Saturday, April 26, 2014

Honesty

Honesty is not what anybody's about anymore, they're about being plugged into their i-device into they way into to work, sitting at their desk, mindlessly, shuffling TPS reports for the next eight or so hours so they can get plugged back in on their way home, snarl at their family until everyone's settled in front of whatever tube feeds their emptied minds mindless drivel so they can fall asleep and do that all over again for the rest of their lives until they die.

Nobody wants to hear honesty anymore, unless it's about Kayne West or Kim Karashdan.

Is it a bad thing that I have no Idea who these people are?

According to the world, yes, yes, it is. I have no idea what's in the news, the status of dead people on a plane or boat or storm nor who stabbed whom in Pennsylvania or Ohio or Connecticut or who raped whom, 'whom' who showed up a party, underaged, without her parents' permission, drank quite a bit and was she chaperoned? No. Was the party supervised? No. So, teens with drugs and alcohol, but we know our Johnny's going to be on his best behavior because we've been there the whole time, raising him rightly.

I have no idea of any of this going on, every day, some of it making the news, most of it not, just showing up on facebook and instagram, two more media outlets I do not frequent like our 'well-connected society' now does more than they interact with their spouses and children.

I wish I could introduce everyone the power and beauty of being able to create. Create what? 'Content'? No. Beauty. Art. You see, I'm well-connected. I come from a family of writers and teachers and poets and I married into a family of artists. You, dear reader, are probably well-connected, too, being a writer yourself, or artist.

Unlike most people. Most people? Are they content-producers? No, they are simply consumers, and their benefit to themselves, their family, and others is ... what?

What are you here for? Really?

Teens get it. Don't they? That's why they party so hard, drinking until they're numb and then killing themselves more and more frequently these days. Teens know that their lives are pointless, and they are totally useless.

And we wonder why we're losing this next generation to sex, drugs and whatever they call rock and roll these days? This is not the griping of an old, bitter man, this is my plea from me to you.

What is your purpose? Is your purpose that? To commute, then to work, then to snarl then to vege? Are you giving your children purpose? What do they have to live for? Why should they be morally upright? Your purpose is them, right? That they have it better, and live happily.

But what purpose are you give them? 'Father, give me a quest, ... a noble quest.'

Who can give their child a noble quest? Can you? And how can you give them a noble purpose if you have none?

You're purpose is them? Okay, but what role model are you? They become what you are now. Do you want them nice, safe and secure in a 9-to-5er, working for the Man, for the rest of their lives until they die, leaving their 'survived-by' family members a mountain of debt and a mess of unfinished tasked and stories never told? What noble purpose are you giving your children? What can they create? What legacy can they leave, so that two hundred years later people will say 'Grace Hopper' 'Rosa Parks' ... and your daughter. Or, 'George Washington,' 'John Adams' (arguably our most passionate and thoughtful and caring Founding Father) ... and your son.

Wow. Okay! I know where this all came from: people being 'taught' in schools what? Nothing but rote memorization, and we're all paying for that, every day we rotely go to our jobs and turn right around and go to work, because that's how we're defined now.

We need to get back to basics. We need to redefine what it is to be a person, a citizen, and we need to reconstrain what others tell us, particularly when they're telling us how to think and be and live.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

A(n Easter Egg) Hunting We Will Go!

(Une petite histoire in pictures)

Our girls, about to embark on their Easter Egg hunt! Ooh, an adventure!


Our girls, hunting and gathering Easter eggs


Success! Easter Bunny eggs found!


... and our girls lived happily (or chocolate-hazedly) ever after.

The end.

Please

Dear LORD,

Thank You for today. Thank you for my birthday supper with my family — Yay! — including my sister, Beki, and my niece, Sofya. What a special treat for me! This week, LORD, I am 47 years old. Help me to be mindful of you today and every day this new year and then every year throughout my life.

Please be with us, LORD, as we place our trust in You. Please be with Howland, Beki, Peter, and Sofya as they face this hard time. Please help Peter to be a person he can be: sweet, gentle, kind, smart, and help him to let go of his hurts and help him not to hurt others. Please be with my parents, now divorced after 30 years of separation. Please heal their hearts. Please love them, LORD, and keep them in Your care, as they kept me in theirs.

Please be with me, LORD, Please be with me at work and help me to be productive and helpful there. Please be with me at home, LORD, to be a good husband and father, a solid rock of strength and stability upon which my wife and daughters may rest assured and safe.

Please, LORD, help us to know, to love, and to serve You.

I ask all these things in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Your Love (the only thing that matters)

Dear LORD,

Thank you for today.

Brrrr!

It was a cold day today! Especially coming off such a warm day the day before. So! Thank you, LORD, for keeping me safe and warm today throughout the day. Thank You, LORD, for the simple things You gave me today, little miracles for which I'm grateful: a simple lunch with my coworkers where we got to talk about things other than work, like getting married and video games (at work? not likely!).

Thank You for letting me complete my one task today. Please help me to be effective and efficient at work getting things done, showing results so the customer can be pleased to give the users what they need.

LORD, we lost in our family. My sister has tried and fought for a long, long time to help Peter be a person free from his past and a good, kind, loving boy, not lashing out at his parents and other children. But after years of trying, she's had to ask for State help to take over his care and to keep him in a controlled and safe environment. Please, LORD, be with Beki, Howland, Peter, and Sofia. Give them Your Love and strength. Help them.



I ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Messes

Dear LORD, 

Thank You for today. Thank You for helping me to make so many messes today. I made a mess of everything I ventured today, and I made so many of them. But I a grateful. If I weren't making messes, I wouldntve been doing anything. If I weren't making messes, I'd've been taking myself o-so-seriously, and I do too much of that already. Today, however, I got to break the build, twice, and laugh at it and myself with Clayton. He saw me making mistakes, but, instead of getting angry with myself, I laughed at silly me and fixed my errors or let him correct me and fix my errors, himself. Besides, everything doesn't depend on me: Clayton likes to code, too. He's allowed me the space to code, and, today, I gave him opportunities to code, too. Something he hasn't done in a while.

Thank you for Alpna dropping me off at the Celerity bus stop so I could assuage the little girl's worries that, es, she was at the right bus stop, and yes, it was the right bus that took her to the right stop home, and yes, the bus takes a while to reach the stop. Just as soon as I relieved her worries, the bus arrived and her relief, seeing, not believing me, but seeing the bus was palpable.

LORD, let me be a relief to everyone I see today and everyday. Let me remove one worry from their lives, so, today, they can be happy.

I ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen.



Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Grateful in lean and in plenty


Dear Lord,



Thank you for today. Thank you for another week of paid work; may our paycheck help us to begin to make arrears with our past bills. Thank you for the Rosary Walk after lunch. It helped me to think on you. Thank you for the new work at work. Help me to help the project and my coworkers to get done what they need to do. Thank you for the letter from the IRS saying that we would receive a larger refund. We went through a period of lean and hardship, and now we are receiving bounty. Help us to use it wisely and to be grateful in lean and in plenty. 



I ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Christ. 



Amen