The Truth must dazzle gradually
– Emily Dickinson, Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Or every man be blind
Truth Dazzles, So Slow Play It
Repent, and Believe in the Gospel
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”
– Mark 1:14-15
Minister to Those in Need
The King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
Then He will say to those at His left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’
Then He will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
– Jesus in Matthew 25:34-46
Strive to Become Better
When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Reach For Your Goals, Become Yourself
What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly so important as what you become by reaching them.
– Zig Ziglar, Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles
Fear And/Or Excitement?
The only difference between fear and excitement is your attitude about it.
– Paraphrased from Peter McWilliams
I don’t entirely agree, but I must admit that this new adventure that I’m kicking off has me riddled with both fear and excitement.
I’m excited to move into the place I found. I’m excited that I found a place that both fits me and that I am happy to invite others into. I’m excited that I am moving to an amazing new city with so much to explore and a natural attraction nearby to incentivize friends to come visit. I’m excited that I will have a regular job with a regular income. I’m excited at the new challenges my new job will inevitably send my way. I’m excited about the team I’ll be joining. I’m excited at the now-blossoming friendship in my new city. I’m excited at the opportunity to build new relationships with people I am excited to meet. I’m excited to finally be moving on from a seemingly stagnant part of my life.
I fear I won’t make the cut at my new job. I fear that I’ll mess things up with the place I found. I fear that I missed something crucial in my planning, so my execution will fall through. I fear that I won’t know what to do with the space at my new place. I fear that I might lose touch with amazing people. I fear that moving across state lines during a pandemic will result in my being drawn and quartered in the town square. I fear that I’m not listening closely enough to what God wants me to do. Even moreso, I fear that moving to this new city will severely limit my access to the Mass and the Most Blessed Sacrament, and I fear that without a regular dose of Christ in the Eucharist that I will fail miserably at everything life throws my way.
Life is interesting. These days, I feel both excited and fearful consistently. How do we handle fear and excitement?
I often get jittery and feel compelled to do stuff. All sorts of stuff. Sometimes it’s hands-on stuff, sometimes it’s exercising-type stuff, and sometimes it’s just a lot of tiny tasks that take way more time than they fairly should. All sorts of stuff that sometimes isn’t very necessary to do at all. In my case, how I manage both is very similar.
My emotions make it even more necessary for me to write up a daily to-do list. I read somewhere that to-do lists aren’t actually helpful; the proper way to organize one’s time is to calendar specifically when each task is to be done. That would be great if I knew how long each task would take; I can’t even gauge how long I’ll be on the phone with my bank to ask a seemingly simple question let alone estimate how long a wonky work project is going to take. Instead, I’m writing a to-do list to prioritize my tasks so I can get the most time-sensitive, important, and daunting ones done first. Starting my day writing up a task list helps to keep me focused.
I’m also taking a few extra seconds in prayer. It doesn’t seem like much, but just making space at the end of rote prayers to talk to God, to tell God that I appreciate all that He is doing for me, and to praise Him really brightens my day and gives me strength to keep going. God honors my little moments. Sometimes He honors them so immediately that I am drawn closer to Him for longer than I originally intended because I would rather spend time with Him than with the world.
When I can’t seem to focus on the big stuff, I just put one foot in front of the other and sift through the pile of little stuff. It needs to get dealt with eventually, so it may as well be while it’s preventing me from getting the big stuff done.
What do you think? Are fear and excitement two sides of the same coin? How do you manage these emotions so you can continue to take care of yourself and be productive?
Crazy Times: Treason, Injustice, and Rebellion
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.
– Lisa Macdonald, Socialist Alliance, quoted by Green Left
Strange times we live in.
The quote above often passes with an attribution to Thomas Jefferson. Nope. But I liked the quote when I first read it, so I won’t let that it was spawned from the mouth of a socialist sour it for me. As they say, even a blind squirrel stumbles paradoxically into an acorn every once in a while.
The quote is doubly triply (given that it comes from a socialist) fitting per current events. News coverage of previous presidents orchestrating a coup and setting the country up for failure is the only new thing on the circuit this week. The COVID-19 coverage is the same day in, day out, and the question there boils down to, simply, when will the government stop infantalizing citizens?
Point One: Treason Charges Pending (Hopefully)
Apparently (hot off the presses, so the investigation is condemning but still ongoing), President Obama and many of his top advisors went above and beyond to be a thorn in candidate Trump’s side during the campaign including laying the groundwork to usurp his authority if he was able to win the election despite their efforts. I understand campaigning for your selected next candidate, even though it means going back on some things you said against them while campaigning against them in the primary (even though they were never false), and I understand campaigning against the opposing party, but sabotaging your own country to make sure the guy you don’t like can’t get much power? I’m fairly certain that qualifies as treason.
If nothing else, will there be justice for Lieutenant General Michael Flynn? Come on, the man’s a war hero. It was dicey going after him in the first place, and now he’s being exonerated because he was framed? Not just hot-potato-pass-the-blame framed, but people orchestrated a plot to invent what looked like a hot potato and then pinned it on him. That’s some serious salt, fabricating treason against a war hero. Ugh.
Point Two: The Shutdown (Injustice!) Has To End Soon
I’m ridiculously lucky in that I’m minimally impacted by the COVID-19 shut-down. The daily thing for me is that I am not generally allowed back in the office, and the most frustrating thing is the prohibition against public Mass celebrations. Unlike many people I know, I don’t spend much time out at movies, going to restaurants, or even getting haircuts. (I cut my own hair; it saves beaucoup bucks … and awkward interactions with hair stylists.)
Something has got to give, and it’s got to give soon.
Mental health problems have skyrocketed, many are out of work and don’t know how to feed their families, Republicans opt for massive expenditure bills to try to save lives, Democrats (read: Nancy Pelosi) block the bills to blame the other party for something (Hey! Don’t you know it’s an election year?!), and the American dream is being ground into the dirt. The world as we know it has gone bonkers.
“This would all be easier if there were a Universal Basic Income.” I heard this sentiment from several people. Uh, okay, commie, where would all that money come from – especially now given that everyone is out of work? Oh, by the way, how did that work for college tuition rates? (You know, many people who went to university decades ago paid much less in tuition, room, and board because the government wasn’t promising loans regardless of how awful the bill got.)
And that’s not even mentioning the crux of the issue: what about the will to live? Work isn’t a great purpose in life, mind you, but for many, it’s all they’ve got. If they don’t have to work to put food on the table, there’s literally no point to life. It’s one of the reasons we’re expected to lose 68,000 citizens to deaths of despair (such as suicide and substance abuse) just from this pandemic. It’s a scary time, and people are losing the only reasons they have to muster through.
I’m hoping (and, yes, praying) that this little socialist experiment teaches our great society an important lesson. Unfortunately, I’m doubtful we’re listening.
Part Three: A Socialist Encourages Rebellion
What state have you to depend on if you tear it down?
That is a legitimate question. Socialists don’t exist in the natural state of affairs because they require a fabricated system to lean on. Without the commons, there is no tragedy thereof. Without the tragedy of the commons, there is no socialism.
Rebellion is more of a thing for people who aren’t afraid of having a minimally-invasive government. It would make sense for a libertarian to say something like the above. For someone who wants the government to stick its sticky paws in places where the sun don’t shine and expect everyone to be happy about it… Well, that simply doesn’t make sense.
But I’m fine with that. You know, if the socialists want to tear down the blooming socialism, I say we cheer them on. We should also build up as they destruct so there is structure to return to at the end of the day, hopefully one without all the ridiculous plumes of absurd government overreach. Let’s let the socialists tear themselves down so the rest of society can build something better.
Ready For an Uptick?
I received an email today with this subject line:
Well, yeah. If they weren’t, what was the point of the shut down in the first place?
The point was to “flatten the curve” to make sure the hospitals could handle the influx of patients, particularly as we figure out what works and what doesn’t against this novel infection. So yes, re-opening, whether now or a year from now, will inevitably result in more cases. If it doesn’t, then that means the shut-down had zero effect on flattening the curve, and we should all be outraged at being cooped up for no reason.
So, I’m ready for an uptick in cases, yes. An uptick in novel coronavirus cases means an uptick in the economy and, more importantly, a serious uptick in the quality of life of all those impacted by this disastrous scenario which will inevitably result in a flattening of the mental health crisis curve.
Much love. <3
Stay The Course, Despite Everything
Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the sufferings.
– Jesus speaking in Matthew 24:4-8, 35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
Practice What Is Preached
The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.
– Matthew 23:2-3
Self-Respect is Important
“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
– Confucius