Wednesday Wisdom

 

Live in the moment.
Find happiness today.

John

It's no big deal -- Or is it?

There is nothing extraordinary about my life. Most would say it is pretty boring. I don't really have a hobby, and I don't get out to do much. I spend most of my time in solitude or with Chris. Most days I do something in the yard -- mow, trim, weed flower beds, but not too much. I typically water the plants on the deck and front porch. If it hasn't rained for a few days, I'll water the flowers with the garden hose.
Sometimes I read. Sometimes I just sit and breathe in the energy of nature. I'm sure that I would be healthier if I felt the need to actually do something. I don't, so I'm not.

Maybe contentment is a kind of curse.
Or maybe this is the dream -- to be privileged to be content and happy with a life that is no big deal.

I am surprised at the simple joy I feel when new plants blossom. Yesterday we got our very first moonflower! These flowers blossom as the sun sinks low in the sky and then remain open throughout the night. I think they are so interesting and quite beautiful. 
Maybe I'll just be an old guy that tends to his flowers. It may not be much, but it is a pretty good life.

John

Eighteen Years!

18 years.
That's how long I've been publishing at Out of My Hat. 
This is post #2797. If I keep writing at my current normal rate, I should be at post #3,000 about my 19th Blogoversary.

It has changed a bit over the course of time.
So have I. 
So has the tech world of blogging, vlogging, and social media.
There was no such thing as Facebook, Twitter, or most of the current social networks. 
There was My Space.
Blogger was not yet under the Google banner.
Most of the blogs I initially followed have long since vanished into the virtual black hole that eventually consumes all things, only Mike's Billions of Versions of Normal and Bill's Bilbo's Random Thought Collection remain. Both began around the same time as Out of My Hat.

The 2,797 posts tell much about who I was and who I have become. It is interesting to have a written record that shows the growth and evolution of John. I can understand why people keep diaries or journals.

Out of My Hat began as just a place to write and share my thoughts. It used to be important to me that people were reading what I wrote. I'd check the number of hits and see where they were coming from. There were (and are) readers and bots from around the world. Now, I really don't care as much.

I've left the evangelical world, so it isn't that important to me that you believe what I believe. Writing about faith has lost its urgency. While I still enjoy sharing my faith and how it has changed, I am honestly more interested in hearing about your thoughts on faith and philosophies on life.

Retirement has allowed me more control to choose when I spend time with people and that has allowed me to live a much less stressful life. There is great peace in a quiet and contemplative life of porch sitting, cigar smoking, and tequila or bourbon sipping.
I tend to my plants. I read. I think. And sometimes I write.
Life is pretty good.

John

Trying to Understand the Chaos

Sheesh!

I am working my way through reading the very wordy Project 2025.
I've really just started and am so confused by the words and strategies that seem to come out of it. So much of what is included -- just in the Forward -- seems like gaslighting on a major scale. In many cases, one could interchange progressive and conservative and little would change. The things that the conservative writers seem to take issue with and their solutions to combat those things are often the same. 
They don't like liberal administrations using Executive Orders, but want to give more power to conservative administrations to -- wait for it -- have more power to use Executive Orders. 
They want to do away with or severely limit trade with China, but we saw our last president's daughter make several business deals with the Chinese during his administration.
They rail against the dangers of Big Tech, yet have a VP candidate that is funded by Big Tech.
They call for following the Constitution in its entirety, but they seem to support a candidate that boldly proclaims that parts of the Constitution don't apply.

I'm just getting into the main body of it and am pretty confused by what they seem to want as far as a method of governance and the methods that they want to achieve that. They seem to run counter to each other. I can see where some of this can easily have a positive and misleading spin and have to admit that it is difficult to read this without my own biases screaming, "Bullshit!" at every page. 
It's going to take me some time to get through this. I'd like to just read it straight through, but to maintain my sanity and process it properly I am going to need to break it into manageable chunks of reading.

I suppose I could just go with whatever the news media tells me, but the spin one way or the other is too much to really get a feel for what they say. Conservatives say that without implementing Project 2025 our democracy is doomed. Progressives say that if we allow Project 2025 to be implemented our democracy is doomed. 

My Wednesday Wisdom advice:
Read it for yourself or be extremely careful about who you trust to read it for you and explain what it says and what that means.

Be informed and vote.

John

Summer Cool Down

We are enjoying some rare cooler mid-July days here in SWMO. Yesterday's high was just about 80f (26c), and the same is expected today, tomorrow and Monday. It's nice to turn off the a/c and open the windows. I thought about sleeping on the deck last night, but opted for the comfort of my bed and opened windows.

I've been pretty lazy recently. I took advantage of the cooler temps and walk-mowed most of the yard yesterday. I'll finish up doing the yard today and I might tackle the field on the riding mower. The flower gardens also need some TLC and I'm sure I'll be working in them over the course of the next few days. I will definitely be spending plenty of time on the deck (okay, I always do that, but it will be a little more comfortable temperature for a few days).

I've been thinking about that native meadow thing and I am trying to figure out how I can do it with minimal cost. Where I have killed off the non-native fescue grass for the flowerbeds, I have tilled the soil and grasses, covered the ground with corrugated cardboard, covered the cardboard with topsoil, planted my flowers and covered it all with mulch. All of my flowerbeds put together are much less than what I need to do for a native meadow so that approach doesn't seem like it is a good idea unless I plan on doing it just a small section at a time. I guess I need to see how much it would cost to have a section killed, plowed, and seeded. I understand there may be subsidies available from the Department of Agriculture or of Conservation. It may be best to spend the money and have someone else do it if that's what we decide to do.
It doesn't occupy too much of my thoughts, so it likely won't happen this year. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Status quo may prevail.

I should get busy working while the temp is still around 70 (21c).
What's your plan for the weekend?

John

Thursday Theology

Today's text is from Mark 6:30-34, 53-56. 
When I read these today, the cynical part of me wonders if the Christian nationalists or evangelicals of today would follow this same Jesus, or if they would stand back and criticize him for enabling the poor and healing the sick. 

I know that my own biases of today's church are a part of my thinking, but far too many people I personally know have been victims of the outright hatred that is portrayed as hard love by the self-righteous conservative Christians.

I suppose that if today's churches were the places where the poor and sick went to for help and if they were met with compassion and service, it would be overwhelming and unsustainable for most churches to help them. The simple reality is -- most churches ignore the people that need help and live nearby. 
I mentioned in a post last winter that of the 600+ churches in Springfield MO, only a dozen participated in sheltering the community's homeless population during the coldest of nights. 
That whole Matthew 25 and "whatever you do to the least of these" kind of gets glossed over or simply ignored by most churches. And if the churches as organizations won't help, why would any of the people that attend there feel like they need to help?

I honestly feel like my Thursday Theology posts have become too negative and think that if I can't somehow turn that around I need to end this weekly post. I wish I could say that my distrust of people is fading and I always see the good in others, but that simply isn't the case.

Maybe it would help if you shared something good that somebody did for you or for somebody else. I am in need of a people-don't-really-suck kind of story.

John

Wednesday Wisdom

No cute meme or inspirational quote for today's Wednesday Wisdom post, just a bit of friendly advice -- Be flexible.

Today I skipped my normal routine. I was supposed to go into Springfield for an early morning tour of the Child Advocacy Center, but opted out and enjoyed the gentle rain while drinking my coffee on the deck. I also skipped scrolling on my computer while I read for a couple of hours and finished reading my latest library book, David Baldacci's The 6:20 Man.
I have a few books ready to read and may opt for a non-fiction next. Maybe I'll go back to reading more than one book at a time.

I do realize that I have the privilege of being more flexible than most. My mornings are pretty routine and today wasn't vastly different from most days, but I do hope to spend way less time on social media in the coming days and weeks. I have enjoyed spending more time reading over that past several weeks, especially when it is too hot to be active outside. Reading for education instead of entertainment is something that I need to add to my day, and cutting time on social media will help with that.

Another flexibility thing --
I'm not always at my best around people, but I have been working on it. Maybe I need some semi-regular outings or encounters with people. It is sometimes difficult to convince myself to leave the quiet and comfort of the deck. People encounters are mostly pretty meaningless as they are usually with clerks at stores or something. I rarely meet with people for genuine conversation. 
I should probably be more flexible about that even though it is a lot of work for me.

I struggle to find volunteer things to do because volunteering usually means doing something that meets the needs of other people, and it's being around people that keeps me on the deck.
I know -- I need to take my own advice and be more flexible!

This turned out to be way more than I was planning on writing for today. Flexibility is sometimes just going with flow. I hope you are managing to flow through your week. Maybe I'll see you for Thursday Theology; maybe I won't. I'll see how flexible I am tomorrow.

John

Monday

It's another Monday morning here in the Ozarks. I've been in a bit of a writing funk lately and have skipped my Monday and Thursday posts for a couple of weeks. In an effort to get back to writing I decided to skip the meditation post and just write about some random stuff in my head.

I believe that part of the writing funk has to do with frustration over our country's current political landscape. I have tried to stay away from political posts for some time, but I think that may change a little bit in the coming months. I will try to keep from being divisive or controversial and work on being more informative, knowing that even facts have become controversial since 2015 when alternative facts became a new name for outright lies. 
I recently downloaded the 900+ pages of the Project 2025 pdf and plan to read and share my understanding of the entire document. So far I've only read the intro and credits part. What I've read about the document is pretty scary, but usually biased from whatever source is sharing info, so I thought I would be better off reading it myself. 
You should probably do that, too.

In other reading...
After finishing the medieval fantasy series, The Ravenglass Chronicles (1800 pages) on my Kindle app, I went to the library and am back to reading actual books. I finished two Jack Reacher books this past week and will start on a David Baldacci book today. I may work in some non-fiction reading, as well, but I think I'll hold off on the P2025 stuff until I finish my current library stack.
I have done absolutely nothing when it comes to magic or ukulele playing and am probably more likely to continue in that trend than I am to pick up either of those things. I'm okay with that.

What are you reading?

John

Wednesday Wisdom

 

Thursday Theology

I'm skipping the lectionary schedule this week to take a different, more personal look at Thursday Theology.

It has been a little while since I have been a regular attendee at Sunday morning church. I think a big part of that is that church no longer feels like a time to worship God, but is more of a gathering of people doing church-y things -- shake hands and hug a few people, grab coffee and a donut, sing a few songs, listen to announcements, listen to a message from the pastor, talk to a few more people, go have lunch.

I don't know. It's probably just me, but I get a much better feeling for the presence and holiness of our Creator right here on my deck. I still enjoy the wisdom and lessons of Sunday morning sermons, but it just doesn't feel like worship. In fact, I don't think it is designed to be worship. I think it's designed to be like worship, but geared more to being pleasurable to us rather than pleasing to God.
I don't know if that makes sense because it is difficult to express what I'm feeling in words.

I think I'm the antiquated one. I think I'm still expecting Sunday morning church to be a time of worship and it isn't even called that anymore. It's service time or a gathering, not a time of worship. Honestly, I'm not that into gatherings or large groups of people. 
I am no longer certain of what church is supposed to be. The idea of the Church (big C) being the collective body of the followers of Jesus isn't really identifiable with so many false followers. And the local churches (little c) are more interested in getting butts in the seats and dollars in the collection than in actually doing that love your neighbor thing.

Avoiding all of that doesn't seem to be very theologically sound, but it is where I find myself. If anybody has some good advice or words of wisdom to pull me out of this religious funk they would be greatly appreciated.
It's pretty sad when it's easier to love the neighbor outside of church than it is to love your more religious, church going neighbor.
(heavy sigh)

John

Wednesday Wisdom: Learning patience

Why does learning patience take so long?
Gardening is a good teacher.

I wonder what our place will look like in a few years.

John

Monday Morning

I'm not really doing much meditating this morning. I'm enjoying my morning coffee and looking out over the back field and small flower bed. In the past I have mentioned wanting to turn a portion of the field into a native meadow but research has made me realize that it will be no small project. This once pasture land is primarily fescue grass which is not a native grass and is a very dominant grass. 

I had asked (on a gardening page) if I could just over seed with my native grasses and wildflower mix or if I would need to do a shallow till first. The response was that it will be a big project that will take a couple of years to do right. Killing off the current fescue grass seems quick and easy, but it is hardy and so are the seeds that have dropped and will germinate when the soil is disced or tilled.
Two years of work just to get rid of the non-native invasive grass that our European ancestors brought over and now covers the pastures of the Midwest.
Sacrebleu!

I am going to have to rethink this project.
For now, I will tend to the flowers that I have and enjoy working the environmentally altered land that I have. 

John