On Our Turf

Having been led to the site that showed the squirrel that held up the ballgame, I enjoyed watching him scoot all over the field and getting belly down and tail up. Cute he was. But it set me wondering. Poor thing, he had no idea where he was and the context of the moment. All he wanted was to find some peanuts and go somewhere quiet to eat them. I can imagine the thoughts that were going through his mind when he saw those giants coming at him dressed in white with a big hand taking a swipe at him. "Where do they want me to go?" must have been running through his mind.
How often do we get in a position that is out of context for us and how do we react. We don't know which way to go and what is expected of us. Put us on our own turf and we know exactly what to do and how to do it. But others enter our turf and don't know how to operate. Are we helpful or do we chase them around like the squirrel, expecting them to read our minds and know how to perform.
Next time a stranger enters our area, we should put ourselves in their place and make sure they are not cute squirrels, but invited guests who have been given the rules of behavior. It seems a lot of problems could be solved.
But then, sometimes shaking up the scene can bring about interesting change.

Good Friends

Good friends are a blessing. We move away from them, we get too busy, we change direction, we lose touch...
But the doorbell rings and though you haven't seen them for a long time, it is like you saw them yesterday. No small talk, no excuses, no recriminations, no fencing....just hugs and talk. Talk about far out subjects. Talk about family. Talk about the world in general. Talk about esoteric matters. As we age, talk about diseases and general health issues, but without morbid conversation, just general information.
Now, that is a good friend. Not that we have many of them in our lives, but the ones we have are precious and need to be cherished. Not that a good friend needs cherishing, they don't expect it or even want it, but when they are gone...there is a big hole in your heart and your life and you wish you had been more cherishing. Then the smile begins and you know that is foolish talk. You cherished them enough or they wouldn't be good friends. So, no recriminations, no do overs, no what ifs, just thanks for the grace they brought into our lives and the grace we extended into their lives. After all, that is grace received, grace given and grace multiplied.

Every once in awhile, a little thing can make your day and make you smile when you think you are having the worst day possible. I went for lunch today at the drugstore and was sitting at the counter trying to decide what to eat. I looked at all the sandwiches, salad, chips, cookies, candy and soup. Suddenly my attention was drawn to a basket with metal boxes that looked a lot like pencil boxes. On the outside of the box was a name I instantly recognized. WHITMAN As I zeroed in on the smaller print, I realized it was a box of 4 chocolates and it was marked down 50%. As usual I looked on the back of the box for a calory count and guess what? Those four cholocates had fewer calories than that pimento cheese sandwich. So, my lunch was chocolates, and I am happier now than I have been for a couple of days.
We just have to know what turns our happy side on and go with it some times. I still have two of those chocolates and will make them last all afternoon. Then I will have a box to keep something in and that box will remind me of the chocolates I enjoyed today. The sandwich might have nourished me, staved off the hunger, but it would never have soothed my soul. God made chocolate and we should use His gifts, wisely. I am grateful for the gift of chocolate.

Truth in Packaging

Have you ever bought something you thought was one thing and after opening the package found out that it was something entirely different. Those of you who know me will understand my frustration today after lunch when someone gave me a piece of candy wrapped in a brown wrapper with a pink swirl that said strawberry & creme. Well....it was wrapped in brown paper...it should have been at least part chocolate. NOT SO...it was hard like a peppermint but didn't even have the good grace to be peppermint...it was strawberry. Yuk.
Think about how we package our lives. Do we practice truth in packaging or do we put on one costume and then act like someone else? If we put on the packaging of kindness and then act unkind we confuse people. If we put on the packaging of a Christian and act unchristian, we are giving people the wrong opinion of Christianity.
But it is sometimes very difficult to live up to our package. Sometimes an agent builds us up as something we are not, or more than we can be, and brands us with a wrapping we can't live up to. That happens to us a lot, but I guess the best we can do it try to live up to the package and hope that we are received with more grace than I gave that poor piece of candy, when people are disappointed in us.
We should always build our own package so it looks as much like us as possible. One of my favorite quotes, "To thine ownself be true and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Hamlet, Shakespeare

Musical Evolution

However it is used...music seems to be a common denominator. I remember as a teenager that the radio was my main source of music. But my time with the radio had to be after school and before Dad came home to listen to the news and things like Amos and Andy. One Christmas my Mother gave me a simply gorgeous state of the art portable radio for my very own. Wow, that was fantastic. I could plug it in or use it on 8 D batteries. It was probably 8" tall, 12" long and 3 or 4 " thick. It had a cute silver antenna that folded down and a handle for carrying. I was in hog heaven. My favorite station in Tulsa played great music like "The Thing", "Little White Cloud that Cried", "Gypsy", "Purple People Eater"...it was great. I also had a record player and it was a special treat to have a new record. I saved my $2 to buy the 78 rpm single of "Neon Lights" and on the way home, I put it on the floor of the car and my foot hit it and it broke. I was devestated. Before we arrived home, Mother had turned around and took me back and gave me the $2 to buy another copy. My parents did not waste money and they did not let me off for things that were my own fault, but she recognized that for some reason, that music was what I needed to soothe my savage soul that day.
So now we have Ipods that take up less room than the pack of Chesterfields I kept hidden in my Dad's old golf bag in the garage. People seem even more hooked into them than I was to my music. Probably because it would not be possible to carry that old portable around all day. My children had cassette players and 8tracks for their cars. Now it is music on the computer, through the earphones, in the car, everywhere we go...music, music, music.
But still it soothes the savage beast in us. Maybe it stirs it up in some, but for me it is soothing and a way to cope with anything that comes my way. Whatever my mood or problem, music helps smooth the path.
Now that's a big piece of grace as I see it. Everyone needs access to their music. Enjoy...I certainly will take pleasure in your enjoyment as well as my own.

The Swamp

I have been re-reading George Thompson's 'ALLIGATORS IN THE SWAMP' and it is more interesting the third time around. You would think by now that I understood it all, but alas, not so. As he says, a swamp is made up of layers. The stuff up on the shore that is there for all to see and understand. He says alligators survive because they know that what happens on the shore is only part of the swamp.
The next layer is swimming in the water. This is where we explain what is on the shore. This makes sense of our shore stuff.
But we finally come to the mud. It suports our swamp and is hidden well below our view. But it holds the key to our character, the beliefs that are deeply held and not always spoken about. We are defined by our mud.
This is true of ourselves, our churches and our culture. I am not sure what the implications are for me, but I know the alligators who swim in my swamp must know the mud pretty well.
Shalom

graceless gracenotes abound

Perhaps the title of my blog has confused you. I am a Presbyterian who fully believes in grace. The grace of God in my life, the grace of others for me and the world, my own offering of grace which is not always forthcoming. Things I have to work on. But I have no illusions that grace flowing from me is adequate or always abundant. I have no doubt about the grace of God flowing to me and anyone who wants it.
A gracenote is but a blip of the musical tongue. It is a minor notation that barely deserves a scratch of the pencil, but is important to more fully flesh out a piece of work. So my blog is just that. Not necessary, just a notation that fleshes out a piece of my world for someone who sees it. Not that it is important, or necessary and not even that it enhances that world. Just there, because I am here.
And that is what I am, just here for a short time and leaving little gracenotes (although sometimes 'graceless') behind for people to get a more complete sense of who I am.
Now, may God's grace be with us, on us, around us and in us. Shalom