I have a file of pending articles. I keep the file for the weeks when the well is running dry or nothing notable has happened. The thing about this file is that these are small reminders of ideas for articles. They are never the fully formed articles. If I have not used the article ideas, I tend to forget the deep insight I was having. I simply have a post-it-note with a few words on it. More than once I have looked at the words on the post-it-note and wondered, “What was I thinking?” The note then goes in file thirteen.
I thought that sharing the post-it note-file in brief fashion might be fun. I want to share these before I forget what they mean.
Here we go.
The other day I was listening to the various conversations around the office. Some days there are lots of them happening simultaneously. One fellow said to his compatriot, “I went for a walk the other day and when I got back home, I saw that the leaves were stuck to the bottom of my shoe.”
I had to stop and ponder why that was such a bad thing. Then I had moment of revelation. The only way that leaves would stick to the bottom of your shoe is if your shoe had passed through a substance that caused the bottom of the shoe to be sticky. The two prime offenders would be gum and another substance which falls from the back end of four-legged animals. It was this second substance that caused the leaves to stick to the bottom of the shoe. The New Testament word for this substance is skubala. The word is used once in the writings of Paul, and it means the stuff that sticks to the bottom of your shoe.
Spiritual insight number one, sometimes we step in stuff. There is no reason to be surprised by stuff, just make sure you don’t track it into your emotional house.
The other day I was out visiting. I asked the fellow, “Are you staying out of trouble?” It is my question. It is a glib question. I am not asking in judgment, nor do I seek confession because of the innocent inquiry. His response was grand. He said, “Mother nature and Father Time are keeping me out of trouble.”
I instantly related to his deep insight.
Spiritual insight two, live fully in the time you are in. If you are young and Mother Nature and Father Time have not taken their toll, then be careful, but enjoy. If you are a victim of Father Time and Mother Nature, then enjoy and relish this time in your life too.
Today is great because it is a gift from God.
I was reading this week and the author of the article made an interesting statement. His line was this; “an eye for an eye” leaves everyone blind. He was writing about Lex Talionis. The law of retaliation as laid out in the Old Testament. The idea in the Old Testament is that retaliation and revenge have limits. Jesus told His disciples; don’t you dare get started in that direction.
Spiritual insight three; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth aren’t satisfying ways of dealing with conflict. We will be left blind and hungry.
I think I will stop there. Because insight four was about hugging your tombstone. I will save tombstone hugging for another day. The quick lesson there is live each day fully because you ain’t going to live forever.
