On Minneapolis

`“Your Soul is Village Size.”  My daughter shared that statement with me about our devices, saying they make our souls live on a global scale.  

One basic thought for all my other thoughts.  Stay off my devices.  Nothing that is happening in Minneapolis would be happening to me if I weren’t on my devices.  People, men, women, evil, good, mothers, fathers, are being arrested and killed all over the world (Iran, Ukraine), including in my hometown, where I live.  But the powers that be, the forces that will shape the world for their benefit, are focusing on Minneapolis to fill up my devices to fill me up in the way they want me filled.  My devices are designed to feed my fears, anger, and hatreds.  That is the truth. 

The real question I face is, “Do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?”  If not, then I can stop writing because nothing else matters.  But suppose I do, or at least am trying with all that I am, I can then go on to the second thought that pertains to me personally.  Do I care enough about others to love my neighbor?  I mean,n those that live right next to me, right across the street?  Do I serve them? Help them? Work to keep them safe?  Do I know their names, their children's names?  Their struggles?  Am I daily concerned for them, so much so that they know it?  Do I pray for them, for their family, for their homes, and property?  Do I love them so they know that I love them?

It reminds me of the story of an old Indian sitting with his grandson, who was struggling to become a great Brave.  The grandfather said to his grandson, “There are two wolves inside of each of us, one is evil, one is good.  The evil wolf is filled with anger, lies, resentment, hatred, and pride.  The good wolf is filled with joy, peace, love, and hope.”

“Which one wins?” asked the grandson.

“The one you feed!” said the grandfather.   

 

Bad Bunny

I have never missed a Super Bowl.  The first one where I had a dog in the fight was the 1969 Super Bowl III, when Earl Morrall substituted for my hero Johnny Unitas and lost to the Jets and Joe Namath.  He was my second hero (I can remember going to Cherokee Hardware in Athens, TN, and buying my first pair of white cleats). Half-time shows were just marching bands like college games today.  They eventually became more interesting, hosting the Blues Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and the last one I can remember watching, Bruce Springsteen.                                                                                                                      Bad Bunny is not my thing, but I imagine if Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga (again, not my thing) played in Porta Rico, they would sing in English.   Morally,-- sexualizing the Super Bowl just seems wrong, and whatever is said,  I later saw pictures that looked like something I couldn't sit and watch with my granddaughters and grandsons.   I would be very uncomfortable, another thing I don't want to be while watching the Super Bowl.   There is no moral to this story, just how I feel           

The Bad Bunny of my day with all his and my pals. 

One Great Gift

I am old, an ancient burl of a man.  Broken, been cut up and boiled down, bent, lame, and hard over.  Old and nigh near 70.  But…sometimes, deep within me, in the ancient part, I can feel I am a child to the Father.  There is no freedom like that freedom of feeling the remembering of being me as a small child.  That is one great gift. 

That's me, 3rd from the left.  I can sometimes feel
him in me, as real as it was real.

 

“Trees have only one leg,” Dad!*

An old student with a great soul is a dear friend of our family.  A couple of years ago, he read a blog of mine, “Well Done Thy Good and Faithful Tree,”** about a great red oak that had fallen here at Fair Haven.  He decided he would like to make a table for us out of the tree.  Last year, he came and cut the tree into sections to season and get ready to be milled.  This weekend, he came and milled it.  It was a great pleasure watching a man, a timber framer by trade, harvest a massive tree and carefully, with sincerity, turn it into a stack of boards; a deeply meaningful spiritual experience.  Age upon age, ring stacked on ring, now being exposed, laid open, revealing the aged beauty of creation.  

Now, with skill, perseverance, and trade, he will create a table of it.  As true an image of God as I see these days.  Image living, Maclin Williamson. 

*Maclin's son Lee, named after me, said that to him.

Maclin setting up to mill the log.
**  https://aaronleebenson.blogspot.com/2024/09/well-done-thy-good-and-faithful-tree.html

In My Experience

No one lives or writes in a vacuum.  One writes from within their present reality, forged from past experiences, molded and shaped in ways that create the current experience.  From these experiences, he writes.  But there is also an overarching, encompassing foundation to his understanding of his life’s meaning.  “All things work together for (his) good,” regardless of whether he has the stamina to rise to believe this.  Sometimes his need for strength to believe is his greatest weakness.  In this experience, he finds it nearly impossible to write and focuses instead on staring into vast beauty, where he always finds God and His good working for him.   

 

Beautiful Feet

 "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!"  I have received good news!

Smoke On The Water*

Sunshine, dawn, rain, blue skies, forests, rivers, pelicans, fire, coffee, music, The Word, time, lover, knowing, being, present consciousness; “We must be in heaven, man!”1  No, but it is a glimpse.  “The best of life on earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst a glimpse of Hell.  For Christians, the present life is the closest they will get to hell.  For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven. 2

1 Wavy Gravy MC at Woodstock

2 Randy Alcorn, Heaven

*Smoke on the water, God and Deep Purple

 

Indigo

Indigo is my favorite color.  It is the first color of assurance that morning will soon be broken.  

 

The Kindest Surprise

Nothing prepared me for being saved.  Nothing in my imagination was as wonderful as the life that was given to me has panned out to be.  I was wholly unprepared for God’s glory, His gift to me of His eyes and ears, His senses, His feelings, which He gave me to experience Him, life, marriage, love, work, parenthood, and the good works He has prepared for me to do.  I was made alive, so alive that it shocked me how dead I was before.  This good life is his gift to me, so that I am not boasting, but only giving credit to whom all credit belongs.  I am never prepared for this. It is the greatest and kindest surprise of my life.     

At Thanksgiving we have a tablecloth we bring 
out and everyone writes what they were most thankful for
this past year.