JUMBLED FOCUS!

Is "jumbled focus" an oxymoron? Or am I just the moron? 

Wordsmiths know all about such contradictory terms. 

For this moron, whose brain is in a state of "organized chaos" these days, some oxymorons seem to make sense.

But God, in His mercy and great love, (Ephesians 2:4) patiently reminds me to "keep on keeping on" in the focus realm.

Setting (and resetting as needed) my "mind on things above not on things that are on earth." (Colossians 3:2)

God has been cutting me some slack lately as I have been in such a "fluctuating" state of focus. 

Maybe I, as well, need to "cut myself some slack" in the midst of this  "jumbled focus" time---knowing "in quietness and trust is my strength!"

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Christmas in July!

That's what it looks like at our house.

Just stick a flag in the Christmas poinsettia on the table, have food all over the counter along with a hodgepodge of seasonal napkins, custard stirring on the stovetop and voilà! One difference was the sound of the ice cream freezer whirring because that's where the custard went. 

Freedom was celebrated---Freedom as an American. 

Freedom as a Christian (John 8:36)

Happy 4th, Friends! Oops---day late......&.......you know the rest. 

"So me"--these days!

MY CUP OF TEA

MY CUP OF TEA. A great idiom first used in Britain, of course. It's a an expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning.  If "My cup of tea" is representative of a negative it is preceded by not. As a positive "my cup of tea is indicative of one's preference, penchant, or propensity,

Of course when "not" precedes my cup of tea with a negative connotation, not my cup of tea seems a gentler way of expressing one's preference without the use of harsh or critical words.

MY CUPPA TEA---synonyms = affinity, choice/taste, druthers, orientation or preference,  

Even if something might not be your cup of tea, as a personal opinion , one can strive for unity over  any differences which are not areas of biblical perspicuity. Political parties. Pandemic protocol. Vaxx. Those are all negotiable.

• A gentle word turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs. 15:1) 
• Gentle words bring life and health.(not volume of one's voice or snide comments, DAL). perverseness breaks the spirit. (Proverbs. 15:4) 
• Gracious (kind) words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.  (Proverbs. 16:24, NIV)

Get together for a cuppa tea and discuss your differing cups of tea....or just agree to disagree in love.

ALL......SAYS..........IT..........ALL!

All says it all. The dictionary defines "all" as an indefinite adjective. In Scripture, I see all often used as complete, definite. In English, all has several functions---as an adverb, noun or pronoun. Most often I think of "all" as completely.

"That's all she wrote." That could mean something is finished and that is all there is to be said. For me,  it could mean, if I were the "she" that tonight I'm finished typing. Nite. Nite.

It was all I could do not to get up in the night to finish this because thoughts were whirring.

As thoughts are still whirring about current circumstances, I went back to Robert Morgan's All to Jesus Day 297, whose thoughts were not whirring but were clear and concise.

With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and...be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18, NASB)

All kinds of prayers---arrow prayers (Margie Hornor) "HELP, THANKS, WOW prayers, (Anne Lamott) silent prayers, spoken prayers, travel mercies prayers, walking prayers (JoLynn)

All hours of the day---morning, noon and night.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16, KJV)

With all perseverance.....Keep on keeping on....(I Thessalonians 5:17)...for all the saints as many as possible specifically and by name. (Morgan, Day 297) 

All to Jesus I Surrender!

All says it all! That's all I have to say---today.

SHARED FUNNIES

Inside jokes for the family = a feel good dopamine.

I've needed some feel-good dopamine lately. 

My go-to in such times is a cuppa and a cozy mystery. Light reading, not Eliot's Middlemarch, Dostoevsky's, Crime and Punishment or Wilkie Collin's, The Woman in White, though these are some of my old faves.

The enervating quality of humid days of "Dog-ust" has me drawn to a "lighter" sweet tea (iced) & a book whose title brings back a family memory. It also helps that a murder has taken place in an English hamlet graveyard. Miss Davenport, (a family name proudly selected for two of my grand boys) the protagonist is shocked at her own "mercenary bent." To this day my children have a variety of frugal, cheap adjectives for me in the area of finance. I would much prefer economical or prudent.....I'm certainly glad "mercenary bent" is not one of them. 

So....what's the funny?

This book was chosen just for the title.      *

Our shared funny occurred in the balcony of Highland Heights Presbyterian Church in the early eighties. Hubby and I and our 2 boys were sitting in the balcony. Their baby sister was in the nursery. In the sermon message Rev. Thad Grimstead used the idiom, "cut the mustard" and our 4 year old lost it!

His ticklebone had been engaged and was out of control. We all knew why!

Being a nursing baby, his sister's poops looked similar to runny mustard. Anytime a brother acknowledged, usually by holding their nose, that she needed changing it was announced loud and clear.

"Molly cut the mustard." To say that laughter ensued in our balcony pew is putting it mildly. Even the pastor raised his eyebrows and looked in our direction. 

A private family joke. A shared funny. To this day it makes me smile whether I hear the term or read it in a "light" book......a time for laughter which I need. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

*Garden bouquet of flowers from sweet Jerrie was a real spirit lifter as well.

CHOOSE: IDIOMATIC LANGUAGE

Started entry title as "Choose: Obedience"---but that sounded "spiritually prideful," which in and of itself sounds oxymoronic.

"Choose Diligence" lost out as the title as well, because though I've long been known for diligence---that sounds negative in this sense. So...

....I chose "idiomatic language" not only because it's Wordsmith Wednesday but because I'm a "hard nut to crack" and today I'm going to the "nutcracker" doc. Think metaphorical insanity.

With my brain a metaphor for a nut and because I don't know what's going on in there half the time, I decided to be diligent and obey my internist and keep my appointment with Dr. A, who is a recognized "nutcracker!" He doesn't have a clue as to how hard it is to gain entry into my circular thinking noggin. 

I'm sipping a strong cuppa nutcracker tea this morning in preparation.

Maybe I should take some nutcracker tea to serve him as well as I'm a hard, tough nut to crack and he's gonna need extra help to be up to the "Dotsy" challenge!

Taken Aback

"Taken Aback". An idiom from my grandparents generation. (Probably.)

Yet, those 2 words came to mind as I walked past my bedroom chest of drawers. 

I realized (with a thud in my heart) that the picture on top was taken exactly 6 years ago tonight, with my pre-surgeries short hair. 

Taken with hubby and all three kids in the hospital "hotel " room the night before the beginning of my MAC surgeries....from excision to facial rebuilding.

This is the last picture of my "smiling" face, as I knew it, before I went under the knife. 

That "last picture" thought was what had me taken aback.

Winnnowing

8/31/10 I need more winnowing in my life. How ‘bout you? Mine might not be a winnowing of good and evil but more of a winnowing of good for better or unnecessary for necessary even in the mundane tasks of writing and speaking. 

I’m often too verbose when it comes to both writing and speaking. I need to "cut to the chase" as I write and "get to the point" when I talk, by getting rid of so many details. Today as I spent more time in Psalm 1, I noticed the stark contrast of the one who prospers and the ungodly one. Psalm one compares the godly man (one who meditates on the word) to firmly planted trees nourished by water. The ungodly man is like the chaff---the useless part of the seed or grain that is left after the winnowing.

A woman in Joy Gill's India winnows (separates) the grain from the useless chaff as it blows away. 

In other parts of scripture we see the useless chaff scattered as it is wind/gale driven, wind blown, storm driven and angel chased. 2 Kings 19 gives a real analogy of chaff in the lives of Hezekiah’s people who had been invaded by the Assyrians: “Leaving their people dispirited, slumped shoulders, limp souls. Useless as weeds, fragile as grass, insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.” (v. 26, The Message) The chapter goes on to assure God's deliverance for His own glory---that His people might be the opposite of chaff. 

 People have their hearts as good ground, so that His word might strike root, and bring forth fruit in their lives as “they sink down roots and rise up fruits.” (v.30) 

Sounds like Psalm 1:3, doesn't it? Winnowing gets rid of the chaff and allows God’s fruit to “blossom” in all our lives. Allow the Lord to help you look closely into your life to help you recognize and rid yourself of the chaff, the undesirable parts. It might take a close examination but the winnowing will be worth it as it frees you from the superfluous or the unnecessary or maybe even the bad. 

Winnowing certainly needs to be a bigger part of my "life" vocabulary.