Here’s a wrong I’ve seen: Fools ascending to high positions and the wise relegated to low ones.*

Have we seen this or what? My bringing it up has nothing to do with this being an election year. We have our share of problems, but a lot of the world has it a lot worse. And has for a long time.

I picked up today’s newspaper and came across a story of rising violence in Venezuela scaring the police. According to the story, murders have more than tripled since Hugo Chavez took office, making Venezuela the most violent country in South America. One observer states that “Chavez promotes the idea that violence forms part of the class struggle against the rich and the landowners, and so it’s not so bad.” Besides that, hiring more police is “a right-wing policy,” so he won’t.

Of course, it’s nothing so noble as “class struggle,” more like gang members trafficking drugs and killing police to rise in status and send a message that they control the territory. The death toll for police in Caracas is up 45 percent since last year.

Bringing it home, the police interviewed were family men, with higher goals, only hoping they’ll make it to retirement alive. During the story’s writing, however, another didn’t.

Okay, so there’s just one example of how a leader affects the state and well-being of the people. There’s more, much more.

An Internet search of the ten worst leaders of state today is revealing, not that they’re there, but how little we hear, particularly of the people suffering under them, and what anyone can do about it. (Chavez is not on the list, by the way.)

It’s easier to consider the worst such powermongers who have gone before, for whom we really have no responsibility. The trend is not hopeful, with the worst wreaking their havoc just in our last century.**

But the Ecclesiastes writer made his comment multiple centuries ago, along with his famous quote, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

It sounds simple but another verse says, Happy are you, O land, who live under a wise king.***

So the leader, so the course of the ship. And peace on board.

It matters.

__________________

*     Ecclesiastes 10: 5, 6 (my paraphrase)
**   Stalin, Hitler, Mao, each responsible for over 20 million deaths.
*** Ecclesiastes 10:17 (my paraphrase)

Next: Wisdom for the Asking. Coming Thursday.

5 Comments

There’s a passage on the last page of Ecclesiastes that reminds us to remember the One most important to remember while we’ve still got something to remember with.

Got that?

The author uses all manner of symbolic speech, some of which we can understand, the rest just by gist.

(Of course, we never use symbolic speech.)

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them.”*

Okay, that’s clear enough, and fair warning. I’ve seen where long life doesn’t seem so much a gift in later years when pleasures are gone.

He continues:

Before the light of the sun and moon and stars grow dark, like, don’t wait until you’re blind before you start looking . . .

and the clouds return after the rain, when one season of dreariness is followed by another and setbacks follow setbacks . . .

when the grinders cease because they are few, when food holds little interest and there’s little to chew with if it did . . .

and when the doors to the street are closed and those looking through windows grow dim, when you’re not able to get out, and nothing’s worth pursuing anyway . . .

when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint, when it’s the middle of the night and sleep won’t return, or when hearing gets harder and harder . . .

when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets, like when your height is barely five feet, the hip can break and down you go, every step’s a hazard . . .

when the almond trees blossoms, meaning the hair turns white and then falls out . . .

and the grasshopper drags himself along, meaning, maybe, the joints are stiff, the frame is bent, and there’s no more jump in the jeans.

Well, maybe that’s what it means. It’s all symbolic, given to get us to take most seriously the most serious thing before the jig is up, the bucket’s kicked, the dust is bit, the chips are cashed, the farm is bought, the Grim Reaper met, the ghost given up, you’ve breathed your last, taken your bow, you’re six feet under, pushing up daises, and your body is food for worms.

Did I say we don’t use symbolic speech?

To be more concrete, to date, 99,000,000,000 people have died.

The mortality rate is still 100 percent.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Your graduation date is scheduled.

Do your homework.

___________________

*Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Next: Kings and Fools Switched. Coming Monday.

13 Comments

Dave Williams, aka Son of Adam. Click for larger view.

The day of one’s death is better than the day of birth.

It’s a jaring sentence that flies in the face of everything we normally think. The surrounding context elaborates: A good name is better than fine perfume . . . It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a day of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.*

Consider it: On the the day of our birth we’re nothing but a ball of potential. Helpless, crying, wetting and worse. We’re a miracle to be sure, but only a bud of the flower. It’s the years to come that will build something unique, a story worth the telling. And we tell it at funerals.

I saw this again this weekend as I attended the memorial of a friend. Dave Williams worked with plants and soil and concrete and stone. He helped me with many a landscaping and hardscaping project . . . often on weekends or at the end of the day after other jobs. Quitting time was not a concept with him. His hands were gnarly, his back strong, and his shirt grimy. As often as not he’d work for free, just helping me out.

In appreciation some years ago I made a painting of him. I called it “Son of Adam,” after our first relative, also a landscaper. In the painting Dave stands in unassuming dignity, holding the basic tool of his trade, a shovel (more than Adam had).

Dave was a basic man. But, as with anybody, there’s always more to know.

We learned more at the memorial service where friends and family related aspects of the fuller story—of his early life, his military service, his college education, his prowess as a wrestler, his black belt in judo earned in Japan, his interest in sports (and names of all current players), his love of history, his ever building vocabulary and his family championing in the game show, Jeopardy.

A son of Adam indeed: strong of body, of good mind, unafraid of work, generous in spirit, and walking humbly before God.

It’s ironic, but we learned all this more fully because he died.

None of it existed on the day of his birth.

Moreover, all of us were the better ourselves for hearing it.

By odd coincidence, the memorial happened on my birthday. People who knew wished me a happy day. But the real meaning of the day, that which did me the most good, was the celebration of another life . . . the picture of its breadth and depth, aspects of which were acted out in many little circles, each unbeknownst to the other. But all known to God.

A birth is only a life begun. The true graduation is yet to come. When it does, we can hope it helps others, as this son of Adam just did for us.

______________________

*Ecclesiastes 7:1-2

Because you’ll wonder, Dave died on the job, in a moment, caused by an unforgiving encounter with an electrical box.

Next: Symbolic Speech for an Ultimate Matter. Coming Thursday.

12 Comments

Click her for the message.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to stand in for a vacationing pastor. I’m always glad for the invitation, part for the sake of relating to others and perhaps being a service to them, but also for the focus it enforces on my own mind. As I say in the sermon, it’s a message to me first. Now I’m thinking you might appreciate it too, and possibly gain from it. So I’m sharing it here.

As the title implies, the life that we’re given to live can go just about any way it wants, or we want. God has given us a wide field, with few limits. It’s not so much what we do, but how we do it that interests Him. The talk is about 25 minutes. If you’re short on time you can view it in multiple segments. For access, click on the photo.

You might also be amused at my notes. Not that I refer to them much, or at all, but pages of thought have gone into all this before I make for myself a “picture page.” Being a picture it’s then easier to remember so it works pretty good.  The fact that I gave the sermon four times that weekend also helps. Watch it. Hope you profit.

_______________

NEXT time we’ll get back to normal. We’ll see what that is on Monday.

6 Comments

I realize I’m having too much fun with this, but I determined to draft a letter of response to all my blog spaming friends. Not wanting to write each one personally, I’ve written something generic. They should understand, since that’s what they do. Moreover, I want to use their vernacular, all the better for building a bond. To do that, I’ve used the very phrasing excerpted from the spam letters quoted in the last blog. Those quotes are in red below, with the occasional pronoun adjustments made, and bridges added in black. Let me know what you think; I do want to be as clear as they are, as polite, beneficial, delicious, and magnificent. As always, thanks a lot again for a lot of things.

THE DRAFT

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I’m also glad that you love what us guys tend to be up too. This kind of clever work and reporting . . . unquestionably believing that which we stated. It’s the best moment to produce some strategies for the future and it is time to be happy. 

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___________________________

For more (honest and truthful) comments by magnificent readers that come in shocking coincidence after a glorious post, you can always clutch on any of the Recent Posts at right.

Next, back to normal . . . whatever that means. We’ll see on Thursday.

11 Comments

Here’s one you may not want to take time for . . . or just read bits. It’s something I’ve often thought about sharing. If you write a blog there’s a phenomena you may be familiar with; if not, you’ll find it at least amusing.

Every time I post a blog I receive comments. It’s a reward, really, and an affirmation that people are reading, and thinking. But I also receive numerous comments from spammers. You don’t see these as I have the option to not post them. Thank God for that. Though written by humans (of whatever first language) they’re distributed automatically. Their purpose, I understand, is to hope for mindless acceptance and thereby gain wider exposure to their site’s popularity and thus higher placement on search engines.

I might be tempted to write back to them, but I have no certainty anyone would be reading. They’d probably write me off as spam.

Sometimes they’re particularly humorous because of the coincidence of the blog topic they’re responding to. Almost always they’re written with such heartfelt sincerity and positive regard, in hopes that would give them a better chance to be “approved” and posted. And while their English isn’t always that good, they know it well enough to write, which is more than I can do with their language.

I relate these comments exactly as they came to me, though have deleted their websites. (Sorry, everybody.)

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With this I close. Feel free to comment. Yours will not be spam. 

______________________

Next: Response to Blog Spammers. Coming Monday.

18 Comments

Featured artist: Ambrogio Lorenzetti (deceased)

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.*

I knew a guy who had two older brothers each of whom died without warning in his sleep. They figured it was hereditary. Whenever I’d greet my friend with a, “How are you?” he’d just say, “Well, I woke up.”

Of course, we all woke up this morning, but for us it wasn’t so big a deal. Maybe it should be.

In England once, I came across some sayings from medieval times which included, “Sleep is a little death.”

Another: “Each day is a god.”

Certainly my friend had cause to think this way. I couldn’t tell that he did; just working his job, driving his car, playing his guitar, looking for sex.

Taking life too seriously, even when we know the end will eventually come, is just too serious.

For me the term, middle age, gets later all the time, the closer I get to it. Or have I long passed it?

Moses said, The length of our days is 70 years, or 80 if we have the strength.** Who knows what his age was when he wrote that? He lived to be 120.

If the 80 year life span was a 24 hour day starting at midnight, for me it’s already 9:00 p.m!!! How do I think about that? Pretty much like my friend above (except I haven’t even started learning guitar)!

There’s so much to do. So much to read. I love history. But there’s something about all the people in history: They’re all dead!

These days I find myself looking at birth years on the obituary pages. More and more I see my year.

The World Bank has calculated that in the United States the average longevity creeps up every year and is now 78.2. We enjoy the world’s highest, but for Bermuda and Canada, both slightly higher. I’m thinking that toward midnight I’ll move to Bermuda or Canada.

Meantime, the best I can do is eat moderately, worry little, keep love alive, and stay out of the way of fast moving objects.

It’s natural to hold onto life as long as we can. My mother at 93 still lives with my father of 95. She moves pretty slow; her eyes are dim, her pains deep. Still, at moments she keeps up her sense of humor with, “Well, it’s better than the alternative.”

When she will go, I don’t know. Nor, really, when I will. Or you.

The answer, my friend, to quote Bob Dylan (singing Solomonically), is blowing in the wind.

And none has power o’r the wind.

_______________

*  Ecclesiastes 8:8
**Psalm 90:10

Next time, a break for some humor: Blog Spams. Coming Thursday.

16 Comments

Jones is a fine name; so is Smith. Hitler is not.

It’s not the names themselves; they’re just words. It’s what the person does with it that makes the difference.

A good name is better than fine perfume.* It sends a scent ahead, and leaves one behind.

It’s the person that makes the name famous, or ruins it.

A good reputation is a reputation for doing good. It’s earned by many actions, and can be lost by one.

Bill Clinton was a state governor and a two-term US president. But is he remembered for his political achievements or his marital indiscretions?

What about OJ Simpson? He had a running good name, for awhile.

Reputation is what we earn when everybody’s watching. Character is formed when no one is. It’s best to have a reputation for a fine character.

An old proverb says, “A person with a bad name is already half hanged.”

Are there any Hitlers anymore? I think not. Any who had it changed it, or, so I read, stopped having children. Pretty extreme!

On the other hand, there are names that always carry honor, by the fame of lofty predecessors.

I’ve always been inspired by Joseph, the step father of Jesus. Not an “important” man, not rich; he was a regular worker, having character, a solid conscience and a dependable honesty. He was noticed by few but handed an important role. And that’s not to mention Mary and her quiet qualities.

Joe and Mary, fairly plain names, elevated to the heavens.

Our own roles may not be so special, but the requirements are the same: just our duty done with diligence. It’s all they did, and all we need to do.

A name is not just a word, but a fragrance.

Don’t stink.

_________________________

Ecclesiastes 7:1a

Next: The Wind Again, and the Number of Our Years. Coming Monday.

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Detail from Seven Deadly Sins––Envy, Hieronymus Bosch

Here’s a verse in Ecclesiastes I don’t much like:

And I saw that all labor and all achievement springs from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after wind.*

Really? Is there nothing we do that isn’t motivated by envy?

Or, if that’s the case, is there a time when envy isn’t negative? We have to be doing something! Laziness leads to ruin.

Maybe a touch of competition is just the thing to make the difference between couch potato and furniture designer.

And who, in any field, isn’t aware of the champions in that field, living or dead, that set the standards for excellence? Anything wrong with that?

Unless it undermines our tranquility . . . without which life isn’t much fun.

And who is my neighbor? The one I’m competing with?

But, I say, I’m not competing, he is! There have been moments when I’ve recognized that I’m the cause of someone else’s jealousy. I don’t like that. I want to say, “Lighten up, there’s enough to go around.” Or, “Okay, it’s my time now; it’ll be your time after awhile.”

But we want it to be our time all the time.

In the human race, can’t we all win? There are plenty of prizes, just different categories. If I can win my particular race by just a fraction of a second, well, that’s still a goal worth striving for. Isn’t it?

Or is it just more chasing after wind?

The wind always wins!

I’m jealous.

________________________

*Ecclesiastes 4:4

Next: The Value of a Good Name. Coming Thursday.

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I knew of a lady who gave a million dollars away saying, “That money never caused us anything but grief.”

Maybe she found she could buy back some happiness after all.

Maybe she came across the truth: Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after wind.*

Maybe she tired of chasing wind.

It’s a truth that deep down we know, but there’s an intrigue that says “Maybe it wouldn’t happen with me,” and our mind stays preoccupied with how to fill that second hand.

In time we learn again that having isn’t the ultimate state, unless it’s having peace.

It’s natural to desire both hands full, but then where’s the free hand to do anything else?

And we like to be free.

Too much to keep track of can kill our contentment.

And without contentment there’s nothing else that matters.

If, when I go to write my goals I include “Catch the wind,” at least I’ll know at the end of the day the source of that ennui.

Peace is life’s ultimate state. We know it when we have it; we know it all the more when we don’t.

Peace is something within ourselves; if it’s not there, nothing outside will supply it.

Not even a second handful!

__________________

*Ecclesiastes 4:6

Next: More Wind Chasing. Coming Thursday.

As always, feel free to share with a friend.

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