Much has been made of the sparse mental acuity of the airhead debutante. and the saying once an airhead always an airhead, has a ring of truth to it. But as with all of God's creatures, there is yet another truth to tell--she, that debutante, is what she is and arguably more. Over time and trial, arguably much, much more. And that truth is all because of this glory of which scripture speaks (Psalm 16:9a NKJV), glory that is the soul. That being said, the upshot of this situation is that a spiritual odyssey of the soul by an airhead debutante, though a challenging proposition, is tenable.
You might logically ask then, how does one with such apparent limitations, whose only redeeming virtue is the soul, venture out upon such an ambitious goal as selecting an organizing principle for sorting out her life? Wouldn't she need some evident strength for that pursuit? Some measure of true intellect, obscured as it may be by all else? And here I agree with you, thoughtful reader, she would need some redeeming dimension of character to rise above her limitations, some Grace of God to highlight her nature.
Thankfully, even stereotypes such as airhead debutantes do display in their person a gleam of character here and there, or else they would be a mere caricature of a person. To presume otherwise would be to err on the side of oversimplification. Yes, some are disposed to more of one leaning than another, but glory is glory and the potential for glory should never be ignored or underestimated.
To illustrate, airhead deb though I am, by the grace of God from the first light of consciousness, I have been given an appreciation of Jehovah Nisi, God almighty, a gift from Him to me. His presence is a beautiful reoccurring theme in my life as I look back on it now. Considering that truth today, I realize that it is a significant truth. I'm sure you will agree, there are only so many truly significant truths in life. Life to me is kind of like a box and I see each of us passing into the box on one side and out on the other and inside are all the same type of encounters generation after generation. We encounter fellow travelers, share similar hopes and dreams, similar challenges and try to sort it all out and make sense of it. And only so many ideas of note emerge over time in that box, the same ones again and again.
Of those ideas, only a few are big truths--capturing the prolonged attention and devotion of any given soul at any given time. And people being people, they leave evidence of those divinings that most matter to them. Putting that evidence in list form, the concept of God and who He is, is at the top, always. I am therefore forced to admit that God's significance to mankind far outweighs all other truths of any significance--therefore, Significant Truth#1: God.
And so I select this theme for my organizing principle. I am not ill prepared for this task if you are wondering how I will ever do it, for here other gifts to me come into play. Another gift from God is that I again have the time, opportunity and innitiative to do this sort out.
Furthermore, using well-developed though down-played gifts of attention and intellect I have, over many years, studied the Bible, been mentored by fellow Christians of high caliber, traveled to many of the great countries of the world and witnessed the outpouring of human energy in dedication to faith (of various sorts) in God. I have heard about God in majestic music, seenGod depicted in fine art, sensed God's character in magnificent architecture and historic ruins, and pondered God in writings and remembrances from ages past. God has always been a real subject with me and I'm pretty serious minded about Him. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
How did I arrive at a belief in God in the first place,you might ask? And when?
There's a story right there.
To be continued . . .
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
How I hate a mess!
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;" Psalm 16:9a
Note: Glory is a poetic expression for the soul, the glorious part of a human being.
(NKJV, 1991)
How I hate a mess!
No, that's not true. Not entirely true that is.
There are many types of mess, some distinctly unpleasant, some too far gone to remedy, and I do deplore that kind. But then there is other mess, not so far gone, still within the realm of possibility. That's not so bad. With that kind of mess there's still hope of sorting it all out.
Maybe you think I'm talking about how my refrigerator needs emptying. Or maybe you think I'm talking about how my attic is a mess. And in a way I am. but I'm not talking about the attic in my house. I'm talking about the attic in my head. Now, there's a mess! The stuff I've got piled up in there! It really is almost in hopeless disarray -- too much in too little space, if you get my drift.
Twenty-five years ago I had a similar experience with the attic in my head. The solution was not so bad. Three beautiful summer months spent by the pool with our (Richard's and my) daughter, Kathleen, staring into space at nothing in particular while in the attic of my mind I sorted and discarded or indexed, cross-referenced and filed tons of neglected, unprocessed and under appreciated stuff.
So, this time I had a precedent. When my mind registered overload, I pulled down the stairs to my attic (metaphorically speaking, of course) and climbed up. I assure you, twenty-five years worth of stuff back then was much easier to manipulate than what I now faced. Now, there was a full 60 years of accumulated life in there! Aghast, I cast about for some organizing principle.
To be continued . . .
Note: Glory is a poetic expression for the soul, the glorious part of a human being.
(NKJV, 1991)
How I hate a mess!
No, that's not true. Not entirely true that is.
There are many types of mess, some distinctly unpleasant, some too far gone to remedy, and I do deplore that kind. But then there is other mess, not so far gone, still within the realm of possibility. That's not so bad. With that kind of mess there's still hope of sorting it all out.
Maybe you think I'm talking about how my refrigerator needs emptying. Or maybe you think I'm talking about how my attic is a mess. And in a way I am. but I'm not talking about the attic in my house. I'm talking about the attic in my head. Now, there's a mess! The stuff I've got piled up in there! It really is almost in hopeless disarray -- too much in too little space, if you get my drift.
Twenty-five years ago I had a similar experience with the attic in my head. The solution was not so bad. Three beautiful summer months spent by the pool with our (Richard's and my) daughter, Kathleen, staring into space at nothing in particular while in the attic of my mind I sorted and discarded or indexed, cross-referenced and filed tons of neglected, unprocessed and under appreciated stuff.
So, this time I had a precedent. When my mind registered overload, I pulled down the stairs to my attic (metaphorically speaking, of course) and climbed up. I assure you, twenty-five years worth of stuff back then was much easier to manipulate than what I now faced. Now, there was a full 60 years of accumulated life in there! Aghast, I cast about for some organizing principle.
To be continued . . .
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