Insights on Suffering and Search for Meaning (Jon Dorsey) http://truthandpurpose.com/?p=180
Category: Podcast
Released on the Spark My Muse podcast
Is the Snuggles Bear the Stuff of Nightmares?
When you’re gone, Snuggles the Bear will hover over your sleeping baby, and drape a blanket on her. Isn’t it great to know child care is so simple these days?
I’m sure this commercial was made to be sweet, or perhaps so jolting as to be memorable. Personally, teddy bears rate right behind Chatty Kathy dolls, and right before Sock Monkeys for my childcare needs. Snuggles is really the stuff of nightmares…. or is he?
Have you noticed that it’s not the wisest choice to put words in someone’s mouth.
For example, I highly doubt teddy bears make good babysitters, even under the best circumstances, with the most eloquent, and most intelligent stuffed bears. It hasn’t been my experience anyway. The biggest problem is dialing 911. Their paws usually dial 991. It makes many parents leery. Me, for one.
This is a 30 second commercial of the babysitting Snuggle Bear….cute or chilling?
Can’t the same thing happen in our relationships? Our perceptions place certain expectations or presuppositions that have little or no connection to Reality. How do our wrong perceptions change to be more correct? The simple answer: Deeper relationships, and a fuller knowing of the other.
Doesn’t the same thing happen in theology? (Our study of God, be it formal or folk.) You or I can determine what God is like, or what “he” is up to, but the voiceover won’t really be accurate.
1. The movements we imagine will be stiff and unreal.
2. Our humanity will skew our translation of God.
3. We’ll make determinations about his sovereignty, or attitudes, in ways that probably reveal more about us, than God.
And when all this happens, we make God into our own image. It works best when it’s the other way around. We grow and mature, as we give in to our Creator, and mirror those qualities of love, holiness, goodness, and mercy.
Is there a way to cut to the marrow, and perceive better?
Probably. I believe it stands to reason that when we speak of God, we must begin to understand “him” on “his” terms, not ours. We start with his nature, with God’s holiness, perfection, omni-benevolence, and mercifulness. If it were not so that God is thus, there would not be enough evidence or reason for all there is that is good, and beautiful in creation, and even in us. We bear this image, in part, as does the world designed so intricately by a Supreme Being we only begin to understand.
After that starting point, we continue what must be a humble (and unassuming) path to pray (ask, request) for the desire to know and love God, and to see God as “he” is. God’s revelations abound, if we have the eyes to see. I once was blind, but now I see.
What perceptions of other people, or of God have changed for you?
Anything else on your mind?
Thirsty Thursday…
Every Thursday was Thirsty Thursday on B-94 in Pittsburgh, with Quinn and Banana in the morning. Their antics basically plagued my school bus ride for the 45 minutes to high school for 3 years.
Well, let’s heal the past right now!
It’s Thirsty Thursday today: I hope you’re thirsty for funny, and I’m not giving away Iron City Beer.
5 Ways to Tell if you Smell Terrific (Based on personal research)
- A fish stick smell isn’t terrific, but it may get you noticed…
1. You find discrete ways to sniff yourself during the hours following bath/shower time.
2. Bees attack you.
3. Birds perch on your shoulder, wait for you on your window air conditioner and look at you through the window, or seem to have love in their eyes as they approach you. Avian stalking, basically. (Yes, it can be unsettling.)
4. Crowds seem to press in on you, sometimes appearing out of nowhere.
5. People, even random strangers, makes excuses for kissing or sniffing your neck.
If any of these things happen to you, you obviously smell terrific.
(Also, you need to start setting a few firm boundaries in your life, but that’s an entirely different post….)
If you smell terrific, leave a comment. Make sure it doesn’t stink.
I fought the Law, and the Law won.
Today, I contested a citation for breaking a statute: disobeying a posted (Stop) sign. I made a short video showing that the intersection has a blind corner where one risks being hit from behind if one pauses for too long. The officer admitted on the stand the that intersection, which has two Stop signs, is the most ticketed place in the whole township; however, of the two signs, one sign gets 1 out of 20 violations. When questioned, he could not venture any guess for this disparity.
I pointed out, through video evidence, the hazard of this junction, and why this disparity of violations takes place: Drivers wishing to regard the posted sign and obey it, may pause only briefly out of warranted safety concerns.
I lost the case. The $109.50 fine was not reduced.
Reason: You must stop at Stop signs.
As the judge was deliberating in her chambers, the officer says to me, “I remember you. Weren’t you going to school, to a class? And I said you could use this [ticket story] in your class [Theology of Suffering].”
Me: “Yes.”
Officer Myers: “How did that turn out?”
I said, “It went fine. I graduated…from seminary.”
Officer Myers: “From seminary. Oh, okay. Oh, good. What are you going to do now?”
Me: “Ministry. I hope to help people in recovery from drugs and alcohol.”
Officer: “Oh, ppptt, that’s a tough group. That’s hard. Well, good for you. That’s good. Good for you.”
Me: “I see those types of problems as spiritual problems. I think recovery and healing can take root if they start working at a core spiritual level. Then, healing comes spiritually, emotionally, and chemically.”
Officer: “hmm.”
He seemed to lighten up a bit after that.
A few minutes later I was found guilty. $109.50, (I broke a Statute, so I received no points against my license.)
Here’s the court video I presented. (After the session, both the officer and magistrate offered compliments on my presentation. The strangeness of that bit caught me off guard.)
I still contend I did not break the spirit of the law, even if I did not duly pause. My behavior will change henceforth!
Have you ever plead “not guilty”?
What do you think about this case? :)
STOP, don’t roll through…
&
~Leave your comments~
Beyond Daffodils …
I took this photo on Easter Sunday at my mother’s house. Currently, at my house, my daffodils have passed, withering beyond their peak, and will suffer the fate of the lawn mower, once my husband gets to them.
Spring is fully here, and most of the trees have gotten leaves, and have begun their growing season. And most of us, will ease into the routines of warmer weather, and longer periods of sunlight.
From there we will either grow, or be distracted. We’ll sink our roots deeper into being, and understanding, or we’ll get acquainted with flitting from thing to thing–like a bee rushing from flower to flower.
I love the daffodils, but I really enjoy watching how the trees meander through the summer days. First they blossom or tiny leaves come out. The leaves are impossibly light green, and fresh born. Then they take shape, and unfold. They spread out, and expand in size, getting richer and deeper in hue. Finally they look like unfolded umbrellas, but reaching upward to catch sun rays, or cup rainwater for insects. The wind blows, and the tree will seem to be tossing its new head of hair proudly, firmly standing its ground, and being.
It’s time to move beyond daffodils.
The trees of the fields will clap their hands.
How might you do it?
What are some of your thoughts lately?