Tornado Timidity

(Image at the left was supposedly taken in Frankenmuth after the 1996 tornado...some are inspired by a silhouette of Jesus holding his hands up in it. I claim no stance on the validity of this photo or what it may mean, but I found it interesting).

Luck favors the prepared.

These crazy tornadoes which keep on coming are spurring us to purchase a weather alert radio. We sleep on the upper floor of a 2-story walkout, so we're essentially 3 stories up, when taken from the perspective of an oncoming tornado (assuming an approach from the SW). I am tired of staying up through the night with these watches to see if I should be moving the children down to the basement.

I haven't been this paranoid in previous years. I'm sure a lot of the change in attitude is due to these very devastating weather phenomena we're seeing, but also from a first-hand story I heard a couple of months ago.

We were at a work charity event, and at our table was a couple (Greg's boss and her husband, actually) who survived the tornado that ripped through Frankenmuth several years back. Hearing them tell the horrifying tale, seeing the looks on their faces, and having such a visually dominant brain, it's no wonder it's deeply affected me.

They had gotten home late in the evening, and quickly hooked up their new speaker system. Like we all do with new speakers, they cranked them up. Really loud! What poor timing...which almost cost them their lives. They finally noticed something amiss, and when they turned down the music, the dreaded freight train noise dominated. They fled to the basement, and not a minute too soon. Theirs was one of the few houses which was completely leveled. Completely. They came back up the basement stairs (after witnessing things flying upward out of the basement) to nowhere. No house. No walls. A very eerie loaf of bread sat untouched, where it had been cooling, outside the breadmaker on the kitchen counter--a detail that stood out like a sign from God, who would spare their lives, and leave them their daily bread.

This wasn't some tale from tornado alley. It was just up the freeway 30 miles.

And just as it's unlikely we'll ever need our smoke detectors, yet we have them and faithfully change the batteries, we'll be getting a weather radio as well. Something perhaps for you to consider, too. I don't want to dwell on the negative or be ruled by fear, but that's precisely why I lock my doors at night...take reasonable precaution, then forget about it! So hopefully, with this radio, I can put my worries to rest.

Upside of the Real Estate Crash?

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting a new neighbor this evening, and her lovely children and husband. It's amusing how after a winter of being holed up in our homes, the beautiful weather draws us all out, and the mood lifts!

I was giving my new acquaintance the run-down of the occupants of the 8 other homes on our little quiet cul-de-sac...and was in awe, once again, of what an incredible neighborhood we live in--not because of the homes or the lake or the hills or the schools...but because of the people in those homes.

I think that if there's an upside to the real estate crash, it's that people are staying put in their homes, and building stronger bonds with their neighbors. That's certainly been true for us. Not sure if it's a Michigan thing, a Midwest thing, or an American thing, but neighbors are slow around here. Slow in a good, cautious sort of way. We don't rush relationships--we don't want to be overbearing or annoying, so we err on the side of aloofness. Good fences make good neighbors, but we don't have fences here, so we must be extra careful not to cross lines, hahaha. But because of this, we need a good couple of years of backyard conversation before we establish anything more!

What makes the neighborhood (in particular, our street) so great? It's hard to say. Why do I love the color purple? It just feels right. There don't seem to be any common threads--we've got homeschoolers (nope, I'm not the only one out of these 9 homes here!), private schoolers, and public schoolers. We have hard-core Midwesterners, Southerners, and Asians. Children of all ages represented, from infants through grown children. We have meticulous landscapers, floundering gardeners, and those with bare yards. Dogs with invisible fence, and dogs that wander. Devout Christians, religious philosophers (ok just one, moi), Catholics, and even a minister!

But we wave from the car. We say hello when on our bikes or walking. We gather at Christmastime, and sometimes at the summer picnic. We keep keys for each other, and watch elderly parents when family goes away. We pet sit, and we call around when the power goes out ("Do you guys have power over there?" or "Is your cable working?") We watch for mysterious cars. We drive slowly. We borrow cars and snowblowers and use each other for emergency contacts. We babysit and tutor and teach each other's children.

We're a support system.

And we don't judge. We don't carry on about the small stuff. When I have to close my house up in the summer because it's windy out and your lawn chemical is making me sick (in addition to polluting the lake), I remind myself that my dog sometimes poops in your yard. When I'm blasting my music loudly from the house so I can groove while I weed my garden, I hope that you remember when I cared for your elderly father while you were away. There's just this beautiful, loving, blessed relationship we all share...but it took time.

It took years!

And my guess is that at least half of us would've moved by now, had we not lost nearly 50% of the value of our homes in the past 6 years. We have no choice but to stay, and knowing that, we accept and love and enjoy each other! (No, I don't think this is really a conscious decision, but a phenomenon we subconsciously partake in).

Despite the rush, rush, rush of our daily lives, life truly does progress slowly. Relationships take time and commitment in order to return depth and value. It's true in marriage--my husband and I sometimes joke that it's a darn good thing we got married, because we'd never still be together if we hadn't! LOL! We share that in a loving way, because we're so GLAD we're still together. It's making it through all the highs and lows, and looking back on those that add such richness to our relationship, as well as adding a sense of security that we're in it through thick and thin. And although I haven't exchanged vows with my neighbors, hahaha, we are committed to acceptance, balance, and finding joy in each other, as we are all here for the long haul.

This post is dedicated to the following lovely families on our street: Abdelmessiah, Li, Marr, Tarantino, Byerly, Warn, Mecum, and Rhodes...and the late Tv personality, Mr. Rogers, for never underestimating the value of neighboring, teaching such warmth to our children, and setting a stellar example for us all.

The Cable TV Discussion

Sometimes I really feel like the evil wife.

"I just would like to watch a baseball game now and then!"

This was my husband's plea for cable TV. Part of me wants to cave. The guy works so hard, accepts so much, and asks for so little. Yet I stand my ground.

"It's like crack for the brain!" is my lame retort. He gives me the old you-are-really-overdramatizing-this look. "No, really! It calls to you, like this, 'Come, just come and see what's on TV....' and you're drawn to it." I didn't need to elaborate--he knows what comes next. You spend 15 minutes going through the channels to end up watching Mythbusters or Deadliest Catch re-runs. Yup, good shows, but guess what? They're available on Netflix. You watch them anyway.

Enter: the children. "Aw, you're watching Mythbusters!!!! Can I watch?" Then, before you know it, a commercial comes on for something scary, and the next 5 months are spent leaving lights on at night and discussing how to tame one's imagination, and reassuring your child that they are safe. Next commercial? Some great new show on Egyptian Mythology that's coming on in two weeks. It gets engraved on the internal calendar in the child's head, and you hear about it "coming on in (x) days" for the remainder of the countdown.

Before you know it, husband is asleep in the chair, and the kids have their TV wish list planned out for the next month. Even if you tell them no, they can't watch TV every night for the next eon, the whole scenario repeats itself tomorrow night for the History Channel.

I think I'd rather be evil every few months when the discussion comes up, and keep more quality time intact, then be vile (just an anagram of evil) every night because I'm always competing with programming.

For now, no cable. I'm holding my ground.

Feature: Toy/Game Review!

I am so blessed to have the most wonderful toy store just 15 minutes away--Little Monsters in Lake Orion, MI. After a week of being sick, Easter was upon me, and I had less than 24 hrs to pull together something special for the boys (10-year-old twins). Time for a trip to Little Monsters once again!

A few weeks ago, I received a newsletter from this locally-owned store (situated in a lovely, growing downtown) sharing some of the ways they can help you for Easter gifts...either by creating a custom basket for you based on a child's age and gender, choosing from a pre-made basket, or you arranging items which you choose on-the-spot in a basket...AT NO CHARGE. Customer service at this store is outstanding, and I no longer have to wrap birthday presents, OR arrange Easter baskets (I'm horribly uncreative when it comes to visually pleasing arrangements), and get this...I can also send my husband there and just give him instructions to have them pick something for him, LOL! Yes! I actually sent him there for a double-birthday party recently, and he came home with wonderful gifts lovingly arranged in fun-looking gift bags. And they never forget to remove the price tags. ;0)

What I further wish to share with you today is some of the items which kept the boys very, very busy today...for the 3 hours in the car, plus a couple of hours outside, plus fun family game time! And some nostalgic retro candy as well! Here were some of the favorites, in no particular order (although this is a local independent store, even my distant followers can call and order them from the store):

Spot it! had me from the aesthetics, but the fun of the game will keep it out of the closet in my home. Inside a sturdy canister are 55 round cards, each with 8 colorful pictures on them. Choose any two cards from stack, and there is EXACTLY one matching image amongst the two groups of 8. First one to spot the match wins the cards--there are several fun variations to play, and making up your own is simple, too! You literally can learn to play in 20 seconds, and in our family, everybody has won at least once! As a mathematician with a penchant for neurology, this game intrigued me in many ways. The brain is a constant source of wonder and amazement to me, and this game highlights that fact! We observed many different strange, quirky brain behaviors, like who in the family dominated when the cards were close together, who did when they were a foot apart, how well we could focus when there was music in the background...it's an intense game that will have you laughing and wondering how the brain works! I also think it's a fabulous "workout" for the brain. When we brought it to Grandma's house, I was afraid we would embarrass her; that she wouldn't be able to keep up with our young neurons, but she proved us wrong...this game is a HUGE winner at a great price.

Next...this super-cool, well-made slingshot!

Yup, I got slingshots for the boys. (Those who know me may keel over...I also got "space guns" with a really cool sparky effect--perhaps I'll review them another day; also a huge hit). Grandma's house was a great place to learn how to use them; Grandpa grew up with slingshots (either the retro Wham-O brand or making them himself with tree branches and innertubes), so he was able to help them learn proper form, plus Grandma and Grandpa live on 11 wooded, rolling acres with a stream, so we got to stand on a cliff and shoot a never-ending supply of rocks over or into the creek! I couldn't believe how long my bookworms spent doing this--I'm sure their arms will be sore tomorrow! The slingshots were made very well, and from what I can tell, it's a Pinckney, MI company which sells them. There are a variety of woodland animals you can get on them (wolf, bear, deer, eagle), and the sling is a heavy-duty rubber tube, like the medical type the nurses tie around your arm when they take your blood!

I waited (I think) around two years to purchase this game, but it was worth the wait:

It's called Find It! and it's quite addicting! I, personally, spent probably about an hour today turning this canister of plastic beads trying to find all of the hidden objects inside: paper clip, toothpick, pushpin, fishhook, button, etc. There are actually an amazing amount of items in there! The game comes with a pad of paper which serves as a checklist for the items so you can keep track of which you've found. As with Spot It!, you can easily make up many of your own games and contests--how many can you find in ten minutes, for example, to make it competitive, or who can find 30 of the items in the shortest amount of time, etc. Please note that you do not open the canister, but turn it, shake it, or flip it to spot them. This lack of mess makes it a great game for the car! There are several Find It! themes to choose from--we got the classic, which I love, but I did have to teach the boys what a couple of the items were (a pony bead, a bobby pin, a paper fastener, wire nut, etc). Fun for all ages!

Here's a fun twist on a classic toy:

Magnetic Putty! Wonderfully tactile and very fun in a bizarre sort of way! If you have a child who enjoys Play-Doh, silly putty, etc, this will probably really intrigue them. It's a few dollars more than their other putties, like the glow-in-the-dark, but it's enough of a curiosity to make it worth it. My husband (yes, my husband...isn't any great toy enjoyed by all ages?) loves to make a shape and set the magnet atop it, watching the putty slowly gobble up the magnet. Ball it up and bounce it like a ball (although it's a little heavy and hard on the house floors, and taking it outside will get it dirty, so you've been warned!), or shape it into your classic putty shapes, like the universally pleasing rolling-it-into-a-hot-dog technique. :) Another plus about this item is that it's made in the USA by physically and/or mentally challenged individuals! Isn't it great to have a toy store like Little Monsters to hunt down these gems for you??? :D

And who doesn't want to run with a kite in the Spring, especially after such a long winter? What better way to celebrate April!

This parafoil from Skydog kites looks like it will last us longer than the usual month or so, which is par for the course in my household...what is there to break? No sticks, and a well-made product on a strong line--I have high hopes! Winds were very, very light today, and this kite came right out of its zero-waste packaging and up into the air with my 10-year-old on the other end, grinning happily. It was a bit tricky to get in the air with the light winds (not steady, and only gusting to about 5 mph), but it did lift consistently, which really impressed me. Very light, very easy to fly, and very colorful with its tie-dye pattern. I'd never seen a parafoil fly before...they sort of get inflated by the wind--very cool! Andrew flew this for about an hour this afternoon (it was the draw of shooting rocks over the cliff with his new slingshot that eventually drew him away--can you blame him?)! Can't wait to see what he does with it on a windier day. Is there nothing more heartwarming than watching your child fly a kite???? It's no fun watching them get frustrated and feeling unsuccessful, though, or so sad when they break, hence I'd recommend this awesome kite! It even folds right up into the bag it came in for VERY easy transport--keep it in the car, or backpack it on the trail!

So there are a few of our Easter favorites from Little Monsters in Lake Orion, MI! When you visit them, or call to order any of these, please tell them my blog sent you! :D I'll end with some images of the retro candy they also carry:

Asparagus Affirmations

No matter how lousy of a gardener I prove to be in one season, my asparagus inspires me anew with each Spring.

It's the magical third year--the year the asparagus crowns should really be putting up some beefy shoots, and they're not disappointing!

I stepped into my ghastly garden, whose most prosperous output has been rich soil from the compost pile, and felt the dry, brittle branches crunching under my boots from last year's summer weed crop. I was sporting my clean overalls for the first time this season, and I came with the hoe at the ready.

Any sign of those sunchokes popping up yet; an investment last year which should be spreading like mad, getting ready to provide me with my perennial crop of potato-like tubers? Nope. Don't see any sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes) popping up. Hope they made it! It's still early, I tell myself.

There's the huge, no, enormous compost pile that's about 10% of the garden. It's now about three feet high by four feet square. Amazing how your kitchen scraps pile up like that (literally)...yet it has never been smelly, and there's always just a little bit of visible food on it, nothing too gross. I wonder again if my neighbors hate it. I'm looking forward to spreading it today, seeing what wonderful chemistry and digestive worm action has gone on over the winter months, under the insulation of the snow. Not yet, though, but soon I'll dig in there.

Crunch, crunch, crunch over more weeds that once soared 3 feet tall and now are dry and brittle. I'll look forward to cremating them in the brush pile roast I'll have in a bout a week!

Crunch, crunch...over to the asparagus patch. The beloved asparagus patch. The vegetable that keeps on giving, and keeps on forgiving as well. I recall when the crowns first came in the mail two years ago. They came bearing strict instructions on keeping them refrigerated until ready to plant, and keeping them moist. They were lovingly packaged to give them a safe journey. I neglected them sorely. They sat outside in freezing temps (in the box) for a while before they came inside, then it was several more days before they hit the fridge, then by the time I planted them, they looked so....bare. So bare root, as they should, but it was very difficult to imagine them ever really producing much edible food.

That first summer, they did shoot up a few little stalks. I had planted 20 crowns, and by the end of the season, I saw action in just about all of them. It was a miracle. They actually made me feel like I could be a successful gardener.

Of course, I left them undisturbed, faithfully weeding them often; they seemed so delicate.

The next year, it was absolutely amazing how many little green pencils were shooting out of the ground. Each crown was sending up about 10 stalks! They were puny, though. Really stringy, wiry things. I did cut just a couple so I could say that I finally ate some of them, after all this planning! But for the most part, they were left alone to grow stronger and mature more. (These were like the teenage years of my asparagus patch!) I weeded a little bit, but not tons. I had some vetch growing through the patch, which I let go, as it fixes nitrogen, and looked sort of pretty with its purple flowers. The vetch also grew in a vine-like fashion, and helped hold the asparagus up, as it grew quite tall (about 2.5 feet), and heavy when its seeds began to mature. As the patch started looking out of control, I tied it up with some string, and it looked like a pretty little picture. I looked like I knew what I was doing!

Now back to today--the weather has been so cold, and my schedule so packed, I hadn't made it out there to cut back last year's stalks...was I too late? I couldn't see any new asparagus growing from a distance, but the old, dry, reedy stalks were hard to see through. I take a closer look...oh, yes, there's some! And there's some more! And Oh, look at that one! It's so big! The asparagus was popping out of the ground again, despite my clumsy, inconsistent efforts, and I felt like....a gardener. I felt that I could do it, once again. I didn't kill the easiest plant to grow...it was a start.

I spent the next hour on my hands and knees and bottom carefully removing the old stalks, clearing away any thatch and leaves that had accumulated, and clearing out some of the early weeds...I never grew tired of the joy I felt when I cleared away a little more grass, or clover, or other random weed, to see a tiny little purple or green head making its way through the soil. All 20 original crowns are producing many shoots each, and the 231st baby asparagus I found today was just as loved and revered as the first I laid my eyes on. A mother indeed cannot favor one child over another!

It will be a plentiful year for the asparagus; I'll be canning lots of asparagus soup, and enjoying grilled asparagus for many nights, and peeing asparagus (you know what I'm talking about!), and each mouthful will further affirm that I am well on my way to providing my own food, and relearning that knowledge that has been lost the past couple of generations for most of us.

Now come on, sunchokes!

But That's Not FAIR!!!

How many times have we heard this cry?

And so many times have we heard the harsh answer, "LIFE's not fair!" A bit of a cop-out response, if you ask me, but brutally truthful.

During my years of teaching, I heard this protest many times from my high school students, sometimes directed at me. Yet I didn't cringe, nor did I give the flippant above response. High school is such a precious, treasured, special time in a young adult's development; they really need to talk through the concept of fairness (and the myriad other issues they're trying to figure out). Those teenage protests and the many questions and honest discussions that come from them can really help form the mold for the type of adult they will choose to be.

In the end, I usually let them come to the conclusion with me that indeed, life isn't fair, but it was important that they follow the steps logically to this end. I knew that if I taught this lesson well, it would behoove them greatly in their future, hopefully preventing a lot of bitter feelings. Now, certainly, in a span of 5 hours where I see 150 students a day, I couldn't always go through this teaching, but I would invite them to discuss it with me at a later time. "Yes, I completely see why that would feel unfair to you. I'd really like to discuss it with you later, when we have some time to really look at it." I wasn't always taken up on my offer, but when I was, it went something like this...

Let's take one of the more common problems...missing homework. My homework policy said that each marking period (there were 4 per school year), each student was allowed two "freebies"...that meant they could receive two zeroes, and it would not affect their grade whatsoever. No reasons or excuses needed. If the student did not use all their zeroes, they got extra credit for having all assignments completed...a little bonus. BUT, once you used your zeroes up, there were no more excuses for having missing homework. That's right...NO excuses. So, as you can probably predict, many students would use up their two freebies when they really didn't need them, then something serious would come up, and it would hurt their grade. That felt very unfair to them. "You mean I broke my leg at practice and spent all night in the hospital, and you're going to give me a zero???"

Yes, I am.

"But that's not FAIR!"

And thus we arrive at our heart-to-heart discussion. We talk about the nature of "fairness". We talk about perspective. We talk about what's realistic on a macro and micro scale. In the end, the student always agreed, although often reluctantly, that the system was about as fair as it could get...that if I were to try and make judgments on every homework situation, A) I wouldn't have time to hear all the cases every day, B) there would be much more opportunity for bias, as I'd be trying to decide what was fair and what wasn't, even though I'd never be able to know the whole story, and C) some people would take advantage of the allowances, and make false arguments.

Sometimes "fair" is not really fair...and truly, if you want to be picky about it, there really isn't such a thing as fairness...because it's so extremely subjective and based on perspective. Very similar to yesterday's blog, which talks about there being as many "religions" as there are individuals.

I'm hearing cries of "fairness" constantly in the media and political propaganda these days. Budget cuts should be "fair", or taxes should be "fair", and all kind of judgments on what is fair and just. It's really quite ridiculous. It's fairly simple to construct an argument for why any answer is not at all fair for some reason. I never claimed my classroom system was always fair, but it worked for most people most of the time, rewarded positive behavior, and penalties, even unfair ones, were minor (one zero in a whole term of homework assignments is a very miniscule portion of a grade).

I really wish we would stop trying to be so "fair", and stop demanding "fair", and rather find something that seems to work the best with the minimal amount of damage done, and hopefully is reasonable and unbiased.

One of my very favorite parables in some sacred works deal with this issue of fairness...for Christians, it's the parable of the workers in the vineyard, but there's a very similar parable in the Hadith (volumes of sacred Islamic text which record the narrations of Muhammed and the cases he tried). This Wikipedia entry lays them out side-by-side if you're interested in seeing them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Workers_in_the_Vineyard

A very brief summary is that a man hires workers in his vineyard for the day--some work a full 12-hr day, some only 1 hour, and several in-between. At the end of the day, they are all paid the same amount, regardless of how long they worked.

There is, as you might expect, a big outcry! "Why do they deserve the same compensation as we, who have toiled all day, while they have barely broken a sweat?" (my paraphrasing).

Surely few would argue this is FAIR? Here we go again, placing judgment on a situation, on a person...some might argue that those who worked 12 hours should be paid MORE than the others (although they agreed to that wage at the start of the day), and feel cheated, while others would criticize the decision to pay the newer workers extra as a gift, or charity. We see this kind of judgment ALL THE TIME concerning charitable giving...how dare someone be wealthy, they should give their money away! Again, that's a personal perspective, and projecting what you think you would do onto another is wrong...judgmental...and intruding on their personal journey, as if you think you know what choices they should make.

Anyway, I'm beginning to rant a bit...what I find interesting, as that the parable is usually interpreted as an illustration of how it doesn't matter at what point in your life you "find Jesus" or "find God", you will not be treated any differently in Heaven, even if it's the final hour. Yet I find that interpretation very limiting, and I believe it goes much deeper than that (please see yesterday's blog to understand that I'm merely sharing my own interpretation in case you're interested...your own interpretation is valued and respected!)

I think that this parable touches on many aspects of "But that's not FAIR!" and basically warns to steer clear of this judgment...mind your own business, go about your merry way, and don't criticize how another spends their money or distributes their things...the Matthew version of the parable says, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" In one of the Hadith versions, Allah says, "Have I withheld part of your right?...It is My Blessing, I bestow upon whoever I wish."

I end with my own saying: Strive for fairness as you would strive for perfection, knowing you will never get there, but accepting compromise and progress.

Religion is YOU

A couple of days ago, Evan, my 10-year-old son, said to me, "I don't believe in, like, five different religions. I believe religion is just YOU!"

I've been thinking about this ever since. I've had people ask me what I think he meant by that, and question what he believes. I do think that your own interpretation of his statements is the right one...that is, whatever it means to YOU exactly IS what he meant!

Yet that still begs the question, what DOES it mean to you? Only you can answer that, and I think I've answered it for myself today.

I was having a conversation about the perception that Islam is a violent religion. You can guess which side of the discussion I took...and I pointed out the violent passages of the Bible to the woman with whom I was speaking, ready to point out passages in the New Testament as well when I figured she'd give the usual disclaimer about the Old Testament being off the table , since Jesus's teachings became the new convenant (which to me is an invalid argument since Old Testament readings are still frequently done in many denominations, thereby sending a mixed message). She was surprised that I would claim that Jesus isn't portrayed 100% of the time as a bringer of peace. I was particularly recalling a portion of the book of Matthew where Jesus says to his disciples (in the ASV version, verse 34) "Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

(Please note that I do not believe Jesus was advocating violence here, but merely speaking a reality that the passion his teachings would bring would result in violence...like the Crusades! He even says in this same chapter that "brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death." My point is that the statement itself leaves room for different interpretations...much as I expect most Muslims would argue about Koranic passages in question...not to mention that the Hadith is considered just as important a text for how to live you life, and is full of Muhammed's fair judgments of cases brought to him)...

I quote this not to argue, but to make my point of what Evan's statement means to me. That it's precisely because each individual interprets scripture differently, interprets sermons differently, interprets parables differently, that religions is JUST YOU. If you want to hear debates about how the Quran is more violent than the Bible, the Bible more violent than the Quran, that the Bhagavad Gita condones war, or that reincarnation promotes apathy...you can find supporters of whatever you wish. But what it comes down to is YOU.

And by all means, continue to participate in lively, intelligent discussion about religion, because you just might find that in your journey, you learn something new, and your own perception changes...not to mention that we learn to understand each other better, promoting a society of tolerance and respect! But I strongly caution against going into such discussions to change another's mind.

And for the record, if I had to guess, I'd say that Evan didn't really mean that by his statement...I think he was simply referring to God Within, but that's what it meant to ME, and I know he'd be totally ok with that! LOL!

I see a side discussion coming about the whole nature of some churches, and how the whole point is to take the individual thought OUT of scholarly studies of scripture...since we're born evil and have to become worhty of the divine, in their eyes, correct? Interesting...

Thanks for reading!

Natural Wonders

While I was in the bathtub today, I noticed a strange and beautiful phenomenon.

I had the window cracked just a touch because I enjoy fresh air...and given that this Spring is so delayed, I must admit I'm a bit antsy for open windows! It was in the 40's outside, so there was quite a chill seeping in!

The hot water from the tub was creating a slight amount of steam.

These two temperature extremes met on the window. I noticed a little bit of fog on the window near the opening. Not paying too much attention to it, I thought I saw it moving. Changing. Growing and shrinking, very slightly. Barely noticeable.

Then I started paying attention to it, and began to appreciate how beautiful it was. Its form reminded me of a coastline, and the growing and receding effect similar to the ocean surf's pulse. When a strong wind blew in, it nearly disappeared, and the fog would slowly build back up...it was so incredibly beautiful!

There is so much beauty and wonder everywhere in our world. I thought about how some places, environments, planets wouldn't even have any water vapor in the air to create such an interesting effect, and what else is out there that either can't be created in my own environment, or that I'm not equipped with the sensory tools needed to experience it.

Beauty is dominant, beauty is infinite. Wonder is infinite. Nature is wonder-full.