Emotional Retardation

Retardation: the action of delaying or slowing the progress or development of something. In a sentence: the goals of treatment include retardation of disease progression.

Perhaps when you saw the word retardation, you cringed, dear reader? This now socially inappropriate taboo word has such stigma attached to it that anyone using it is deemed hateful and cruel, isn't that so? I plan on using the word retardation in reference to emotional development as hinted at with the title of this piece of writing, so you might want to mosey in the opposition direction if your moral nose is already out of joint. 

If something is delayed, or slowed in its progress or development, the something is being compared to another something of a similar sort, that is moving at an average, speedy, or accelerated pace. You and I both know that there are milestones and markers we look for in our own learning, our own moving forward, if and when we are attempting to master a skill set. For instance, my son is learning Greek ... and he knows he simply cannot learn Greek, until of course, he learns Greek. If he were to visit Greece and attempt to speak the language, the people he might encounter may consider him retarded ... think now with me. Have you ever thought a foreigner simple minded because they cannot speak with proficiency in your language? 

When I visited Italy in my growing up years, I believed I could be considered intelligent with the correct facial expressions and eye contact. I wanted to convey a bright mind to anyone looking my way, but I did this silently. I could not express myself well in Italian, so I simply decided on not trying. Small talk was happily avoided, and I got to be present without anyone really knowing my inner workings. Being enigmatic and mysterious was appealing to me as an alternative to being perceived as an idiot by the natives when I fumbled over language rules I didn't understand ... but they didn't buy it ... they asked often why I didn't speak their language, and sweetly, they regularly attempted to communicate with me in what little English they knew. I was, upon reflection, slowed in my processes, my development, to becoming bilingual, and this was a form of emotional retardation, because I didn't have anyone teaching me, being patient and kind to me, encouraging me to learn and trust that one day, I would get the rhythm of speech that sounded lyrical to my ears without me understanding any of the rapid fire sentences ... I only understood things in context, ie wine, vino, when offered, would make sense when a bottle was lifted and leaned in my direction. 

How can I call this emotional retardation, you ask? In further explanation, I tell you I was not attended to in my early attempts to learn ~ I use learning languages as one example. Instead of feeling potential in language mastery, I felt embarrassment and shame when I made mistakes. It is only in adulthood that I understand relational dynamics and the why parts of how this transpired. When I look back, I see that the impatience of parents, and my mother in particular, left a mark on me. At fifty-six, I am far better equipped to comprehend where and when I got stuck in thinking quick sand. 

In quick sand, movement causes sinking. Without someone to help you out, or more specifically, me out when I was an impressionable child and young adult, there is that stuck feeling that can cause apathy. Apathy is antithetical to learning, progressing, developing, exploring, advancing, achieving, mastering, accomplishing, becoming ... all the ing words! A person can believe they are inept, and incapably incompetent, when it is suggested to them during their learning, that they are doing everything wrongly, or not as well as the teacher. Did my mom mean to retard me in my learning? I don't think so ... I think, in fact I know, she believes she does things correctly, and when she sees someone doing the same things differently, she feels compelled to impose her way, to make things "easier" for them. This is idiosyncratic thinking, and guess what, dear reader, we all have our very own version of idiosyncratic thoughts, behaviours, approaches, and lastly, defence mechanisms. 

Defence mechanisms are brilliant coping strategies that can be utilized to get us through a rough patch but, but! dear one, they are a form of emotional retardation, a wedge like block that inserts itself between you and another, when you or the other, refuse to deal with the feelings and thoughts that rise to the surface during emotionally charged events, or differences in approaches. 

What are my idiosyncratic ways, you ask ... well ... let me ask you what yours are first! 

Fine, since I am the one bringing up the subject, I will go first.

Resistance. This is my biggest, most obvious, most becoming and at the same time, most unappealing idiosyncratic trait. I am persistently resistant to impositions from others and I bristle immediately when I sense rightly (or wrongly sometimes) that someone wants something from me that I did not offer, nor do I want to give. I realize that when my mother or father imposed on me without explanation, it gave me the feeling that I had no latitude, that I was somehow bad if I disagreed, and that I had no power to change my circumstances because I was subject to their power. I grew to dislike this greatly, thus the resistance to their will, their way. There was a power imbalance with them having force, and dear reader, is this not exactly what is happening in the world?

There are the subjected, and then there are the powerful. It is the vulnerable imposed upon by the authoritative. Parents, when they don't attend to their children's emotional needs and learning, retard them. The children may never grow into sound humans, or, if they are willing, they will do the work of figuring this stuff out, finding a way out of the apathy quick sand to solid psychological, emotional, physical, and more foundation-ally important, spiritual ground. Parents fail their children often: I know this to be true because I am a mom and a daughter. To blame isn't helpful: to understanding and move forward is life altering. 

To be more pointed, we see leaders in authoritive positions acting like entitled, imposing, bullish children wanting their own way (emotionally retarded), at the expense of insecure, low self-esteemed, subservient (emotionally retarded) child like adults that do their bidding. What, pray tell, is missing? What went terribly wrong, and what are you willing to do about it? 

Dear reader, you are retarded, I am too, but there is a remedy, a medical book that heals the mind, puts salve on the soul, grows us up into responsible relational adults and good citizens of this world, when we are willing to be vulnerable again, be taught again by a kind, patient, loving, all knowing Teacher and Master, and Father. He sees each of us and where we are stuck and He offers His hand, not His strong arm, to pull us up and out, placing us on unshakable solid ground. 

What is missing, what went terribly wrong, is parents stopped looking to God for guidance, stopped obeying His commands. And here we mutually are, surrounded by digression and degradation of little humans, and the grey hairs too. The world, quite simply put, is sinfully, soulfully, suffering from emotional and spiritual retardation, and only Jesus Christ can save us from each other and ourselves.

I asked you above, what are you willing to do about it? 

I can only speak for myself, and I cannot do the work for anyone else, but I am willing to look at me, and ask God to help with my idiosyncratic stupidities and teach me the language of His love laws. The Bible is my medical manual, and it can be yours to, if you are willing to heal old, and new wounds, with God's wisdom. 

While I cannot make you love Jesus, and in fact, neither can He force your allegiance to Him, I can suggest you go to God, read His Word, and learn to love like a child that trusts his heavenly Father once again.

WE don't have to be diminished and destroyed emotionally or any other way. WE can be like Jesus, our perfect model of human and Godly excellence. 

As always, this is a choice. 

Here is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1)

It Can't Be True

What do you get when mercenaries put on uniforms and drive cars with sirens and lights blaring and glaring, and weapons easily made available for their indiscriminate usage? 

Murder, dear reader, you get murder in Maui.

What about men and women in scrubs, washed and ready to tell patients they have an aggressive cancer that requires chemotherapy to do ... what to them? pray tell. 

Murder, dear reader, you get murder in _________________: you fill in the location.

How about those educators you entrust your tinies to each September to the end of June, or whatever the school year looks like for you. Or your young adult sent off to college or university to be indoctrinated by God and human hating nihilistic pretend evolutionists, that want to wipe out truth and have children become empty and devoid of rational thought and soulful discovery. What do you get?

Murder, dear reader, you get murder of the mind, the heart, the spirit of the young.

● Do you hear it?

● Do you see it?

● Do you sense the darkness and understand what is happening?

● What about your loved ones? Have you lost anyone suddenly, unexpectedly, yet? 

● Does anyone you know have rapid onset of extreme illness? 

● What about you, how are you doing?

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11)

The extreme wake up call we are witnessing is alarming: we cannot hit snooze and catch a couple more zzz. We cannot turn the alarm down or throw it at the wall to silence it. We cannot ignore the alarm because it sounds constantly, and putting our hands over our ears to block out the shrillness is to block out the sounds of suffering. Humans are suffering and to not hear, is near impossible ... in other words, one must try really hard in their pretending and go into a complete fugue state, in order to convince themselves that nothing abnormal is happening, and all is as it ought to be.

For those that did not believe there are evil demonized humans hell bent on killing you, me, and our children, I sure do hope you see it now. If you still do not, you are perilously perched on the precipice. You do not see or hear or know:

● knowing the time

● that now it is high time to

● awake out of sleep

● for now is our salvation

● nearer than when we believed

And this is our current state of existence, with some in the know and some believing they are but being completely and utterly deceived. It appears that for some, it is only in desperation that they begin to piece together what they have witnessed and start to make sense of it. It is the old, Well it hasn't happened to me, so it can't be true, phenomenon.  

My father used to say:

An intelligent person learns from the mistakes of others; A smart person learns from their own and, A stupid person never learns.

Unfortunately I fall into category number two. As an experiential learner, I have found out the hard way what I should NOT have done, and who I should NOT have trusted. But I do believe as I age, I am moving into the intelligent categorization. I observe before I act far more now, and reducing my impetuosity quotient serves me well. Self-analysis and feed back from people I trust has been helpful, albeit a little stingy at times. It is necessary to have honest people in our lives that care enough about us to speak truth so we can become better human beings, wouldn't you agree? 

● What about you? Which category do you see yourself in? 

● Intelligent, smart, or stupid?

Seem too simplistic? Perhaps, but this is the easy way of describing what you and I are seeing. If you have patterns in your life that lead you to a ground hog repeat of a repeat kind of life, then perhaps you need to take a look at your habits and inclinations toward self-deception and denial of truth. Chances are very, very good, that the lies you have told yourself and consequently, others, are the ones that have caused you, and again, consequently others, the most harm. 

Do you say, It can't be true, dear reader? If so, I ask you: What can't you face? and, How come?

Whether we like it or not, reality doesn't change based on our desire to deny it. Mercenaries are calling the shots, literally, and if you cannot hear the alarms going off all around you, I fear for your eternal soul. 

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11)

NOTE: Police blocked the only exit to safety for the people trying to escape fire burning all around them in Maui. The Bible speaks of the times we are living in. It is wise to search the wisdom God has generously given us in His Word. 

End times prophecy is being fulfilled in our life-time 

Gas Light

The terms gas lit and gaslighting have been popular in modern day vernacular for some time. Spin doctoring, turning the tables, flipping the script, and I will add one of my own just for fun, reverse the curse, are all similar forms of placing blame on an innocent party, for the sake of saving face, protecting reputation, or ensuring a win, on the basis of deception for the gas lighter. Out of curiosity, I checked for GL origins and learned:

"The term "gaslighting" was coined from the 1938 British play called Gas Light, in which a husband manipulates a wife into thinking she is crazy by slyly changing the intensity of the gas lights in their home when she is left alone. He does this in an attempt to make her believe she cannot trust herself or her memory" quoted from the internet. 

● Husband manipulates wife

● Wife starts thinking she is crazy

● Husband is sly

● Wife is left alone to begin process of self-doubt

● Husband does this to make her believe she cannot trust herself or her memory

Here is a line from a movie version of this Gaslight theme:

"Slowly and systematically being driven out of your mind"

Being slowly and systematically driven out of your mind, dear reader, is the greatest achievement and goal for any diabolical, demonically driven, gas lighter. This said, we can differentiate between the grand puba of manipulation ~ otherwise known as Satan ~ and the regular old garden variety, that you and I encounter often in the form of family members, enemies disguised as friends, co-workers, clients, neighbours, bosses etc.  

How do you know when you are in the presence of a gas lighter, or have just been exposed to the technique?

● A, what just happened? feeling of disquiet takes over your thinking

● A replaying of he said she said starts, as you attempt to figure out whether or not you did something wrong

● You feel unsettled and insecure

● The thought of that person makes you uneasy, edgy, and puts you on guard

● You may shake your head and think you are making too much of a small thing

● You think about the encounter, talk about it with people you trust, and may feel guilty too, for being disloyal, and not discussing the issue with the person in question

● You give the manipulator the "benefit of the doubt", and choose to brush it off, avoiding the topic with them and vowing to steer clear of it to avoid confrontation in future

● You may defend the manipulator to yourself and others, excusing them by saying things like: they didn't mean it that way; they don't get it; there's a lot going on in their life ... it isn't like them 

Dear reader, the disquiet, the unsettled, insecure, uneasy, edgy, on guard, self-doubt, are great indicators of exposure to a sly human that considers you convenient prey to toy with. While not all gas lighters are this obvious or self-aware, I suggest many are knowingly this manipulative, because they have within them the desire to be perceived as always right, regardless of whether or not they actually are. 

In the play, and the movie versions of gas lighting, the manipulator had avarice as a motivator. A thief will lie, cheat, and steal, in order to obtain items they covet from the owner. Killing the soul via the mind is the ploy they utilize to escape being held suspect, and in order to evade culpability. If they can drive a person to madness, that crazy person with their nut-so decisions will be at fault, not the gas lighter. 

Slowly

Systematically

Driven

Out 

Of 

Your 

Mind

Once you have been driven out of your mind, dear reader, you will be driven out of your work, your community, your home, your parks and playgrounds, your everything that used to be. Sound familiar? Anyone, hello, anyone care to chime in here?

2 Timothy 1:7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

Dear one ... you and I were created by God. The spirit of fear is not for us, in fact, the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind is ours to have, savour, and embrace. Anyone that makes us feel frightened, nervous, weak, hated, belittled, unstable, insecure, or has us mentally disturbed or perturbed, has a spirit that is NOT OF GOD wanting to influence us for one reason or another. 

A gas lighter, a manipulator, a sly person, does not have the best interests of others in mind. I suggest they enjoy their little and often times large, head games, and it behooves a person to take a stand against these ploys of control and command that the liar wants to impose.

Lastly, I ask you if you understand what a vexation to the soul is?

A vex is a hex, dear one. Manipulators cast spells to convenience themselves. Yes, I used the word spells ... witchcraft ... a swap of what is good and true, kind and lovely, for what is vile, crude, dishonest, cruel and ugly ... that is gas lighting and anyone that does it has a blackened heart disinclined to godliness. 

If a person is not of God, then they are of the devil and, allow me to remind you, he hates us. Recall these words when you are being mistreated by a gas lighter ... that person hates you in some form or fashion because they model themselves after Satan. 

Keep them away before they steal all you have, including your mind. 

Flocculent

Being koi

What looked recently like a fresh and inviting frog pond, minus lily pads and koi, now looks like a boring old traditional backyard swimmable pool ~ as it should be!

Flocked

My pool got flocked, and the results are fantastic. I have to admit with some residual frustration, that my pool is a mystery, slowly becoming revealed chemical truth as time lapses, with the pool behaving badly year after year, or perhaps ... it is me ... murky me? Either way, I have something to write about because you and I both know, dear reader, how much I thrive on mystical metaphor. There is always something to learn, and I am not beyond being taught.

The algae that happily proliferated into a thick stew was slimy looking. Is that how my soul looks to God when I allow sinister sin to fester, froth, and foam in my thoughts? 

The Bible is an excellent flocculent, with sinful wayward ways being drawn to the Truth filled clarifier, like green gooey algae that needs to be put to death. Lies, dear reader, need to be killed, in order for us to see clearly. 

Sin is disobedience, a turning away from what could save us from consequential sorrow, toward people, places and things, that threaten to coat the soul in slime, the ick that sticks. Consider these words:

Though physical death was mercifully delayed after a warning from God to Adam and Eve, spiritual death fell on them immediately, with curses that we currently live under as their progeny and fellow reprobates: 

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17) 

They survived and suffered hard labour, in the child bearing places for Eve and her daughters, and in the fields for Adam and his sons:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over them (Genesis 3:16)

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Genesis 3:19; 5:5)

Botox

Regardless of how many years we accumulate while roaming this earth, each of us are physically time stamped with a death date: no amount of botox, green drinks, weight lifting and running, will help us escape this reality. God placed us here, and God decides when and where to take us out!

Consider these consequences hinted at above that directly impacted how Adam and Eve interacted with God, each other, and their environment, following the consumption of forbidden fruit:

Openness was replaced with shame, boldness with fear, love with hatred. God drove the king and queen of creation out of His presence and barred the way to Paradise with hostile angels and fiery death. Their children manifested the bitter fruits of their sin in unacceptable worship, jealousy, murder, lying, and polygamy ... (I borrow heavily from The Reformation Heritage KJV Bible)

● Does any of this sound familiar, dear reader? 

● Can you see evidence of sin in your home, your place of work, in the marketplaces, hi-ways and bi-ways of life? 

● What about when you are watching TV or checking out social media? Are your eyes and sensibilities assaulted by what is flashed before you at break neck, or should I say, soul break, speed? 

● Is it evident to you yet, that we are dealing with cumulative, unrepentant, rampant and ravishing disobedience-to-God sin?

Immorality unchecked

The world is unsafe and unsavoury with immorality unchecked. I want to hide most of the time because while I believe in God, love Him and want to love my neighbour as myself, I see Cain everywhere I look, along with Lamech, one of many of his arrogant and murderous, wicked descendants. 

● What do you see, hear, and notice, dear reader? 

● Have things changed, since say, 2019? How about since 2001, or even since 1980? ● When was the last time you looked to your history and felt "safe" and that life was filled with promise and hope?

Let me pull you back into the Bible. God, all knowing, all powerful, knew that when He gave us the gift of freedom of will, we would be wanton with it, and this has been the case, isn't that right? Like any disobedient self-willed child, you and I have gone our own wandering ways, against the warnings from a father or mother that knew better and shared with us the dire consequences that await, following bad choices. This said, we must not despair, because the entire Bible is about God's glorious and grace filled redemptive plan, for those that see how damaging sin is, how it keeps us from Him and from loving one another, and want to change willful ways to obedient ones. 

We influence and impact one another. We green goo each others souls and when this happens we have to rely on an expert clarifier, something that breaks up the yuck party, allowing light into the murky places so we can see to the bottom. Things that lurk beneath murky surfaces cause trepidation, isn't this so, dear one? When we see clearly, we choose confidently, and this is what God offers in Truth.

Clarity

Jesus Christ is the truth, the life, the way ... if you find yourself mind muddled and you travel in worn out circles of despair, go seek and find Him, He is waiting for you on the path just ahead. 

It is His peace you crave.

The Crowd

Bored meetiing

Years ago I was asked to join a Bored, I mean Board of Directors. A board of directors is one of those groups of people that agree to be trapped in various meeting rooms to listen to, "Blah blah blah" and, "We are doing this, that, and the other, and need your consensus to spend money", ever so wisely of course. 

The meetings were tedious for me, with longish agendas that rarely if ever held any interest or excitement. The tedium of "business" was discussed, voted on, approved, and we all agreed to rinse and repeat on a monthly basis. Since somehow I had moved up the ranks and was elevated to the role of Chair, the association (read here, Executive Director) deemed it valuable that I get some training as the leader, on how the bored membership was to be effectively run. I was to attend a number of sessions held by an expert on boards, with various members from other boards, meant to be educated on making everyone bored. Within the first hour of the first session of being talked at by the "facilitator" who gave us a slide show he created in 1999, I was agitated and chomping at the proverbial bit, looking longingly and almost secretively at first, toward the nearby EXIT. As the talker with control over the projector at the front droned on, I looked around me at my fellow detainees, and in my head started to scream, "There's the exit people, the door is OPEN! Who is with me? Let's go!!! But they all seemed enthralled I tell you. Much to my dismay, I couldn't detect a partner in crime to depart with: dutifully, these volunteers listened, nodded, took notes, and asked simple questions of the authority in the room when they saw an opportunity to do so. One more retelling, dear reader.

I recall being in an all day event, sponsored by and run by the government ~ I left shortly after lunch, hooray for me ~ that had me taking out my car keys and feigning suicide as I pretend ran the dull side of a key over the veins in my left wrist in view of the Executive Director, a visual suggestion that if I had to stay much longer, I might have to off myself in desperation as a way of escape. He mouthed, you can go. He knew me and my intolerance for blah blah blah ... 

And dear reader, I am still intolerant of blah blah blah. The emptiness that wants to hollow out the soul, of words, too many words, tossed hither tither and yon, must be avoided at all costs and yet, and yet ...

● Are you part of the tolerance crowd, dear reader?

● Can you listen patiently, without the urge to escape, to someone with endless words?

● What do you get out of politely sitting and waiting for them to finish talk talk talking?

● Have you heard the expressions: full of hot air, talking heads, talking nonsense, full of bull?

Objectified

If you are good at being subjected to someone that can stream words without any interest in interacting with you or others, might I suggest you were trained to be silent, thoughtless, and objectified (turned into an object). The message is, You sit still and listen while I talk and regardless of what I say, you have no say, no option, no right to an opinion, and most certainly, no out. I am confident as you just finished reading this, you recognize that the training started early in your life, either in your home or in school: it started somewhere, dear reader, and many have suffered this inconvenient truth. Like Pavlovian dogs, when a bell rings, or a whistle blows, or an instructor, facilitator, or boss tells people time is up, they are released from the control or hold from the master. Sound communistically familiar? 

My observations are:

💖 Loving people want to know what is going on in your life

💖 Loving people ask questions, listen for responses, and then interact from there

💖 Loving people never impose or force another

💖 Loving people, hear, see, and want the very best for those around them

💖 Loving people communicate, they do not command

💝 Loving people advocate for independence of thought and deed, free from someone else's determinism ~ I know what determinism means, dear reader: We must not give into the sense that we are without choice because quite simply, that is a lie

The EXIT

The EXIT, it was right there, and I had to make a choice. Stay, or go? Staying meant agreeing to someone stealing my time without a ROI (return on my investment), followed by a sense that I had compromised my integrity by pretending that I was interested, when I had loathing for what I was experiencing. Going meant FREEDOM, to do what mattered to me most, and when next we met, telling the Bored Members, and in particular, the Executive Director, that I left that meeting, that I would not be returning, and that I found it a useless waste of time and money. 

Fast forward

Fast forward to our recent common Zoom history, dear reader. You recall those dumb days of pretending the world was ending because of a fit-to-measure make believe illness that the populace embraced readily after much grooming by perpetrators that treated them as objects ... long sentence, packed with a pointed message I realize. I had to reread it myself. Let's highlight, shall we?

🥸 Zoom ~ an inexcusable way of gathering people into a small space called a screen, even though they live minutes apart and can meet in the flesh

🥸 Dumb days of pretending ~ make believe became everyones fairytale

👎 World was ending ~ this part is true, but we don't know when

😈 Fit to measure ~ after much priming, the pump of fear was ready to dispense the lies to an unsuspecting populace

🦠 Illness ~ being told you are going to die is true, but the when, where, how parts, are not determined by other humans, or a v-i-r-u-s that humans created to scare the gullible

😇 Populace embraced ~ after being told, you be you, take care of yourself, you are entitled to be happy, go to the doctor, take anti-depressants, get an annual checkup, see a specialist etc people were ready to be saved from sickness of the deadly variety. Reverse psychology was utilized to help envision themselves as heroic, taking one, two, five and six injections "for the team"

☠️ Grooming by perpetrators ~ media outlets acting in accord

😷 Treated as objects ~ do this, don't do that, you are allowed, not allowed: these were the messages that objectified adults, that ought to have exercised their own minds in decision making

Each man for himself

When board meetings and church gatherings, bible studies, birthday and anniversary celebrations, along with funerals, were moved from in person to on-line events ... when this happened, dear reader, something broke. The willingness of people to give in to their desire for self-preservation at the expense of human contact, screamed something vile in our faces, didn't it? It yelled, "To hell with you, you mean nothing to me. Each man for himself." Each man for himself: this is one of the saddest things I have ever written and is so anti-christ that I could weep. If you disagree with what you have just read, and still believe that disassociation in crisis preserves lives, then I ask you: how did you fair in your relationships with family, friends, and colleagues, at the close of the plan-dem-ick? Did closeness survive, or do you see behind you relationship carcasses, remnants of what used to be wonderful?

The crowd cares not

Going with the crowd is deadly, dear reader. The crowd does not think, formulate opinions, assess situations. The crowd moves as one without words, without foresight, and clearly without after sight. The crowd is anonymous, homogenous, and blended to the point of erasing individual brilliance. The crowd cares not for preservation of what is true, holy, healthy, wholesome. The crowd is a thing, a monster, that forms and dissipates, leaving behind strewn garbage and waste that cannot be repurposed because it ought never have been in the first place. 

Are you, part of the crowd?

I hope not dear reader. If you have been, I hope you make a decision today to never go with the crowd flow again. 

Preferred this life

People gathered to hear Jesus speak but what did they hear? Did it move them to recognizing how far they had fallen from the glory of God? Individuals had one-on-one encounters with Jesus, whilst the crowd looked on: some, knowing Who He is, chose to walk away, betray Him, and go with the many that preferred this life and what it has to offer, over life everlasting with the Eternal God. Nothing has changed, dear reader, because there is nothing new under the sun. 

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat (Matthew 7:13)

Scripture will never lead you astray, unlike cruel people that plot the demise of vulnerable humans. The guiding light instruction found in God's Word is incomparable, and has saved many a man, woman, and child, from following the crowd to the cliff's edge and either dropping off it, or being pushed over. Reading and heeding must go together though, dear reader. 

I ask you now:

How ever will you proceed?

Give Me Your Lunch Money

Were you ever bullied in school?

Harassing and haranguing

I recall a ring of mean girls, four of them to be exact. Diana, Vicky, Lisa and Caroline. Two sets of best friends, a foursome that joined forces at recess for the express purpose of harassing and haranguing other little girls to see if they could break them, and make them cry. The small band of witches would select one girl, corner her, and call her any number of vile names, persisting in their cruelty until the bell rang for us to return to class. A crowd would beehive gather to witness the wickedness, and when I look back, I wonder, where were the yard supervisors?

During group recess games with the boys, these mean spirited whisperers always had something derogatory to say, to undermine the confidence of whomever it was they wanted to persecute in their immediate vicinity. I got a nickname of toughie once, because I worked hard at not letting anyone break through the red rover red rover, linked hands line of defence, on my side of the playing field. Hearing the words Toughie, you think you are a toughie, over and over again, grated on me in its pestering until while in line up, I screamed, LEAVE ME ALONE ... but the teacher, our teacher, did nothing to investigate, why a quiet student like me would be crying, and feel the urge to scream such a thing. 

"Duped"

I write with the same feeling I had way back when, dear reader. A mixture of stupefaction and disappointment because bullies are saying and doing things that injure the innocent, while groups of people witness and watch, and do nothing to stop the atrocities; and even CONTRIBUTE TO THEM, by suggesting the bullies, the lunch money thieves, just don't know any better. I have heard this argument one too many times in defence of the politicians that were "duped" into believing some things that the rest of us who are in-the-know, just didn't fall for. Excuses have their uses, but that is all they are, and they do NOT erase culpability and consequences for perpetrators.

Agreeable

I often run the risk of alienating people when they read my writing. I get the impression some may have an opinion of me that is way off base: they might see me the same way they see others, as perhaps agreeable and willing to come to consensus, but nothing could be further from truth. I do not disagree for the sake of it, for the fun of debate or intense conversation ~ this does not appeal to me in the least ~ I disagree with people that play patty cake with truth, white wash lies and liars with a brand of pseudo honesty, and want me to agree to their diluted watered down version of what is reasonable and acceptable. Before you read further, I will be pointed in what I am getting at:

Plotting demise

ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE, that attempted to impose lethal injections (you know exactly which ones I refer to dear reader), committed an offence of violent proportions. People in authority, politicians and pastors, "friends", relatives, bosses or colleagues that pushed poison on others, were work place and home, steal your lunch money bullies. To excuse ANY of them, is to re-victimize those that are currently suffering, and regrettably so, because in their ignorance, they did as they were told, believing veiled and real threats to their well being. The uninformed, once they realize or come to truth, have the opportunity to regret and repent: in contrast, the propagandizers and pushers of poison that plotted the demise of the human race, are blood soaked, and no amount of, Out damn spot, begging and pleading in their insanity, will wash them clean.

Lately, I have taken exception to the suggestion that I see past what has issued out of the mouths of black hearted men and woman. I witness pandering to the rich, famous, and currently popular talking heads, and it sickens me to no end, knowing that very few read their Bibles, very few recognize that God does not forgive and forget the way humans do, and very few realize that we are under His judgment, especially when we defend the wicked and pretend FOR THEM, that they have done no wrong, no harm, or at least, not willingly ... because they were "duped". 

If I break a law and get arrested, even though I did not know I was committing an offense, I will find out quickly what I must never do again. Thieves roam freely, getting away with stealing meagre lunch money from the weak and unprotected: the perpetrators prey and fill, feeding on the vulnerable and ill informed, and all the while, people who should know better, people who ought to be supervising and protecting those that cannot stave off the enemy themselves, turn a blind eye and by doing so, collude with the bullies. 

Trump has stated many times he is worth millions and millions ... he also stated he saved millions and millions of lives when he told people to get injected. People trusted him, heeded his instructions, and are now suffering for it. He is right: he is worth millions and millions in filthy lucre, mercenary blood money. He has not only stolen lunch money, but livelihoods, health, and life too, because this is what is now lost to those that did his bidding when he was their God, I mean president. 

Dear reader, life is invaluable, but not to a paid killer. Life is precious, but to a mercenary that uses and abuses other humans, all they see is dollar signs over heads. It behooves us to see them as they are and not paint a pretty picture to accomodate our unfulfilled desires and dreams.

I am not a dreamy kind of gal. I am nitty gritty and hold fast to the truth that God is our judge, that we must be careful for the company we keep, and we must not give into the secular pull of degrading ourselves by embracing lies and liars that have proven who they are by their previous words and actions. Behaviour, after all, does not lie, so why should you and I? 

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

To end, I challenge you, dear reader, to consider if you are any of these:

● deceived 

● a fornicator - having sex with a person or people you are clearly, not married to

● an idolater - worshipping "gods" other than God the Father, creator of heaven and earth; this can include hero worship of fellow human beings

● an adulterer - having sex, emotionally or physically, even if only in your imagination, with someone other than your spouse

● effeminate - a man acting and dressing in a feminine manner

● abusers of themselves with mankind - homosexuals

● a thief

● covetous - enviously desirous of what others have, wanting it for yourself

● a drunkard 

● reviler - speaking abusively or contemptuously 

● an extortionist - obtaining something through force or violence

If you can be described as one or any number of these, you will not inherit the kingdom of God ... 

The good news, though, dear one, is this:

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11)

If you acknowledge your sins and confess them before God Almighty, repenting and turning away from your wicked ways to sin no more, you will be washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus our Lord, by the Spirit of our God! 

If you feel wrongly accused via what you have read, don't be offended by me. I am nothing and no one. I am just a person with my own point of view that could very well be flawed and misguided. This said, I can only tell you to do as I do, when I want the Truth and nothing but the Truth, so help me God: I go to the Bible! 

The Author of life is waiting for you there to learn more about Him and how He handles people and the situations they find themselves in. He already knows YOU, it is your responsibility to get to know HIM. Tarry not, go there now, or later today, but please do go. There is a day of judgment fast approaching and we do not know when that day will come, so we must be ready for it:

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36)

You certainly don't want to be on the wrong side of history, now do you?

Envy Green

My pool is the bane of my existence. Each year I have learned a bit more about its watery workings. I have spend hundreds, and dare I say, thousands ~ eeck, this is closer to the actual number ~ over this past weird weather summer alone, on chemicals and now services, only to be greeted by a murky viridescent smirk. Is the Loch Ness monster mocking me from the deep end?

My neighbours have crystal clear swimmable salt water pools: Is mine green with envy? The thought has me half grinning. I am not a covetous person, and have always been very grateful for all that I have been blessed with, but my pool seems to have a personality all its own, in fact, it has been featured in my writing before. Today it got flocked ... with a flocculent: the goal is for the gleefully prolific algae to attach itself to the clarifier, and drop dead to the bottom of the pool to be vacuumed up the next day. Hmmmm, the life of a pool is fascinating. 

I rescued a Japanese beetle from the pool recently. I felt sorry for it and gave it back its freedom, but since then, I have killed many a beetle because they were attacking my precious weeping Larch tree ~ a new addition just this year to my backyard gardens. The hairy petite fellow weeps for my tiny Dot, buried near by. The beetles were killing it, and so I had to make a choice, them, or it. It makes me sad to take life but then again, death is cruel and we are all killers, in one way or another, isn't that right, dear reader?

Dogs, beetles, algae ... relationship

Relationship is killed more frequently now than ever before. I wonder about the hidden monsters, the Loch Ness's concealed and camouflaged ... surfacing, then dropping down low again, almost undetectable and imperceptible. Honesty got murdered in the minds and hearts of those that resist and deny God. It is next to impossible to have real relationship without Truth as the clarifier, Truth as the algae killing flocculent. 

As I spend time watching men I do not know demolishing what used to be, building new things, repairing what cannot be replaced, replacing what must be torn out and refitted, I wonder about coverage. I wonder about marriage and forever. I wonder about having to rely on strangers to do for me what ought to have been a role fulfilled by a provider, a man after God's own heart. I see God as my Provider, and I am blessed, but it is the brokenness of a decaying world that has me weep like my green haired Larch. The beetles destroy what is beautiful ... they haven't a care in the world in their conscious-less existence. They munch and breed, and make things ugly where ever they land ... I can think of a few humans that do the same, can you, dear reader?

How very disheartening for me to make a comparison between wicked humans, created by the hand of God in His image, and beetles (also created by His hand) and yet, the similarities or too obvious to ignore. There are people roaming the earth that wake up fixated on what they can do to make others miserable; what they can connive to cause contention; how they can go about making the world hideous.

I noticed skulls on clothing years ago. When I spotted them colourfully dotting children's apparel, alarm bells almost deafened me in their ringing. The father of lies wants us to believe we will never die, while reminding us death is imminent, so that we cling to our now, selling our future for a bag of filthy lucre fools gold. If now is all you and I have, and if there is nothing past it with no great beyond to anticipate and look forward to, then this life rates a green useless pool zero out of ten 0/10.

Thing is, my pool has been flocked, and I suspect it will display differently tomorrow. I hear birds calling, and see winged things flying, and flowers smiling as they reach toward the sun. They are reminders of what is good and right and perfect. God's touch is ever so sweet. When we have a listen, take a gander ... look for Him when it feels as though something is missing, joy returns and smirking pools lose their power to perturb. 

I am grateful for the men that are strangers to me that have been kind, willing, and able, to do the work that needed to be done that I am incapable of. I realize as I draw this writing to a close that once again, I am humbled in the knowledge that no matter how independent each of us wants to be, we must rely on one another in significant and meek ways. 

Relationship can survive, dear reader, but it requires responsibility and investment, with nothing lurking in the shadows or hidden just below the surface. There has to be transparency to clear a path for hearts and minds to wholly, or holy, connect. 

Today I include a picture of Green Envy, the new name for my pool.

Tomorrow I may write about fresh starts and healed hearts: clarified by algae killing Truth. That's tomorrow, and today isn't done ...

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6)

I pray

I supplicate

I thank God

I make requests

Now it is your turn, dear one ... 

Pray

Supplicate ... beg earnestly and humbly

Thank God for all His blessings

Request His will in your life, and live it

All will go well with your soul, even when nothing seems to be going quite right in the moment ... God works wonders.