Hypocrits

I forgot that the Christian hierarchy were called hypocrites by none other than Paul in his letter to the Galatians.  It seems our first Pope would eat with Gentiles, a no no for Jews, whenever his Jewish cohorts were not around.  But once the other Jewish leaders showed up, the Pope backed off from the Gentiles and followed Jewish customs.  Paul called him out.  I guess hypocrisy and politics has been a problem for Christianity since the beginning.  The hierarchy in Rome are having a meeting now on the subject of "The Family."  Pope Francis asked everyone to speak frankly.  We will see.

The Same and Different

Rugby is a sport and a very old one.  Baseball is now considered a sport, though a bit younger one.  I suspect that when rugby players first heard of or saw baseball, they might have said, "That is not a sport."  Rugby defined "sport" within their own definition, and baseball simply did not quality.  Eventually, even rugby accepted baseball as a sport of sorts, but not something for REAL rugby players.  These two games are the same as "games" and "sports."  It this they are the same, but one is not the other.  I used to have a subscription to a sport magazine.  When it first began to have a weekly story on "Bridge" the card game, I said, "That is not a sport!"  Though Bridge is a game and a competition with a teammate, it did not fit my narrow definition.  I think that at times when we say that one thing is not equal to another, we have to be careful of our motives.  Are we prejudiced against one, as I was about Bridge, or the rugby players about baseball.  On the other hand, when there is a difference between two things, we cannot say they are exactly the same.  Bridge is not Baseball, nor Rugby.  They may be the same as "sports" but different in some other respects.  Try this with your definition of "Marriage."

Dummy

As we age we are supposed to grow in wisdom.  I seem to be going in the other direction.  For quite some time now I have been using a garage door opener from the house to automatically open the garage door when I go outside.  My other method is to leave a door open that goes into the garage, but this is frequently relocked by someone.  At times, usually in the worst of weather or when I am in a hurry, I leave the house without the garage door opener, and then find that the door to the garage has been relocked.  Bad mood, grumbling, whining follow.  Today, as I was just about to go into the garage, having used my garage door opener, I noticed a key pad on the side of the garage entrance.  Then I noticed that each of the three garage doors had their own keypad.  Voila!  Cobwebs of my mind were shaken out and the memory of a keypad having been mounted some FOUR YEARS ago came back to me.  Of course, I had no idea of the PIN code, but a phone call to the one who mounted the keypad gave me that information.  As I wallowed in humiliation, humility came.  God loves me in spite of my silliness and forgetfulness.  When I think I am so centered, I get a wake up call that I am still very much scattered, but yet very much loved.  I earned the scattered.  The Love is Free! Do you ever have long-term silliness?

Rest Stops

Prayer is like a rest stop as we motor through the day.  Now and again we need to take the foot off the pedal and sit quietly to stretch our soul.  No music, no tapes, no GPS and no talking.  Just quiet stillness to keep us able to go on with the journey in a sane and balanced way.  Now and again, I need to go in for a tuneup, a day of reflection to keep me in good shape.  We can so easily run ourselves down and then things don't work so well.  I have found it so.

The I or the Eye

When I first heard the phrase, "His 'I's are too close together," I thought that it was about the eye in the head.  I did not think that the person's eyes were anything but normal distance apart.  Then it got explained to me.  When we try to impress, and I know this to be a guy thing, we tend to talk about ourselves.  We keep saying, "I."  I this and I that.  When I reflected, I realized that I have had this as one of my faults.  When I speak too much "I" one of two things happen.  People change the subject, or they tend to excuse themselves.  I talk all about me.  I am not into listening or asking about the other person or persons.  Seems there are a lot of "I" in this blog.  No wonder people don't read me.  But ladies, is this a problem with women too?  See, I am asking a question, ready to listen.  I can grow.  It is not too late.

The Outcome

Someone said that they try not to get attached to the outcome.  I like that thought.  I run a race each year and when I finish I am unhappy with the outcome.  I fail to see all the good of the event.  I have the health to run.  The day was beautiful.  I see friends afterwards.  I enjoy a post race meal.  If the outcome is everything, then I might miss all the good and valuable things about an endeavor.  I am going to try to think "enjoy" instead of "produce" or "perform" or "impress."  Who is really watching?  My gosh!  You mean no one is thinking about me as the center of their universe?

Caffeine Pants

I cannot believe this one.  You buy clothes, probably tights, that have caffeine as part of the cloth.  Wear them and lose cellulite.  Clothes have some other things but the caffeine caught my attention.  Why cannot you drink coffee and lose cellulite from the inside caffeine?  Anyway, I think the product failed to deliver sufficiently.  But people did buy it!  So I am thinking of going into my own business and sell clothes that have "grace" in the weave, in my advertising.  You no longer need to get grace on the inside by prayer, worship or any effort to be nice.  You just buy my clothes and you have grace!  Die in my clothes and you go to heaven for sure.  Get buried wearing grace!  Beats plenary indulgences.