Author: itoccurstocp

“We are so conscribed by the market-driven mind-set that we can no longer experience anything outside the context of “more” and “better.”  We can’t take things as they are.  We have moved on to the upgrade before we’ve even engaged with what we have right here, right now.”  Heather Havrilesky

Reading this, the image that comes to mind is an Easter Egg hunt we have likely seen if not participated in.  Children feverishly grab at eggs (usually a plastic ones filled with some “treasure”), throw them in their baskets without really looking at them or enjoying them, and quickly move on to grabbing another, and another….  It is, of course, much different now —  We aren’t children, the eggs and baskets have taken other forms, and we don’t have our Easter clothes on.  Still, the “market-driven mid-set” prevails.  As Havrilesky posits in the title of her book – What If This Were Enough?   Indeed.  What if?

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.”  Frank Zappa

I thought of this quote recently after reading a news story about two Texas men who recently died in Louisiana – seemingly refuting Zappa’s theory.  It seems that shortly after 2:00 a.m. the men raised the arm blocking access to an open drawbridge over a waterway, backed up their vehicle, and made an attempt to “Dukes of Hazard” the bridge and land safely on the other side of the gap.  If you are mentally picturing some hot rod screaming toward the gap, think again – this was a Chevy Cruze.  The scientific calculation of mass, speed angle, and distance (to the extent there was any) was apparently erroneous as the Cruze and then men ended up in the water below.  There was no mention of alcohol being involved, but ….

I am sure there is some deep life lesson here, but the best I have is the thought that significant decisions (particularly those involving scientific calculations) arrived at after midnight are best implemented after sober thought is put into them the next day.  “Hold my beer and watch this” rarely comes after a well thought out plan.

Photo taken in Galveston recently

“A long apprenticeship is the most logical way to success.  The only alternative is overnight stardom, but I can’t give you a formula for that.”  Chet Atkins

This is about as wry as humor gets, which is perhaps why it has stuck with me the past few days.  It is, I suppose, natural to want to get to the top of the ladder of success without climbing it, to just wish and find yourself at the top — think “burn fat while you sleep” pills and lottery tickets.  But as Atkins notes, the alternative methodology to be used in accomplishing that feat is a bit hazy.

Text from Let Them In by John Gorka.  You should be able to access a version by David Wilcox in the link below if you want to give it a listen.  I have been listening to this song on Memorial Day (and others) for years.

now.https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/auopj/let_them_in/

 

 

I got a chuckle today out of Oswald Chambers’ somewhat obtuse way of addressing the issue of “unanswered prayer.”  He notes: “God answers prayer… although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow.”  Chambers of course would not have access to them, but it seems to me one could borrow from the Rolling Stones and paraphrase this way:  “You can’t always get what you want, you can’t always get what you want, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”

Actually, the thought of Chambers and the Stones together in a room gives me a heartier chuckle.

“When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall.”  C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I was reacquainted with this passage again this morning from Lewis, and while this is not the context of his writing, it occurred to me how easy it is, when one “arrives,” to focus on that personal accomplishment and ignore all those still on the journey.

Photo taken on a recent run around the lake.

I read this on a candy wrapper recently – calories AND wisdom: “Always make your past self jealous.”  It reminded me of the line from Sammy Kershaw’s Better Than I Used To Be song I wrote about recently: “I’m learning who I’ve been ain’t who I gotta be.”

It is surprisingly easy to forget that who we’ve been ain’t who we gotta be, that we constantly have within us the power to make our past selves jealous.  It never really strays too far from Paul and Romans 12:2 – “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

One of my favorite meditations today from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest:

“We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not.  The curse with most of us is that we won’t.  The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck.”

First, I like this because it seems so out of character for Chambers.  His encouragement rarely takes this form.  But mostly I like the phrase – “incarnate spiritual pluck” as a reminder that sometimes, often even, I need to reach beyond myself and rely not only on my “pluck” but on the “incarnate spiritual pluck” available to me.  Just a reminder, I guess, of Matthew 19:26: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”