'Twas Brillig, And The Slithy Toves
Luke 7:19-28 August 25
seek my own healing, it is real! 9808.25
Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things you have seen and heard; how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 22-23
I have set the LORD always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 16:8
The light of the righteous rejoiceth; but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Proverbs 13:9
One could say, so much for fifteen minutes of fame. Our president's confession to an "improper relationship" with Monica Lewinsky is just enough to drive out the poison of a self-inflicted rattlesnake bite but not enough to seal the wound. Then bombing terrorist targets to distract your people from the real enemy. (Who is the real enemy? We have met them and he is us). Perhaps you need to be out in the cold, in the valley.
Too often we'll condemn a leader (especially ours) for being too much of one. I don't condone an affair like this, but we have not character-assassinated Jefferson, Cleveland, Harding, FDR, Eisenhower, or JFK with quite the vehemence that President Clinton has been. The price of becoming a citizen of a global village may well be losing your identity in others' perceptions and ideals, and some people, especially in highly scrutinized positions, are overwhelmed by that. Pointing out sin in others' lives doesn't exempt you from being judged likewise for them. How do you set up your thought patrol, how much are your words worth?
And here we go ...
By the way, that journal entry above includes a photo of Ms. Lewinsky not in the best of moods. But hey, my wife Martha now accuses me of looking mad when I all I am is confused. Sometimes I have to make up a reason, because if you keep telling people they're mad or they're rude they will live down to your expectations, and vice versa. That is, you tell me or I tell you that we're nice or kind people even if at that moment we're not being so and we will do our utmost to live up to that ... I don't ask that all of us be social butterflies like maybe I am, but can I just see some signs of movement?
I will really miss Martha at home when she goes back to work Monday.
On their way out the door this morning, Sarah and Jeffrey told me that since I will take them to school every day starting next week -- Martha took personal time off from her Trinity job to be around the last few days before and after school started yesterday -- that I could stay home. Mock hurt. So Martha and I were the ones who took advantage of Town and Country's next-to-last Thank You Thursday for the summer, where we got for customer appreciation a nail file, a digital cleaner, and a lip balm. This is good to have.
Until Friday, I'm told the school year won't really get into gear because paperwork is still coming in.
This didn't stop Sarah and Jeffrey from getting into their first day with some familiar faces and some not. When I got home last night to spaghetti and garlic bread while an episode of America's Got Talent was playing on Hulu -- we hardly watch live TV any more -- I found out we had indeed gotten the right supplies and the kids off on the right foot. It's an effort to balance the kids' strong wills sometimes with getting them where they can go with something better than Martha and I have so far done (don't all parents want their kids to excel as they did or more than they did).
4:44 AM.
That's when I woke up this morning to use the bathroom, but I didn't stay awake! And even though Sarah is still sniffling and snarling in the morning -- our house isn't as warm as maybe it ought to be, even for late summer -- I wasn't which made me rejoice. But I'll still wear a light jacket or sweater some mornings, especially if we've left the windows open! When Sarah remembers to take her inhaler she will sniffle a lot less, and I expect as school goes on she'll figure out she is sick of feeling so BLAH in the mornings. Also, we've plans to get them to bed on time.
The king and queen of stalling will no longer reign in our house!
A good idea for waking up is to be roughly in the same place you were when you went to sleep. In the case of the main characters in Sean Danker's science fiction novel Admiral (ISBN 9780451475794) forget the right side of bed, they haven't even woken up on the same spaceship! The title character who's never given a proper name, just the rank -- yet he's the one missing an Empire uniform among a newly minted lieutenant, private, and ensign -- turns out to be the one who leads the effort to find out where they are, and that they're not alone.
One review calls this novel "The Martian meets The Bourne Identity by way of Alien."
As I've only seen the last film, I leave that to you to sort out.
O frabjous day,
David
Comments
Post a Comment