A Time For Everything

 

Dear Hearts,

I would much prefer to think on the happy things this life and time of year gives us, to focus on the blessings, the joys. But I have also written about how the day does come when things written long ago finally do come to be. There is a time for everything.

I have noticed the variety of approaches to what is happening by those who have ways in which to speak, either in the written word or videos. It seems some are appointed to say uplifting words that give hope, which, of course, is sorely needed in times of stress. There are also those who are burdened to speak out and, in fact, take great risks in doing so. I like to think of myself as being somewhere in the middle ground. A giver of hope as well as a giver of sight. 

I am, by nature, one who looks up and out and can find hope in what often seems hopeless. But I am also a pragmatist and I can't not say what I am now tasked to say. It seems time is speeding up. 

Years ago I once wrote about my affection for traditional holidays like Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving, in my I Was Just Thinking column. I mostly go mushy and wax philosophical on those kinds of topics. In my reminiscing I shared that, due to the age factor, I have had a plethora of lovely, happy, joyful, holiday experiences but the ones that seem to stand out in my memory are the not so fun ones. All the best ones are now blurred together into a single warm fuzzy haze. So, it's the not happy ones that stand out on their own for reflecting upon, it's usually the ones offering up some kind of lesson to be learned.

Maybe that's the reason, then, for having better recollection of the challenging times in our lives. They are the sometimes harsh opportunities for gaining perspective. and/or wisdom that carries us forward better armed to deal with what life dishes out. 

I've also written about the reality that humans are not good at discernment turned to gratitude unless there is a contrast or something to compare something else against in order to see more wisely. 

We need to feel real hunger to appreciate having a scrap of bread.

We need to experience being freezing cold to be thankful for an old worn out  blanket.

We need to have everything taken from us to realize how good it was having anything we wanted when we wanted it.

We have to be told we can't go anywhere or do anything without proving we are willing to give up our personal/physical rights and/or religious beliefs, or the freedom to buy or sell or earn a living before we grieve over the loss of those basic rights we so took for granted. 

I look forward to this holiday season, 2021, because my practical self suspects it might be the last one I will be able to add to my warm fuzzy collection. I do not see things continuing as they are without a major change that calls us to be braver than we have ever been asked to be, willing to be challenged to stand without wavering. Our mettle tested to it's limits.

I can hear a faint but urgent call to choose Who we will follow, Who we trust.  

While it is still in the gray area of okay, I, for one, give thanks, in this calm before the storm, for the right to choose the One Whom I will serve and claim it out loud without fear of being canceled, condemned or imprisoned. 

For Him,

Meema

Michael Boldea is one who is tasked with speaking out and he is well worth paying attention to:

Bondage

Whatever Works

 

Measure/Counter-measure. Action/Reaction. Work Arounds. Making Do. 

These are terms I have depended on to get me through challenges for most of my 74 years. I started quite early understanding that anything I wanted to accomplish, problem I needed to solve, would have to be realized via an alternate path than most normal people took. Either I did not have the funds to do what I wanted to do or what I wanted/needed did not exist. 

My peculiar perspective has always begun with the conclusion - whatever works.

I have dozens of memories walking up and down the aisles of a craft supply store or a home improvement or hardware store looking for something I could use in my quest to make something else out of what already existed. I recall one time, in particular, at Home Depot, when an older gentleman in an orange 'employee' vest interrupted my deep concentration as I scanned a display of nuts and bolts and asked if he could help me. I looked at him, knowing full well I would not be able to explain what I was doing. I tossed it out anyway, watching his expression go from friendly helpful to confused. He clearly wasn't expecting my response. He pretended to think about it and then apologized that he had no idea how to help me. As most normal folks are, he was programed to only see a product in the way it was intended to be used. 

However, while often frustrating, this road less traveled has not been all for nothing though. 

My strange solutions/inventions/creations/making do spirit (mostly inspired by a deeply ingrained drive to beat the system with outlier thinking) has also given me a broad knowledge base on how humans have managed to survive every era, the good, the bad and the ugly. 

The turning point always comes down to the efforts of the free thinkers. The innovators. Those who dare to look beyond the fixed perceptions of the moment. The fearless who were willing to defy the preconceived norms and protocols. 

Out of the box thinkers have contributed to some amazing innovations that, on the surface, here in modernity, seem to have made life easier for most of the world population. I say 'seem to' because for all the conveniences we enjoy, the devises and mechanisms, the speed and far reaching communication ability, that we even take for granted, what we perceive as making life easier, blurs our ability to see the downside. 

Thus life swings like a huge pendulum. Action/Reaction.

In this case the downside is that we have been slowly enslaved to a system that was designed for advancement of civilization but has been usurped by nefarious goals for the demise of humanity. Let that sink in. 

Of course, I see this from the spiritual side meaning satan is working overtime to destroy us.  But God sees the end, we can't, so we have to take His word for it that satan has already lost the war, in the future. That doesn't mean there aren't some battles that must be fought in the here and now. We are truly at war with dark principalities. But it has been ever so. This is not new. 

To prepare one must first grasp that there is nothing any human has ever designed, created, developed or manufactured that is indestructible. For every action there is a reaction that counters or nullifies the original purpose. Whether the purpose was originally for good or for evil. Nothing worldly is infallible regardless how powerful it seems to be. Anything can be repurposed, even destroyed, so regardless how good or bad something is in the moment, it can be changed. 

I could compose a lengthy treatise on all the inventions, introductions into human existence that were deemed good for mankind that then, taken over by those with dark agendas (usually determined by desire for money and power) and then turned into something bad for us. Splitting the atom? Plastic? Processed Food? The Internet? Social Media? AI? You can probably pause and come up with your own list. 

But here's the point - faced with a looming inevitable battle you have to be able to see the reality of what is being used against you and then find work arounds. Cherry picking but one example of hundreds, WW2 was won by the Allies because, first of all, God willed it, and secondly because innovators fearlessly came in the back door instead of knocking on the front door asking permission to enter. Think Navajo Code Talkers. French Underground. Corrie Ten-Boom. 

Look outside of what a thing is and use it in another way. Historically speaking, the best way to beat an enemy is to do the unexpected and what he cannot see happening and therefore never sees coming.  If high tech is the enemy - go low tech.

Start with prayer, ask, listen, then obey, and then innovate with whatever works. 

For Him,

Meema

And remember:

God always chooses to do the most with the least. ~ Anonymous