Proclamation

One of my top 10 favorite bloggers recently posted about What Your Bookshelf Says About You. Without thinking I boldly went where no Roo has admitted to going before.  Yeah, I put myself out there to risk being examined. It’s all good. Another one of the beauties I especially appreciate about this blogging community is how it attracts polite, kind-hearted people (my personal favorite).

However, doing this was not always like me. Former Me would also have participated because, well, books – what’s not to love. But rather than simply looking around, I would have created a list certain to impress others. What’s more I would likely have spent hours gathering titles in the list or creating binder images of the books I borrowed. It’s okay to laugh. It’s no secret I can still be a very silly girl.

So now, if this post goes awry I’ll obviously blame it on CJ. She started it by sighting what is now also one of my favorite recent reads, My Ideal Bookshelf.  Well, that and The Right Wrong Man thanks to Jacqui Murray.

 

Left Nightstand

 

Right Nightstand (notice books much nearer bed than the tv/dvd remotes)

 

The Book Exchange Club shelf

What my book collection today doesn’t say:

– Christi’s post brought to my attention I no longer possess my first editions and books of special interest collection. Slightly sad Roo.

• • But then again, you can’t take it with you and my space here in the cottage is limited. The texts are readily available when I want them, so I’m fine.

– I’ve been reading more digital media (ya gotta love Libby) and enjoying it more.

– After years of coaxing, Erin is now on Fb. We have years of photographs to catch up on. This justifies the craft table that’s covered with boxes of photographs in various stages of being sorted. This has been taking up a quarter of my living room (and gathering dust) since, ahem, early summer. My new challenge is to not begin another book until I complete that project.

– Most notable – I either:

• • no longer care about dust, (okay fine,) I’m way too busy to care if anyone notices dust,
  • realize I am astoundingly confident in God and therefore real good with the Present Me He created. I no longer rarely feel the need to meet anybody’s standard but God’s to feel good about myself. I shot without staging – that includes dusting,
  • life is better on a need-to-see basis – too bad humans must age significantly to appreciate this fact,

OR:

• I (finally) actually do have my priorities in their proper order.

I’m not positive, but thanks to God, annnd after many a long series of trials and errors I’m quite comfortable going with option #4 today.

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

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The Sacred Garbage Man

One of the most moving posts (and there are many) from DawnLizJones. Oh, that it moves us all.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then this one is a whole tome in itself~~

W. Eugene Smith, WWII The Pacific Campaign,1944

This photo from World War 2 is iconic and, in my mind, is one of the most important comments on war in general.  The picture, by W. Eugene Smith, is of an American Marine finding a desperate infant still astonishingly breathing among the dead in Saipan. They passed the baby from soldier to soldier until the child arrived at the top of the hill.  I wish I could find out whatever happened to the child, but have not been able to do so as yet.  Perhaps the child’s history is now lost to us.

It reminds me of how God graphically records His “finding” of the Hebrew nation:

“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel…”

Unhappily, the very people chosen by God took their treasured affluence in a different direction that what was intended:

“You looked like a queen, and so you were! Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign LORD.  But you thought your fame and beauty were your own…you defiled your beauty…”

Idolatry of various kinds had been welcomed into the otherwise pristine picture.  The very Hand that drew them out of the mud was now being slapped away:

“They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.”

And in response to the people’s freewill choices, God reveals His own:

“I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them,…”

OUCH! 

As if that’s not enough, using the gifts, qualities, and abilities God gives us for our unredeemed purposes not only equals spiritual prostitution, but also corrupts other precious ones whom God intends for His own.  What are newly birthed Christians seeing when they view my lifestyle?  Even in the Christian culture, we buy into mindsets and push our kids into activities for “their” benefit, but really…?

“Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?” 

I need to remember where I came from, and fix my eyes clearly on where I’m going, as well as who might be following behind without me even knowing it.  Thus, as the song goes, I am still in need of a Savior. 

“He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.  He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people!”

Thankfully, my history is still being written.

Ezekiel 16:6,7; Ezekiel 15:13-15, 25; Psalm 106:20; Ezekiel 20: 26; Ezekiel 16:21; Psalm 113:7  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Original Post: Inspiration With an Attitude, DawnLizJones

Gun Control vs. Self Control

Again, IMHBIO Mitch Teemley addresses the matter best:

Mitch Teemley

Every time there is a mass shooting in the U.S. the gun-control debate is revived. “Guns kill!” one side chants. “Guns don’t kill, people kill!” the others side retorts. And while it’s true that no gun ever killed anyone without a human pulling the trigger, it’s also true that no human ever killed anyone by pointing their finger and shouting, “Bang!”

The truth is: both statements are correct. Guns kill. And so do people. Therefore, any real solution must address both issues.

Guns kill. Modern weapons aimed at large crowds, as demonstrated in Las Vegas, kill and maim with hideous efficiency. Yes, the U. S. Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. But the Founders clearly did not mean this to go unchecked: from the beginning, convicted criminals forfeited the right; and it’s long been the consensus that violently unstable people forfeit the right, as well. America’s half-baked registration process…

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Not Just Football

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”Vincent Thomas Lombardi; June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970

The first football season in our new home was disappointing. Not only did my family’s beloved Green Bay Packers not make it all the way to Super Bowl 5-0, but our household had landed in Dallas Cowboy country. No one ever saw that coming.

While this season Packers are 6 – 1, I’ve been following along – including all the local media hype. I am delighted to notice distinctive character that seems to have noticeably waned with other NFL teams. Though the Cowboys are having a hard season so far (2 – 5), I appreciate the team’s overall good sportsmanship I witness in the local newscasts after the games.

Nearly a week later, I can’t forget the news clip from the locker room after last week’s Dallas v. Seattle game. A Cowboy responded to tweets hailing him for rudely mocking the injured Hawk’s player, saying “Oh hell no, that ain’t right. I’d never do that… When I saw he was hurt I prayed for him. People making up mess like that, that just ain’t right.” I don’t mind saying it’s not the first time I noticed the Cowboys, win or lose, present good attitudes no matter what hits them.

They get up.

And then… U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ) exposed not only the Cowboys and the Packers but the Jets, Falcons, Ravens, Bills, Bengals, Browns, Colts, Chiefs, Dolphins, Vikings, Steelers and Rams have all accepted some of the $6 million the Pentagon and the Department Of Defense paid to promote Veterans as Home Town heroes. Veterans must be recognized, respected and appreciated. Period. I agree, our government paying sports teams to do what they should do anyway leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Spending taxpayer’s dollars like that – that just ain’t right.

Let’s see how they all get up.

Go Packs!