Ah!!!
All of it – yuck! It clings to me, like a slime mold, slowly advancing. It climbs up my feet and legs, though I protest, holding my arms high in an effort to keep it away. I try to push it back, frantically, but it advances. The yellow goo, unfeeling, is slowly encapsulating me.
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Recently, my husband and I took a course on transitioning with intentionality as we shift our priorities in a different life season.
The professor was Dr. Gordon Smith, who also writes on Substack HERE. However, please don’t mention that I sent you over there to him, as he may not agree with EVERY one of my life applications in this Newsletter, as I reflected on some of his comments. Plus, I wouldn’t want him to feel like I was showing him up! (I should humbly hint at.)
So if we want to live with intentionality, one thing we can do is read a book like this, which was required reading for our course. This book is entirely different from what I usually read. I typically read books on how to do things fast and faster!1
This book is different!
In one of the chapters (I forget which), Awakening Vocation hints that the book is intended for individuals seeking to discover meaning, purpose, and other similar goals. “Hey, sounds like me!” I thought. I’ve been trying to find meaning in life since the day I was born, but every time I pick up some old fluff on he ground that might be “meaningful,” it flies away on the wind again!2
And so, what did you learn, you ask us?
Oh, that part is easy!
Here are some of my scribbled sentences as I reflected on the content of that course:
So friends, join us as we link our heads, hearts and spirits to the new priorities God is calling us to.
As the song below sings, “And I’ll search, I’ll search here for answers,” consider asking God, “Is the horizon of where you are asking me to walk towards further than I can see? Can you show me the next step?”
God, I pray that you help each one of us slow down and listen and then have the courage to fly into everything you are calling us to become as we press onwards, warmed by the light of the Son, we pray.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles
Photo Credits – How Does One Soar? by César Ardila on Unsplash, Eagle Shows Us How by Rachel McDermott on Unsplash
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1 In fact, the best advice I ever received is that rather than trying to read a book fast, decide whether you should read it at all! Now, I don’t bother reading so many books, and that’s how I know I’m efficient!
2 Anyone else feel this way? No? SHOW OFF!
Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, also known as Veterans Day in the USA, and previously referred to as Memorial Day for a similar, earlier holiday.
The best thing about these days (all variations on the same theme) is that they force us to think about . . . wait for it . . . our own individual deaths.
(Sorry for saying it out loud. But good news follows! Keep reading!)
We are the Dead. Short days ago. We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie, in Flanders fields.
Canada’s famous Remembrance Day poem, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
This thought is the one we close our eyes to and try to forget with movies, popcorn, and laughs with friends, and other healthy distractions.
This thought is one of the ones that bolts us awake at night just before we fall asleep with, “Oh yeah! I’m going to die!”
And then we frantically check our email and update our social media profiles to further distance ourselves from this thought.
“Oh! And what time is it?” Time to run off somewhere else and distract ourselves some more! But what if we sat with some tea and really had a good look at this irritating thing called “Death”?
For example:
Oh! And I almost forgot to say that there is joy after the fear!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.
Jesus Christ – The Guy Almost 1/3 Of The People On Earth Claim To Follow1
Photo Credit – Me, Too, One Day? Right! I Almost Forgot! by Selena Morar on Unsplash
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1 The guy might we worth listening to sometimes!
So, this is what happened that day several decades ago when the curtain was torn for me between the physical world and the supernatural world, and I finally began to see.
Because I finally began to believe.
I was seventeen years old at the time, travelling in Europe with my friend.
That day began like many others during that season as we rolled up our sleeping bags and left the hostel with a wave to the other youth travelers and set off on another day of adventure. This time, we were in Paris, a place I had longed to be for a long time. Years earlier, I studied the “Tour d’Eiffel and the L’Arc de Triomphe” from our sanitized classroom in Canada, the frigid winds blowing on the monotonous, nearly black-and-white landscape.
Not today!
We hiked up our fat, well-worn backpacks higher onto our backs. We pushed up our glasses and squinted, staring at everyone and everything as we passed, innocently looking away when we accidentally caught their eyes. This was our ridiculous effort to blend in with French culture as much as possible.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “jubilant,” our combined average mood on this trip was a 10.5.
We were thrilled just to be there, and every crack in the sidewalk offered an opportunity to explore a new aspect of French culture.
Except for today.
Today, for some reason that I couldn’t pinpoint, my mood was objectively declining. From the people we passed, who seemed to glare at us menacingly (This definitely wasn’t the case, my friend worriedly assured me), to the landscape, which was donning hues more reminiscent of black-and-white, rather than the opulent, exciting colors that a new surrounding conjures, I was losing my exuberant mentality.
In fact, I was becoming downright weighed down by SOMETHING, some ominous feeling that grew heavier with each step towards the train station downtown.
Something was wrong.
What was going on?
My friend and I had carefully assured each other that if either of us ever felt the slightest bit uncomfortable while travelling, we would change course until we both felt at peace. No questions asked. In four months of travelling, feeling uncomfortable had never happened to either of us.
Except for today.
When our train pulled into the station, the feeling of ominous darkness grew within me until I finally blurted out, “I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT I CAN’T GET ON THAT TRAIN!”
“Okay, okay!” my friend assured me calmly, in a tone one would expect a Psychiatrist to use when talking someone down from a ten-story window ledge who plans to jump.
We sat in silence on the bench, watching our train depart. We didn’t speak, each looking in a different direction, my friend occasionally suspiciously glancing at me from the corner of her eye. Had I gone berserk?
After five, ten, and then fifteen minutes of sitting in silence, I felt the heavy feeling lift more and more.
After twenty minutes, I was about a seven out of ten on our “Jubilant Mood Meter” and climbing.
What had just happened?
“Look, I’m sorry,” I offered. “I have no idea what that was about.” My friend looked relieved that I had re-found my sanity and breathed an audible sound of relief. “Let’s just catch the next train.”
Which we did.
About one hour into that train ride, our train suddenly stopped mid-track. There were no stations for a long time. My friend and I looked at each other quizzically.
An announcement came over the train’s speakers, stating that the train ahead of us had been involved in an accident and that we would have to wait for a while.
Our eyes grew big.
But my heart also expanded that day, until it was big enough to fit God inside.
That experience was like a North Star within me, too precious to speak aloud. I shared this story with only a handful of people for the first few decades. Why?
Who would have believed me anyway?
(Except you, of course.)
Be prepared to hear many more stories like this, friend, as we open our eyes.
Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.
Saint Augustine in Confessions
As the song below plays, consider asking God how you may have accidentally let Jesus pass you by.
Photo Credit – Why Open Our Eyes? by Anita Jankovic on Unsplash
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He was still in his pajamas (I’m not even lying).1
He hadn’t yet combed his hair. He was sucking back coffee in the car on the way there. He didn’t have his water bottle. He had forgotten it. But he didn’t even realize that yet.
He was still waking up.
I, on the other hand, was a whole different story.
I drank no coffee, but pre-hydrated with lemon water, and I did everything else right (as usual). My pre-stretching routine began precisely fifteen minutes before we arrived. The checklist of items to be completed the night before was all checked off with my tidy little tick marks. My kale and mango smoothie was waiting for me in the fridge for a quick after-exercise snack. My day’s clothes were laid out and waiting, so I could make a fast transition from caterpillar to butterfly, as my husband said.
(Wait – what DOES that mean?! Caterpillar?! Now I’ll have to be mad at him to establish the power balance in the correct ratio!)
But we’re not talking about that.
We’re talking about people laughing at you. And by laughing at you, I literally mean “you” or “my friend” and definitely not “me”. Wanted to be very clear about that.
And now: the person to laugh at. My friend – we’ll call him Jim.2
He forgot his rain jacket, and we had to park away from the gym. So it was pretty rough that five minutes ago, he was asleep, and then he’s standing outside in the rain in his pajamas, waiting for the gym to open, and trying to slug back enough coffee not to accidentally murder those standing around us.
However, in six months, when he can do the fireman carry, which scientists have proven is directly correlated to overall well-being, and they can’t then who’s laughing now?
Or when he’s in a rocking chair, but he had two more years of being able to move a suitcase and put it in the overhead bin on a plane, and to stay in his own home longer (Yes, the goal as we age is to delay old folks’ homes); then who’s laughing now?
When we’re sitting next to each other in rocking chairs, but we’ve got one more year living at home because we worked out at the gym every morning for ten years, who’s laughing now?
Somehow, I’m already anticipating laughing at little (older) men and ladies in rocking chairs. How did I end up there? Well, let’s not think too much about the ethics of all of this or your maturity level to take this approach.
The point is, LET THEM LAUGH!
GO AHEAD! Show up at the gym in your pajamas with unkempt hair and having forgotten your water bottle! Let them laugh!
But when the rocking chairs come out, baby, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
My husband and I will laugh at you.
Guaranteed.
(Unless you, too, are willing to be laughed at with us now!)
Come on! Join a gym! Let them laugh at you!
And while you’re at it, there are other ways to be laughed at with similar benefits in later years:
Ask the hard questions you have about God.
Even though you assume NO ONE EXCEPT YOU has ever thought deeply about these issues, such as:
You’ll realize that multiple groups of people have completed their PhDs on every one of your questions3, and there is probably a bit more to think about with each of these topics than you may have realized at first glance, which will make you feel stupid.
But remember what we learned!
Feel stupid now so you won’t feel QUITE as stupid later!
Be willing to look like an idiot now so you won’t look so stupid when you stand before God naked and without cultural gold stars after you die!
God is SO pleased that you are TRYING.
He’s holding out his arms and waiting for you.
(And He won’t even laugh at your mistakes, like I will!4)
Photo Credit – This photo is from Unsplash, but I couldn’t find the exact link at the moment. (I AM very organized of course! Read the FIRST BIT of this article to prove that!)
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
1 To his credit, his pajamas looked a bit like sweatpants, but that ruins the point of this article if I point out EVERY detail like that! Also, he had his gym shorts on under his pajamas, but I didn’t notice that at first, so that doesn’t count.
2 (Because my husband was starting to go to the gym that day, so that’s why I called my husband “Jim”.)
3 For answers to 99.01% of modern people’s questions about God, try Tim Keller’s Reason for God. Every question listed here is discussed with unusual frankness and a disproportionate amount of depth of insight in this book, for example.
4 Don’t take it personally. Life is more fun when we laugh at ourselves and others. (Yes, at you, too). You’re welcome! Good luck!
So previously we talked about what parts of demonic culture we SHOULD TRY to incorporate into our lives.
So, this time, we’ll talk about – EW! GET that Satanic stuff OUT of your life, for heaven’s sake! Why the back and forth of recommendations? Well, you never know what’s true anymore on the internet so it’s essential to use our critical thinking skills at ALL times!
Constant vigilance!
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To Longtime Subscribers: A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters (See the Bottom of this Newsletter)
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Recently, I wrote here and here about why we should try to give a wide berth to the dark arts and the demonic or satanic.
This week, to confuse you, I will tell you that you SHOULD read the Harry Potter series. I didn’t say I would be consistent! Give me a break! Who has time for authenticity nowadays?
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To Longtime Subscribers: A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters (See the Bottom of this Newsletter)
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
He was trained and expected to emerge as a teen rock idol.
Then, he died in a sudden air crash at a young age. Over 40 years later, his music is still popular, resonating deeply with our hearts.1 And he had shaggy hair, a groomed beard and bell bottoms, so we know we can trust him!
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To Longtime Subscribers: A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters (See the Bottom of this Newsletter)
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
Once, I was mistaken for Ned Flanders (the ultra-Christian), not in person, but in my writing.
Ned and I are pals, actually! Ned and I are in the same group because we aren’t allowed to expel anyone (I.e., those who aren’t cool enough) from the Jesus club. And that’s a good thing, in hindsight, because what if they wouldn’t accept me?
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To Longtime Subscribers: A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters (See the Bottom of this Newsletter)
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
So, I’ve been reading about becoming a successful and influential online figure that others look up to and admire.
Did I mention that yet?
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To Longtime Subscribers: I love you! And see the bottom of this Newsletter for A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
Restoring Life 