Soda

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Remember when you wanted to get a carbonated beverage years ago? Perhaps you call it a soda pop, or a soda, just pop, or a Coke as we call it in the South? Things have sure changed.

Back when I was growing up nothing was in plastic. If you wanted a soda to drink you would get it in a glass bottle. They were very heavy and fairly expensive. We saw them as treats. We didn’t drink them all the time or even every day. You couldn’t reseal them, so you couldn’t take one with you and drink it throughout the day. Because it was glass you had to be fairly careful with it too.

Back then, we didn’t recycle the glass – it got reused. Do you remember playing the game with the Coca-Cola bottles? They would have the names of cities on the bottom of them. Your friends would get bragging rights for whoever had the one from the furthest away. These bottles were washed and reused and sanitized over and over again.

Reusing them takes far less energy than melting down and reforming them. Why do we think that we are so environmentally conscious now with plastic? So many people don’t recycle that plastic bottles are huge burden on landfills. Because they are in plastic, we drink more and more, and thus pollute more and more.

Another benefit of the old way is that we drank a lot less sodas. Sodas are bad for our health. When we wanted something sweet to drink as children we drink Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid with its sugar isn’t the healthiest thing to drink, of course. But we are learning that sugar is better than high fructose corn syrup. And drinking Kool-Aid was better for the environment. It didn’t come in big wasteful bottles. It came in little packets and we added the water. You also had control over how much sugar you added. In general as a child I remember simply drinking water.

So perhaps the old way was in fact better. It cost less to our health, our pockets, and the environment.

Possessions and the kingdom

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“It is very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. It would be easier for a huge camel to go through the tiny eye of a needle.”

His audience was astounded and confused at the same time. They asked “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said “If people try to do it with their own power, they will fail. But if they rely on God’s power then everything is possible.”

Peter looked at him and said “Lord, we’ve left everything we had to follow you. What will happen to us?”

“Mark my words,” Jesus said, “everyone who has left their home and family because of me and the Good News will receive 100 times more than that back now, as well as receive eternal life in the age that is coming. Many who are last will be first and many who are first will be last.”

MT 19:23-30, MK 10:23-31, LK 18:24-30

Poem cart/carriage

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I saw them, crossing the bridge.
A mother and her baby in a carriage
on the left side of the road
against traffic.

The margin is wide there, plenty of room.

Such a cold day!
All the bundling, all the wraps
the blankets covering.

I smiled a little, but was concerned.
This road isn’t really for pedestrians
and it is very cold out.

This wasn’t a stroll.
There was purpose to this venture.
Perhaps a trip to Target
for detergent or apples?

And then I got closer
and saw
the mother wasn’t
because she
was a he
and there was no baby
and that was no carriage
but a shopping cart
filled with any and sundry
Possessions
worldly and otherwise.

And it all deepened
and went sideways.

It was still a sunny day
it was still cold
the road was still not safe
for walking

but now there wasn’t the hope
of new life,
of young life
but instead the awareness
of something else
in my neighborhood.

The narrow gate.

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Jesus taught in every town he went through while on his way to Jerusalem. “Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?”

Jesus said “The only way to get into the kingdom of heaven is to enter through the narrow gate. Many people take the broad road and the wide gate, but those lead to destruction. The road that leads to life is difficult and the gate is narrow. Very few people find it. Many will try to enter heaven and will be turned back. The owner of the house will get up and lock the door.

Then they will stand outside knocking, saying ‘Lord, open up! Let us in!’ And he will answer ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from here all you guilty people!’

Then they will say ‘We ate and drank with you and you taught in our towns!’ But he will say again ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from! Get away from me!’

Then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets of the kingdom of God thrown into the outer darkness, except for the true disciples. Many will come from the east and west to take their places in the kingdom of God. Mark my words, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

MT 8:11-12, MT 7:13-14, LK 13:22-30

The Visitors part 6

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“Ha! What do we have here?”

Julia woke with a start. A beautiful man was staring at her. This wasn’t good for many reasons.

For starters, it meant that her plan to rest and then escape quietly had fallen to pieces. Secondly, any strange man was a danger. But thirdly, a beautiful man was even more dangerous.

Julia’s Gran had taught her to always look for a boyfriend who was beautiful but didn’t know it. Many guys who were beautiful knew it, and thus had a very high sense of entitlement. Little did they realize that often the only thing they had going for them was their looks. They were often incompetent in every other area because they hadn’t needed to develop any part of their inner self. The exterior was all that mattered, because it is what got them attention.

When these beautiful men started to get older their looks started to go and so did their confidence. They tended to make up for it by being complete jerks to everyone around them. They treated everyone as lesser than them.

The fact that this man was Quality made it all the worse. He had two strikes against him, although he sure didn’t think of it that way. He was dangerous and didn’t even know it.

Being able to size people up like this was critical to a Visitor. Gran had taught her well for this life, even though she never meant to. Julia had a good idea how to act around him in a way that would keep her safe. Maybe even away from the authorities too.

She could tell this man had an undeservedly high opinion of himself, and she was going to have to tread very carefully. Not like she was treading at all right now. She didn’t exactly have her back up against the wall but it was just as bad. She was still in the bed and a little entangled in the sheets. Hopefully because of this he wouldn’t see her as a threat. But more importantly, she hoped that he wouldn’t feel the need to be threatening at all. You never knew with these kinds of encounters. Julia hadn’t had a lot of them, but any unintentional run-in with Quality was one too many.

He was about average height, less than 6 feet tall. His hair was salt-and-pepper. To be honest, it was more salt than pepper. He had it pulled back into a ponytail. This let her know even more about him. Her Gran always said “Any man who thought he was something was really nothing.”

She said a quiet prayer to her Gran right now to know what to do.

She didn’t have much time to finish her prayer before the man decided for her. He grabbed her by one ankle and dragged her out of the bed.

“Get out of here! This isn’t your home! The Lady is coming home soon, you hear?”

Her breath was knocked out of her when she landed on the floor. So much for plush carpets – they didn’t soften the blow one bit. Scrambling, she grabbed the spare dress she’d taken from the last room and ran headlong out of the bedroom and downstairs. She headed for the front door rather than try to find the servant’s entrance.

It was locked. Of course. Because that would keep out Visitors. Don’t these people know anything?

Fumbling with the latch and the deadbolt, she was out, nearly tripping over the stone statue of a lion next to the immaculately trimmed shrubbery. Must be nice to have that much money and time. Oh wait – they didn’t. It was all stolen.

She tried not to be bitter about how unfair it all was. And they accused Visitors of being thieves! Time to move on. This kind of thinking would just keep her distracted, and she needed to keep her wits about her. She was in foreign territory.

Julia had time to think about that encounter on her walk away from the home. She was walking, not running. Running would call too much attention to her. She was dressed well enough, having taken some sensible shoes from the closet in the last Room. She could play the part, now she was dressed like it. Walking would clear her mind and help her blend in.

Quality walked their neighborhoods. For exercise maybe? Maybe to see their neighbors? Maybe as part of a patrol? Nobody ever knew about them. The Visitors watched and studied them like the threats they were. These people had suddenly gone up in status but not in brains. They didn’t make much sense to anybody, least of all themselves.

He’d been worried about the Lady. That was odd. Julia wondered about that. Another case where the relationship was unequal? Sometimes the couple was just posing as a couple. Sometimes they didn’t know each other well and had decided to occupy an abandoned house together, as uneasy roommates. Sometimes it worked out. Sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes the houses were big enough that they could live together there and not ever see each other. That seemed to work out well.

Julia kept walking towards the city. There’d be no opportunity to find another Door in the suburbs. It wasn’t like she could just knock on some stranger’s door and ask to use their inter-dimensional portal.

If they had one. If they knew they had one.

Come to think of it, how did that last Lady know where the Door was? Was she a Visitor, posing as Quality? Or had other Visitors come through there?

That was a question for another day.

Now, to find a municipal building or a store – some place she was allowed to walk in unquestioned. She had to get back to Rob and Mickey. There was time yet, but in this life you had to make the best use of the time you had. You never knew what was going to happen next on the Walks.

Pride. (In the name of pigheadedness)

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I know people who refuse to go to the eye doctor because they don’t want to admit that they need help. They’d rather squint at everything than get glasses. Their logic is that if they wore glasses then everybody would know that they needed glasses.

Others will do the same thing about hearing aids. They have to ask people to repeat themselves all the time, or they miss out on half the conversation. Somehow they think that is better than getting a hearing aid, which everybody would see.

Likewise, I also know people who have children who need to be evaluated for learning or behavioral disabilities. They would rather pretend that their child who is having difficulty interacting with their peers is just going through a phase rather than getting help for him.

These are all related. It’s all pride, fear, and shame. They’re embarrassed about what other people would think. Meanwhile, they’d rather hobble along and suffer.

Think of it this way – If you were born without a leg do you want to spend the rest of your life hopping on one foot? Wouldn’t it be easier to get crutches or an artificial leg or a wheelchair? Pretending like everything is fine when it isn’t is insane.

People don’t look at you funny for asking for help. They look at you funny when you need it but won’t ask for it. If you really care what people think, you’ll take care of yourself first. Then they won’t notice your problem because you’ve dealt with it.

Your eyes reveal what is inside you.

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Your eyes reveal what is inside you. They are the lamps of your body. If they have light within them, then that is a sign that your whole being is filled with light. If your eyes are filled with darkness, then it is proof that your whole being is filled with darkness. Be mindful of the light within you. If your whole being is filled with light, then your spirit will shine forth like a lamp does.

LK 11:34-36, MT 6:22-23

Serving two masters

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Jesus then told the story to his disciples. “There was a rich man who heard that his accountant was mishandling the books. He called the accountant in and told him to defend himself against these accusations, because he was about to fire him.

The accountant was really worried about what to do. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to be a laborer and he was too proud to beg. He came up with a plan so that after he got fired people would welcome him into their homes.

He called everyone who owed money to his master, asking them how much they owed. After each told him, he had them mark down the amount they owed dramatically, even cutting some bills in half.

The manager praised his dishonest accountant because he had acted shrewdly. The people who are more worldly are far more shrewd at dealing with their own kind than godly people are. I tell you, use the wealth of this world to get friends, so that when that money is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal homes.”

LK 16:1-9
——–
“If you are honest in handling small matters, you will be honest in handling large ones. If you are dishonest with small matters you will also be dishonest with large ones. If you have not taken care of what little has been given to you, who will give you anything more? If you have not taken care of what was entrusted to you by someone else, who will give you anything of your own to take care of?

You can either serve God or money. You can’t serve both. God is either your master or money is your master. If you try to serve both at the same time, you will end up being devoted to one of them and despising the other.”

MT 6:24, LK 16:10-13
—-
“Don’t store up treasures for yourself here on earth, where they can be destroyed or stolen. Instead store up treasures in heaven, where they can’t be destroyed or stolen but instead will last forever. Because where your treasure is, there your heart is as well. Sell what you have and give it to those who don’t have anything. This is the best kind of wealth to have.”

MT 6:19-21, LK 12:33-34

Library thoughts – book magic

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People think that if you work in the library, you are a librarian. They think that librarians are intelligent and deserve respect. In many ways, they give them more respect than teachers.

They do not realize and are surprised to discover that to be a librarian you have to have a Master’s degree in library science. Just working in a library doesn’t mean you are a librarian.

Thus, they think merely working in a library is enough to indicate intelligence and command respect.

Thus, merely being around books makes you smart and respected. This seems to not apply to booksellers, though. Perhaps it is the number of nonfiction books to fiction that makes the difference. Perhaps it is because librarians help you for free, so their actions seem altruistic.

I don’t know. I’m running with it though, because it benefits me.

I spent a lot of years working retail, and honestly, the library is a lot like retail. I like it better, not just because people respect me more. I’m the same person whether I’m at Waldenbooks or the library, so it isn’t me, it is them.

I like working at the library because I can help people regardless of their ability to pay. I always felt a little guilty encouraging people to look at extra items when I worked in retail. There was always a little bit of tension there because of it. They’d sometimes say “Oh, you want me to get this so you’ll get a higher commission.” No, it is because it will benefit you. Or you need it.

Now there is no tension. They can have 100 books at a time.

In a related thought, people are now saying to me “Wow! I know a real author!” Being a writer isn’t enough. Publishing a book is what makes it real. Maybe this is part of working in the library. People respect books. Real, physical books. Just being around them, the magic rubs off on you.

TMJ as a teacher, part two.

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TMJ is caused by over-clenching the jaw. We clench our jaws when we feel stressed out, but also related is when we feel silenced.

Unable to speak, forcibly silencing ourselves, we shut our mouths. Either we feel that our opinions are not wanted, or that will not be respected or well received. We fear speaking because we will be laughed at or be punished. We forcibly clench our jaws to keep ourselves from talking.

Give thanks for the self-preservation instinct. Give thanks for mindfulness too, and becoming aware. It keeps us safe, but it also operates from a fight or flight, caveman place.

Here are some options –

Give speaking a try. Write what you want to say down first, then speak it. Practice alone, like you are in a play. Before you are around those people again, pray for the words. Pray for the right time to speak as well.

If you honestly feel that you can’t talk, then create. Give voice to your fears and concerns in art. Write about it, paint it, dance it. Express it to get it out. Then you have an option – if you still feel that you cannot share this, burn it, offering it up to God.

One of the last options is to change jobs or friends. Every difficulty is a chance to grow. If you leave a difficult situation early, you are missing out on the lesson, and it will simply be repeated in the next relationship you create. However, sometimes leaving is the right thing to do. Pray about it and feel out the right answer.