Sand Gnats, A Spiritual Lesson

   As I walked early this morning, noting that it was not too early for the bugs to come out, I wondered to myself why God made pesky insects. Around here we have sand gnats, or no-see-ums, which come out in profusion when the temperatures are right. Some people are really bothered by them, but I seem to have developed some immunity to their bites and do not seem bothered after the initial sharp puncture of the skin.

   I thought, as I got back home, that I would look for some references, somewhere, as to what good these small mites do in the world. Surely they were created for something other than a nuisance.

   All of this led me on another rabbit trail. Several years back, when we first moved south from Chattanooga, a "knowledgeable person" told me that the sand gnat did not actually bite, but just secreted an acidic compound that made it feel like a bite. Sounded good to me, so I have proceeded over the years to pass on my newfound expertise to many others that needed to be enlightened on that particular subject.

   So, when I started looking on the internet for any good property for the lowly gnat, all the articles talked about the sand gnat "bite". Did they actually bite, and had I been spreading false information all this time? Not one time did I see anything about that drop of acid on the skin, and now I began to get worried.

   Then I found this other blog and read:

    Sand gnats don't just puncture your skin like mosquitoes do. Instead they rip it open using sharp cutting teeth located on the mandible. After inserting two sharp, sword-like blades into the skin as anchors, the sand gnat uses the cutting teeth to rip up the skin and get the blood flowing. As if that weren't enough, the gnat then squirts a chemical into the open wound to inhibit blood clotting. The tiny pool of blood that forms is then sucked up through a straw-like structure called the proboscis. Some human victims have allergic reactions to the chemical and must endure itchy red spots or even swollen welts.

   Partial vindication...maybe there was something to that chemical reaction, at least it fit in with my early discovery. Looks like there was a biting involved but also a secretion.

   So, I had gotten away from my original quest to find something good about the sand gnat, but maybe I had learned something else in the process. Beware of spreading false or misleading information.

   At least in the case of the little pest, this information may not be life threatening, but what about more important things, even spiritual. Maybe there are at least two things that I should do.

1. check my sources

2. don't try to look good by sharing "new" information

   Or possibly another one: "Keep your mouth shut"

   Has to be a spiritual lesson in all of this somewhere, Right?

   Right!

 

 

Lightroom and life

   Lightroom is an Adobe Photoshop application that is used for organizing and working with images. When I take photographs, I can download them directly from the card on my camera into the computer where the software program takes over. There is only one trouble with all of this. I can't seem to learn what to do to develop a consistent workflow so that I can actually do what i want. Lightroom seems to have a mind of its own, and, once I learn one thing about using it, another thing shows itself and I'm lost again.

   Fortunately for me, my neighbor a few doors down knows this program and is willing to give me some help on using it. But even this may have its limits. If I don't grasp it pretty soon, even he may make himself scarce when he sees me coming, and I would not blame him at all.

   I thought of all this as I took a few minutes to pray this morning. My prayers seem to be repeating themselves over these days. There are things that I am concerned about, and I seem to keep coming back to them each and every day. Most of these are in regard to my life and how to live it at this stage. I want to do my best for Him, for my family and for my growth in His grace.

   Then the thought hits me. Will God get tired of my continual asking for help? He knows me and He knows what I need. Should I have to keep on asking or maybe one day see the whole picture and master the program?

   Just as I tell my neighbor, "don't give up on me, I may understand it all one day, but right now I need help", do I say the same to God?

   And I thought maybe life would get easier at this point, but I'm still behind the curve on learning how to operate.

   I need help and I need it soon, on both fronts.

A Learning Experiment

   This morning as I woke up, I realized that I had a few minutes to sit and think and pray before eating breakfast and rushing off to a meeting at church. I thought about the meeting that would happen in a few minutes, and my role in it.

   Then these thoughts:

   A few years back, a man introducing me to another person, said, in effect, that he respected me because of my wisdom. Now I know that he might have done this, and probably so, in order to make me look good, but I have never felt that this wisdom thing was my forte. In fact, I find myself often speaking up in a group, in order to say something that might make me appear wise, when, in fact, I don't feel any wisdom, just a hint of pride in looking that way.

   So, as I prayed about this upcoming meeting, and what my role might be in it, I found myself formulating an experiment of sorts. I wondered what might happen if I only spoke out when prompted by something other than selfish inclinations, that God might lead me as to when to speak and how to make the words true to what I felt, and not just what I thought others would want to hear. In short, I would endeavor to speak truth, as I saw it, and leave it at that.

   There is an old saying that goes something like this "Hold your tongue and let others think you are wise rather than open your mouth and prove to them that you are not", and I resolved to go in that direction.

   So I went and tried to remember my thoughts from that brief early time. I tried not to speak just because everyone else had an opinion on a matter. I tried not to just agree and be in step with the group. If I had something I felt was pertinent to the conversation, I spoke, but otherwise just kept silent.

   In a group of 6 men, it is noticeable when one has little to say, so, before long, others began to prompt me to speak, or ask my opinion on a matter. Even as I did speak, I tried to measure my words carefully and thoughtfully, to add something to the conversation, and not to just respond.

   After the meeting adjourned, I thought about my experiment. It was hard to stay quiet some of the time, but, looking back on the whole thing, I felt that I had at least spoken from what I believed and not just what others might praise as wisdom. What I said may have not revealed any wisdom on my part, but being quiet may have a wisdom all its own.

   That was the conclusion that arose from that one experiment.

    "Jesus tells us one day we will have to give an account for every idle word that passes our lips. By our words--idle or not--we will be justified or condemned. "

   At the very least, words not spoken can't be classified as "idle", and that is a plus.

   Could be the dawning of a new day. Now to remember what has been learned.

   

Waiting Impatiently for....

   Last week we spent a couple of days on Kiawah Island with our son and part of his family. Their house was only a short walk from the beach, and so I wanted to get up early and see the sunrise as that new day dawned. It might be a Kodak moment, and I did have my camera with me, but without an alarm clock, I did not know if I would wake up in time to catch that event.

   But I did wake up early, and I did get to the beach just as the sky was beginning to lighten. Since I don't wear a watch, I did not know the time, nor did I know what time the sunrise was predicted to be, and so I waited. I found a spot on a ramp built over the dunes, a place where I could rest my camera on the railing and get a steady shot since I had no tripod, and I waited. And I waited.

   I took several shots of the sky as it changed its pastel colors. I anticipated the spot where the sun would rise out of the ocean, and I waited.

   As the world around me began to lighten, I wondered if the sun was somehow hidden behind some clouds that I could not see. Was it already up, and I could not see it? Was my waiting in vain? Had the moment passed me by?

   Then an arc of orange broke out of the sea, and as it slowly rose in the east, I took a bunch of shots with various camera settings and wondered why I had been so impatient. I knew the sun would rise on its schedule, I knew it was out there, I just wanted it to hurry up and present itself so I could get what I came for.

   This morning, as I walked early and saw the sky in the east beginning to get brighter, I thought of that other morning of last week, and I thought of that time as a microcosm of my life at times. I am impatient with people and impatient with God.

   Then I realize, even as I pray for what I think are the right things in my life, that I am operating on my time schedule and not His. Does He not want to give me a deeper knowledge of Him? Does He not want me to be confident in my life with Him? Does He not want to give me direction for my life? Does He not want to give me those attributes that would make me a better disciple?

   And just now I think about that sunrise. There is a timetable, and it is not mine.

   And I pray, "Thy Will Be Done"

   and wait impatiently for patience.....

Characters from Life and Fiction

   I'm not real sure that I can put all of this together this morning, but I will try.

   The Gospel reading for today concerned Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking the body of Jesus and giving it a burial in the garden tomb. As I read, I wondered what these two men were thinking at that time and what happened to them after that. They are both mentioned briefly earlier in the Gospel story, but they pass through the scenes of Jesus' life fleetingly and then are not heard from again. They both had a lot to lose in terms of prestige in the Judea of that day, but we just don't know.

   Then I think of characters in the book I am reading. I have read Les Miserables before, way back in high school, but am making my way through it again. The author, Victor Hugo, paints his characters in such detail, that there is no doubt the way they think and act and the whys of their ways. Sometimes, in excruciating detail, their thoughts are examined so as to leave no doubt about them. The reader can see their faces, read their minds, read their expressions, and know their hearts. They are an open book, literally.

   Then I think of people in my story, people that I think I know well because I have been around them for years, watched them grow up and become the way they are today. But do I really? They can talk to me about their lives, and I can watch what they do, but it is only through what they choose to reveal that I can see into their minds or hearts.

   I wonder to myself, why do I even want to know about these characters? Is it just idle curiosity or something more?

   It may be just that curiosity that causes me to want to know more about those Gospel characters and the complete story of their lives. Maybe, in their case, I would like to have some direction from the way they lived as an example for me in situations that I might find myself in.

   I do not have to wonder much about Hugo's characters. They are spelled out in great detail. They can give me insights into my own life, as I see myself in them, but they are just in a fictional story and the author can make them come out any way he chooses.

   Then there are those that I know well. Why do I want to know about them? Curiosity or more? Could I give some earned wisdom in those situations in their lives that I have lived through, whether in failure or victory? That would be the noble reason, I think.

   I can learn from those stories that I read about, whether in the Bible or in a work of fiction, but I can only interact with those that God has placed in my life, in my story. My prayer is that I would take the time and have the concern about those that I know, to be a presence in their lives for good. I pray for wisdom in dealing with those that He places here, where I live, so that God's story is carried out in all of our lives.

   As Hugo breathes life into his story people, so much more does God do the same for us. Hugo's characters have no choice in the matter, but God does give me choices, and I want to make the ones that add to the story of His love and grace, not take away from it.

   Let me live a life of Reality not fiction.

Reflections on Travel and People

   OK, we are home again. Several miles of driving over the past week, several different friends and family members visited, and sleeping in a lot of different beds. So, what do I remember as I sit here in the quiet of this new day?

   Most of all I think about people, friends from long ago and newer ones from the past few years. I think about family and the lives that they lead also. The places that we traveled to did not seem that important, it was the lives of those that we interacted with that seemed to hold my attention.

   As I thought about these folks, some of which I have already written about, I contemplate what I really know about each one. It is like having "friends" on Facebook. I can only see what they choose to let me see about their lives.

   If one chooses to post on that social media what new things that they have done or accomplished, that is what they have wanted each of their friends to know. That seems to be how they want their lives evaluated. Likewise with homes or cars or any of the stuff that they collect, as well as who they know or hang out with.

   It is the same when we sit down and visit with people. The only way I can see into their true lives is through what they reveal and what I observe. I cannot know all of their struggles and joys. I cannot know how they feel about their family situations, whether that be good or bad.

   All of us wear masks to some degree. We want to look good to those that surround us in life, while, maybe on the inside, we are hurting. We may want to appear successful in life, when, in reality, we know we are failing in the really important parts.

   It seems, that through all the miles and places of this past week, the parts that stick out to me are the times that we sat down and visited with our friends and family. Relationships are important, and that is what makes life. We interacted with scores of folks in these days, from those "living the good life" to those grieving over the loss of a loved one, or stuck in a nursing home.

   But then, how about me. How many masks do I wear, with one to fit every occasion?

   God knows the real me, as well as the secret lives of all that we have talked with over these days. I can only listen to talk and observe the walk of others, but I want mine to truly reflect His Love and His Grace.

   Not in just words, either.

A Tale of Two Ladies

   As we continue on our travels today, I take some time to look back on the experiences of yesterday.

   We made a couple of visits, one in Knoxville and one here in Chattanooga, to two ladies, both of which we had known for a long time, and who were, and still are, important in our lives.

   The first was a friend that had come into our lives when we were first married. We lived in Knoxville then, starting our first job, beginning our lives together in a new city, with new challenges and our future stretched out before us.

   I have often heard it said that we can choose our friends, but God chooses our neighbors. Well, this lady was one of our new neighbors, and has been one of our friends for many years. God put her and her husband in our lives in that formative period, and we were the better for it.

   Now she sits in an assisted living facility in Knoxville. Her mind is failing as well as her mobility, but she was excited to see us. We had a good time, remembering and laughing together, and it was good for all of us. We knew, when the visit ended and we drove back to Chattanooga, that it was a visit that we were supposed to make, for us and for her. We were blessed and felt that we had brought her some measure of joy also. That is a good way to leave a visit, one that had a purpose for all.

   As we came back into Chattanooga, we stopped and spent some time with another lady, one who, with her husband, had been important in our lives when we lived here. We had served together in a couple of churches and done ministry together up in the mountains of East Tennessee at a Christian camp.

   This lady is still active, gets around well, has a good mind as well as a beautiful voice. She lives alone, but God has allowed her to have some of her children and grand children close by, as well as giving her avenues of service in her church.

   We spent some time together, remembering old times and people from our collective pasts, and it was good. It was fun, and, I believe each of us felt good about the time we spent together.

   Just the thinking back on yesterday made me realize how taking some time to be in touch with others who have been important in our lives, can be a blessing, both to them and to us. God gives us these opportunities, and when we follow His leadership, and take the time, he rewards our efforts.

   Now we travel again today, moving on down into South Carolina to be with family for a couple of days. What are the opportunities there? Where and how does God lead? Will we be open to ministry and blessing?

   He gives us the time, and He knows what today will bring. I pray that we will be ready.