Quora, under a discussion of freedom and death, one person says: 

 

I believe that death holds more freedom than life. We live in a world where we have no choice but to participate in activities that benefit others more than it does ourselves. The idea of not knowing implies endless possibilities. 

 

I assume this writer feels that at least one of the “endless possibilities” that agnosticism affords us is the freedom to live only to benefit ourselves—to reign over our own lives. That, to some, might seem to be the essence of happiness. But all of our human experience shows the opposite is actually true.

 

We all bend toward the desire to do life our own way, rather than the way the Creator designed us. But the Bible says living our lives without reference to God leads to death, not freedom. We destroy ourselves physically, psychologically, and spiritually when we turn our backs on Him. We cut ourselves off from the source of life and we are lost.

 

This state-of-affairs is illustrated in contemporary art. Our lostness is reflected in images that include all the symbols of death and darkness. We wear those symbols on our clothing; we ink them on our bodies; we express them in our song lyrics. And in an unholy world we earn Grammy awards for them.

 

But we are self-destructing. Anyone with eyes can see it. We live in a “fuck you” world. It’s an agony that we, as a culture, have turned our backs on God and so lost any real sense of what holiness is like. It’s a huge loss.

Holiness and the F-Word

 

This morning I’ve been thinking about the word ‘holy’ for some reason. I started this train of thought by remembering a conversation I had with some girls at school yesterday.

 

I overheard one of them use the word ‘fucking’ and, since we were just standing around waiting for another P.E. class we were joining to get organized, I decided to give a mini-lesson on how and why that word—the F-word—sounds so offensive to people. 

 

Today, as I think about it, I am realizing that the word can only be offensive if there is really a God. Atheists and agnostics also often find the word offensive, but if they were asked why, I think they might have a hard time coming up with an explanation. 

 

The F-word is the epitome of whatever is the opposite of the word ‘holy,’ and the word ‘holy’ only has meaning in the context of God. Not just god as an impersonal force either. Holy defines a personal God—a God who can be wronged, defied, treated with disdain and therefore offended and abused in the most horrible way--horrible because of Who He is.

 

What does this have to do with the word ‘fuck?’

 

When I googled 'fuck' to find out what it means, I found it described as a . . .sassy, controversial, comforting, profane and sacred four-letter word covering a wide range of states including pain, anger, happiness, boredom, elation, panic, disgust, and excitement.

 

So it seems that, though the word has been associated with the sex act, it has become many other things as well. It’s become a reflection of the confusion of our age: profane and sacred and everything else we want to make it.

 

Since it has become all those things—in a sense all things to all people—I am going to take the liberty of giving it another definition myself. I will say that ‘fuck’ is a term of rebellion against all goodness with a capital “G.” In reference to the sex act, the word is a deliberate desecration of an act of holiness—the act which a Holy God designed as a process for creating holy human beings—human beings in His image.

 

And so the word, to me, expresses desecration in general, and a defiance of all that is good—all that is holy.

 

Even if we don’t know why, we human beings seem to have an ingrained sense of awe—some sense of right and wrong—about these words.  Both of them: ‘holy’ and ‘fuck’. I believe that’s because we have an innate sense, however vaguely the concept is understood, that there is a God and that He is good. 

 

We have an innate sense, as well, that He is more than an impersonal force, however inadequately we understand that concept. We sense that God is personal, and is, Himself, the epitome of holiness. Or, I guess it’s holiness that is the epitome of God?

 

What if that’s true? What if holiness is the central, defining characteristic of God? What if every other characteristic of Him wraps around this central reality?  What if His goodness, his wisdom, his merciful compassion, even his omnipotence, surround His central core—His holiness? What if Holiness defines Him?

 

This is the characteristic, or personality trait of God, that brings me most often to my knees. When I mediate on Him—when my mind and heart turn in His direction—I collapse in awe and worship because of His holiness.  I can’t help it. Even though I can’t describe ‘holy’ adequately, any more than I can adequately describe Him, yet holiness floods my spirit when I think of Him.

 

I believe that experiencing holiness is experiencing God. For real.

 

And that’s why the F-word always makes me cringe.

On the Unbelievability of the Christian Message

 

The other night I was thinking about how unbelievable—incredible—ridiculously impossible the Christian message is. 

It’s preposterous. 

Am I imagining all this?

 

How could any rational person fall for the idea of a good God creating a good world, then creating human beings, and then giving them the freedom to choose whether or not to listen to Him when He tells them how they should live in that world? 

 

Preposterous that a good God would give the persons He created the ability to destroy themselves and others and the good world around them. That he would allow them to be selfish, greedy and so dangerously careless as to refuse to choose to live by the owner’s manual He gave them?

 

And speaking of the Bible, that’s another ridiculous idea: that He would write a book, over a period of roughly 1500 years, using the minds and fingers of at least 40 of the very human creatures who messed things up in the first place—a book full of information about Himself, and about us. 

 

And that He would expect us to believe that stories in that book, translated into thousands of different languages, survived over the last 2000 years, intact, because they contain wisdom that has proved to be relevant in every culture since the beginning of time. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations

 

And even more incredible that, after all has fallen apart, over and over again, down through the centuries, He has devised some plan that would rescue even the worst of us from the destruction around us—would forgive us and restore all things to their original state for us, and then give us a chance to live “happily ever after” when our lives on earth are finished. 

 

No one could have made this stuff up.

 

But, when I think about it, lots of things I see around me are just as incredible. 

 

Ridiculously impossible. 

 

Impossible that my body, when I was a baby, contained the building blocks of three other human beings who would be created and fully formed, one at a time, over the next 36 years of my life, and that their bodies contained eight other human beings who would also be born and grow up and grow old like me.

 

And I’m just getting started:

 

Not just MY body, but an elephant's body, a goat's body, a whale's body, my cat's body--this is incredibly mind-boggling.

 

All the great wonders of the world, created by God and by the humans He created, and all the wonders of the universe—all incredible, unbelievable, impossible,

and yet they exist. 

Unless I am imagining all this?

For All the Grads: What Life is About!

Looking for help as you step out into the scary new world?

Here's a Grandma's advice:

 

Wow! 

So many places!

Directions to go!

Which path should you follow?

How do you know?

 

You could go south, or go north, east or west.

How can you be sure which direction is best?

South could be sending you too far away.

North might lead someplace you don’t want to stay.

East might go nowhere and west be too tough.

How do you pick when you don’t know enough?

 

Your head's in a whirl!

There are too many ways!

Yet you have to decide how to plan for your days.

It's too big a problem. You're not fit to choose.

It's too big a decision. There’s too much to lose!

 

But, wait. Here's the answer: You don't need to know.

There's Someone else planning which way you should go.

Someone Who’s smarter—Who’s been there before.

And His plans for your path will give you much more

Than anything you could dream up on your own.

You just need to relax. You’re not in this alone.

 

If you reach out your hand He will take it and fly

To a future much bigger than you’d think to try.

Much better than those in your wildest of dreams!

More awesome than any direction now seems.

 

He'll go flying right past all your questions and fears,

With His love in your heart and His song in your ears.

When you come to the end you will laugh, and you'll rest.

For you'll know then, for certain, you've chosen the best.

See, the best is a Person, not a place or a plan.

And the way there is clear when you’re holding His hand.

 

 

Wow!

So many blessings He has up ahead.

Just rest in His hands, and relax, and be led.

Your life will not always be easy or fun,

But it will be good when it’s all said and done.

 

Just remember, whatever life offers to you

If you wonder which option to choose to pursue

Here’s a very big hint that will give you a clue:

It’s not “what” you know that matters. It’s “Who.”