Happy Saturday!

As any teacher will tell you, Saturday mornings are a blessed and much appreciated gift. As I sit here this Saturday morning, I am aware and thankful that upstairs there is a faithful husband who deserves his bit of a sleep in. Also upstairs in another room is a younger man, our son Kyle, visiting from Glendale. The sun is shining out upon the lake behind our home, the ducks are endlessly quacking, and one lone fisherman is already out there casting away for all he’s worth. 

This is not going to be a noteable first blog, but it is a first blog and as such, a practice. A sort of ‘reaching out’ to any and all who stumble past. Rather like our lone fisherman out there whose hook is ready with the bait…I cast, and reach, and call out to you – come! We’re all in this together, and we may as well open the door at least just a crack, this door of words. Words that may help shine the Light just a little bit more, day by day…

…oh, but now, I hear movements from the faithful man just above where I sit, moving about and getting ready to start his own Saturday morning. Which will include – oh joy – ME! I do believe we will go with Kyle out to breakfast! It doesn’t get much better than this.

Not the End of the World

Recently, a good friend from another country asked me, ‘..yes, but how are you voting?’ The question was within an email, in fact tagged to the end of the email. My fingers hesitated at the keyboard before responding, because, one does not know how info such as this could affect a friendship.

While I did not specify how we would vote, I did say that whatever the outcome of the election, it would not be the end of the world.

I said this because it is almost certainly true. If, as hinted in an earlier blog, I am worried that Someone may become president instead of Someone Else, my mind will usually begin to review all the reasons why Eternity is far more important than Who becomes a president. But let’s say that all our fears and dreads of Election Day come true…let’s say that the Someone we wished would not gain the White House does indeed gain it, and let’s also say that an important, potentially life-changing Proposition does not pass. 

What may happen the next day, or the next January 21?  Let us pause to consider.

It may be safely predicted that if such things do take place, we will proceed as Americans have proceeded for more than two centuries. We will cope, and support, and work, and pray. And then vote again in the next election. That is what we will do. Even if one day the tide of opinion sways dreadfully against people of faith as some predict, and if some kind of persecution follows this sway, we will stand as others have stood before, looking ‘Far Beyond the Moment’. 

Let us not forget that some of our brothers and sisters worldwide are already looking beyond, at this moment in time. They don’t have to wait for that time, it is their time now. All of this is happening to them while Americans await the results of an election. These other dear ones may already have lost freedoms, said goodbye to loved ones, breathed their own last breath. I submit to you as we look around that we can have no other choice than to be thankful for everything wonderful that still exists, day after day after blessed day. If we just take a moment to look, we must see before us the loveliness of a United States that still protects and leads, and is the sincere goal of millions of freedom lovers. We stand, and are thankful.

And so, whatever the outcome of this election, the end of the world remains the realm of the future, not the present. Not yet, anyway. And until then, we will cope, and support, and work, and pray. Pray for those to whom the highest office will be granted, that they may rule wisely and decide well on our behalf. We have survived worse.

Worried

When one takes just a moment to think about it, there are some things that one could conceivably worry about. The election is coming up, dreadfully near now, and this is quite enough to worry about without the erratic behavior of the Dow Jones Industrial. Then there is the erratic behavior of the students within some of the classrooms I visit in my daily job for a school district – now that could bring on night terrors, if you let it play upon your mind. I have also taken to sometimes worrying about whether our next earthquake will happen during the day or while I am peacefully sleeping at night.

So – there are things to worry about, if a person chooses to worry about them. But I have learned one simple alternative to this worrisome conundrum: Remembering that…

Hudson is alive on this earth. 

Should you choose to read this space on any given day, I must warn you that Hudson will likely populate its pages, on any given day. This delightful, small human being is our first grandchild, a boy of one year and some months, who has become a powerful alternative to my worries. Of course, some worries have centered themselves upon his little self, since there are all sorts of hazards out there. But once I’ve entrusted this tiny person to the God Who made him, I take great comfort and distraction in thinking – simply thinking – about him.

Let’s say that someone screams in my ear about something I may have done – or not done – at work. While the screaming unfolds, I just switch my thoughts to this blonde creature who, quite naughtily I might add, stares at his mommy as he touches an untouchable item (mommy said no) with his soft baseball bat, rather than with his hand. And then discovers he is still in trouble (a bit of screaming may accompany this discovery). 

Or, let us venture to consider that one is worried Someone may become President rather than Someone Else, and this worry plays along uncomfortably until my mind changes over to the consideration of Hudson walking along Waikiki Beach at dusk, arm extended forward, palm open, as if to say, ‘Here I am! Were you looking for me?’

I can recall very vividly the week after Hudson was born, and I was in San Francisco at an educational convention. All kinds of strategies and test taking skills were being made much of, until I thought I could not take in one more complicated academic support structure. But suddenly, I was saved by the bell! My cell phone beeped, and I looked down only to discover – oh joy of joys! – a NEW DIGITAL BABY PICTURE!!

What is differentiated instruction when there is a new photo of HUDSON?!

Now really, what am I saying here? Am I encouraging a new kind of worship, that one’s darling grandchild should be one’s new focal point? No, I am not saying that at all. What I am saying has to do more with Eternity than with any one person, large or small. The very words, Hudson is alive on this earth, speak of this Eternity. When a person is born, there has been the launch of a long journey, a very long journey indeed. It may have had a beginning, but there will not be an end. Quite simply, that life will continue on, and on, and on, in either One place, or – another. Death is a mere springboard into that place of choice, the choice of all Choices we are privileged to make while crawling about on this place we call home.

And so, when I switch my thoughts over to darling Hudson, what I am really doing is uttering a prayer of thanksgiving. Thanks that Hudson is, indeed, alive on this earth. And that this little fellow who is still gaining his footing here below, will one day take giant strides alongside others who have made the Choice. The Choice which will mean his eternity is filled with goodness, and Light, and – oh, Love! – Jesus, Himself.

Life.

Poor Baby

Last night while taking a break from writing my ‘honey-do’ list, I had a conversation via cell phones with my daughter, Caila. In the background, our grandson Hudson was making happy, babbling noises while playing with something or other in their apartment. By apartment I mean, a Studio Apt., which then brings to mind a small space with no dividing walls apart from the bathroom. Hudson’s world, although ‘baby-proofed’ as much as it can be, consists of seeking items he knows his mother will object to being manhandled or otherwise destroyed. 

Hudson had apparently climbed or scooted or clawed his way up to where he could reach the computer keyboard, and was on the cusp of certain destruction when his mother quickly said, ‘No, Hudson, no play.’ A small pause, then, ‘Hudson!’ and we could hear (even though my husband was across the room from me, he could hear) screams and cries of abject sorrow and scandalization.  What words came out of my mouth? My mouth said, ‘Oh, the poor baby!!’ To which Caila said something like, ‘It’s poor baby until it becomes YOUR computer keyboard that is being mangled!’ with typical ironic humor.

The Poor Baby. This ‘poor’ baby will soon be living here in our small city, sharing space with us, and within reach of OUR COMPUTER KEYBOARD. I shall have to adjust my thinking. I do not want to squelch Hudson’s development, his divine creativity, his sweet desire to touch any and everything in the space that surrounds him. But – baby-proofing suddenly takes on new meaning. 

So I take a walk around the rooms within our home, and find that NO SPACE is baby-proofed, and NO ITEM is safe. Much more important is the fact that Hudson himself will not be safe in any of those spaces, unless something serious is done. Hudson! Our sweet darling of a baby, whose smile and laughter makes our world go ’round…

My ‘honey-do’ list just got a whole lot longer.