Category Archives: Deep puddles of thought

Self first. That’s nice

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One of my coworkers reposted this on facebook. I’m sure she didn’t think of this as selfish, but to anyone who has ever been to a third world country, this stands out as the reason Americans are viewed as whiny spoiled brats…

BREAKING NEWS: We need to send money to the following country: USA. There are many without food, shelter, and clean drinking water. Residents are going without heat for the winter, no a/c for the summer. Thousands are without jobs. Need health care for the sick. Stop sending money overseas. We have people here that lack basic human needs. Do you have the guts to re-post this?? AMERICA FIRST!!!

This is what’s known as two truths and a lie. Yes, we have poor and sick, hungry and crippled here, but… our poor are better off than the middle class of many countries. We need to be giving more in general, and making sure that we are truly helping the people in our own country, not just feeding their addictions…but we gotta keep in mind that the rest of the world is no less important than the people who fall within the category we like to refer to as “us”.

Amusement

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It’s interesting to think about what amuses you.

Do you think you’ve matured beyond your childhood amusements? Think again.

I was just sitting in an office chair and spinning, when it occurred to me that for whatever reason, I was still amused by spinning. I may curb the temptation to enjoy the moment, but that doesn’t change the fact that the amusement is still there, just waiting for the chance to come out.

I remember when I was young that it was just the coolest thing to sit on a “sit and spin” and turn the wheel one direction, while moving the opposite.

Now I’m pushing off the ground in one direction and spinning the opposite. Same physics; same fun. Just a little bit duller from use.

There are a lot of things that change about a person as they grow up. You don’t look the same. The same devices such as whining to get what you want or throwing a silent tantrum and contorting your face may not work. You may have even mastered sharing and being helpful, but at the end of the day…

You are the same person.

The only real changes that are more than changes of behavior come from the life inside of you. Christ changes who you are at the core. He doesn’t change everything, only the things that are crooked, and bent on your destruction. You’re free in Christ. You’re free to live laugh, and even (should you so choose) to sit and spin for a while…

Provided you can still get your work done.

Vague

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It vaguely resembled him. His hair, his eyes, were the same.

Nothing else would say that it was him. Nothing else could get out more than a whisper.

The temple light shown down upon the abandoned street and glared in the face of the man who had been the first of his kind, the most famous of his kind. He was a Juggernaut.

A light rain fell on the cobblestones and he hesitated in his step. The temple seemed to waiver in his vision. Was he dreaming? What would he do if he was?

He drunkenly took another step, his right hand brushing against the lightpost.

 

He fell in the sand, face forward, then lifted his head.

There was no temple, there was no rain…only the dark sands of the wilderness. He was dry to the bones. Even worse than the dryness in his body was the dryness of his soul.

desert

But the man he had seen near the temple; could he be the one he was supposed to find? What had happened to the temple, it was there, then gone.

Had he been thinking rationally, he could have reasoned the cause, but reason had abandoned his dry soul long ago.

Power will abandon us all: Health will fail us.

Michael died in the desert he had created. In his own creation did he die.

Closer to the way of life than ever, but never on the right side.

Mourned by many, known by few, he was a brave soul.

These were the words written on his headstone.

The Quest for Professionality

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Some would have you belive that professionality is a myth. I would have you believe it is not a word in the Oxford English dictionary, but it is commonly used anyway.

But that’s off topic. My topic for tonight is going to be based off of the definition kindly provided by Websters Dictionary, who are a little less professional about what words they define.

Professionality

(noun) : the quality or state of being a professional

Submitted by: James Thompson from Massachusetts on Nov. 04, 2010 15:17

(noun) : A Combination of professionalism and personality.

During my visit to a prestigous law firm I noticed the receptionist had both a bright smile and professionality.

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Advice

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Doubt that the end justifies the means, but never doubt that the end is justified. Meet the needs of others, but never meet the proud. Never fail unless you must, and fail with grace, content to try. Walk the race, then run and trip,  always get up, never give up, for no one dies who wins the crown.

Message in a Bottle

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During my thinking time*, I struck upon this idea. What if I could send a one line message back to myself at any point in time. What exactly would it say? What would I change?

I’m not going to lie to you and say that I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve got a few regrets.

It took me half a second to meander to the one choice that I felt was the most pivotal in the insanity that has plagued my adult life. Now, I can’t really send a message back to myself, but for a few minutes, I pretended that the option really existed. I ran the tape of my recent history back and found the point of most effect and in my mind, I delivered my letter to myself.

Now, I can only assume that I would take advice from myself, but let me amend that. I usually calculate in rough probabilities, not ones and zeros, so I see myself at that point in my life as 80% likely to take my own advice.  (Higher now than before.)

So, I ran the tape forward through about ten scenarious that would be the likely outcome. In five of them, I never took up writing, in two of them, I just lived a boring life…but I wasn’t driven insane! That has to count for something right?

Not really.

I took those ten scenarious apart for the next ten minutes, breaking them down, looking at the effects on other people, what might…and probably would happen. How would I have handled this without that happening to me first? What would have become of so and so?

Of the scenarios that came of my message, the few hundred I came up with were overwhelmingly bad with a tendency toward worse. There were three scenarios that had a better outcome for myself  and others , but they depended on people making highly unlikely choices. That’s why there were only three of them.

Who knows? I may have made some highly unlikely choices in my real life. I haven’t been analyzing my decision making process as I go. I don’t have that kind of processing power. It takes a lot to make what I think are good decisions without trying to figure out what decision making process I was using…

Long story short, I’m glad I’m not God. He has so many tough choices to make, and even has to let us make our own choices because He has made the tough choice to do just that. (Calvinists will have to humor me.)

Maybe I should stop pitying myself and start pitying people who have made far worse choices than mine or just didn’t get much to begin with. I’d almost be tempted to pity God, but I don’t think He needs it. He can handle Himself and everything else, and He’s the only one who can/could/will be able to.

* Yes, I have a thinking time. You should too.

Are you a positive person?

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Not sure just yet what my take is on this question. There are at least two different things that people are talking about when they discuss positives and negatives in regards to human behavior.

1. A person who looks for the best in situations vs. a person who sees the worst in every situation.

2. A person who is good at keeping people on track by narrowing their perspective to something that can actually be accomplished vs. a person who often sets unrealistic goals.

By the first definition, everyone wants to be a positive person. By the second, everyone wants to be dead center or at least work with someone who is on the opposite side of the equation and will balance your tendency out.

This presents a dilemma for the person who leans toward the negative side of the second scenario. What do they call themselves. The first definition has tarnished the name of “negative person”, so they can’t call themselves negative people, nor can they call themselves realists, as the artistic people of this generation and last decided that realists hamper creativity, which is not always true. In fact without an idealist working with a realist, very little great art ever happens.

I have a solution.

We could teach everyone Latin and then we wouldn’t have this problem.

G to the T.

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pinksky1.jpgI don’t often put up other people’s work simply because I figure that a blog should be from my heart and experience to yours, but this has affected me deeply and I think everyone needs to hear it.“‘We love because God first loved us. If people say, ‘I love God,’ but hate their brothers or sisters, they are liars. Those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have never seen. And God gave us this command: Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters.”(1 John 4:19-21)’Brothers and sisters can really test your ability to love. They know you so well. They know what makes you cringe and what makes you cry. They can understand you (sometimes) better than anyone else. They can irritate you to no end, but God says that if you love Him you have to love them. He says that if you don’t, you’re a liar. If you don’t love the people you can see (the ones who share your bathroom, eat the last of your favorite snacks, and go through your things), then God says you can’t possibly love him, the One you haven’t seen. Getting along with your brothers and sisters means you’ll get lots of practice at forgiveness. The best thing that could happen is that you’ll become really good friends with the people God put right in your home. He can do anything. So love and just watch Him!”Is it just me, or does anyone else think that if that truth hit the church at full impact we’d see some serious change? The biggest problem of this generation is shear hopelessness. I feel it; I know it’s there! I can smell it and it stinks to the high heavens! Now why would people feel hopeless?… BECAUSE WE DON’T ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT IS POSSIBLE TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER! We’ve stopped trying because we have accepted the lie that the horror we accept is normal and that change only leads to more problems. But didn’t Christ preach to change hearts and minds? Wasn’t He full of grace and truth? Why aren’t we showing that grace to the ones we live/work/worship with? Is it that we really don’t care about them that we “spare” them the truth?