Today can be also be known as “Star Wars day” (May the fourth be with you!), and it’s also Labour Day here.
In honour of both (or at least a depiction of how not to be a boss…), here’s Kylo Ren as an undercover boss.
May Fourth
Still Dreaming…
Amidst all the home concerts in these isolation days, here’s Kermit, sharing a rendition of “The Rainbow Connection” from his swamp.
I remember when this first came out, and I’ve always loved it. I probably wandered round my backyard singing it when I was a kid, and it never fails to cheer me up!
Have a listen. You’ll be glad you did 🙂
Excuse me as I wipe away a tear, while grinning like an idiot…
A Tiny Gish For The Homebound
I’ve done the weeklong GISH scavenger hunt for the last couple of years, and am signed up for this year’s, but yesterday was the chance to let loose on a 24 hour fun hunt. Due to the time difference (it’s U.S. based) my 24 hours started at 5am Sunday morning, so I only did five items (with a little help from Sweet Bean 🙂 ). I had fun, though!
Here they are…
Item 13 – Remember Tom Hanks in “Castaway”? Remember Wilson the volleyball? Well, we’re all going through something similar now. We’re alone and WE ARE LOSING OUR MINDS. We’ve started talking to household objects. We’ve started dressing them up and giving them names. Show us your new quarantine friend.
Item 54 – Write a moving handwashing haiku. Post it above your bathroom sink.
Item 26 – Springtime straw hats are overplayed. Show us the new hot trend: eco-friendly sun hats made from the weeds from your garden.
Item 10 – Wake up! It’s time to deliver the morning paper, on a bike, in your house, to a loved one in bed. (You’ve got a lot of deliveries to make, so you’ll have to toss it at them as you cruise by.)
Item 45 – Draw a little birdhouse in your soul. Leave the nightlight on inside the birdhouse in your soul.
Now for some sleep! 😀
Smile (In The Shadow)
Another day in isolation, and time keeps dragging on… I was thinking yesterday – it’s like a long haul flight. Eventually time ceases to have meaning, and all there is, and all there ever Was. Is. Now.
I’ve been making my way through the library haul I picked up before it all shut down. Turns out even I can’t read endlessly!
I really don’t have anything to complain about – we’re well fed and rich enough to be entertained in comfort. We get along well as a family, and are generally healthy. But…
sometimes, things boil over. Yesterday was such a day – one little stressor to the everyday, and I spilled out into over-reaction, ending up crying on the bed with remorse (and yes, annoyance!). All good now 😀
There’s always time to remember to smile, and to think about the good things (even if you need a good cry first!). Here’s some of mine from yesterday and today.
My beautiful family, who still love me even when I’m ridiculous.
Friends to talk to via Zoom.
Opening up a new bag of coffee beans.
Sunshine.
Finding books in a series I like that I never knew existed.
Chocolate. Always a plus, although you can have too much.
The sound of birds, in a clear blue sky.
A friend mentioned this song to me this morning, so I looked it up. That led me to the second song, so I’ll include that as well.
And here’s the Psalm written on that guitar –
“Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah!”
Psalm 150
And another passage, from a devotional I just watched :
“I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:15-19
In The House
Just been to an evening service, in the comfort of my home.
Good to be reminded, though, that even if I’m not in a church building, I can still be in the Father’s house…
As another week starts up, may you feel Him close to you, and know that you are held safe, by the One Who is
faithful to the end,
extravagant,
forever!
Outside My Door
Went for a walk yesterday. It’s been ages!
I didn’t go far, but reveled in the fresh air. Took some photos of blue skies and trees that aren’t the ones I can see from my back patio…
The light is still shining 🙂
…and here’s my heart-for-the-day!
(I didn’t see it until I looked at my photos)
On the way back home I stopped for a chat with the neighbour – we’ve got some good sized grassy areas for kids to run around in (with shoes on, because of the prickles), so we could chat while keeping our distance. They were looking at a tree with hundreds of butterflies, so I took a video, for when I need some relaxing beauty…
Here’s one of the butterflies at rest.
With You Right To The End
A brief memorial for Tim Brooke-Taylor, who died yesterday from complications from COVID-19.
I grew up watching the Goodies in the evenings during the week, and clearly remember a giant (but cute) destructive kitten, a peculiar beanstalk fairy tale, and a variety of funny situations whose topical and political undertones I didn’t pick up on back then. Now I am older, and apparently wiser, I still laugh when I watch it again.
For an overview, here’s a compilation clip. I’d recommend getting a DVD or finding it online, and watching the whole series.
There’s a whole lot of his other work to catch up on, some of which is shown in this clip.
R.I.P. Tim. Thank you for making us laugh 😦
Waking To A New Day
Easter morning, and we’re off to a (virtual) service soon. There’ll be communion, and we will reflect on Jesus’ resurrection – so long ago, and yet echoing throughout the ages.
As a Christian, I believe many things that fit within the traditional Christian framework. I probably also believe many things that may not fit – there’s a lot on the periphery that’s been debated over the years, and perceptions of what scriptures mean can vary according to our understanding.
There’s one thing that we all can agree on, though –
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!
It’s the basis of our faith, wherever we land on other issues.
Why? What happened then?
“9 For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. 10 And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe!
11 Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us.
12 For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. 13 This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!
14 He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.
15 Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”
That’s from Colossians 2 🙂
…and here’s the beginning of the next chapter!
“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! 2 Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.
3 Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. 4 And as Christ himself is seen for who he really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with him in his glory!”
And from Galatians 3 –
13-14″Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.”
In chaos, in trouble, in uncertainty, He is still in control.
And His Name is power!
Together!
Here’s a virtual choir singing “Heroes” – I’m somewhere in there! There were over 6000 submissions, so I can’t tell where I am, but I’m just so happy to have been a part of it! 😀
1000 Fields of Roses 